Alexis Van De Wyer is Director of Advertising & ProStores where he holds global responsibility for launching and developing AdCommerce, eBay's new text advertising solution. He is also responsible for managing ProStores' growth within the eBay Inc. portfolio.

The AdCommerce enriched text ads look similar to eBay listings, but sellers get more control and flexibility than with a typical listing. AuctionBytes sat down with Alexis to find out more information and ask him how eBay sellers are using the program.

AuctionBytes: Can you briefly describe eBay AdCommerce and where the ads appear?

Alexis Van De Wyer: AdCommerce is a new way for eBay sellers to increase the visibility of their products among eBay's millions of online shoppers. AdCommerce is a simple application enabling sellers to quickly create ads to drive traffic either to their store or their product listings. Sellers can decide to target either by keyword or by category, selecting the buyer queries for which she/he would like her/his ads to be displayed.

AdCommerce is performance-based (Pay-Per-Click). Sellers only pay when a buyer is interested in their products and actually clicks on their ads. These ads are currently displayed below the listings on the search results pages but we are also testing other possible placements to optimize both the buyer and seller experience.

AuctionBytes: The Sponsored Links section at the bottom of eBay search results pages often have ads that link to off-eBay sites. Is that offered through the AdCommerce program as well? And do those ads take priority over those offered by eBay sellers?

Alexis Van De Wyer: AdCommerce is primarily a marketing/advertising solution to enable eBay sellers to gain extra visibility on eBay. The off-eBay ads displayed at the bottom of the search results pages - below the pagination - are mostly provided by external partners. However, we have recently started testing the waters by displaying the ads of a handful of PayPal and Shopping.com (SDC) merchants through AdCommerce in this spot. The ads above the pagination are through AdCommerce and are for eBay sellers only, giving eBay sellers priority on the ad space available today. Although AdCommerce is managing the PayPal and SDC merchants ads, the exposure and traffic given to off eBay links remain consistent so eBay sellers' exposure is not affected by this change.

AuctionBytes: For an online seller, what's the biggest difference in results between a product listing on eBay versus an AdCommerce ad listing?

Alexis Van De Wyer: AdCommerce helps eBay sellers increase visibility for their products among eBay's millions of online shoppers in a cost-effective way, essentially by adding paid search results to their natural search results. Ads on eBay get a seller's products in front of buyers at the moment they are looking to make a purchase, whereas a seller can't always predict how he/she will show up in the natural search results.

With AdCommerce, a seller gets:

• Total control over what they spend and how they target - by keyword or category (unlike with an eBay listing)
• Instant visibility into what's working (detailed ad performance reports show what attracts buyers; sellers can easily tweak campaigns accordingly)
• Performance-based results - CPC model

In addition, AdCommerce gives eBay sellers:

• The ability to retarget customers who may have skipped over their listings
• More flexibility with titles and search than regular eBay listings

AuctionBytes: I have seen some sellers ask, "why do I have to give eBay more money to be seen by customers?" What's your response to that question - aren't sellers already paying to be seen by customers through their listings?

Alexis Van De Wyer: AdCommerce is performance-based, so eBay will only be successful when sellers are successful. The program is a win-win for eBay and our sellers, as we are helping our sellers to get additional sales and to only pay when it actually works.

AuctionBytes: For sellers who are considering advertising program, what is the benefit of paying for driving traffic to their eBay listing when they could pay other programs to drive traffic to listings on their own website?

Alexis Van De Wyer: First, we are the largest online marketplace in the world. We have more buyers on our site than any other network, and AdCommerce puts a merchant's ads in front of those buyers at the exact moment they are looking to buy. In addition, with AdCommerce advertisers can target their audience by keyword or category and they know where their ad is going to end up, as opposed to working with a major ad network that displays ads across thousands of tiny websites.

AuctionBytes: How are advertisers using AdCommerce, what are some examples of some effective strategies?

Alexis Van De Wyer: Effective strategies will vary amongst eBay sellers and will completely depend on the specificities of their businesses. AdCommerce offers sellers the flexibility to tailor their marketing program to their specific business needs. For example we have seen sellers with a wide inventory be extremely successful by creating several category-targeted campaigns for each of their product lines and driving a large volume of traffic to a category in their stores. Other sellers prefer to create ads for each specific product and use a more targeted approach - with carefully selected keywords - to drive highly converting traffic directly to their product page.

For some sellers it's going very well, and for others it doesn't seem to be a fit. Fortunately, our detailed reporting allows sellers to see exactly what's working so they can modify their campaigns accordingly. As with any of the many features we offer our sellers, what works will be different for each of them. We aim to provide them with as many tools for success as possible, and AdCommerce is just one of those tools.

AuctionBytes: How robust is the reporting feature so sellers can measure the effectiveness of the program?

Alexis Van De Wyer: Since its beta launch AdCommerce has been providing sellers with detailed metrics on the performance of their ads (impressions, average position, number of clicks, average cost). Since September 2009 AdCommerce also started providing sellers with information on their actual sales conversion. Sellers have access to detailed information on the number of bids, BINs, total sales and cost/sales driven by their ads. These features enable sellers to optimize the performance of their advertising to best fit their needs. This new feature is currently available to our most active advertisers and will soon be extended to all sellers (as soon as the feedback from our initial group has been integrated into the functionality).

AuctionBytes: Do you have statistics on which products and categories do better with AdCommerce than others?

Alexis Van De Wyer: While there are no generic statistics and rules about which categories would work best, AdCommerce provides sellers with the tools to monitor and improve their campaigns to best fit their business. By using the reports on ad performance and sales conversion, for example, sellers can test many different marketing approaches - such as different targeting, different landing pages (stores or product pages), budgets, etc.

AuctionBytes: Are there any special offers or incentives for sellers who want to try out the program?

Alexis Van De Wyer: Absolutely! We are regularly communicating incentives or specials to our seller base. These offers are made available through the usual communication channels used to contact our sellers.

You can find more information on the eBay AdCommerce website.