A scheduled eBay Ads automation in 3Dsellers pauses or resumes chosen campaigns, or sets, raises or lowers the keyword bids of a Priority (cost-per-click) campaign, at a time you pick on the days you pick, in your own time zone. Use two rules to make a daily window, for example resume at 17:00 and pause at 22:00, or raise keyword bids at 17:00 and lower them again at 22:00. Every run is written to the Logs tab of the Ads Automations page with the reason if a campaign could not be changed. Scheduled rules were added in October 2026 next to the existing performance-metric rules.
⚠️ A scheduled rule can only act on campaigns that 3Dsellers already knows about. Open eBay Ads > Campaigns and click Sync Campaigns once before you build the rule, or the campaign picker will be empty.
In this article:
What can a scheduled eBay Ads rule do?
The eBay Ads Automations page in 3Dsellers (Listings & Products > Listings > eBay Ads > Automation) has two kinds of campaign rule. A Performance metrics rule reacts to impressions, clicks, sales or ROAS. A Schedule rule runs at a clock time instead and offers three actions.
Action | What it does at the scheduled time | Works on |
Pause Campaign | Pauses each chosen campaign that is running. A campaign that is already paused is left alone. | Standard and Priority campaigns |
Resume Campaign | Resumes each chosen campaign that is paused. A campaign that is already running is left alone. | Standard and Priority campaigns |
Set Keyword Bids | Changes the bid of every active keyword in the chosen campaigns: to a fixed amount, up by an amount, or down by an amount, in the keyword's own currency. | Priority (cost-per-click) campaigns only |
A campaign that eBay reports as ended, scheduled or ending soon cannot be paused or resumed; the run records an error for it and carries on with the other campaigns in the rule.
How do I create a scheduled rule?
Go to Listings & Products > Listings > eBay Ads > Automation and click + Create Campaigns Automation.
Type a Name and, if you like, a description.
Under Trigger, choose Schedule instead of Performance metrics. The metric fields and the Filter Campaigns box disappear and the schedule fields appear.
Run on: untick the weekdays the rule should skip. All seven days are ticked to start with. At least one day is required (“Pick at least one day”).
Pick the time (09:00 is preset) and the time zone. The time zone starts on your own, so a UK seller can type 17:00 and get 17:00 London time, summer or winter.
Under Campaigns, tick the campaigns the rule should act on. At least one is required (“Pick at least one campaign”). Only synced campaigns are listed.
Choose the action: Pause Campaign, Resume Campaign or Set Keyword Bids. For keyword bids, pick a mode and type the amount (see below).
Click Save and make sure the rule's status switch is on in the list.
3Dsellers checks for due rules about once a minute, so the action lands within a minute or two of the time you set. After each run the rule is rescheduled for the next ticked day.
How do I run a campaign only during peak hours?
A pause-and-resume window is two scheduled rules on the same campaigns.
Rule 1: Trigger Schedule, Run on the days you want, time 17:00, action Resume Campaign.
Rule 2: Trigger Schedule, same days, time 22:00, action Pause Campaign.
Resume only acts on a paused campaign and Pause only on a running one, so if you pause the campaign by hand during the window, the 22:00 rule simply logs that it was already paused. Make sure the campaign is paused before the first 17:00 run, or resume it yourself once; a campaign in the wanted state is never touched.
How do I raise keyword bids at a set time?
Set Keyword Bids changes the bid of every active keyword in the chosen Priority (cost-per-click) campaigns. The rule has three modes:
Set keyword bids to an amount, for example 0.70. Every active keyword gets that bid.
Raise keyword bids by an amount, for example 0.40. Each keyword's current bid goes up by that much.
Lower keyword bids by an amount. Each keyword's current bid goes down by that much.
The amount must be more than 0 and is in the campaign's currency. For a predictable evening boost, pair two rules: Set keyword bids to 0.70 at 17:00 and Set keyword bids to 0.30 at 22:00. The fixed mode is safer than raise-and-lower, because a lower rule subtracts from whatever the bid is at 22:00, including a bid you changed by hand in the meantime, while a fixed value always lands on the number you chose.
⚠️ The campaign picker also lists Promoted Listings Standard (cost-per-sale) campaigns. Set Keyword Bids cannot change those; the run logs “Priority campaigns only” for them. Pick only Priority campaigns for a bid rule.
How do I check what a scheduled rule did?
On the eBay Ads Automation page, click the Logs tab.
Each run writes one row per campaign, with the rule, the campaign name and whether it succeeded.
A failed row carries the reason, for example “Campaign is ENDED; only a running campaign can be paused”, “eBay account token is not active”, “Priority campaigns only” or “2 of 40 keyword bids failed” followed by eBay's message.
The Logs tab is empty until a scheduled rule has run at least once. To confirm a rule end to end, schedule it a few minutes ahead on a test campaign, then check the Logs tab and the campaign on eBay.
What a scheduled rule does not do
It does not create campaigns or keywords, and it does not change ad rates. Ad rate changes are a Performance metrics action (Adjust Ad Rate), not a schedule action.
It does not remember the bid before a change. A lower rule subtracts your amount from the current bid; use Set keyword bids to when you want an exact number back.
It does not act on campaigns that were created on eBay after your last sync. Click Sync Campaigns and edit the rule to add them.
It does not send the Send Email alert. That box still shows for a scheduled rule, but only metric rules send it; read the Logs tab instead.
It does not pause or resume a campaign eBay reports as ended, scheduled or ending soon.
Troubleshooting
The Campaigns picker is empty
3Dsellers only lists campaigns it has synced. Go to eBay Ads > Campaigns, pick the right eBay account and click Sync Campaigns, then reopen the rule.
The rule ran but the campaign did not change
Open the Logs tab and read the row for that campaign. A campaign that was already in the wanted state is logged as done with nothing to do. An ended or scheduled campaign, an expired eBay token, or a Standard campaign in a keyword-bid rule each show their own reason. If the Logs tab has no row at all for the run, check that the rule's status switch is on and that the day and time zone are the ones you meant.
The bids came back lower than before
A Lower keyword bids by rule subtracts from the bid at the time it runs. If you also changed bids by hand, or two lower rules ran, the result drifts. Replace the pair with two Set keyword bids to rules.
I can't find Resume Campaign or Set Keyword Bids
Those actions appear only when the trigger is Schedule. With Performance metrics the actions are Pause Campaign and Adjust Ad Rate.
FAQ
Can I pause an eBay campaign at night and resume it in the morning automatically?
Yes. Create two scheduled rules on the same campaigns: one with Pause Campaign at the evening time and one with Resume Campaign at the morning time, both on the days you want.
Does the schedule use my local time?
Yes. Each rule stores its own time zone, preset to yours, and daylight-saving changes are handled by that zone.
Can I change keyword bids on a Promoted Listings Standard campaign?
No. Standard campaigns have an ad rate, not keyword bids. Set Keyword Bids works on Priority (cost-per-click) campaigns only; for Standard campaigns use the Adjust Ad Rate action of a Performance metrics rule.
Can one rule both raise and lower bids?
No. One rule has one time and one action. Use two rules for the up and the down change.
Do my existing performance-metric rules change?
No. Metric rules keep running after each report import exactly as before. Scheduled rules are a separate trigger on the same page.