Here's what scares me about where eBay is headed

[glasser]

So, my son has a couple of Nike items he has never worn and I am thinking of selling. Like any good seller I do a search Nike t-shirt, and I get these results as the top 4. Notice that the first 2 results are not Nike products. To me this is deeply problematic and concerning. In fact, per eBay rules it could almost be considered key word spamming. How could someone buy a keyword PL for an item they are not actually selling?

[deltilogical]

Sponsored.  Someone paid to be planted in your search even though their product has no relevance. 

Agreeed, this is where Ebay is headed, but all the tech/FAANG do this.  Its not about what customers want or need, but how much of their wealth can be extracted using the technology available. 

[stubbornoaf]

Keyword spamming is against the rules, but you still have to actually have someone report it, and that person needs to know enough about the product to understand that it is keyword spamming. I don't know nike that well and would have to look at the tag to know which was which if it wasn't obvious printed on the outside...

There's tons of keyword spamming in certain sections of ebay that just goes unreported to some degree.

Anyway, does look like @deltilogical has your answer, that it's a sponsored placement and not a keyword spam. Though I agree they are similar concepts.

[craigstevensstudio]

when you get away from what the customer wants you are failing as a business.

[donsdetour]

typical search: and why buyer are going else were to purchase.

[worldwide_ship]

I've definitely noticed this happening more and more over the last few years and it's really making the seach results less relevent. Deltilogical is correct eBay is just mimicking what all tech companies have been doing. It's pretty much "pay to play." It doesn't really help the user/customer at all but the companies are making revenue by allowing this. Pretty sad but I don't think there's any going back. You just have to adjust to the new norm. 

[glasser]

@deltilogical I know it's sponsored (PL). I mention keyword spamming in the context of how could eBay allow a sponsored listing to appear in search results for a specific brand when the items being showed are not that brand? 

eBay can control this easily and in fact it's a trust measure that search results are in fact accurate. Amazon has become a joke in that regard.

I know this is what all sites do. But eBay was built on a best practices model to encourage sellers to create the best listings, return policies, pricing, etc. If all I have to do now is bid more for the word Nike then then the next guy, then the system is failing.

[evelyb30]

It's not keyword spamming if eBay is doing it themselves.  That makes it OK to display irrelevant listings ahead of actual matches.  (pounds head on desk)  

[glasser]

@evelyb30 You can do what you want when you are judge, jury and executioner.

[evelyb30]

My point precisely. 

[joliztoyco]

Pure and simple. It's spam for pay. And when you have to start riffing thru listings that aren't even the BRAND you're looking for? You just hit the back button.....
Lucky you didn't search "Blue Nike t-shirt"......12 different shades of Sherwin Williams paint would have shown up.
All "promoted" for your viewing pleasure.....

[glasser]

This really is an existential threat to eBay. Finding and searching are the most important elements of the user experience. You can't buy what you can't find. If what you see as results you can't trust to be showing what is actually the best match based on what you are searching for, not what someone has paid you to see, the potential sales for everyone are lost.

Amazon is a mess like that now. However, the difference is Amazon has prime so people are more inclined to continue shopping since they have already invested in the site and free shipping or same day delivery whatever keeps them sticky to the site. 

This happens a lot on Google as well. Often the first result is not say the Airline you are searching for but expedia or orbitz or whatever. Again, people are unlikely to abandon Google because of that even though its frustrating and probably should not work that way.

eBay is different. What keeps a potential buyer on the site before they go to an Amazon or a specialty seller that only sells what they are looking for?  It is speed to the exact item they want and ease of purchase.

[janet9988]

I click on the sponsored  listing  just to browse.  After all I want their PL pay for clicks to  see them work.

[liawrig.nq8rdwqa3]

All the ads are sponsored, but strangely NIKE is not the 1st & 2nd ad.  If I were the seller, I wouldn't pay for sponsored ads simply because of that.  The seller of NIKE should write ebay and let them know why they are cancelling the sponsored ads.