eBay

chatsnoire · ‎09-14-2019

I am curious how many other sellers have received an email from eBay alerting them to "Updates to the eBay User Agreement". I received mine today, Sept. 14, yet it states that these changes will be taking affect on August 30, 2019. Besides the annoyance that the updates were sent after the fact I am shocked to read in the Listing Conditions that "To drive a positive user experience, a listing may not appear in some search and browse results regardless of the sort order chosen by the buyer". Isn't this illegal? Shouldn't sellers be advised if their listings will be hidden from buyers?? If my listings are not going to appear, I do not want to pay to list them, or even if it was free, why would I waste my time creating a listing that would be hidden? I am beyond shocked. I know on some boards there have been people claiming this happens already, but I was never sure. To have eBay admit this is a real eye opener.

pburn · ‎09-15-2019

@dasarock wrote:
hrmmm, hidden listings for not following policies … do you think that all who didn't sign up for managed payments are having their listings be hidden because they aren't managed payments listings?

I'd have to give a big "thumbs down" to yet another totally unfounded conspiracy theory. There are enough legitimate issues to be critical about when it comes to eBay without imagining things.

dasarock · ‎09-15-2019

@pburn wrote:
@dasarock wrote:
hrmmm, hidden listings for not following policies … do you think that all who didn't sign up for managed payments are having their listings be hidden because they aren't managed payments listings?
I'd have to give a big "thumbs down" to yet another totally unfounded conspiracy theory. There are enough legitimate issues to be critical about when it comes to eBay without imagining things.

you appear not to have a clue … again, this post only asks a question based on other posts in the thread … and it asks what others think, not necessarily myself. ………………………….

luckythewinner · ‎09-16-2019

@chatsnoire wrote:
It appears that eBay may, for any unstated reason, hide your listings.
I would prefer clear clear cut reasons for listings not appearing in searches.
And instant notification, if there is a reason a seller wouldn't know ahead of theme that a listing was not showing

eBay has been hiding listings from the day it started. Here's an example:

When you search "Shirt" on eBay, it returns 90 million results. Of those 90 millions results, 99% will always be hidden.

Try it and see. Page through the listings and when you try to view past the first 10,000 results, you will get a message saying you cannot browse any further. And no matter how you sort those 90 million listings, there will always be tens of millions of them that will never appear in the top 10,000 of any sort.

There is no way eBay is going to send 89,999,000 emails to notify sellers every time this happens.

gracieallen01 · ‎09-16-2019

@luckythewinner wrote:
@chatsnoire wrote:
It appears that eBay may, for any unstated reason, hide your listings.
I would prefer clear clear cut reasons for listings not appearing in searches.
And instant notification, if there is a reason a seller wouldn't know ahead of theme that a listing was not showing
eBay has been hiding listings from the day it started. Here's an example:

When you search "Shirt" on eBay, it returns 90 million results. Of those 90 millions results, 99% will always be hidden.

Try it and see. Page through the listings and when you try to view past the first 10,000 results, you will get a message saying you cannot browse any further. And no matter how you sort those 90 million listings, there will always be tens of millions of them that will never appear in the top 10,000 of any sort.

There is no way eBay is going to send 89,999,000 emails to notify sellers every time this happens.

With all due respect, there was a point in time when ebay didn't have 90 million of any one thing. In fact, that is how ebay got started and made it's reputation - because it didn't have 90 million of any one thing, just primarily the rare, unusual and hard to find.

I think that their percentage of sales vs listings was higher then, than now, too.

Not saying 'NO' doesn't mean 'YES'.

The foolishness of one's actions or words is determined by the number of witnesses.

Perhaps if Brains were described as an APP, many people would use them more often.

Respect, like money, is only of 'worth' when it is earned - with all due respect, it can not be ordained, legislated or coerced. Anonymous

chatsnoire · ‎09-16-2019

If they are not going to notify a person know that their listings are being hidden, then they need to let sellers know the criteria for listings not showing. It doesn't matter to me how many listings they have for a particular item. Also, the example of using simply "shirt" is overly broad, but regardless, eBay is charging sellers a fee to list. The impression is that if people are looking for an item I list, it should show. People search using terms they feel describe the item. They have categories they can choose from to help them narrow the selection, and can enter additional criteria in item specifics. I would like to know how the search engine works. Why specifically would some items not show? I don't find the search engine to work very well for me as a buyer, so I have now lost a lot of confidence in the search as a seller. Does anyone who works for eBay read/respond to these boards? Is there a forum to ask this question to someone who could explain?

gracieallen01 · ‎09-16-2019

@chatsnoire wrote:
If they are not going to notify a person know that their listings are being hidden, then they need to let sellers know the criteria for listings not showing. It doesn't matter to me how many listings they have for a particular item. Also, the example of using simply "shirt" is overly broad, but regardless, eBay is charging sellers a fee to list. The impression is that if people are looking for an item I list, it should show. People search using terms they feel describe the item. They have categories they can choose from to help them narrow the selection, and can enter additional criteria in item specifics. I would like to know how the search engine works. Why specifically would some items not show? I don't find the search engine to work very well for me as a buyer, so I have now lost a lot of confidence in the search as a seller. Does anyone who works for eBay read/respond to these boards? Is there a forum to ask this question to someone who could explain?

Respectfully speaking, no.

Not saying 'NO' doesn't mean 'YES'.

The foolishness of one's actions or words is determined by the number of witnesses.

Perhaps if Brains were described as an APP, many people would use them more often.

Respect, like money, is only of 'worth' when it is earned - with all due respect, it can not be ordained, legislated or coerced. Anonymous

eunster1313 · ‎09-16-2019

Buy their own words they are (customizing) the search results for all buyers

not just new ones.

mcdougle4248 · ‎09-16-2019

@chatsnoire wrote:
If they are not going to notify a person know that their listings are being hidden, then they need to let sellers know the criteria for listings not showing. It doesn't matter to me how many listings they have for a particular item. Also, the example of using simply "shirt" is overly broad, but regardless, eBay is charging sellers a fee to list. The impression is that if people are looking for an item I list, it should show. People search using terms they feel describe the item. They have categories they can choose from to help them narrow the selection, and can enter additional criteria in item specifics. I would like to know how the search engine works. Why specifically would some items not show? I don't find the search engine to work very well for me as a buyer, so I have now lost a lot of confidence in the search as a seller. Does anyone who works for eBay read/respond to these boards? Is there a forum to ask this question to someone who could explain?

In Seller Hub, in the Growth area, will show you which of your listings are underperforming. This is the closest I've seen to what you are looking for. May or may not be of any help to you.

eBay search algorithms are a tight kept secret. The algorithms also seem to change frequently. So what is working to garner sales one week may not work the following week. You may find something helpful here if you have not already read this: https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/listing-and-marketing/boost-traffic-with-seo.html

You can find a link at the top of the selling board for the Weekly Community Chat. You can ask questions and receive responses from eBay staff.

kh-vince · ‎09-16-2019

Hello everyone,

This thread is getting a bit heated. Please remember that it’s fine to disagree with others, but discussion should always remain courteous and respectful.

Thank you for your cooperation.