Recommended Sellers

[ulfesharpe]

Is it entirely honest that ebay has Recommended Sellers on their landing page that are in direct competition with you in your usual categories as a seller? I imagine buyers (collectors) get the same recommendations as you do as a seller.

It annoys me a bit, since we pay the same fees. 

Why don't let buyers search and compare items, leaving all sellers with the same advantage?

[martin2001]

I am guessing that ebay came to the conclusion that showing competing sellers will increase ebay sales. Probably paid some marketing firm millions $$ to figure it out. I don't think that this is a question of honesty. It's their site, you agreed to their terms. You should also presume that your name is appearing on other landing pages so it is the sames advantage (or disadvantage) for all. Of course, they may promote some sellers more than others based on various criteria.  Just an opinion, don't have any data to support it. Cheers

[ulfesharpe]

@martin2001 "showing competing sellers will increase ebay sales"

But recommending one particular seller and hiding others is not really promoting competition so probably de facto not increasing sales — it's simply basing a part of your sales on sellers that are probably paying higher for promotions. I'm not entirely aware of all the criteria to get there, but even if it was only based on "performance", once you get there, you're monopolising the criteria, since the other sellers after that don't the have possibility to have the same performance, right? 

@martin2001: "It's their site, you agreed to their terms."  It's a little odd realising that you could answer all questions and solve all threads here with that one consideration 🙂 

[selsa84]

What's even more interesting is a lot of those "recommended sellers" have some pretty bad feedback. He who makes ebay the most money is always recommended the most. It's unfortunate but it's ebay's horse and they can do as they wish with it. 

[mam98031]

That would defeat the purpose of Promoted Listings.

[mam98031]

---

@selsa84 wrote:

What's even more interesting is a lot of those "recommended sellers" have some pretty bad feedback. He who makes ebay the most money is always recommended the most. It's unfortunate but it's ebay's horse and they can do as they wish with it. 

---

Bad is relative.  Meaning that 5 negatives on a seller with 1,000 FB is very different from 5 negative FB on a seller with 10,000 FB.  

It would be next to impossible to have clean FB if you are handling thousands of transactions.

[ulfesharpe]

 @mam98031  exactly because of that,  any purchase from a store that is handling thousands of transactions is much more likely to go wrong than from a 100% eventual seller.  Murphy's Law.

[dhbookds]

Why don't let buyers search and compare items, leaving all sellers with the same advantage

Because the whole idea of advertising/marketing is that a seller can/will pay for advantage........  you can buy a classified ad or a display ad in a newspaper.....be shown in the first section or buried in the last.....be seen on the very top/bottom shelf of the groc store.....or at the buyer's eye level.    A seller can sell to a Dollar store or to a store on 5th Ave..  

As to paying the same fees......not sure that applies, at least in a general sense.  Is ebay going to give the same exposure to an item that attracts (views) 5 times or the one who garners 100 views?  Which is to the site advantage ( attracting buyers/selling items in the most general sense)?.......

And how do they "leave all sellers with the same advantage" with a billion items?  Someone/item is going to be first/last....even rotating on a split second intervals isn't fair as this one will be on top  in prime shopping time (whatever that is) and that one won't.......

Do I think Ebay has made mistakes.......of course....  They've given away so much business, it's sickening....The emphasis on PL (and all the permutations) has prevented them from developing other core business areas, beyond their present precious verticals. Management needs to learn to walk and chew gum at the same time.   Homemade/antiques/collectibles/toys.....are also rans when they could be stars IF ebay put in the time/$ in developing them. 

forgive the rant.

[mam98031]

---

@ulfesharpe wrote:

 @mam98031  exactly because of that,  any purchase from a store that is handling thousands of transactions is much more likely to go wrong than from a 100% eventual seller.  Murphy's Law.

---

Well not necessarily, but sure it could happen.  It is more likely that it is because you can't please everyone.  Experienced sellers know how to process a sale quickly and efficiently.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@dhbookds ."The emphasis on PL (and all the permutations) has prevented them from developing other core business areas, beyond their present precious verticals. Management needs to learn to walk and chew gum at the same time.   Homemade/antiques/collectibles/toys.....are also rans when they could be stars IF ebay put in the time/$ in developing them."

Yeah, Jamie may like to talk about their laser like focus on the Focus Categories, but he doesn't seem to realize ebay is wearing blinders when it comes to what is happening in the non-focus categories. 

What I'm not sure about:

Is this just poor judgment, or is it intentional?  Is the end game to eventually bring some attention to the non focus categories, or is the end game that they are completely expendable, which is why ebay really doesn't care what happens to them ...ebay's happy to have them here, because their fees subsidize the Focus Categories, but ebay isn't going to ever put any real effort into keeping them here?

[selsa84]

Not talking bout sellers with 5 negs. I'm talking about the big sellers with hundreds of negatives. How many of the unhappy buyers will never buy off ebay again?  Not all but I bet a few and that my friend adds up. 

[mam98031]

---

@selsa84 wrote:

Not talking bout sellers with 5 negs. I'm talking about the big sellers with hundreds of negatives. How many of the unhappy buyers will never buy off ebay again?  Not all but I bet a few and that my friend adds up. 

---

That doesn't change what I said.  A seller with 200 negatives and 5,000 FB is completely different than 200 negatives and 20,000 FB.  The answers are ALWAYS in the Math.  It is simple math.

If you are only going to look at the number of negatives and ignore how many FB, then you will never get a true picture.

@selsa84 

[selsa84]

I understand what you're saying I just don't agree with the logic of ebay recommending sellers with such bad feedback. It should reward those who consistently or nearly consistently provide a good service. Not a roll of the dice type of seller. Which there are no shortage of on ebay. I'll admit I've purchased from a seller with excellent fb and gotten screwed and purchased from a seller recently who had a fb of 97 with tons of negs but it was an excellent transaction. I just don't think the "recommended"  slot should be "for sale".  It should be earned. But I'll reiterate, it ain't my horse, it's ebay's and they can do as they wish

[selsa84]

BTW, always loved your profile pic. Some good looking dogs there.

[mam98031]

---

@selsa84 wrote:

I understand what you're saying I just don't agree with the logic of ebay recommending sellers with such bad feedback. It should reward those who consistently or nearly consistently provide a good service. Not a roll of the dice type of seller. Which there are no shortage of on ebay. I'll admit I've purchased from a seller with excellent fb and gotten screwed and purchased from a seller recently who had a fb of 97 with tons of negs but it was an excellent transaction. I just don't think the "recommended"  slot should be "for sale".  It should be earned. But I'll reiterate, it ain't my horse, it's ebay's and they can do as they wish

---

I don't think that is fair, but I firmly believe you are entitled to your opinion and your choice of who you do business with.

It is unrealistic to think that someone with 1,000 FB would have the same negative rate as someone with 10,000 FB.  It is simply unrealistic.