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Delays in search visibility are borderline false advertising by eBay at this point. 24+ hour delays
I understand that everything cant index and be searchable immediately. But my prior experience has always been a 3-6 hour delay, 12 at worst.
Now? 100% of my listings have a 24 or more hour delay before they become searchable or visible. Most of them, in fact, time out almost exactly at 24 hours. I can watch it and withing an hour of that 24 hour mark views start showing and suddenly it is visible in most cases, with some dragging even longer. It takes 24 hours for every new listing, auction or BIN, to be visible. The BIN delays are bad enough, but the auction ones really do hurt the end price. Not every eBay user is a daily user, and when eBay delays listings like this it means a chance potential buyers never see the item.
This is not acceptable. A 24+ hour delay on a 7 day auction means I am missing out on 15-20% of the possible search visibility. When we use eBay for a 7 day auction we are paying their fees for 7 days or the item being visible, seen and bid on, not 6 days, not 5.5 days. The amount of search visibility has dropped, while fees have not or even increased. And if I pay extra for promotion for increased item visibility I am buying 7 days of promotion, not 6 days.
I am trying hard to believe this is just a technical issue and not them intentionally delaying visibility so sellers will pay for promotion to offset the lost views and visibility.
I know when the items are not visible because I can't even search for them from my seller page. If I search for them on my seller page by item title they won't show up, even though they show in the list of active items, and when I have others search for them from their accounts they don't show. It starts working from both ends at the same time.
kh-stanley1
·2 years agoHi everyone,
Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.
Thank you for understanding.
diaries
·2 years agoI totally agree. I've been on ebay since 1998 and in the last 6 months so many of my auction are listing late, even when I schedule the listing (which eBay suggested when I brought this to their attention). if this is the case give me an 8 day auction so I actually get the 7. So reimburse my eBay fees for the day. They are big enough to be able to do something about this.
lacemaker3
·2 years ago@the_og_surplus
It's hardly surprising that your military items are not indexing quickly. Some items of that type are restricted from selling, and unscrupulous sellers have been known to try to slip prohibited items in under the radar. If you are seeing this all or most of the time, that would indicate that your account has been flagged for review of new listings.
eBay does not guarantee listing durations, and never has. The policy says that listings may take up to 24 hours to become visible/searchable. Paying for a promotion (or not) has no effect on this.
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/listing-tips/finding-listing?id=4162
They used to advise sellers that if the listing was scheduled at least 24 hours before the scheduled start time, then it could be "pre-indexed" so that it would become visible more quickly when the listing started. They no longer state this, but this is the only thing that can be done to try to minimize indexing time.
topnotchtomes
·3 years agoLooks like most of your items are in military categories. These type of listings usually get looked at by a person before going live I believe. I have seen other reports of this happening by another seller lately as well. Anytime I list a knife or anything questionable, I notice it does not go live for a while before it pops up for sale.
the_og_surplus
OP3 years agoIf that is going to be their policy, then they need to not start the clock until it gets reviewed, and also have a set delay so sellers know. I start my auctions so they end at a certain time, so they need to just come out and say "In these categories listing will be delayed 24 hours to allow review, your listing will go live after a 24 hour delay"
That would be a fair system that doesn't rob sellers of 24 hours of visibility we pay for, but still let them do whatever "review" they feel they need to do.
topnotchtomes
·3 years agoI agree, I always feel cheated when my item doesn't go live right away, I feel like I am missing out on those customers that sort by newest listings. I wouldn't do auctions for this reason alone, never know when buyers will be able to view it.
monica-sells
·3 years ago"... I start my auctions so they end at a certain time,..."
this 'delay' or 'review' time does not change when the auction ends...does it? That is still determined by when you hit "Submit" ...no? The clock does not start when it is 'visible'?
don't misunderstand me....I do agree that that delay is detrimental to your visibility to a point...
the_og_surplus
OP3 years agoWhat I mean there is that they need to not start the clock until they pass the item from whatever review period. So if they are going to make a review period where an item isn't visible then the clock should start until then.
But, they shouldn't just start it randomly whenever someone approves it, it will need to be a known and consistent time period for the review, so people can still time our auctions to end as we wish. So if they need a review period it should be based on a set time period everyone is aware of. And only start the clock after that.
tshirtgalaxy
·2 years agoas a clothing seller really does only have delays on that and certain designer items. I tried hard to get an official answer from eBay on the phone and was just told to avoid this I should schedule my listings to drop in advance. Was very tight lipped about it being because it was military or up for review or anything…so it’s some sort of policy but not one they’re really trying to speak on.
the_og_surplus
OP2 years agoYeah, the lack of transparency and honesty on this is the worst part.
slyders_finds
·2 years agoNo chance they have a live person looking at sales. Lol.
soh.maryl
·2 years agoThe original message here is from 07/29/23. The OP appears to still be listing and selling, so it seems that this issue may have been resolved.
inhawaii
·3 years agoApparently, it is.
Me, you and many others continue to list and sell here.
the_og_surplus
OP3 years agoYes, and no. I list less here than I would for auction type items because of that. And I often throw things out on other platforms at the same time I list here and they sell before eBay buyers can even see them so eBay misses out on those fees.
I still list and sell here, yes, but less than I would if this wasn't an issue.