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eBay you’ve completely wh***d up the item page
An ebay item page how has these blocks/rows:
- The seller’s item
- “Similar sponsored itemsâ€
- “Related sponsored itemsâ€
- Seller’s specifics
- Seller’s info
- Seller’s items currently on sale
- “Visually similar sponsored itemsâ€
- Seller’s ratings
- “Explore related sponsored itemsâ€
- “Sponsored items from top sellersâ€
- “People also viewedâ€
- Then 5 more rows of “Find more sponsored itemsâ€
More than half the bloody page space is now something other than the product you clicked on!
I believe that too many choices leads to no choice being made. It's to the point where I can barely stand to shop here. This page design is a mistake and I think its costing sales.
Compare ebay’s page layout to an Amazon page layout. Amazon is a much simpler, cleaner design with fewer "distractions". Sure, there is some “people also viewed†blocks but the focus is still on the product you clicked on and nowhere near the overkill of ebay’s “sell some other sellers item†design.
Having so many “sponsored†items on a seller’s item page seems to suggest ebay is more interested in selling advertising than selling products.
So are our listings for selling products any more or just for facilitating space for advertising?
Sorry, rant off. I feel better now, thanks for listening.
kh-jean
·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.
tstbay
·2 years agoBravo to you!
I am NOT a seller, just occasional "customer", but your commentary is better than I could conceive esp the insight on the stupid page layout that doesn't serve me as much as it doesn't serve you. Those PLUS Ebay's combination of arrogance, idiocy and insipidness of layering row after row of things that MIGHT perk my interest vs putting all the meat of the item I'm considering in plain view has been gnawing at me for about 1.5 yrs. I was an Amazon follower until they started providing similar **BleepS** on search results. Ebay won me over about 3 years ago - and while I might look to AMZ for comparison had found Ebay to be better to navigate with equal or low net costs so a switch was logical I don't recall last time I bought from AMZ for my needs.
I hope "we" win...
No insult intended, FWIW I've enjoyed thinking about what you must have been selling to present your business as "Big Texas Yard Sale". Sweet Jesus 🙂
Good day,
tstbay
Unavailable member
·2 years agoOld thread from July 2023
sumsum70
·3 years agoI don't use PL, never will and never even investigated it's terms. That being said, what would stop a seller from promoting something at the maximum rate just to redirect them to the same thing for less? If you don't pay PL if something doesn't sell, then what would prevent this scenario:
Promoted item title: "Ten Pound 24K Gold Brick - See Details for 15% Discount"
Promoted item description: "I sell this exact same item for 15% less, check my other listings for '160 Ounce Gold Brick"
Non-promoted item title: "160 Ounce Gold Brick"
the-hook-and-the-loop
·3 years agoI'm pretty sure this is why eBay and it's infinite wisdom created "THE HALO SALE". One of eBay's most recent addendums to their promoted listings experiment. If a buyer clicks on one of a seller's promoted items, but doesn't buy it, but still buys SOMETHING from that seller, it's considered a HALO sale. Seriously, you can't make this up. Well, now every time a repeat customer visits my store that has purchased the same item over and over, eBay says it was SOLD VIA PROMOTED LISTINGS. They have tweaked it to make almost all sales SOLD VIA PROMOTED LISTINGS.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·3 years ago@the-hook-and-the-loop
That's a common misunderstanding about the "halo" PLS, but it doesn't work that way.
In this case, the second item is (presumably) an organic item that is NOT in a PL campaign. The halo does not apply.
Let's say I click on a link from the first listing, which takes me directly to the second listing. IF the second listing IS in a PLS campaign, even though I'm viewing it as an organic listing, then yes, the halo fee for that campaign will apply.
But if the second listing is NOT in a PLS campaign, there will be no halo fee.
Maybe the easiest way to think about this: The Halo effect applies the PLS fee carried by the second item, not the PLS fee carried by the first item. But if the second item isn't in a PLS campaign, there's no fee to apply.
siamjane8
·3 years ago@my-cottage-books-and-antiques
Your explanation of halo is pretty comprehensive and does make it sound less offensive but it's not 100% accurate. Everything you said is correct but omits the fact that it does NOT have to be a direct link from 1st to 2nd listing like you said.
If I click on any PL that a seller has eBay makes a note of that...... Then at any time in the next 30 days if I were to click on an organic listing from the same seller (yes- this listing needs to be promoted as well but under normal circumstances would NOT trigger the PL fee because it was found in organic search)- halo scam goes into action and triggeres the fee(at the PL rate of the second item).
Now imagine a seller has many items and they are promoted and as people click on them but don't buy, it's resetting that 30 day halo effect every click..... It's basically promising that if you promote, you will never sell an item without that PL fee again even though eBay says it will still show your listings as organic.
It very complicated and with zero transparency by design.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·3 years ago@siamjane8
I was not trying to provide a comprehensive explanation of the Halo Rule. I was explaining why the Halo Rule would not prevent sumsum70's scenario from working, which involved a buyer going from Item A to B in about 30 seconds, not 30 days. There was no need for me to explain everything about the Halo Rule. I've done that in the past, especially back when the Rule was first announced.
" It's basically promising that if you promote, you will never sell an item without that PL fee again even though eBay says it will still show your listings as organic."
Nope. And that sort of overstatement is one reason so many people think that the Halo fee will apply to all of their listings. Accurate information is important. The impact of the Halo rule can be reduced, but you need to understand what the rule actually does... and what it doesn't do.
Also, you say my post makes it sound "less offensive". As I've said, my post was about one point only, I wasn't trying to make it sound "less offensive", I was sticking to the issue at hand. There was no need to provide my opinion about the Halo Rule in that post, but to be clear: I despise, revile and loathe it. ebay's pathetic attempt to justify it as a benefit for sellers was an insult to my intelligence and the rule should be done away with, and ebay should apologize to us for having inflicted this disgraceful money grab and trying to disguise it as a benefit.
Hopefully, that give you some idea about how I feel about it.
But it's here, it isn't going away, and if we are going to deal with it we should fully understand it. I've seen YouTube gurus, self styled ebay experts, who still don't understand it, so I do try to provide correct information here on the Board at least.
siamjane8
·3 years ago@my-cottage-books-and-antiques my post was not meant to suggest anything negative about your post. In fact I meant it to be complimentary. I was just extending more info about the depths that eBay will go to separate sellers from their money for doing nothing for unsuspecting sellers who do not know. If they would put 1/2 the effort into meaningful changes (or go back to what worked) instead of money grabbing schemes, the entire platform would be better off.
I do appreciate your true feelings about the halo effect. Thanks for sharing. It says allot about who you are (in a good way) and your ability to reason and see things for what they are- I can respect that for sure.
Some things are definitely open to our opinions, but the halo effect has zero benefit to anyone- you described it wellðŸ‘ðŸ˜
jasoheat_0
·3 years agoebay is in DESPERATION mode , this CEO is a JOKE
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·3 years ago@sumsum70
Well, offhand, I suspect ebay would consider the first listing a listing violation....search manipulation, GTC listing duplication, and/or fee avoidance come to mind.
Also, there's no guarantee that even a crazy high rate---say, 100%---will get you a click. Impressions, yes, a click, not necessarily. Especially when it's entirely possible that your own listing at a lower price could be shown on the same page as your PL listing....so if the buyer was intersted at the lower price, he'd probably click on that one anyway.
But, hey, it might not be a rule violation, I'm no expert, so you could always try this and see how it works.
sumsum70
·3 years agoI have no intention of trying PL for any reason, but it just seems if you sell something that has trouble getting seen, and you are willing to use PL, why couldn't someone use it to be seen, priced high enough that no one buys, and worded to redirect. Duplicate listing example is easily overcome, "I sell two 5lb gold bricks for 15% less"
slippinjimmy
·3 years agoA couple of points......
1 - This is not a new thing, promoted listings have been appearing on seller listing pages for quite a few years. It has only been very recently that sellers see them when they look at their own listings.
2 - Up until the recent testing of new layouts of the Listing Page there were 4 or 5 lines BEFORE the Item Specifics and Seller Description section. This means the current 2 lines are actually an improvement.
As far as the ones that come after your description and Seller info, how many people scroll down that far, for the ones that do how many were actually getting ready to click the buy button on your listing before being distracted.
toomuchstuffagain35
·3 years agoWith all the scroll bars of other items it makes sense to add more text to the actual description than the one line repeat the title so many do.
The more description you have the further down the page the other scroll bars appear.
siamjane8
·3 years ago@slippinjimmy if nobody looks down to see the scrolling bars anyway... Then why does eBay put then there? The point is that they need screen space to add more PL to get competition up to raise the promoted listing rate. So even though those listing see little to no traffic, they are using unsuspecting sellers to artificially raise the"suggested rate".
Either way it's just a scam. PL gives the sellers less and less value and cost more and more, all the while making for a more and more frustrating buyer
search experience.
jasoheat_0
·3 years agoyour absolutely right , but i think ebays ad rates are a complete HOAX , let me explain i was doing research for a listing and ebay showed only 2 other item on ebay ( that were the same ) and no others even close , ebays suggested ad rate 9% , so i called ebay ( wait were not allowed to call anymore WHAT A JOKE ) i had ebay call me back and asked the rep why there was such a high ad rate for an item like this when there wer so few options to purchase , he stated you shouldnt have to promote this listing , never got a response on why the ad rate was as high as it was ... NEVER TRUST EBAY .. and i still sell on ebay but nowhere near as much as i use to EBAY has lost my trust , sad what is happening to this company ...sell locally for less and make more thats my new motto
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·3 years agoSounds like Customer Service gave you good advice----no need for PLS in that case. Since CS isn't privy to the details of the PLS algo, I don't see how he could provide an answer to "why is it 9%"?
I really don't understand why so many sellers seem to be so obsessed with the suggested rates.
ekmadonna
·3 years agoI really don't understand why so many sellers are obsessed with PL Period!
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·3 years ago@ekmadonna Well, neither do I. It isn't going anywhere. It's here. It's a tool. Use it or not. If you are going to use it, take the time to understand what you are doing. If it helps you, great. If it doesn't, don't use it.
ekmadonna
·3 years agoIt is a tool, an extraction tool, kind of like the one's the Dentist Office uses.
jasoheat_0
·3 years agoheres what i would say about this tool( THATS A JOKE ) , has it driven GMV up NO has it retained more customers NO , so how does it help ... other than paying ebay more ad fees ... i see absolutely no advantage as my sales have been. falling for months , down over 70 % and that is when i had ( past tense ) everything promoted .. EBAY is in a desperate place searching for growth anywhere they can( and that appears to be ad fees as thats the only thing growing ) ... lets not forget we are down to 2013 numbers when it comes to GMV , 25 % of the customers have left ... yet ad fees and more options for ad fees go up JOKE OF A CEO hahahaha
siamjane8
·3 years agobecause if eBay is falsifying the suggested rate to truck people into paying more..... Don't you think that is a reason to be weary of d while program. eBay has lost the trust of its core customer base over the years with these schemes and has never been able to regain it.
jasoheat_0
·3 years agoyes but its getting worse ... its like a salad plate ... its crazy sensory over load , guess ebay is really desperate for those ad fees ... GMV is down to where it was in 2013 / a loss of 25% of there customers in 5 years / market falling ... wow guess its the only thing going up so SPREAD it THICK everywhere and make it a salad ... sorry its ridiculous in my opinion
sfau
·3 years agoAgree - you have to really concentrate to not get distracted and forget what you were looking at....
siamjane8
·3 years agoThat is the problem that we are still trying to get across to eBay. It's eBay that is driving the customers away with all the PL and terrible search algorithms.
Of course there must be a set of parameters for the search to work within BUT relevancy should be 80% not 5%. I mean this is basic stuff here that they are screwing up.
toomuchstuffagain35
·3 years agoYep.
"going down the rabbit hole" has a whole new meaning now on ebay.
krazzykats
·3 years agoAnother community member called it "Choice Paralysis".
I know I have it, but haven't seen a doctor about it yet. 🤣
new_spin_boutique
·3 years agoIt's a very real thing. That's why infomercials order the customer to "Pick up the phone and call now, don't wait"... because if the customer has to make a decision, they won't.
Paralysis through analysis.
For the same reason most school-aged children struggle with math they also struggle with the problem-solving task of making a purchasing decision.
eBay is basically asking their customers to engage in a problem solving puzzle with each potential purchase.
selsa84
·3 years agoKinda like when I click on a book about Colorado and it'll say similar items and I see gym shorts that have the word Colorado on them and next item will be a map of Persia. Absolutely brilliant ai.
ltldpr
·3 years agoSame with a search. Earlier in the week, this happened and I commented about it:
I just searched for sold/completed items with the following words (without the quotation marks): "8 point reproduction small clear glass pulls"
And it found zero results but showed me several types of pulls which is fine, several 6" and 8" Subwoofers (the 8 was at least a match) and several things related to the Titanic (so weird), including this: "Titanic Pocket Watch Rose Jack Leonardo DiCaprio Kate Winslet Movie Fob Chain UK".
That last one and several others have absolutely nothing to do with pulls, 8, glass - it's not even a knob or handle.
I don't call it AI.
I call it AU - Artificial UNintelligence.
It can't even tell the difference between a recalled tea kettle and a non recalled creamer - I guess because they both have a handle.
ms.rodriguez*
·3 years agoColorado means red in Spanish too I bet you got some red items and also the Chevy Colorado truck. If you found an ad for a diecast Colorado truck, that one might be one of my listings. The search is pretty bad. Sometimes, the items are not related at all.
selsa84
·3 years agoAgree with you. Search is the worst it's ever been. I have "pocket map" as a saved search and it constantly shows me pants, shirts and shorts because they have the word pocket in the title, and they are always sponsored listings / promoted. I use to purchase around $30,000 a year on ebay collecting books and such and it's probably down to about $5,000 or less now. They are shooting themselves in the foot with all the nonsense. Most of my great finds are on auction sites and private sales now.
sumsum70
·3 years agoI sold more on Pittsburgh CL this week than eBay. When someone clicks an item there, that is the only thing they see. Looks and functions about the same for the past 20 years. Thank goodness eBay never succeeded in ruining Craigslist during the few years they were a minority shareholder.
I've never had a FB account, but some people I know are doing very well selling locally on MP.
eBay's constant scheming to squeeze money out of sellers and stupid ads all over the item page just tells me eBay must be short of buyers.
siamjane8
·3 years agoI think what you are saying is universally agreed upon but 95% of all sellers. We are sick of the ads and promoted listings screwing up the sales. As a buyer I don't want to see 115 ads on the page that I clicked on. I want to see that item.
The data is public knowledge. eBay sales and gmv have been in a landslide since they started pushing PL. How are they misinterpreting the data?
a_c_green
·3 years agoWhile I don't disagree with the sentiments expressed in this thread (at all), I do think there might be a little "correlation without causation" going on here, in that eBay has known for some time now that their fortunes are on the decline, and Promoted Listings is simply the latest attempt to generate income from the remaining business being transacted here. I don't think that PL was a direct cause of whatever landslide might be occurring. I think it was more an effort to shore up their GMV by trying to invent a new revenue stream.
(Full disclosure: I don't use PL and I doubt that I ever will, as I sell in such a niche market that I don't think there's too much competition to worry about; I just need eBay for its worldwide market of potential buyers.)
siamjane8
·3 years ago@a_c_green I do agree with you that Pl are not the sole cause of the decline and I do agree as well that it is something that they are frantically trying to implement to stop the fiscal bleeding...... Many seasoned sellers are about to see the data and really tie it more and more to the search. More and more listings are effectively hidden from view because relevant results have been replaced by very poor AI and spirits that are weighted far too much on PL.
My wife used to work in retail and her manager always said "people cannot buy what they cannot see". You could put a 5 year old camera on to of the counter with a 5% off sign and it would sell out. When is in a cabinet, it will never sell..... That is effectively what eBay search has become.... Our listings are stuck in a cabinet.
I run hundreds of unique searches on eBay in many categories daily, most end in Google to find active eBay listings. It's not a leap to realize that its the same challenge others have in finding my items s well.
bigtexasyardsale
OP3 years agoI ran an search experiment and its bad. I came up with 1900+ items with the default "Newly Listed". Sort to "Best Match" and the count drops to 1700+ items. Sort to "lowest price" and it drops to 160 items. Where did all the other items go??????? And yes there was no "we reduced the amount of items displayed, click here to see them" message. Search is broken, plain and simple. eBay, talk about shooting yourself in the foot.
jasoheat_0
·3 years agobecause they do not seem to care ,but thats also the reason there are so many competitors as ebays market share keeps sliding , sad what is happening to ebay .. SELL LOCALLY for less and make more... my new motto
jasoheat_0
·3 years agosame here , ever since march , ( whatever ebay did and they did something ) my sales locally have been growing ( as my ebay sales have fallen over 70%) ... its crazy , but i can sell cheaper and make more money ... Heres another reason to sell locally , the new USPS ground select advantage ( word salad ) rates are crazy 2oz is now 6.99-9.03, well theres alot of items i will no longer sell on ebay just because of these new rates ... SELL LOCALLY
tstbay
·2 years agoI agree, and I'm starting to become on of those - not a Seller
Good Day!