Might get me in the doghouse but I'd like to know
While searching eBay for gemstone chip beads I discovered something I found interesting and curious.
These are item numbers of some of the listings I considered purchasing from:
255877394233
125462854262
255385645807
200288177593
385293511287
234799709821
Of these six listing five have the usual sponsored ads appearing. One does not. After looking at that particular sellers store listings I am curious as to why the special treatment of no sponsored ads like the rest of us ?
(I also found a small volume seller of beads with no sponsored ads).
I don't want to create a ruckus but I'd really like to know how the rest of us sellers can enjoy ad free listings too?
31 comments
valueaddedresource
·3 years ago@b86fiero just FYI - I have it from fairly high up the food chain at eBay that this was a "bug" that has since been fixed.
No explanation for what caused the bug but I'm still thinking it may have been possible lingering code or somehow related to the old option to opt out of cross promotion (total guess on my part, no info provided by eBay to confirm or deny it).
I've checked the examples I had and they all appear to be showing PL ads now.
nuclearomen
·3 years agowhat exactly was the "bug" your mentioning? @valueaddedresource - since all of ebay is a "bug" they never fixed lol
nuclearomen
·3 years ago@valueaddedresource also - though, unrelated to specific issues here, found a new one this morn while going into Bulk Editor... apparently ALL of my Custom Bundle listings failed to update for reason "too many characters in Bundle Description" field of Item Specifics. OK...so ebay changed this (likely this new update) and as usual didn't mention a thing about it... well I had to go into every single one of those listings and edit the Bundle Descriptions to say "vinyl + flag" or similar to that. Since did that 4x of those have gotten views and watchers in past 2 hrs...so basically ebay was hiding ALL of those listings prior and didn't mention a thing about the bundle descriptions new change of character limit (still not sure what that limit is). Just figured I'd mention this.
valueaddedresource
·3 years ago@nuclearomen the issue raised in the OP was that some sellers seemed to be mysteriously exempt from having any Promoted Listings ads displayed on their listings at all.
I put out some inquiries trying to determine why that might be and the answer I received was it was a bug, though I was not able to get any specifics as to what kind of bug it might have been or why it would have caused what we were seeing only for a small handful of sellers.
Whatever the bug was, it has apparently now been corrected. If only all eBay bugs received such quick resolution, right? 😉
nuclearomen
·3 years agogot it...and, while you were posting this i was making a new listing and found another HUGE issue with a change they made...starting a new thread on it.
b86fiero
OP3 years agoGreat discussion everyone!
When I saw the first no ads listing and checked out that sellers store looking for what I hoped to purchase I wondered if the seller was an eBay employee with a side gig. But then immediately thought "no" because that type of employee perk would be easily found, publicized and create seller anger with the accompanying fall out. I forget the name of Griff's store so I couldn't check his listings for ads.
What I forgot that I already knew: When you create a listing it looks clean and uncluttered with sponsored ads. If you do a Search for your listing and click on it from search, it shows no sponsored ads. eBay does not show sponsored ads on your own listings to you. To see them you have to come in on a different browser not already attached to you or use someone else's phone or computer. From my observations the number of sponsored ads appearing per listing has definitely increased in the past two years, which makes listings with one or two sentences as the description pretty much disappear into the clutter. And with eBay now limiting the font size for new listings they are harder to read.
As an aside: One of the gemstone chips listings I looked at had the "Powered By Selling Manager Pro" icon at the bottom. That listing program was retired, what, ten years ago? I don't recall if it was one of the item numbers listed above in my original post or not as I looked at twenty or thirty search results plus accompanying store listings. I used Selling Manager Pro for years and when eBay removed the program those icons disappeared automatically. Glitch? Seemed odd to see that icon since BIN listings automatically renew every 30 days until ended.
Anyway, thanks everyone for sharing your knowledge and observations.
I am still curious about those no ads listings.
stainlessenginecovers
·3 years agoThose that 'sponsor' don't get 'similar sponsored items' (which is OTHER sellers items) across their listings BEFORE the written description; when they DO get them, it's below the written description and are items by the same seller, and states 'other sponsored items from this seller'.
valueaddedresource
·3 years ago@stainlessenginecovers sadly even that isn't true any more, or at least doesn't appear to be on any listings I've looked at in months.
That was one reason some sellers begrudgingly participated in PL - doing so would at least allow you to claw back some of cluttered ad real estate for your own listings.
But back in September, @nuclearomen had noted that no longer appeared to be the case. "Other sponsored items from this seller" was replaced with "related sponsored items" that are mostly competitors.
And that still holds true for every listing I've looked at since then at least. One or two of the seller's other promoted listings may be sprinkled in amongst all the others on the page but there's no longer a dedicated row of ads for that and it is by no means guaranteed.
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Finally-have-Sales-but-had-to-take-PLs-Promoted-Std-to-10-12-for/m-p/33211470/highlight/true#M2074635
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Promoted-Listings-No-Longer-Shows-quot-Sponsored-Items-From-This/m-p/33212912
nuclearomen
·3 years ago@valueaddedresource
CORRECT!
For 2-3+ years the ONLY reason most used PLS was because it allowed you to focus that first row on sponsored ads on your listing real estate back to YOUR listings - but ebay finally caught on to sellers using it as a means to self promote and they decided to screw that up like any other "edge" one may have had in their bags of tricks. It does in sense "level" the playing field - but the point was ebay should be promoting the seller of the listing more so then competitors. So OK, ebay finally got that message and changed that first row of sponsored listings yet again...now they do not specifically feature directly competitors listings either, but many times those sponsors are for items completely unrelated to your listing.
They still do feature your listings sponsored towards the bottom of the listing page, but it's more random then was before...one listing could be all your sponsored stuff and another listing for same category type of item may show only 1 or a few, and others may show none at all of yours... no one can figure it out, it's a mystery. Believe ebay purposely did it this way to take any possible edge you could have.
stainlessenginecovers
·3 years ago@valueaddedresource @valueaddedresource
I guess that depends on what you sell and what category you are in. All the 'other sponsored items', although not stating 'from this seller'- all the items shown are mine.
nuclearomen
·3 years ago@stainlessenginecovers nope they're not, maybe when YOU view it they are, but not for me, I just checked 5x of your listings. Your first listing did have mostly yours on the first bar but as I checked some others it wasn't, one listing didn't even have any of your listings sponsored at top.
valueaddedresource
·3 years ago@stainlessenginecovers @nuclearomen that's been what I've observed in the last few months as well. Sometimes you will see preferential display of some of that seller's other PL in the first ad section, sometimes not, but it is random and not guaranteed (or I should say not really random - most likely based on PL ad rates and other algorithmic factors.)
Absolutely agree it was an intentional change by eBay to give them more flexibility to show whatever ads they want in that valuable higher visibility spot- that's why they changed the name of that section so there is no longer an explicit expectation/obligation for them to show *only* that seller's other PL ads there.
stainlessenginecovers
·3 years agoYou may be correct; on the computer; but when using my phone which I have NEVER signed onto, all my listings show my listings on that first row (10 of 10 I checked). Since over 50% of purchases are now on the phone and probably another 25% are 'researched' on the phone but then finalized on a computer- it still a win to use PL. At least for now.
valueaddedresource
·3 years agoI had actually asked in the November monthly chat if eBay would ever consider an "ad free subscription" option where sellers could pay a monthly fee to remove PL ads from listings.
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Monthly-Chat-with-eBay-Staff/Monthly-Chat-November-9th-at-1-00-pm-PT/m-p/33347651/highlight/true#M29699
Maybe they already have something like that but it's invite only? Or maybe somehow some accounts were "grandfathered in" back when they took away the option to opt out?
valueaddedresource
·3 years ago@b86fiero I've also noticed all of the listings for a major brand toy/game company have zero PL ads shown as well.
I've suspected that may have been a favor after a major snafu in 2019 caused massive overselling of some products from that brand's eBay store, resulting in lawsuits and a tarnitioned image for both them and eBay....but I have no way to prove it. 😉
b86fiero
OP3 years agoI do recall the mess up in 2019 as it was reported in offsite news blogs.
kensgiftshop
·3 years agoIf you don't pay to promote your listings, you won't have sponsored ads showing on your listings
valueaddedresource
·3 years ago@kensgiftshop that has not been true since 2019 when eBay quietly killed the opt out function of "cross promotion".
b86fiero
OP3 years agoThanks for your reply. You are correct. I do recall the hoopla created when eBay ended the "cross promotion opt out" option. Much seller angst ensued and the selling board lit up with complaints.
So now I'm back to still curious and still wondering why some "from all appearances regular sellers" don't have sponsored ads on their listings. Neither of the two I noted are national chains or high volume sellers.
valueaddedresource
·3 years ago@b86fiero I was chatting with a friend who was following this closely back when they ended cross promotion opt out and he said he's seen a few of these "no PL accounts" over the years since and always suspected that (some?) accounts that had "opted out" prior to when the change was made were simply grandfathered in so they don't have any ads displayed on their listing pages.
Now whether that's true, and if so, whether it was intentional on eBay's part or possibly just a "technical issue" where some old coding or something stuck and they couldn't figure out how to opt those sellers in is anyone's guess.
But I do think something along those lines is at least plausible and it might make sense out of why some of the accounts you've seen are just regular/smaller sellers.
b86fiero
OP3 years agoI thought all listings showed sponsored ads that's why I was surprised to find a couple that didn't.
I recall posts from sellers when PL was first launched complaining ads were showing on their listings when they weren't using PL themselves.
So to not have sponsored ads appearing on my listings I would have to remove any and all promotions and take my chances that a buyer could find them in search.
Thanks for the insight.
valueaddedresource
·3 years ago@b86fiero sorry but that is incorrect info, that's how it used to work but not since 2019.
Previously "cross promotion" was a quid pro quo, voluntary program.
You could opt in to have your listings promoted on other sellers' listings that had opted in, but in return you would have other sellers' listings promoted on yours as well.
Or you could choose not to opt in, and forgo the possible "bump" from being cross promoted, but also then not have any other sellers' items shown on your listings.
They killed that opt out option in 2019 and the modern version of Promoted Listings is not voluntary and there is no (publicly advertised) way to opt out of having ads shown on listing pages.
I don't know why some sellers don't have them but it is definitely not an option that is available to all.
kensgiftshop
·3 years agoWhen I stopped promoting my listings years ago, I've never had any other ads on my listings.
b86fiero
OP3 years agokensgiftshop,
I just looked at two of your mug listings and yes, you do have sponsored ads appearing on your listings.
When you look at your listings you don't see them. eBay does not show you ads on your own listings. Same as I don't see them on mine but do see them on others.
wastingtime101
·3 years agoUse a different browser or private browsing window not logged in to eBay. You'll see ads on your listings if not logged in to your selling account.
(Assuming nothing else to interfere like browser plug ins.)
djvp53
·3 years agoOne of the item numbers you listed goes to an "item not found" page. When I checked the others, one didn't have ads from other sellers but I don't know if it's the same item where you found no other ads. When I looked at the listings that did have ads and clicked on "See other items," I found their other items had no ads. So listings for all these sellers show without ads at least some time.
Do you have a hypothesis as to why one seller might be different? Have you checked other sellers that share that differentiating characteristic to test your hypothesis that sellers with that particular characteristic are treated differently?
b86fiero
OP3 years agoNo hypothesis, I'm just very curious as to why that one seller didn't have ads on any of their listings when other sellers selling gemstone chips do. I honestly don't know why the majority of us sellers have ads all over our listings but apparently some sellers don't. Why don't all listings contain sponsored and suggested item ads like mine, and yours, and probably most everybody reading this.
I don't begrudge them the privilege of having clean listings uncluttered with ads. No competing ads vying for potential buyers attention to lure them away from what you're selling. We would all like that. I'm curious to know why they are given that privilege when the rest of us aren't. With all the promoted ads by sellers I was quite surprised to find any listing that did not contain them.
When I looked at the other listings offered by five of the buyers in their eBay store they all had ads appearing on each of their listings.
(As did many other listings I looked at, including those seller's stores, but did not note one their item numbers above as it would have been example overkill).
The one without ads on the listing I found in search had no ads whatsoever showing on listings within their eBay store.
As I mentioned I also found another seller of gemstone chip beads in my original search without ads appearing on her listings either. None on the listing returned by Search and none on any listing within her eBay store. That smaller seller offers more than just beads in her store. I did not post one of her item numbers as I believe she may frequent these boards and did not want to bring undue attention to her listings.
Are they listings offered by eBay employees? Who knows. I'm just curious.