Promoted Listings Dynamic Rate Minimum Now 5% - Check Your General Campaigns!
Apparently eBay has decided to react to investor concerns about weak Q4 revenue guidance by quietly ratcheting up the minimum for Promoted Listings General Dynamic Ads to 5%. 😡
Still shows a minimum of 2% for fixed rate
But the Dynamic ad rate cap is now a minimum of 5%
Not sure how that is impacting existing campaigns with a cap below 5% but my guess is those ads just may not be delivering at this time. I'd suggest checking your campaigns and ad reports if you have it set below 5% to see if/when performance may have been impacted.
I also suspect it's not a coincidence we are seeing more and more reports around here of those suggested rates ramping up, sometimes over 20%.
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/eBay-s-not-shy/m-p/34762314/highlight/true#M2481231
@devon@ebay @kyle@ebay @elizabeth@ebay - can you find out more information on this for us please, like when it started and why sellers weren't proactively informed? Or on the extremely off chance it's a glitch and not an intentional change, please report it to the appropriate teams. Thanks!
valueaddedresource
OP1 year agoFor those who have been following along, the Marketing Terms update eBay just dropped contains language that gives them a lot more leeway to make changes just like this with no notice to sellers in the future.
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/We-are-being-charged-for-a-what-quot-Halo-Attribution-quot/m-p/34835117/highlight/true#M2500221
https://pages.ebay.com/sell/pl/termsofservice.html
jupiter_collectibles
·1 year agoThis just proves that eBay is in desperation mode. It does nothing to help sellers and buyers. It only benefits eBay's bottom Dollar. It's truly sad and pathetic especially in Q4. Just when you think things couldn't get any worse eBay pulls something like this. The writing is on the wall for this company. It's time to abandon ship. It's truly sad because eBay used to be a viable platform to make money on selling items you no longer needed. People cannot afford to give eBay 40% of their profit while having to source the item and ship it...
vintagecraze50
·1 year agoIDK. I STILL DO WELL ON HERE. I just source inventory correctly, get these prices competitive, and I do not have to use huge promotional rates to get this stuff seen and sold. It depends on how highly saturated your category is, and also if you sell unique items that are usually not in high quantities on here. The killer on here is the huge inventory of goods from so many sellers and not enough buyers to buy.
valueaddedresource
OP1 year agoI'm just going to leave this here as well:
https://www.ebayinc.com/company/code-of-business-conduct-ethics/#empower-our-community
valueaddedresource
OP1 year ago@devon@ebay Seriously, eBay thinks they can just go in, stealth edit that policy page to remove any reference to a "bid range" and it's all cool?
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/ebay-advertising/promoted-listings/priority-campaign-strategy?id=5299#section6
This is absolutely reprehensible behavior as it clearly proves eBay is aware of the issue and chose to simply try to sweep it under the rug without so much as an acknowledgment of the edit on the policy page or the courtesy of an answer to this thread.
Luckily, we have the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
https://web.archive.org/web/20241115180726/https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/ebay-advertising/promoted-listings/priority-campaign-strategy?id=5299#section6
And so we're perfectly clear - just because it's been edited does not in any way negate the fact this is a predatory hidden junk fee.
eBay should be absolutely ashamed of themselves and never insult sellers' intelligence again by claiming to be their "partner" or that eBay only wins when sellers win.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·1 year agoTrust is SO important, yet ebay management has made the decision to drastically reduce what little trust many sellers still have in ebay. If I were a shareholder, I would be deeply concerned, because these continued missteps are not going to end well for ebay.
Someone really needs to tell ebay that its PR person might be able to keep positive stories in the conventional "news" via press releases, etc. But ebay is losing the battle badly on Facebook, on You Tube and IG, on Reddit, etc....those are the places that matter.
valueaddedresource
OP1 year ago@my-cottage-books-and-antiques well said! ðŸ‘
Can you imagine the headlines that would be running in several major mainstream media outlets right now if it was discovered that Amazon jacked up minimum ad rates 10X with no notice to sellers 2 weeks before Black Friday or right before Prime Day?
But eBay knows they won't get the same scrutiny as Amazon from the media and Lina Khan and others high up at FTC have deep financial and ideological ties to eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, including Omidyar Network literally underwriting the "hipster antitrust movement" that is the basis of the FTC's case against Amazon, so while I still highly encourage sellers to report this predatory price gouging...I'm also not holding my breath. 😞
mcdougle4248
·1 year ago@valueaddedresource
There is something wonky going on with my Dynamic campaign. I first noticed it a few days ago.
I have my Dynamic campaign set with a 12% ad rate cap + a 2% ad rate modifier. The listing I highlighted in the screenshot below has a 3.6% suggested rate for today. So, if the 2% ad rate modifier was applied correctly today's ad rate should be 5.6%, not 12%. I am not sure if this is a display issue as the listings that show up incorrectly are not the same listings every day.
valueaddedresource
OP1 year ago@mcdougle4248 wow, I really hope that is just a display issue, but either way that is....not right.
Please let me know if you see that wonkiness extend to what you actually end up getting charged in ad fees.
mcdougle4248
·1 year ago@valueaddedresource
Will do. I am keeping a close eye on the ad rates...like I do not have anything better to do lol
valueaddedresource
OP1 year ago@mcdougle4248 right, it's not like this is your prime selling season or anything huh? lol
It will just never, ever make sense to me how or why eBay thinks it is acceptable to do things like this with no announcement at any of time year, but especially right now.
And while it's obviously an especially terrible thing to do to sellers, if Jamie and CFO Steve Priest don't disclose what % of any (presumed) Q4 ad revenue growth was driven by these shady tactics on the next earnings call...I hope some shareholders might give the SEC an earful about that too.
valueaddedresource
OP1 year ago@devon@ebay @kyle@ebay @elizabeth@ebay can you get this issue @mcdougle4248 is showing escalated to the appropriate ads and technical teams please?
Apart from the other issues brought up in this thread, this one is clearly not how Promoted Listings General Dynamic ad rates are supposed to work.
mcdougle4248
·1 year ago@valueaddedresource @kyle@ebay @elizabeth@ebay
The previously shared listing has now been corrected/updated on the Advertising dashboard page. As of this morning, I am not seeing any new discrepancies, but I am closely monitoring my campaign.
continentalcollectibles
·1 year agoThis should be Posted to ever Seller complaining why their Sales have Stopped or dramatically slowed down, We did experiment with Paying the higher commission and Our sales Rocketed into the stratosphere, unfortunately we were paying to sell our items. the only one making money was eBay. Drop the Commission down to where you're breaking even, and You don't Sell anything.
And Sadley in our opinion this will not stop until you make eBay your partner, the Ultimate Goal is 50 percent for You and 50 percent for eBay.
and out of this YOU pay for your ITEMS, YOU pay for all your Returns, YOU pay for your employees and Help, YOU pay for all your utilities, Phone Internet, Insurance, Rent, more. It doesn't work. You will make more money flipping hamburgers or Greeting People at Walmart.
In eBays defense If it was our company I would also want to make as much as we could for our investors and of course the Directors of eBay. Unfortunately every day these Boards are full of Sellers Complaining that they have no sales and there are the normal replies, Alot of other options for Buyers Now Etsy, Amazon, The Economy, your items are flooded in the market, Its Summer, Its Winter, Its Spring, its Fall, Santa Broke his sled, And While Some of this is True and Not all eBays Fault. They need to hire someone that's actually been selling on here and can Give them a Real analytical explanation about if only eBay makes Money sooner or later no one will be selling on here but eBay themselves.
But what do we know this is only our Opinion, We will Continue Selling on here Making eBay money, and trying to make a little for us and employee a few people, been doing it since 1997 or 1998 under a few companies, Saw the Good Times and Now the Bad. Hopefully the Sales Pickup and eBay decides to leave some of the money in our account instead of theirs, Sorry for the Rant
jasoheat_0
·1 year agoat 50% i think the Big A is a better option as they have more services and customers . sale are almost dead here for me , no real growth for this platform in years ( except for fee and more and more ads that they push , , I was never a huge seller but typically about $3000+ a month , the past few months every month is 50% slower than the previous , this month so far is $472 ( $258 after selling costs ) , i end more listings on Ebay ( as they sell elsewhere ) then making actual sales here , promoted listings do not seem to work for me( so im cancelling them ) , hopefully things turn around , good luck
meme6253
·1 year agoThey need to stop passing their short comings onto sellers, At some point we will not be able to keep passing these increases onto the customer & then what!
vintagecraze50
·1 year agoThey are trying the pass the cost to the consumer in the UK, AS mercari is doing still. Poshmark, tried it but they saw a lot of sales decreases as customers abandoned their carts when they see the added fees that they have to pay.
fbusoni
·1 year ago@valueaddedresource
Nothing like a little holiday cheer from eBay.
Can you imagine what would happen to eBay's revenue stream if every single seller boycotted the company's "promoted listing" software -- which seems to not produce the desired results most of the time anyway?
vintagecraze50
·1 year agoOh God, I hope not. I got several years I need to stay on here before they go broke.
robbie31415
·1 year ago@valueaddedresource
Hey not sure when this change happened, but since it's related to the advertising sector, Priority campaigns now have a 0.20 minimum CPC, up from 0.02.
This probably got mentioned before lol, but I just noticed it at least.
valueaddedresource
OP1 year ago@robbie31415 I hadn't heard about that, thanks for sharing! Out of curiosity does anyone know what the previous minimum for Store Display ads was? It looks like that is at $0.20 per click now too.
robbie31415
·1 year ago@valueaddedresource
Store ads were always 0.20 I believe.
Made more sense. Becsuse it's advertising basically an entire category.
Now they brought all CPC with Priority campaigns up to .20.
valueaddedresource
OP1 year agoOk so I've confirmed that for Priority campaigns that use the Smart Targeting option which allows eBay to automate aspects of the campaign, the Maximum CPC rate cap setting now requires a minimum of $0.20 per click.
Priority Campaigns that use Manual Targeting with Fixed Bidding now show a minimum of $0.10, while also daring to suggest there exists a reality in which someone might want to pay as much as $100 per click on their ads.
As of today, eBay's policy page for Promoted Listings Priority Cost Per Click ads still shows the minimum at $0.02.
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/ebay-advertising/promoted-listings/priority-campaign-strategy?id=5299
I tried to get clarity on the Promoted General Dynamic changes in the Optimize Your Listings With Ads breakout sessions during yesterday's Winter Seller Check-In event, but my question in the Q&A section was not answered.
@devon@ebay @kyle@ebay @elizabeth@ebay @adsteam@ebay - it is absolutely egregious and unconscionable that eBay would make these changes and jack these rates up during critical Q4 shopping season with no announcement to sellers.
I would highly recommend you escalate this to the highest levels of the legal, compliance and ethics departments within your company immediately - that would be VP GM Global Ads Alex Kazim, Chief Legal Officer Samantha Wellington, Chief Risk & Compliance Officer Ryan Jones and Chief Ethics Officer Aaron Johnson.
As for sellers who use any of these eBay ad products - The FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection has recently begun enforcing rules about hidden junk fees, in addition to other bad business practices, and been doling out multi-million dollar settlements in the process.....I'll just leave these links here.
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/11/ftc-sends-more-17-million-consumers-harmed-brigits-deceptive-claims-junk-fees-confusing-cancellation
https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/
https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/
mcdougle4248
·1 year agoI stopped using Store ads at the end of July, and yes the minimum bid per click was $0.20 back then.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·1 year ago@valueaddedresource
No, I hadn't heard about that either. Odd, because I did attend the Seller Check In, but I heard nothing about either change to these minimums...and it sure seems like an update they would have wanted to share with us, ....you know, to keep us informed and all that transparency stuff.
tradewindsfolkart
·1 year agoAnd the most disturbing part is, that although I participate in all of the ad campaigns and was running any where from fixed 2% to dynamic with 2 to 4% caps and even dabbled in CPC, with decent exposure, the only items I EVER did or will promote at 5% plus 12.5% final value fees plus store fees, plus all these fees on my very heavy DIM ship items and tax, would be items I want to clear because they might be a poor performer. And that is exactly what is now rising to the top of the eBay main page... junk that people are trying to clear out and willing to forfeit approx 20-40% of their margin to get rid of. This is NOT a good model to attract new buyers to eBay. If I was a brand new buyer on eBay.. I would click off in one minute after viewing the first garage sale page of many, many junk promoted clearance items placed on top of some relevent good ones. The first page of competitors such as Etsy, Wayfair and Amazon, for now, have far more vibrant and relevant first page results. And most small sellers NEVER will or can afford to pay a minimum of $5/day to get on Google or other offsite ad spots. I feel that the LEAST eBay can do is advertise for some small business sellers on Google based solely on our 12.5% final value fees and store fees and our own listing quality, SEO and click through rate. After all, we spend countless hours on SEO for that purpose and eBay's benefit and we are rewarded as sellers with barely a drop of offsite visibility unless we pay even more for offsite ad campaigns. Maybe a new business model such as this for "small sellers" would attract back all the sellers that have left (and thus new deal seeking buyers as well to increase GMV). Or how about.. if we are not going to abandon the ad models, if you buy a store subscription, 100% of the subscription fee gets credited to your offsite ad budget, and for every offsite sale you land, 1% of your final value fee gets credited back to your offsite ad buget. After all, your great SEO brought that buyer to eBay. That would entice offsite participation. Amazing how eBay functioned as the leader for 30 years before any ad campaigns at all. Small sellers under $100k sales ABSOLUTELY DO NOT HAVE AN AD BUDGET that can compete with Temu offsite. Ebay must understand this as they are driving their sellers right off their platform to try to save their margins on platforms like Shopify, Mercari, and eBay UK now and many more that will pop up that are happy with a business model that collects solely store fees and payment processing fees, or pushes those fees to a buyer consumption model. But one thing FOR SURE we sellers cannot do is raise prices any higher to cover all these fees and campaigns. The buyer is tapped out! Do we have to wait for a retail apocalyptic crash to prove it? or wait...that is already happening.
vintagecraze50
·1 year agoYEP I NOTICE THE junk that at times dominates the search because the people selling the junk have HAD THE JUNK for years and not paying the current prices to obtain it. I call it the grandma’s attic folks. Not only do I see the junk items but the sellers with the junk pictures, and only 1 picture and you don’t know what the heck you are buying. ALL because they PROMOTED IT AT 600 PERCENT. you know grandma with her fingers with a 500 dollar ring. Looks REALLY REALLY BAD, lIKE SOMEONE IS GOING TO SPEND THAT MUCH WITH A PRESENTATION LIKE THAT. Lol!
vintagecraze50
·1 year agoI just saw one of these junk picture junk presentation 3 feedback sellers with an item that should be listed at about 200 bucks and they have it for 2 grand. Wowsa they must be promoting at 80 percent.
valueaddedresource
OP1 year ago@devon@ebay @kyle@ebay @elizabeth@ebay @adsteam@ebay - any info on this change that you can share?
devon@ebay
Hey @valueaddedresource! We have reached out to see if there any insight that we can share and if we hear back we will be sure to share.
valueaddedresource
OP1 year agoThanks @devon@ebay !
dolcetreasures
·1 year agoThis website is completely floundering.
valueaddedresource
OP1 year ago@dolcetreasures yep....as @my-cottage-books-and-antiques said, the desperation is on full display. 😞
Maybe sellers should join together for a 30 day no promoted listings sobriety solidarity challenge to support eBay in getting clean and beating their adoholism problem.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·1 year ago@valueaddedresource 😂 great idea!
Originally the Ads Team was supposed to be focused on increasing sales velocity (and thus GMV), but it clearly is now designed to increase revenue, and they have found easy ways to do it...just make some rule changes: increase the minimum, change the fee from item price to Total price, the halo rule....all aimed at easily increasing revenue without having to increase sales.
dolcetreasures
·1 year agoThe writing is on the wall, it’s time to get out of here before the fee structure becomes even more burdensome. They are clearly aiming for the jugular.
vintagecraze50
·1 year agoVelocity can be achieved but the pricing has to be competitive with all the rest of these sites. If you cannot accomplish this it is a fail.
vintagecraze50
·1 year agoTHAT’S FUNNY. I am a mental health counselor I can help. PromotaPhobia. Newest addition to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of ebay disorders.
vintagecraze50
·1 year agoEvery seller on here CAN benefit from the ads. It just depends on your cost of goods, how many of your items you want to promote, even ONE ITEM promote at 50 percent might just drive that customer to your other items as well. Ebay is not telling you you have to promote anything, or promote at high high promotes. Use it judiciously to help your business in ANY way you can while this continues to be a way for ebay to stay afloat in this sea of internet marketplaces. I am impressed that they are still here for us, and hope they stay for a long time.
vintagecraze50
·1 year agoNo, not for them if they continue to scrape more from the promoted listings. It is one of their PRIMARY sources of income.
vintagecraze50
·1 year agoIt makes up for the LOSS of customers on here overall. The internet is a fiercely competitive playground saturated with all sorts of choices fro buyers.
vintagecraze50
·1 year agoThey need a BRING THE CUSTOMERS BACK PROMOTION.
caldreamer
·1 year agoAs long as "fixed rate" remains at 2% am okay with that. I don't use "dynamic promotion" where EBAY automatically adjusts the rates up and down (all that does is compete with other sellers and give ALL the money to EBAY).
valueaddedresource
OP1 year ago@caldreamer totally understandable but that's why the Dynamic ad rate cap is so important for those who use it - it allows sellers to take advantage of the ability for the rate to fluctuate to be more competitive...up to a point that is within the seller's control.
If, as I suspect, eBay is just simply not serving ads for those who have a Dynamic campaign with a cap below 5%, it might at first glance seem counterproductive to have just turned those ads off rather than warning sellers and encouraging them to increase the cap.
But eBay doesn't particularly care which seller makes a sale and basically turning off a bunch of ads at lower rates would just tip things further in favor of sellers who had already opted in to higher rates, making it more likely eBay will be able to take that higher percentage.
It's super sneaky too because those who already have their rate cap set at 5%+ won't question it, since they were already expecting to pay that rate any way, and may even be cheering if their sales go up, with no one even realizing it's because eBay put their big heavy thumb on the scales to goose the numbers.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·1 year ago@valueaddedresource
Absolutely disgraceful. This should have been part of the October Seller Update. There is NO excuse for not including this in the Update. Even if this is only a test, it should have been announced.
Almost 30 years, and this company STILL does not understand the importance of transparency and seller engagement.
As to the change itself, it reeks of desperation. I've said it before, ebay has become an adoholic, and that might keep them stay afloat short term, but it is not a long term solution, and the sooner they realize that, the better.
valueaddedresource
OP1 year ago@my-cottage-books-and-antiques agree 100%!
Jamie and VP Ads Alex Kazim should be ashamed. And the timing of it all too - casting eBay as Scrooge or the Grinch in the small business holiday story is certainly....a choice.
Sadly I don't expect there will be feel good, warm and fuzzy, change of heart at the end of this tale.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·1 year ago@valueaddedresource
This definitely doesn't appear to be a glitch.
True, for now, you can still set a minimum of 2%, but this change suggests that if you do set a rate below 5% in the Fixed Rate module, you can expect very little in the way of impressions. While some sellers might find that a fixed rate of 2, or 3, or 4% is still viable, I suspect most will find that, for all practical purposes, 5% is effectively (if not yet officially) the new minimum.
valueaddedresource
OP1 year ago@my-cottage-books-and-antiques I completely agree it does not appear to be a glitch...I mostly just threw that in there as an attempt to be charitable and maybe even provide a gracious way out of this mess for eBay. 😂
But no, I don't really believe there is any way this is anything but a very intentional money grab at the worst possible time of year for sellers.
Also agree on your thoughts about where this is going - the fact is, if sellers using the Dynamic option are forced to a 5% minimum, that will naturally raise the competitive bar and reduce performance for fixed rate below that amount, which will likely basically make 5% the de facto minimum eventually there too.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·1 year ago@valueaddedresource Sadly, I suspect that from a functional viewpoint, this probably made sense....since the cap is related to the recommended rate, if there are NO recommended rates below 5% anymore (which would not surprise me in the least),then why allow a cap of 4%?
As I say, some seller might find a fixed rate less than 5% is still worthwhile for their business, but I think it is going to be more and more difficult to really get much benefit from anything less than 5%.
But again, there is simply NO excuse for not announcing this.
zamo-zuan
·1 year agoFor me, the highlighted area is the core of the issue. It has *already* become an "ad-race" where we had to be above 5%. But is this really because competitors are putting in higher ad rates than us? Or is it because eBay itself is pressuring these ad rates?
If the price of an item is straight from manufacturer retails for $100, and all the most competitive sellers are priced at $105 or less, how on earth is it that we currently need to hit 8% ad investment to get any significant traffic?
Also simply speaking to the sellers (as motors sellers often network with each other) we know they aren't investing so high.
When the site is literally designed around "more ad investment" rather than actual healthy competition, what way is there to go but down?
valueaddedresource
OP1 year ago@zamo-zuan was just thinking of you while watching a YouTube video discussing the changes where one seller said they don't think it's a big deal because if you were using Dynamic you were likely already at 8-10% or more any way since 2-5% isn't much room for Dynamic to swing.
Setting aside that ignores the broader knock on effects that could put pressure on those who don't use Dynamic that we've discussed here, my first thought was...he clearly doesn't sell in Motors or know anyone who does. 😂
zamo-zuan
·1 year agoAbsolutely. Being in Motors makes it quite easy to get a bigger picture of what's going on, not just when getting items straight from manufacturer, but also monitoring aftermarket/MAP pricing/etc. You're not legally allowed to go under certain prices on products with MAP pricing, and the manufacturers are transparent about the cheapest possible prices wholesalers can have. So eBay truly opens the curtain and reveals the truth when their ad recommendations are literally double the maximum ad number that you'd be able to make a profit with.
Also in my earlier example, I had simplified it to be as easy as possible for readers to understand. But just imagine when with our real numbers, we're set on the high end at 8%... And eBay is recommending 18.8%! Even with straight from manufacturer prices, it's impossible to be competitively priced while having that high of an ad rate. Whoever is in charge has lost their mind.
vintagecraze50
·1 year agoCottage, why would ebay even want to discuss a price increase with us. YOU think that would be met with a sea of hurrahs and back slaps. I think not. Go with the flow until it stops flowing. LOL!
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·1 year ago@vintagecraze50
Why would ebay "discuss" it with us?
ebay has never "discussed" price increases with us LOL I wouldn't expect them to start now.
This is about having the integrity to merely INFORM us of the change in a way that is designed to actually INFORM....not to hide these changes. I'm not one to talk about "class action" suits and so forth, but it is possible ebay might even be in violation of some laws or regulations here.
I'm frankly a little gobsmacked that you are brushing this off so easily. ebay knows the change will be unpopular, so of course ebay is going to hide it, because they don't want to deal with angry sellers? You really feel that because it is an unpopular decision, ebay is justified in trying to conceal it?
ebay is a business. They sometimes make unpopular decisions. Standing up and taking the criticism for those decisions is what companies with integrity do. It is the very least we should expect from our "partner" (a word they use when it suits them, a word they avoid when it doesn't)
valueaddedresource
OP1 year ago@my-cottage-books-and-antiques there is precedent as well - I'm sure they didn't really want to deal with the backlash when they went from 1% to 2% either but yet they did at least send out an email notice to sellers about it.
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Promoted-Listings-Standard-Ad-Rate-Minimum-Increasing-1-to-2/m-p/33003306#M2017617
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·1 year ago@valueaddedresource Exactly. And sellers DESERVE notice. It's a basic sort of thing. But we're seeing too much of this "just slip it in there and hope they don't notice" sort of thing, which demonstrates enormous disrespect for the seller base. These increases? We can do nothing about them. We can complain, but they will be what they are. And we WILL adapt. That's what ebay sellers do.
My complaint is not so much the increases themselves. (not that I'm happy about them) It's the NONDISCLOSURE that is THE issue in my mind. And to simply ignore these changes at the Seller Check In, when they had the opportunity to rectify this and announce the changes? Or announce them in the recent October Update?
The lack of announcement is INEXCUSABLE. And I fear this is just the beginning. Once ebay realizes that they can get away with this, that some sellers will even make excuses for this behavior, we'll just see more and more of this, with sellers being completely blindsided by changes designed to increase ebay's revenue at our expense.
I have ALWAYS advised sellers to keep up with Announcements, to attend Check Ins, etc.....to being informed, so that they don't end up coming here and asking : "Since when did ebay start charging a fee on sales tax?" But that advice is worth much less now, because ebay is PROVING it doesn't matter all that much....because it is impossible to stay informed through those channels about changes that are not announced.
Changes like this are like landmines for unwary sellers.
zamo-zuan
·1 year agoHonestly, eBay has been doing this type of thing for years, what we're seeing now is the results of them already feeling like they could get away with what they want.
I can think back to I believe it was 2016-2017, when they sent an announcement to all sellers that MPN enforcement was going to become a thing at the end of the year, and they will have a tool in summer to prepare our listings. Then they sent out a 2nd email, "We heard you" - MPN requirement enforcement will be delayed another year. Then in June, we suddenly had THOUSANDS of listings taken down for not having an MPN! We worked with eBay supervisors and confirmed what happened. Then to pour salt on the wound? They sent out an email: "In July we will begin enforcing MPN requirements" - without any tools to assist with moving to the new requirement - and after saying they would NOT begin it for another year - but in reality they started it in JUNE before they even made the announcement that it would indeed be happening SOONER than they ever announced!
A number of staff members we worked with had confirmed with us that the listings being taken down harmed our sales history and had done PERMANENT damage to our traffic/impressions that we had never recovered from. I still have graphs somewhere when they sent as evidence of this.
Then in 2020 I had reported issues with our promotions - https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Potential-problem-with-Promoted-Listings-impressions/td-p/31213970 - replied from eBay - https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Potential-problem-with-Promoted-Listings-impressions/m-p/31218118/highlight/true#M1644310
They were doing an UNANNOUNCED TEST that only affected SOME sellers, and literally crashed our impressions. Which is outrageous, as they were testing on the LIVE site which is not only unfair in terms of competition, but could ruin the livelihoods of businesses.
Turns out this "test" was for increasing the minimum PL investment from 1% to 2% - which went active for everyone 1 year later.
In other words, they have been "unannounced testing" features up to a year in advance and targeting ONLY CERTAIN SELLERS. Imagine all the people out there who didn't figure out what was happening and got stuck with the massive drop in impressions & no reason as to why?
This also explains why the sudden drops only affect some sellers on here, and not everyone. The worst part being that the changes are UNANNOUNCED - if we knew we had to invest more in promotions ahead of time we could have.
Question is, how many times has this happened undiscovered?
And I won't even bother venturing in to the subject of eBay's secret agreements with different sellers, including the when they provided "Fulfilled by eBay" for international sellers, all while advertising "eBay doesn't have warehouses nor sell our own products" when they essentially are with these secret agreements and terms that are unfair for the rest of the sellers competing with those sellers that eBay has invested in.
So this is nothing new for eBay, the only difference now is it's blatant for everyone to see. But we've had to deal with these eBay "secrets" damaging our business for many years now.