SELLING
I would just like to make a comment about the extent eBay is going to make additional money by promoting stores that sellers can pay extra for them to do so. It sickens me that when a customer pulls up one of my listings, all the work, taking pictures etc., I do, they advertise another store that sells basically the same items as the listing a customer pulls up of mine and maybe its lower, maybe its higher but that is not the case, they are taking a potential customer away from my store they found through search!
They put: "Find similar items from (they list the store name) and show the item and then give them a link to click on to go to the other store." This is so wrong, so wrong, I did not do my listing to draw someone to my item to sell so that eBay can advertise another seller's store, and it is even shown before my own!
foster9
·10 months agoThose promoted items tend to be 2-3 times more than what the item is worth because the seller is including the promotion fee into the cost of item.
Widget from seller X with promoted listing-$15.99
Same widget from seller Y without promoted listing-$4.99
chapeau-noir
·10 months agoI agree - it's crap, and obviously wedging it in for even more monetization.
The tortured reasoning on this thread on why it's OK doesn't change my mind, mostly because it's such an obvious ploy. *
ETA: Maybe OP buys overstock.
*Obvious ploy on the part of eBay.
12345jamesstamps
·10 months agoThe photos you use kinda look generic like from other platforms...
Realistically, I can't imagine a seller having thousands of hats, thousands of shirts, thousands of figurines sitting at home or even in a garage collecting mildew or smells from boxes.
Kinda looks like 'drop shipping' from other platforms...but I could be wrong.
gurlcat
·10 months agoIt's 1001 listings, most of which have variations (some a LOT of variations) and yes it appears they use stock images. But I don't think they're dropshipping. If they were, there would be at least 1 or 2 neutral or negative comments about it. And in their response to a comment they mentioned how "the staff" had double-checked the buyer's order before shipping.
So this is just a bigger size seller with employees and (surely) a climate controlled warehouse, or maybe even a brick and mortar store that also lists items here.
le-5262
·10 months agoIn theory...
you just hope that there's enough customers for everybody.
but there is one thing that kinda bothers me when I'm searching for comparisons
You think you are seeing all of the listings for something
but if you click on say the most expensive of the listings
you end up seeing similarly priced items that don't come up in the initial search.
Probably just me, though...
tobaccocardyahoo
·10 months agoThere are more offers of many items than there are buyers for them. Promotion allows sellers to improve the visibility of their items.
Sellers can and should consider the amount of competition BEFORE they acquire items for sale. If you need to promote at 14% you had better have a lot of margin, and depth of product.
You are high volume and a Top Rated Seller, you are probably faring better than other sellers, in spite of their promotion.
gurlcat
·10 months agoAnd if ^that^ is an annoying thread reply to scroll, imagine you're not just killing time reading posts in the Community but a buyer trying to find the best option for something you need to buy. And every listing is a psychotic mess like THAT.
reallynicestamps
·10 months agoAnd that seller did the same work to set up their listing that you did, then went further... they paid either for Promoted Listings, accepting higher fees for better visibility in Search, or for that ad that turned up on your page.
The other seller did more than you.
toysaver
·10 months agoEBay is not hiding this from anyone. You know this is going on and can price accordingly. You have to make your listings more attractive than the others. Competition drives capitalism. I'd rather eBay do things like this to remain a profitable business than shut down. I'm thankful for the opportunity they provide.
I'd also rather have a buyer choose another than buy mine; then find the other and initiate a return.
ryry-jj
·10 months agoEbay is here for the buyer...in a sense all of us sellers are ebay's product used for the purpose to reach those buyers and sell...ebay doesn't care if it's me or you that makes the sale, they just want the sale made
gurlcat
·10 months agoThey definitely want sales made, but prefer that promoted sales get made over non-promoted ones. And the result is a profoundly messy and confusing look. You can't honestly say "eBay is here for the buyer" when in fact the goal is to manipulate the buyer, so blatantly and frustratingly that it surely spooks some buyers away completely. -Ones that have been here long enough to have witnessed the "evolution" are probably used to ignoring the distractions, but imagine being used to nice clean listings on other websites and then coming here for the first time.
kandf_vintage_finds
·10 months agoHow about you start promoting. Your items will then show on other sellers pages!
inhawaii
·10 months agoHave the best feedback, the best product at the best price.
bonanza125
·10 months ago"This is so wrong, so wrong, I did not do my listing to draw someone to my item to sell so that eBay can advertise another seller's store, and it is even shown before my own!"
They pay for that and by clicking submit you agreed to it.
pennpicker
·10 months agoIf it is any consolation--and I do a ton of searching and comparative shopping--I have yet to click on one of those promoted store links and find the same item I was currently looking at.
stainlessenginecovers
·10 months agoand I'm just the opposite; I use those 4 to see a 'cheaper price' or 'cheaper shipping' etc. and click it, read it and if it's better, original listing/seller just lost a sale.
BUT- that is on the seller! They should be checking prices and either be the cheapest (For exact same item) or plan on selling less.
pennpicker
·10 months agoGlad you have had such luck but I just took a look at a few of the things I have been searching for recently and stand by my earlier comment.
Just now searched for an antique frame (promoted store link sends me to a store selling new frames).
Searched for a new cordless drill (link for live auctions found where promoted store link normally found).
Searched for new New Balance sneakers (promoted store link sends me to a store selling new New Balance sneakers but only one was the same model and it was the wrong color. None of what they did have for sale was my size so it does not matter).
Searched for some branded men's shorts (promoted store link sends me to a store selling used men's clothing--nothing comparable beyond being shorts for sale).
Searched for a used camera lens (promoted store link sends me to a store selling new camera products).
Are you clicking on the promoted store link found at the top of the listing that is troubling the OP? Because it sounds as if you are talking about the individual promoted listings that follow.
stainlessenginecovers
·10 months agoEvery one of those are either 'old/used' (an antique frame) or way too vague (there are 3,000 types of 'cordless drills')
I never search with such a 'wide' variable; I am always searching much more precise like
Tropicana Casino Chips
Ryobi 18v drill (don't need to say 'cordless' as 18v tells that story as well as 18v tells the story of what I am looking for)
Blue jump rope
Green coffee mug
etc.
I'm talking about the 4 items listed below the listing after I search for something 'specific'.
Have NO interest, nor should anyone, about 'looking in anyone's "store" unless I know their store would be nothing but 'what' I'm looking for; like
Corvette engine dress up covers
Then I can look at 'other items' and then input 'Corvette' in their 'search' if they don't have categories.
But to just look at a seller's store that sells nothing but 100's of 'random' stuff is just a waste of time.
stainlessenginecovers
·10 months agoBack in the day when you paid $500 to the LA Times to 'advertise' your business for just 1 day, there was NO control by you to stop that paper from ALSO showing another 'exact same competing company' on the same page. In fact, still to this day, you can pay to advertise in the 'home improvement' section of the Whitesheet or any Major local newspaper and the heading will be 'Plumbing' or 'Garage Door Repair' or 'Carpet Cleaning' etc. and there will be 20 other competitors right there in that category.
Yet, you paid for your ad?? How dare they??
Was that way 100 years ago and still is today. You don't own this site. You are simply 'advertising' (and promoting only allows your item to be seen before another seller's item).
gurlcat
·10 months agoMy first impulse was that you made a great point. But on further reflection, a newspaper ad page really isn't a good analogy. If you paid for a listing, whether as a regular local citizen wanting to sell your car or a business wanting to attract customers with graphics and such, even though you had to share the page with others, the listing space you paid for was yours alone, with a boundary around it, and nothing interfering inside that boundary.
Of course the use of screens and internet has completely blurred the definition of "listing" and "page". And that's true for all online venues at this point. But eBay blurs it worse than any others, makes a mockery of the whole concept of an item listing. And for buyers viewing on the app (which most of them are now), it's farrrr worse than on the website, just a total joke.
Here let me show you, using one of the OP's listings, compared to a similar item on another venue.
So here's the OP's. -These are screenshots I took scrolling down, length-by-length, from the top of their listing to the bottom (or far enough anyway). Note how you don't even get to see the Item Description without clicking to another page, yet apparently there's plenty of room to show other listings and stores, and they're totally MIXED IN randomly with the OP's segments. Look at what an insane amount of scrolling a buyer has to do, to see all the information they might want to know about this item and this seller. And that's IF they don't get confused or distracted before scrolling far enough.
Now look at how a listing appears on the Etsy app. -Yes unfortunately you have to click to read the item description there too, but at least the first 3 screen lengths are devoted to nothing but this item.
And the 4th screen? -Well how about that?!! Links to more of the seller's own listings! How awesome would that be, @clothingniche ?
Only AFTER those 4 scrolls does it start showing paid promotions of other sellers' listings. And even then, they keep the ability to click and buy the (actual) listed item 'sticky,' at the bottom of the screen.
Other sellers are paying eBay to have their listings promoted so if their items are similar to yours they will appear in your listings. It’s comparison shopping for buyers. Happens to all of us. Nothing you can do about it…sorry.