Keyword Manipulation

[c*me*4*lefton*info]

What do other people think about keyword spamming and manipulation. For example naming ALL types of postcards (linen, RPPC, chrome, white border, hand colored, etc) and ALL types of irrelevant categories (comical, political, romantic, risque, military, patriotic, etc). You probably know who I am talking about (or you can easily discover for yourself) since she keyword spams all her POSTCARD auctions.

[albertabrightalberta]

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@c*me*4*lefton*info wrote:

What do other people think about keyword spamming and manipulation. For example naming ALL types of postcards (linen, RPPC, chrome, white border, hand colored, etc) and ALL types of irrelevant categories (comical, political, romantic, risque, military, patriotic, etc). You probably know who I am talking about (or you can easily discover for yourself) since she keyword spams all her POSTCARD auctions.

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@c*me*4*lefton*info 

Click on the "?" in the lower right of her listings and report the listing violation of "search manipulation." In the blank field, you can explain the violation.

[gloopy01]

I doubt eBay will do anything about this.

Postcard listings are rife with fraudulent behavior.

Have you seen the Thanksgiving cards with a pumpkin being listed as Halloween cards?  (Halloween cards sell for big bucks, Thanksgiving cards rarely sell)

I reported this.  eBay said their "AI" found no problem with the listing.

This kind of stuff is why people are quitting eBay.  Rather than digging in and eliminating this crap, they ignore it, and when sales dip their solution is fee increases. 

[larrys.basement]

Doesn't this just affect search?  And does that really matter? With Halloween as an example, I search Halloween and see the mismatch.  But when I filter to solds, I don't see any Thanksgiving. Which means to me, nobody is buying Thanksgiving using the Halloween criteria.

There are stamps sellers that I follow that do the same, and yes it's frustrating, but I just ignore those listings.

[njrtsr]

Clogging up the search feed with irrelevant results matters. It wards buyers off because it hides what they're looking for. I buy RPPCs and I have to scroll past so many listings everyday that are mislabeled as RPPCs, and I've talked with collectors that are turned off by it. Usually mislabeling an RPPC is done out of ignorance by sellers that don't know what a RPPC is, so it's not really the purposeful manipulation that's being discussed here, but it creates the same effect.

[c*me*4*lefton*info]

Reported before I started this conversation.

The reason it matters is it against ebay policy of search manipulation. As the name implies it (adversely) affects potential buyers searching on ebay and is used by sellers to manipulate search results so their listings show up in searches more often than they should (much more often in the specific case I reported).

I do ignore BUYING from this seller. I figure if they can't be honest with ebay and follow the policies then chances of them dealing with me in an honest manner are slim enough that I will not buy from them.

Thanks for the comments one and all....c*me

[gloopy01]

Uh, because it's out and out fraud?

In addition to fraudulent titled listings, the postcard listings on eBay are awash with reproductions, AI created crap, etc.  I don't want to spend the time to plow through all this garbage. 

There is currently a Santa Claus postcard worth about $10 listed for $69,000 dollars.  No postcard has ever sold for anything close to that.  With all their revenue, eBay could easily hire people to police these horrible listings and clean up a lot of the rampant fraud.  It's not difficult to find.   Do a search by "highest price first." 

The company mantra is user feedback helps keep eBay a "safe" marketplace.

Postcard buyers and sellers are consistently disappearing.  As I said before, as eBay's revenue dips their answer is always fee increases.

[gloopy01]

Just saw a postcard titled "Titanic-esque Vintage Postcard"    It's a litho of a boat sailing in the distance.  Worth about $2.  Listed for $2,950.

[deltilogical]

"There is currently a Santa Claus postcard worth about $10 listed for $69,000 dollars. No postcard has ever sold for anything close to that."

Actually a Picasso signed postcard sold for $188,000 in 2015 but I know what you mean.