eBay

toomstoys · ‎11-13-2018

Kind sir, I have a question/concern and inquiry about how search is working that I know you may be able to help with. ( And was hoping you could go through it step by step and see if it makes sense to you....)

I will lay out the scenario....

I'm listing Mattel Disney diecast cars - the suggested/default category by Ebay for these is Toys and Hobbies ---> Disney cars --------->TV Movie Character Toys.

I have always listed them in that category and sub.

But the grey or gray area is that these are diecast cars as well as Tv Movie character toys.

So if someone uses the Toytopia link that Ebay is promoting (shoving down every toy buyers throat) and then they go to Diecast Toys and Vehicles as most reasonable people would there is no sub category for Disney Cars - Only the top name brand like Hot wheels, Matchbox, Tonka etc ... The toy category sub locks to Diecast and Toy Vehicles - then use the main search for searching Disney cars and the results are about 10,500.

Then I refine the search by nearest (to my zip code 13031 ) none of my items show up.

But if I go back up to the drop down and reclick the category to the main Toys and Hobbies Search - the results for disney cars is actually about 72,000 and if I refine by nearest to my zip obviously my items will now show up.

I have watched my sales fall off a cliff for the past year and I am starting to understand the reasons why.

Does this seem like the proper way search should be working for the items in question?

It almost seems like Ebay is expecting people to know that if they are searching for a diecast car of a movie character then they should know better than to be looking in the diecast car category for that. (Duh!)

To me this seems like utter nonsense and another example of how poorly search is working.

Or it is just a way to get me to pay another fee to have my items listed/shown in another category just so that I can work around the failures of search?

Find that I am being excluded from the Toytopia hype because I was silly enough to list my items in the category ebay says they should be in?

Any thoughts ?

berserkerplanet · ‎11-13-2018

Uh... There are others here far better versed in the type of search workings you are asking about, but I'll give it my best shot. 🙂

(actually Selling would be a better forum with more eyeballs and more folks who think about things like this)

No, I don't believe that is how search should work, but eBay does. They are "dumbing down" search "with AI" to limit number of results for short attention span buyers. I think search should match entered keywords, return all results, and let the user drill down using filters, additional keywords, and boolean logic (and, or, not). But that doesn't play out for those who only poke and swipe on mobile devices.

Yes, what you are seeing is Implicit Category Navigation (ICN), and there really isn't any good way around the failings you observe because there are multiple categories applicable (diecast and Disney), and eBay's approach picks one to perform its narrowing.

You have a choice:

List in Disney as you have been and miss out on whatever Toytopia juju there might be (if any).
List in diecast to take advantage of Toytopia promotion and ICN. (I don't know if going against eBay recommendations listing in a non-recommended category results in reduced search ranking, but even if it does, reduced search ranking is better than zero visibility.
Pay for multiple categories. Sucks but solves the conundrum. (whether it would produce enough extra sales to justify the cost is unknown)

You have to make a compromise in the new eBay search environment. Power searchers can find your stuff no matter where it is, but they are not who eBay is catering to any longer (the way I see it, eBay thinks any illiterate idiot with ADD and a phone is the new motherload, doesn't want to overwhelm them with choices, and sellers are stuck with the consequences)

toomstoys · ‎11-15-2018

@berserkerplanet

Thanks again for giving your insight and opinion on this.

Before I went to the selling board with this I wanted to get your input.

As well as posing the question to Alan.

alan@ebay

I really don't see why I should be forced to list in 2 categories just to get search to do what it should be doing in the first place.

berserkerplanet · ‎11-15-2018

>>I really don't see why I should be forced to list in 2 categories just to get search
>>to do what it should be doing in the first place.

You shouldn't, but as they say, it's eBay's sandbox and they make the rules. Some of the moneygrabs are ill conceived and kneejerk, but that is what I've come to expect to eBay as a Wall Street puppet.

Have you seen that progressive TV commercial with the Flo and the dad watching the kid live his life and run his world in VR?
https://www.ispot.tv/ad/dlz9/progressive-future-son or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLTKvGgTb10

That is what eBay is targeting, catering to, and coddling. If it can't be done with a swipe or a gesture, and isn't easy button and requires rubbing more than two brain cells together it's bad. Just a small part of the "innovative disruption" (or whatever MBA buzzword you want to attach to it) that is happening.

I think it is destined to fail*. Might work for a quarter or three and rope some of the "new buyers" in, but then a new startup with a new app will pop up, the new ADD generation buyers will wander off, and we will be long gone, leaving eBay with nothing (and management will just pull the ripcords on their golden parachutes and move on to destroying the next company.

*not an economist, and a lot of my opinion is just based on wishful thinking, aversion to change, and wanting eBay to stay true to it's roots, and still be a place where I can find a used carburetor for a 1974 Briggs and Stratton lawn mower engine, purchase my shipping supplies, find other things I need and want, and be able to sell my stuff.

Hope you get some insight and moral support on the selling board

rebuy-obsessions · ‎11-18-2018

EBay needs to restore its site to last year's programming. Having to go back to main category is not something most buyers think to do. I had the same problem with this.