@ekmadonna wrote:
What are your thoughts on some sellers getting squeezed intentionally in order to be forced into Promoted Listings by REDUCING their visibility? I have been bombarded with all kinds of reminders and messages almost with veiled threats about using them and I will not. I am also deeing a NEW MESSAGE when ending listings saying "UPGRADE YOUR STORE SUBSCRIPTION FOR BETTER VISIBILITY" Like Paying for a Premium store is not good enough now, I am being told to Upgrade my store if I want more views and sales? It feels very Mob like
I mean, I'm not sure if people realize it, but "Sponsored Listings" by design are intended to do exactly what you describe.
Think about it like this. The first page of search is basically what sellers have to thrive for. Once you get on that first page, you get more exposure (impressions = times you appear in search). Then once someone clicks you, or buys your item, you get improved SEO statistics on eBay. Which gives you better search ranking. (You can check these metrics with the Analyze function on the Growth pages of Sellers Hub).
Traditionally (prior to 2018) your search placement was primarily your Product History. Meaning if you had a strong sales history of purchases and repeat customers, you had better placement.
In late 2017 they started implementing other metrics. They started factoring impressions/views/conversion rate. Then introducing Free Returns, Guaranteed Delivery, Sponsored Listings, Promotions, etc. These all got implemented.
Let's fast forward to nowadays. If you do a search and scroll through the first page, how many of items are "Sponsored Listings"? I just did 3 consecutive searches, and the number was: 10, 8, 9.
This means rather than fighting for 50 spots, we now only have ~40 spots to fight for. In order to get those other spots, you HAVE to pay.
But we also have to factor something else. It's not just 40 spots we're fighting for. That would be assuming the spots are all dedicated to items that are "naturally ranked high". But search is somewhat randomized, and intended to include "varied listing types".
Outside of Sponsored Listings, the search engine considers the "eBay Sales Ranking" but also tries to include at least a couple listings containing:
- Cheapest price without free shipping.
- Free Returns.
- Guaranteed Delivery.
- Promotions/Discounts.
- Items with strong sales/ product history.
- Refurbished items
Among other factors.
Now if we think about it like this, let's say you're a seller that offers Free Shipping, Guaranteed Delivery, and Free Returns? Only a fraction of the first page results is dedicated to this type of listing!
This is what I mean when I say there's design issues with the new search system. Everyone's potential for appearing in search is more limited. We're fighting for less spots, and those spots are now being cycled through different variables.
The problem is the variables conflict with each other. Each of those offerings reduces your margin somehow. Seller's can't possibly offer all of those while staying competitive. If they do, they are bringing base price up, which not only hurts their possibilities for appearing in search, but less sellers "click" on expensive items.
The only thing we can do that will be a sure-fire way to improve search placement, is invest in promotions/sponsored listings. But again, this takes away from the margin, and you have to sacrifice in those other areas to gain it.
This issue is what has been leading to a slow, steady decline for top sellers on eBay. I've mentioned the alarming news many times on the forum here, in 1 year the Top Seller Market Share dropped from 40% to 27%. Meaning top sellers are doing ~33% worse than a year ago (and still dropping).
The 1st problem: It's impossible to lead to anything else but a slow decline as long as the system is designed like this. As long as the design is factoring things that conflict, it's not possible to "score very high" in all areas.
The Pre-2018 method of "Product History worked far better because sellers simply had to focus on providing the customer better offerings, and they were rewarded with search placement in return, at which point they just needed to keep metrics/feedback high.
Now, there's no way to be rewarded. No matter what you do, you're sacrificing elsewhere, and fighting for a smaller piece of the pie. No quality control of good vs bad sellers. No reward for being a good seller. EBay doesn't even know what advice to give you to appear better in search, because no matter how much you tweak the different factors, you can't score "high" anymore.
We have a number of competitive items that are #1 Sales Rank according to eBay. Which means we're doing everything as best as possible. Even those items are showing declines in visibility. Our year to year chart is showing decline 20-30% (or more) since the beginning of 2018. Yet we're still #1 in our category, and all competitors are dropping just as much.
The 2nd problem: Sellers having to pay eBay for sponsors money, which is margin that goes directly to eBay, rather than offering anything to the customer, is bringing eBay prices up on the marketplace. This is making eBay prices non-competitive vs Amazon and other major marketplaces. If you want enough exposure for your business to survive in 2019, you HAVE to raise your prices above the prices other marketplaces provide.
