eBay

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎07-18-2023

I know ebay has been testing various changes to the View Item (listing) page, maybe along with the Ads Team.

I also know that the Ads Team acknowledge a while ago that one of their "modules" (something like "People who views this item also viewed these items") was showing ORGANIC listings, not sponsored listings. I believe they also said that different listings show different modules at different times.

I'm seeing two things tonight that are interesting. For me, both in Chrome and Edge, I'm seeing only one, sometimes two , modules on listings---both between the above- the- fold section and the description box, with nothing below the end of the listing. I'm guessing this is a test. (Of course, it could be a glitch of some sort, as well).

Looking at the two modules, the module titles are "Similar sponsored listings" and "Related Sponsored Listings". Now, here's the thing. Each has a "See all>" option, and if I click on that, a new page opens.

That page shows 25 listings under "Similar Sponsored Items", followed by 25 listings under "Similar Items"....as far as I can figure, the 25 items under Similar Items are NOT sponsored items.

I don't know whether the items in the second group are true organic listings, or listings in a Promoted Listing campaign being shown as organic. Or a mix of both.

But if ebay is starting to mix in organic with promoted on some of these non-search results pages, it's a pretty big shift for the Ads team.

nuclearomen · ‎07-24-2023

so i take it still no response/word from our platform on the matter?

The great truth is there isn't one
And it only gets worse since that conclusion...
...There is something about the rigid posture of a proper, authentic blind
As if extended arms reached to pass his blindness onto others.

valueaddedresource · ‎07-25-2023

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques just fyi, today I'm not seeing any listings with the full "tons" of PL ads and other items below the description.

Chrome logged in, Chrome incognito and Firefox incognito are all showing me the 2 rows of PL above and the 25 "You May Also Like" organic* below.

Firefox logged in is showing me the 2 rows of PL above and no PL or organic other items below.

mcdougle4248 · ‎07-25-2023

@valueaddedresource wrote:
@my-cottage-books-and-antiques just fyi, today I'm not seeing any listings with the full "tons" of PL ads and other items below the description.

Chrome logged in, Chrome incognito and Firefox incognito are all showing me the 2 rows of PL above and the 25 "You May Also Like" organic* below.

Firefox logged in is showing me the 2 rows of PL above and no PL or organic other items below.

What you are describing seeing today I saw yesterday using Chrome and Firefox logged in and incognito.

Today, I am seeing the 2 rows of PL above and the rows and rows of PL below. One exception, a seller that has a 10% off promotion running only had the promotion banner below with no other rows of PL. ETA, this seller did have the two rows of PL above the fold.

valueaddedresource · ‎07-29-2023

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques @mcdougle4248 @simply-the-best-for-you and anyone else following along....just FYI, I checked today and in both Firefox and Chrome, both logged in and incognito, the full "tons" of multiple rows of mostly PL below the description/feedback are back and I am no longer seeing any of the various versions of the "test".

Coincidentally, I see on some of the threads about PL impression drops that some sellers are reporting their impressions are starting to come back up.

Make of that what you will because at this point sadly it seems eBay is simply not going to engage on this topic or answer anyone's questions either about this apparent test or the drops in impressions. 😞

Unless of course kyle@ebay devon@ebay elizabeth@ebay adsteam@ebay would care to weigh in here?

simply-the-best-for-you · ‎07-29-2023

@valueaddedresource wrote:
@my-cottage-books-and-antiques @mcdougle4248 @simply-the-best-for-you and anyone else following along....just FYI, I checked today and in both Firefox and Chrome, both logged in and incognito, the full "tons" of multiple rows of mostly PL below the description/feedback are back and I am no longer seeing any of the various versions of the "test".

Coincidentally, I see on some of the threads about PL impression drops that some sellers are reporting their impressions are starting to come back up.

Make of that what you will because at this point sadly it seems eBay is simply not going to engage on this topic or answer anyone's questions either about this apparent test or the drops in impressions. 😞

Unless of course kyle@ebay devon@ebay elizabeth@ebay adsteam@ebay would care to weigh in here?

@valueaddedresource Well, isn't that interesting? I just got done posting in another thread that suddenly my PL impressions yesterday are back to my normal 94K. They were NOT, when I looked yesterday. They were at about 2/3rds of normal, sitting around 70K. I can't remember what time I checked though. I'm also already at 66K for today.

I just want some regular sales. While I have maintained sales, it has been almost all b/c of Offers Sent.

This one goes to Eleven - Nigel Tufnel

Simply-the-best-for-you Volunteer Community Mentor
eBay Seller since 1996

valueaddedresource · ‎07-29-2023

Just to add more fuel to the fire here - I'm also no longer seeing the "test" on listings on the UK site and sellers on that thread on the UK boards are also reporting impressions going back up today.

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Business-Seller-Board/Impressions-broken-again/m-p/7455303#M297710

valueaddedresource · ‎08-03-2023

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques FYI - a seller in that UK thread says they have had confirmation from the ads team on a zoom call that there was/is in fact a test going on....whether that's true or not of course we have no way of knowing, but I don't have any reason to doubt them either.

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Business-Seller-Board/Impressions-broken-again/m-p/7456663#M297874

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Business-Seller-Board/Impressions-broken-again/m-p/7457268#M297942

"I have spoke to the ads team. The idea behind the beta test is to reduce overall impressions, but make the impressions gained more likely to convert. The ads team do not believe that this beta test has reduced sales - Our sales figures do not agree with this.

It is not possible to be removed from the test as they have now confirmed that it is product based and not seller based (Obviously, sellers who sell a specific type of product that is part of the test will be seeing a bigger drop). Test is due to finish August 7th."

eBayUK "blue" Dave has said he's trying to confirm and get more information, and they were giving him a pretty hard time about it in their chat this week too.

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Chat-with-the-eBay-Community/Weekly-Chat-with-the-eBay-Community-Tea...

kyle@ebay devon@ebay elizabeth@ebay adsteam@ebay - can you please coordinate with Dave in the UK and any other appropriate teams and provide some actual answers for everyone involved?

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎08-03-2023

@valueaddedresource Thanks for keeping us all posted.

"The idea behind the beta test is to reduce overall impressions, but make the impressions gained more likely to convert."

That was my thought when I first saw this....this is less about reducing the cluttered page (although that is part of it) and more about trying to be more selective, to make sure the "most likely to convert" items (as determined by the algo) are front and center.

I hope we get a response from the community team/ads team now.

elizabeth@ebay · ‎08-03-2023

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

@valueaddedresource Thanks for keeping us all posted.

"The idea behind the beta test is to reduce overall impressions, but make the impressions gained more likely to convert."

That was my thought when I first saw this....this is less about reducing the cluttered page (although that is part of it) and more about trying to be more selective, to make sure the "most likely to convert" items (as determined by the algo) are front and center.

I hope we get a response from the community team/ads team now.

Hi @my-cottage-books-and-antiques. Let us touch base with the proper team on this, and we'll provide you with an update once we hear back.

Elizabeth,

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎08-03-2023

Thanks elizabeth@ebay Hope to hear something soon!

valueaddedresource · ‎08-09-2023

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques - officially from the horse's mouth (Dave) over on the UK boards.

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Business-Seller-Board/Impressions-broken-again/m-p/7461055#M298377

There was some testing of new features which affected impressions. Testing on Promoted listings took place between 18th and 28th July and during this time some of our members may have noticed a different experience.

This has now been completely stopped and the impressions will return to their normal patterns.

We have been passing all the feedback from this thread to the promoted listings team and your feedback will help shape future updates.

elizabeth@ebay I know eBay doesn't typically announce tests, but since this one had such an impact on seller stats and there were so many threads about the drops in impressions...I'd highly recommend and humbly suggest eBay should post a sticky announcement here in the community and a banner announcement in Seller Hub (Ad Dashboard and Traffic Reports pages at the very least) with something similar to Dave's statement above.