Anyone else seeing this? Video Thumbnail instead of Gallery Photo showing in Sponsored Section

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

I'm guessing this is a test (so maybe not everyone is seeing this), and apologize for the long URL, but that's the URL I'm seeing:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/356366485017?_skw=rotating+santa+claus+music+box&itmmeta=01JF8AVJ2VDEY9R7R2...

If I scroll down below the description, to the sponsored listing section, the thumbnails include the regular gallery photo thumbnail BUT if the listing has a video, ebay is showing the video instead of the gallery photo. (I've been begging for this since they first gave us videos, although I was primarily thinking about showing this in search results....still, this is on the right track...)

devon@ebay  Can you provide any info on this? Is it a test? Or a change? Will it eventually appear on the search results page as well?

[valueaddedresource]

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques toward your thoughts on Promoted Listings...

I noticed in @mcdougle4248 's video the search results version has an add to cart button right there on the search page. 👀

And....I'm sure totally coincidentally 🙄 😂 , eBay dropped a Marketing Terms update today (still working through it right now) part of which adds "add to cart, quick view, or other interactive functionality" as actions which will trigger ad fee attribution.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

From what I can tell, the videos are only showing up in search if they are sponsored listings. Non-sponsored Listings with videos are NOT displaying the video. Of course, I only checked a few listings, but here's my guess:

1. This is currently only a test, as at least two people have said they are NOT seeing these results.

2. The test is probably being run by the Ads team, rather than a more general search or buyer/seller team.

3. If this actually launches out of test mode, it seems likely that only sponsored listings with video will receive this treatment (which would be a disservice to both buyers and sellers) I am hoping I'm wrong about this point. 

devon@ebay  Well, we've done the leg work for you, do you have any info you can share?

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

I should have mentioned: I am seeing this on a PC, I am not seeing it on my Android phone. I am using Chrome. Haven't tried other browsers.

[devon@ebay]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

From what I can tell, the videos are only showing up in search if they are sponsored listings. Non-sponsored Listings with videos are NOT displaying the video. Of course, I only checked a few listings, but here's my guess:

1. This is currently only a test, as at least two people have said they are NOT seeing these results.

2. The test is probably being run by the Ads team, rather than a more general search or buyer/seller team.

3. If this actually launches out of test mode, it seems likely that only sponsored listings with video will receive this treatment (which would be a disservice to both buyers and sellers) I am hoping I'm wrong about this point. 

devon@ebay  Well, we've done the leg work for you, do you have any info you can share?

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Hey @my-cottage-books-and-antiques! I was able to confirm that this is a test. At this time I do not have any other insight that I can share on this. 

[adamcartwright]

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques 

Yes, I am seeing that video in the sponsored section.

[wastingtime101]

I've seen it - the placement was sponsored.

Thumbs up from me they had the forethought to add a pause button!

[valueaddedresource]

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

I've seen it - the placement was sponsored.

Thumbs up from me they had the forethought to add a pause button!

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@wastingtime101 agree on the thumbs up for pause button but huge thumbs down for me on autoplay. 😂

On the view item page, there aren't enough to make it too terrible...yet. But if this expands and whole sections are full of moving thumbnails as you scroll down the page, well I can't speak for anyone else but that would be a pretty big disincentive for me to keep scrolling down the page. Pass the Dramamine! 🤢

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

devon@ebay  Thanks for the quick response devon!

[deltilogical]

Let me guess:  bandwidth for the paid ads will get preference -

the search returns will get much much slower and never more accurate or helpful -

indexing will give preference to AI generated text.

Its gonna be terrific in 2025.   I was not born a pessimist, but technology has forced it on me.  Nothing gets much better in general anymore.  They couldn't cash us out at the co-op today, the internet was down.   Every transaction fails is the general theme in technocracy USA.  But people are much like baby birds and want their food chewed for them.