eBay

itccosmetics · ‎07-22-2017

Hi Everyone,

Does adding the UPC to listings, change your sales at all?

Or....I even read where listings aren't visible in Google searches if the UPC isn't included.

I appreciate any and all advise and/or answers.

Brenda Sue

timemachine777 · ‎08-10-2017

@syedmhaq wrote:
@timemachine777 wrote:
@d-k_treasures wrote:
@timemachine777 wrote:
@syedmhaq wrote:
@bubbleman2010 wrote:
What a dull life someone must lead to search ebay for a item by the bar code...
Scanning a barcode using a mobile phone is a very quick and convenient way of finding the exact product you're looking for. Doing a keyword search might return a number of similar products that you may not be interested in.
eBay is becoming the filter king. So, lets see...Most people I know, say hey...check out this new product I've been using. You have to get one. So, I go on line and do a keyword search, and I get a hit from everyone except eBay. Huh...Nobody on eBay must sell this great product everyone is raving about?

But, wait eBay sellers do carry the product. Your friend should have told you the product bar code, and not the product name. eBay...now the new experience. Home of the visual and bar code search. Can't-see-me on Steroids. Just one word...Brilliant.
And your friend needs to save the box so he can give you the barcode ....... yep - brilliant!

Hey honey, I need to buy some things on eBay today. I going to get 174980018443, 394826600001, 439700337155, and I need 3 333672999013, and a couple of those 933878701100's, and didn't you say you needed a couple of 777119303036's? Oh, BTW...What else do you need? I think 878786200015 would look great on you.

Again, just to clarify. We're asking sellers to provide UPCs, not buyers.
So the scenario would be more like:
Hey honey, I want to sell my Canon DLSR camera.
Ok, list it on eBay and don't forget to put in the UPC so your item shows up in all the experiences and can sell faster and at the best possible price.
Thanks honey. You're the best.

I get the cluster concept, but I also get eBay. They do a lot of screwy stuff. So far all the changes that eBay has been doing non stop over the past decade, has not made the site better, nor the shopping or selling experience better. They've made it worse. I rarely buy anything on eBay anymore, because it's to hard to find stuff nowadays, and I rarely list on any of my eBay accounts, because it takes way to long to list anymore. The economic cost to do business on eBay has gotten too great.

timemachine777 · ‎08-10-2017

@syedmhaq wrote:
@timemachine777 wrote:
@syedmhaq wrote:
@itccosmetics I would highly recommend that you include the UPC whenever available.
eBay is building rich new buying experiences that depend on sellers providing UPCs and as many aspects as possible.
When you provide this information your listings will show up in these new experiences.
e.g. your listing for Clinique Foaming Soap :
http://www.ebay.com/itm/172809013167
currently doesn't show up on the Clinique Foaming Soap product page:
https://www.ebay.com/p/clinique-foaming-sonic-facial-soap/691132882

But if you provide the UPC, then your listing will show up in these new experiences.
Did you know that almost all people can only remember 5 to 7 digits, and their ability to remember multiple sets of large numbers that they commonly use is extremely limited. Due to this reason, phone numbers are broken into 3 sets. The common area code for your state, central office prefix for your area in your town, and line number which is unique to your home.

The reason I point this out is because even though bar codes are broken down also. They contain 12 digits, and people would not be able to store these numbers in memory. Maybe a few that are used a lot will take hold, but not a lot. Most people can not tell you their bank account number, which is also 12 digits. An CC numbers are 16. These would be seen a lot, and repeated a lot over the phone, yet people struggle to remember them.

So with that said. How does eBay and it's brilliant team of innovators expect people to memorize the thousands of product numbers to match the thousands of products that they are familiar with by name and use from time to time?

When it comes to Linguistics our brains treat words totally different then number symbols. Everyone would have to be trained as an infant to recognize a string of digits as a specific object. In other words...037000003120 would be - Cavity Protection Liquid Gel Toothpaste- Cool Mint, forever.

So you would need to memorize every UPC for every single tube of tooth paste out there to know them apart. This way you would be able to just look at a string of 12 digits, and without really thinking about it, know what it means, like a 12 letter word. How many different shirts are out in the world?

At the risk of being redundant. We're not asking buyers to know or memorize any UPCs. Only sellers are being encouraged to provide UPCs so we can group items that are the exact same product.

I was just pointing out that little mental limitation that more than 99.9% of the worlds population has. I study neuropsychology. That's my niche.

bubbleman2010 · ‎08-10-2017

syedmhaq I guess it makes really no difference you folks are going to do what you want to do reguardless of what anyone thinks. I've seen 100s before you make different attempts and I'm sure 100s after you will make different attempts. Sellers are born with the selling trait its in our makeup and its always interesting when a born to be a seller reads all the attempts made to try and reinvent the wheel..

tunicaslot · ‎08-10-2017

According to Scanlife (and based on the scanning of barcodes through their ScanLife system) UPC barcode scanning doubled in 2011 from 2000.

d-k_treasures · ‎08-10-2017

@tunicaslot wrote:
According to Scanlife (and based on the scanning of barcodes through their ScanLife system) UPC barcode scanning doubled in 2011 from 2000.
Nearly 1,000,000 UPC barcodes were scanned in the first 3 quarters of 2011. This number does not take into consideration the scanning of UPC or EAN barcodes with other barcode scanner apps like Red Laser or Shop Savvy. 63% of the people scanning are between the ages of 25 and 44 and the gender is 43% female and 57% male.

This was back in 2011 folks - this is the way a lot of younger people search for things and it will continue to grow - but it's easier to malign a CS and make jokes.

That's the way people search to find a lower price in some other store, not to find something that they think that they may want.

_____________________________
"Nothing is obvious to the oblivious"

bubbleman2010 · ‎08-10-2017

dk maybe ebay doesn't understand impulse purchasing. Lets just show them only what we think they might want to see and tilt that just a bit to whoever paid the most grease money.....

timemachine777 · ‎08-10-2017

@tunicaslot wrote:
According to Scanlife (and based on the scanning of barcodes through their ScanLife system) UPC barcode scanning doubled in 2011 from 2000.
Nearly 1,000,000 UPC barcodes were scanned in the first 3 quarters of 2011. This number does not take into consideration the scanning of UPC or EAN barcodes with other barcode scanner apps like Red Laser or Shop Savvy. 63% of the people scanning are between the ages of 25 and 44 and the gender is 43% female and 57% male.

This was back in 2011 folks - this is the way a lot of younger people search for things and it will continue to grow - but it's easier to malign a CS and make jokes.

Do you know how many businesses including retail are integrated with the Internet, over the past 2 decades? A huge amount, and they could be doing product scans for a whole host of reasons, besides buying the scanned product.

Every company that tracks my product searches, ends up with over 99% of their data being both flawed and useless, because I'm not doing my searches for the reasons that they think I am. I'm not looking to buy the product or even sell it in some cases, I'm just simply researching them.

sharingtheland · ‎08-10-2017

@tunicaslot wrote:
According to Scanlife (and based on the scanning of barcodes through their ScanLife system) UPC barcode scanning doubled in 2011 from 2000.
Nearly 1,000,000 UPC barcodes were scanned in the first 3 quarters of 2011. This number does not take into consideration the scanning of UPC or EAN barcodes with other barcode scanner apps like Red Laser or Shop Savvy. 63% of the people scanning are between the ages of 25 and 44 and the gender is 43% female and 57% male.

This was back in 2011 folks - this is the way a lot of younger people search for things and it will continue to grow - but it's easier to malign a CS and make jokes.

I'm surprised barcode scanning didn't increase far more than that in that time period, with the advances in technology, phones, Amazon, and the proliferation of price comparison and item searching sites now available.

I didn't notice anyone here maligning a CS; I saw people asking specific questions that have been asked and asked and asked but getting the same general responses that did not answer the questions.

One singular item can appear in an Amazon search with more than a few different UPCs. Not on the same product page, however. Ebay will never be able to put all listings of one singular product together on one page. Thus the questions. Maybe it's easier to ask, "Will this look like what Amazon returns in a search?"

(Disclaimer: I use Amazon's seller platform with UPCs and think I get more results than a buyer would; not sure.) (Double Disclaimer: I am in no way suggesting ebay is trying to be "like" Amazon; just using the A place as an example of different UPCs for the same item occurs frequently.)

Sherry

=^.^= =^.^=
( ) ( )
" " =^.^= " "

syedmhaq · ‎08-10-2017

@phcd1 wrote:

@syedmhaq wrote:

@timemachine777 wrote:

@d-k_treasures wrote:

@timemachine777 wrote:

@syedmhaq wrote:

@bubbleman2010 wrote:

What a dull life someone must lead to search ebay for a item by the bar code...

Scanning a barcode using a mobile phone is a very quick and convenient way of finding the exact product you're looking for. Doing a keyword search might return a number of similar products that you may not be interested in.

eBay is becoming the filter king. So, lets see...Most people I know, say hey...check out this new product I've been using. You have to get one. So, I go on line and do a keyword search, and I get a hit from everyone except eBay. Huh...Nobody on eBay must sell this great product everyone is raving about?

But, wait eBay sellers do carry the product. Your friend should have told you the product bar code, and not the product name. eBay...now the new experience. Home of the visual and bar code search. Can't-see-me on Steroids. Just one word...Brilliant.

And your friend needs to save the box so he can give you the barcode ....... yep - brilliant!

Hey honey, I need to buy some things on eBay today. I going to get 174980018443, 394826600001, 439700337155, and I need 3 333672999013, and a couple of those 933878701100's, and didn't you say you needed a couple of 777119303036's? Oh, BTW...What else do you need? I think 878786200015 would look great on you.

Again, just to clarify. We're asking sellers to provide UPCs, not buyers.

So the scenario would be more like:

Hey honey, I want to sell my Canon DLSR camera.

Ok, list it on eBay and don't forget to put in the UPC so your item shows up in all the experiences and can sell faster and at the best possible price.

Thanks honey. You're the best.

Many UPC's are custom for large big box retailers (like Costco and Sam's Club etc). In your scenario, entering the most common UPC for the Canon DSLR camera means the search would overlook those "special packaging" offers.

We do associate multiple UPCs to a single product when appropriate to account for this scenario.

phcd1 · ‎08-10-2017

@d-k_treasures wrote:
@tunicaslot wrote:
According to Scanlife (and based on the scanning of barcodes through their ScanLife system) UPC barcode scanning doubled in 2011 from 2000.
Nearly 1,000,000 UPC barcodes were scanned in the first 3 quarters of 2011. This number does not take into consideration the scanning of UPC or EAN barcodes with other barcode scanner apps like Red Laser or Shop Savvy. 63% of the people scanning are between the ages of 25 and 44 and the gender is 43% female and 57% male.

This was back in 2011 folks - this is the way a lot of younger people search for things and it will continue to grow - but it's easier to malign a CS and make jokes.
That's the way people search to find a lower price in some other store, not to find something that they think that they may want.

Winner, winner, Chicken Dinner!

grilled · ‎08-10-2017

Seems like a good idea to include UPC

phcd1 · ‎08-10-2017

@syedmhaq wrote:
@phcd1 wrote:
@syedmhaq wrote:
@timemachine777 wrote:
@d-k_treasures wrote:
@timemachine777 wrote:
@syedmhaq wrote:
@bubbleman2010 wrote:
What a dull life someone must lead to search ebay for a item by the bar code...
Scanning a barcode using a mobile phone is a very quick and convenient way of finding the exact product you're looking for. Doing a keyword search might return a number of similar products that you may not be interested in.
eBay is becoming the filter king. So, lets see...Most people I know, say hey...check out this new product I've been using. You have to get one. So, I go on line and do a keyword search, and I get a hit from everyone except eBay. Huh...Nobody on eBay must sell this great product everyone is raving about?

But, wait eBay sellers do carry the product. Your friend should have told you the product bar code, and not the product name. eBay...now the new experience. Home of the visual and bar code search. Can't-see-me on Steroids. Just one word...Brilliant.
And your friend needs to save the box so he can give you the barcode ....... yep - brilliant!

Hey honey, I need to buy some things on eBay today. I going to get 174980018443, 394826600001, 439700337155, and I need 3 333672999013, and a couple of those 933878701100's, and didn't you say you needed a couple of 777119303036's? Oh, BTW...What else do you need? I think 878786200015 would look great on you.

Again, just to clarify. We're asking sellers to provide UPCs, not buyers.
So the scenario would be more like:
Hey honey, I want to sell my Canon DLSR camera.
Ok, list it on eBay and don't forget to put in the UPC so your item shows up in all the experiences and can sell faster and at the best possible price.
Thanks honey. You're the best.
Many UPC's are custom for large big box retailers (like Costco and Sam's Club etc). In your scenario, entering the most common UPC for the Canon DSLR camera means the search would overlook those "special packaging" offers.
We do associate multiple UPCs to a single product when appropriate to account for this scenario.

This is the exact issue I have with eBay's "Item specifics". EBay tries to pigeon hole everything, where it's really not appropriate for goods that do not fall into the the new/retail category. Continuing the same example, if the Canon DSLR from Costco comes with a 128 GB SD card and removes a certain function (a VERY common scenario), it's no longer a standard Canon DSLR. Add to that, most sellers would take that SD card and sell it as a separate item, it just does not make sense to use UPC codes for used/vintage or a number of other items. Many buyers would simply SNAD that same camera and return it on the sellers dime when in fact, there is nothing wrong with the seller's description, but rather eBay's description in "Item specifics". With non new/non retail items, "Item specifics" should not be shown AT ALL. Better yet, eBay needs to be broken up into two separate websites for new/retail and used/OOK.

paulhua3 · ‎08-15-2018

So I sell new products that have no barcodes. I could buy barcodes and add them to my listings, but since no one would ever search for that barcode what possible benefit would there be?