eBay

chinafindermichael · ‎06-13-2019

Just noticed that Ebay is selling, with additional fees, the ability for sellers to distort the sort functions to work in their favor by placing their items first no matter what sort a buyer selects. Does anyone else feel that this is not right? As a buyer and seller on Ebay I would expect the sort options to work properly. If I select lowest price first I would hope that the first listing would be the cheapest. This is no longer the case. Ebay has chosen to sell the ability to deceive its customers by not doing what it says it is. Not sure about the rest of you but that is not how I conduct business. I checked Amazon (whom Ebay constantly tries to emulate) and when you use their sorts they work exactly as they describe. A $300 item doesn't show up before a $3 item when sorting lowest to highest. I realize Ebay is always trying to get more revenue. Maybe it should look at how it treats its customers both sellers and buyers. In the 80's everyone hated dealing with the cable company and the cable companies really never cared. That is until dish, HULU, Amazon, Netflicks, etc.... showed up. There will come a day, if not already, when Ebay realizes it has shot itself in the foot by pissing everyone off to the point of no return. Customer loyalty will not exist when it has not been reciprocated.

eburtonlab · ‎06-13-2019

@chinafindermichael

Those sponsored items that appear at the top of the sorted results can be removed from that spot by installing an ad blocking extension in your browser. AdBlock, Ad Block Plus and uBlock are some examples -- google "ad blocker" and your browser version for some other choices.

I use Ad Block Plus, but I believe that pretty much any ad blocker should be able to remove those "sponsored" items from the top of the results, and I think they should appear in the appropriate spot lower down in the sort order. The only setting I changed was to uncheck the box for "Allow Acceptable Ads" -- I believe that box is checked by default for Ad Block Plus, and in that state the sponsored ads get through. Unchecking the box removes the sponsored ads from the top of the list and lets them sort correctly.

See here for the before and after screenshots:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Bidding-Buying/Despise-beyond-words-quot-sponsored-quot-listings-in-se...

street-motto-cycles · ‎06-14-2019

I actually agree with you. I believe is even worst that ebay tell sellers that they can promote & advertise items for a fee. Than have buyers able to put a blocker to stop the advertisement one pays for. That is literally contradicting what one is paying for. I understand one does not get charged unless the item with promoted listing is selected. One is advertising items and the other as a buyers , can eliminate the search results with what a seller is advertising. What is the point of even having the option of promoted listing.

alcoforever · ‎06-14-2019

Ebay does not sanction the use of ad blockers on their site. Mentioning them on this forum can get your hands slapped.

greg5000 · ‎06-16-2019

@chinafindermichael wrote:
Just noticed that Ebay is selling, with additional fees, the ability for sellers to distort the sort functions to work in their favor by placing their items first no matter what sort a buyer selects. Does anyone else feel that this is not right? As a buyer and seller on Ebay I would expect the sort options to work properly. If I select lowest price first I would hope that the first listing would be the cheapest. This is no longer the case. Ebay has chosen to sell the ability to deceive its customers by not doing what it says it is. Not sure about the rest of you but that is not how I conduct business. I checked Amazon (whom Ebay constantly tries to emulate) and when you use their sorts they work exactly as they describe. A $300 item doesn't show up before a $3 item when sorting lowest to highest. I realize Ebay is always trying to get more revenue. Maybe it should look at how it treats its customers both sellers and buyers. In the 80's everyone hated dealing with the cable company and the cable companies really never cared. That is until dish, HULU, Amazon, Netflicks, etc.... showed up. There will come a day, if not already, when Ebay realizes it has shot itself in the foot by pissing everyone off to the point of no return. Customer loyalty will not exist when it has not been reciprocated.

eBay seems to only be concerned about generating whatever revenue they can, in whatever method they can. The Leadership Team does not appear to be concerned about their Customers or ethical business practices.

joesoucie22012 · ‎06-16-2019

BUT, what about Promoted listings that are the Lowest Price in what your serching for?

luckythewinner · ‎06-17-2019

Just noticed that Ebay is selling, with additional fees, the ability for sellers to distort the sort functions to work in their favor by placing their items first no matter what sort a buyer selects.

While a seller can pay for a promoted listings that do have a chance at prime placement, they are not "placed first no matter what".

There will come a day, if not already, when Ebay realizes it has shot itself in the foot by pissing everyone off to the point of no return.

IMHO that day will only come when enough sellers find a viable alternative to eBay and use it. I see no evidence that day is near.

zamo-zuan · ‎06-17-2019

@luckythewinner wrote:
IMHO that day will only come when enough sellers find a viable alternative to eBay and use it. I see no evidence that day is near.

The sales decline of the eBay market begs to differ.

Category managers have started stating this to sellers directly as a "reason they can expect to have less sales this year than last year".

pburn · ‎06-17-2019

@chinafindermichael wrote:
Just noticed that Ebay is selling, with additional fees, the ability for sellers to distort the sort functions to work in their favor by placing their items first no matter what sort a buyer selects. Does anyone else feel that this is not right? As a buyer and seller on Ebay I would expect the sort options to work properly. If I select lowest price first I would hope that the first listing would be the cheapest. This is no longer the case. Ebay has chosen to sell the ability to deceive its customers by not doing what it says it is. Not sure about the rest of you but that is not how I conduct business. I checked Amazon (whom Ebay constantly tries to emulate) and when you use their sorts they work exactly as they describe. A $300 item doesn't show up before a $3 item when sorting lowest to highest. I realize Ebay is always trying to get more revenue. Maybe it should look at how it treats its customers both sellers and buyers. In the 80's everyone hated dealing with the cable company and the cable companies really never cared. That is until dish, HULU, Amazon, Netflicks, etc.... showed up. There will come a day, if not already, when Ebay realizes it has shot itself in the foot by pissing everyone off to the point of no return. Customer loyalty will not exist when it has not been reciprocated.

Are you using the desktop version or the mobile app? I use the desktop version, and I have a totally different experience than the one you describe.

I always sort by price/lowest first, and that's exactly what I get. I NEVER get a $300 item higher on the list than a $3 item. Maybe you could post a screenshot of an example of that?

Speaking strictly for myself, I think Amazon has the worst search/sort functions ever programmed. I'm a really specific searcher, using all kinds of BooIean search criteria and whatnot, but, on Amazon, I search for a jigsaw puzzle, and, somehow, dvds show up in my search. And sorting those results by price/lowest first? Forget about it.

Also, the first row of virtually any Amazon search is comprised of "sponsored" products. You've never noticed that?

So, as a buyer, I'll take eBay's search and sort functions over Amazon any day of the week.

P.S. I do not work for eBay. I do not get paid for posting positive comments about eBay. I am not a shill for eBay. Or a cheerleader. Or anything else.

eeaadd · ‎06-17-2019

We have experienced this also. With our auto parts business, we always do a sort for the lowest cost item to show up first. Now that feature no longer works, all these sponsored listings, often times with the highest prices show up first which is not what we asked for in the sort. We have found it impossible to locate the lowest cost items as and as result are shopping elsewhere when we need to purchase. Very frustrating. If I choose my sort as Lowest Price first, that is what I expect to see.

pburn · ‎06-17-2019

@greg5000 wrote:
eBay seems to only be concerned about generating whatever revenue they can, in whatever method they can. The Leadership Team does not appear to be concerned about their Customers or ethical business practices.

Back around March or April, you posted a number of comments about "addressing this issue at a higher level," or "reach[ing] reach out to eBay through another channel," or providing a summary to, or "reach[ing] out to the eBay San Jose Leadership."

Then I didn't see any more posts about it. How did that contact go? Did you get any results? Anything to report?

luckythewinner · ‎06-17-2019

@zamo-zuan wrote:
@luckythewinner wrote:
IMHO that day will only come when enough sellers find a viable alternative to eBay and use it. I see no evidence that day is near.
The sales decline of the eBay market begs to differ.
Category managers have started stating this to sellers directly as a "reason they can expect to have less sales this year than last year".

eBay's gross merchandise volume was down 4% year-over-year for Q1 2019.

eBay could drop 4% per year for the next 50 years and still be selling $10 billion a year.