eBay

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎10-07-2023

One reason I like to use Markdown Manager to run discount sales is because of the price strike-through on the search results page and my store pages. The strike through makes it clear to experienced buyers that the discounted price is a limited time offer and this helps to create a sense of urgency.

So....I'm now running a 15% Off Markdown Manager Sale , everything in my store is 15% off though Monday.

Question: What is going on? Is ebay doing some sort of test of the tool? From what I'm seeing, ebay is applying the strike through randomly, with many discounted items not displaying the strikethrough. The discounted price is shown, but, without the strike through, it simply looks like a regular, non discounted price, and thus lacks the sense of urgency.

The View Item pages DO show the strike through correctly, the issue is only with search results pages.

Some of my sale items show the strike through, some don't. Is this a test? A glitch? Some strange new, unannounced policy?

This reduces the value of Markdown Manager for sellers, and it definitely NOT a magical experience. Can you please check with the appropriate team to figure out what is going on here?

(ETA: I'm using Chrome on a PC)

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎10-10-2023

@mcdougle4248 Thanks for the info. Did you hear anything back from the Tech people?

devon@ebay As I said: Q4. We don't need Magic, we just need basic things to work. And we need to be kept informed. If this has been an ongoing and widespread problem, sellers should be notified so they know to either use another discount tool or to use MM but be aware that it will be of very limited usefulness because of this issue.

So, again, PLEASE. Can we get an answer to this?

mcdougle4248 · ‎10-10-2023

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques

No, I have not heard anything back from eBay. I will request another call back right now and see if there is any update.

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎10-10-2023

@mcdougle4248 THANKS! I appreciate it!

mcdougle4248 · ‎10-10-2023

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques

The rep I just spoke with can see my report from last week. He created another report, with screenshots of two of my listings (one with strike-through pricing and one without strike-through pricing showing) to send to the tech team. He did not find an ALERT ID yet for this issue.

The more sellers that report the issue the better our chances for a fix. So, anyone seeing this on their account should contact customer service and be prepared to share item numbers of the affected listings with the rep.

Just an FYI...

My Buy 1, Get 1 order discounts are still displaying in search for me, so if anyone has listings that will work for this type of promotion they may want to try that.

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎10-10-2023

@mcdougle4248 Well, my sale is already over, so I have no current examples to show Tech Support.

If I get some time, maybe I'll set up another MM sale just so I can report it to Tech.

mcdougle4248 · ‎10-10-2023

Sorry 😞. That is a real bummer.

wastingtime101 · ‎10-10-2023

I can confirm the timing provided by @mcdougle4248 is consistent with what I've seen on my accounts.

GLORIOUS!

cbacal · ‎10-10-2023

Some of the "sale" prices are showing... but NONE of the promotions, and that is absolutely idiotic.

It started the same time they reduced the picture size (which it appears may have been fixed)

Over the years I run a buy 3 get 1 free sale, and it is a huge part of certain items I sell, and now the ONLY way someone even knows about it, they would have to:

1- Click on a listing they may be interested in,

2- Then they have to click on "see full description" (assuming buyers even know to do that- another terrible feature

3- They would then have to know that theres a button to click that shows all available items in the promotion.

It used to drive a huge percentage of my sales when I ran the promo- for the last 7 years... This time I have had it up for a month...

ZERO SALES... ZERO

PLEASE FIX THIS NOW

devon@ebay

brentandbecca · ‎10-10-2023

I have used markdowns all weekend, not 1 item has a strike through or says 15% off in red, like it used. Not on the browser sites or the app. Horrible.

brentandbecca · ‎10-10-2023

Reading the new seller fall update that came out a couple weeks ago, it seems like they said there will be new things that push coupons rather than selling markdowns. They are going to start promoting couponed items called SPOTLIGHT COUPONS. Then, when addressing markdowns it says, "We’re exploring ways to include other promotions, such as markdowns, under the Sale tab in the future. "

Perhaps this change caused the markdowns to no longer have price slashes or red discount amount shown to buyers on search or the app.

They could have inadvertently screwed this up, or maybe purposefully so people will use coupons instead.

----------------------

As someone who loves markdowns, I don't understand coupons at all. I've tried with no success.
What does it matter to eBay, if I have a coupon saying 15% off vs a markdown of 15% off, or whatever my coupon my be?
I like buyers to see the discounted price or deal, vs them thinking they have to use a coupon.

THOUGHTS?

pjcdn2005 · ‎10-10-2023

Plus, a coupon can only be used by US buyers. If you are selling internationally and use a coupon instead of a markdown the buyer would not see or receive any type of discount.

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎10-11-2023

@brentandbecca

A horrible experience, made worse by ebay's refusal to come here to acknowledge that the problem even exists.

a_c_green · ‎10-11-2023

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:
@brentandbecca
A horrible experience, made worse by ebay's refusal to come here to acknowledge that the problem even exists.

The ~~Weekly~~ Monthly Chat is this afternoon beginning at 1:00 p.m. Pacific time. It might be good to raise this issue there, as well as to point out that it has already been reported, with no response. So it's basically a two-fold issue: (1) the problem itself, and (2) the fact that problem reports are routinely ignored.

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎10-11-2023

@brentandbecca As to the Seller Update. They are not creating something new called "spotlight coupons". All they are doing is adding a tab to your Store Home page (currently there are three "Shop" (the homepage itself), "About" (your information, store video if you have one, etc) and "Feedback" . The plan is to add another tab called "Sale" and, to start, that will feature ("spotlight" is their term) any coupons you are offering. They have indicated that they intend to add other types of promotions later.

The Announcement suggests this is already live or soon will be. The Update's "Calendar" says it is live as of September. It is not live (unless it just went live). I tried it after the Update came out and : nothing. I was told it is "rolling out in waves".

However, I also asked about it during ebay open, and an ebay exec told me it would probably be released in Q1 of next year or maybe later because it is a complicated change. (Just what is so complicated about adding a new tab to the page I'm not certain----it could be what complicates things is that you can issue private and public coupons, so which ones will ebay show? Or, it could be that this will only be released when they have (as I suspect they will, but they have not said this) figured out how to monetize this by incorporating it into the new "Promoted Listing Display" ad type, which is currently in Beta.

So, my guess is they aren't pushing coupons at the expense of other promotions, they've just chosen to start with coupons. And my guess----nothing but a guess, mind you---is that eventually , once the tabbed page is functioning, you will be able to "advertise" it with a PLDisplay ad on other sellers' listings (another Pay Per Click ad type).

So, yes, maybe this has something to do with the coupon tab change, some behind the scenes glitch. But more likely, it is just an ordinary, garden variety , ebay glitch, the kind we are sadly becoming accustomed to here in ebay's Magical Wonderland. Or worse, maybe it is a test, with ebay trying to decide whether they need the strike throughs at all.

It would really be nice to hear from ebay on this. I will ask about it again this afternoon during Monthly Chat. Maybe we'll eventually get an answer.

devon@ebay · ‎10-11-2023

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

@mcdougle4248 Thanks for the info. Did you hear anything back from the Tech people?

devon@ebay As I said: Q4. We don't need Magic, we just need basic things to work. And we need to be kept informed. If this has been an ongoing and widespread problem, sellers should be notified so they know to either use another discount tool or to use MM but be aware that it will be of very limited usefulness because of this issue.

So, again, PLEASE. Can we get an answer to this?

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques As of this morning I do not have any updates to share on the markdown manager. I will be sure to let you know as soon as I hear back from the product team.

Devon,