eBay

jraj2-9 · ‎07-27-2019

So I noticed a seller has a ton of sales for a particular item. All of the items are sold to the same 2 users, at 99 cents per item (about 100 or so sales total, pretty consistently day after day). These items are listed under the computer category. After a ton of 99 cent sales, the user is now selling the listed item for around $500 USD and is ranking on the first page for gaming pc's. If you check his auctions, all of them follow a similar pattern. Is there something I am missing here, or is this guy blatantly cheating the system? He's ranking very high in this category for a lot of his products, even though the amount of non 99 cent sales is very very low. I am just curious if there is something I am missing here, or is he intentionally doing this to boost his auction SEO rankings? (considering hes getting a lot of sales, with a low click through rate, by doing this). Also, is doing this legal? I feel like more than likely I am missing something here, and this can't actually be happening and functioning in the way I imagine it to be. Any info would be highly appreciated. Thanks

ed8108 · ‎07-27-2019

I would make a courtesy telephone call to ebay to provide them with this information, but doubt ebay will do anything more than simply listen

redline_auto_llc · ‎07-27-2019

Just want to save this post, I'll be interested to see what the community says / feels about this practice, and I feel that I've seen sellers do similar things. My thought is that eBay's algorithms are so terrible, sellers are forced to take an underhanded approach to drive sales. It's sad, but I can't say I don't understand.

greg5000 · ‎07-27-2019

@jraj2-9 wrote:
So I noticed a seller has a ton of sales for a particular item. All of the items are sold to the same 2 users, at 99 cents per item (about 100 or so sales total, pretty consistently day after day). These items are listed under the computer category. After a ton of 99 cent sales, the user is now selling the listed item for around $500 USD and is ranking on the first page for gaming pc's. If you check his auctions, all of them follow a similar pattern. Is there something I am missing here, or is this guy blatantly cheating the system? He's ranking very high in this category for a lot of his products, even though the amount of non 99 cent sales is very very low. I am just curious if there is something I am missing here, or is he intentionally doing this to boost his auction SEO rankings? (considering hes getting a lot of sales, with a low click through rate, by doing this). Also, is doing this legal? I feel like more than likely I am missing something here, and this can't actually be happening and functioning in the way I imagine it to be. Any info would be highly appreciated. Thanks

I've seen this many times, agree it's gaming the system, and have little faith in many high volume sellers here.

I have less faith in eBay at the moment, which is why I stopped buying here after 9 years as a very frequent buyer.

rfmtm · ‎07-27-2019

Some big sellers and especially those from China are cheating the ebay system all the time by blatantly breaking the rules, but even when reported go unpunished. The rest of us sellers who follow policy often try to get the best search results possible, but not with some scheme like what you posted.

Not to worry, search is so messed up now and with ebay changing it so often, most schemes probably won't last long anyway. I'd still report them, just don't expect any results if this company is making money for ebay.

ittybitnot · ‎07-27-2019

just don't expect any results if this company is making money for ebay.

You would be correct. A few weeks ago I was looking for a commodity item. It was one of those things that were posted on a "product page" with "see more items starting at $ (insert dollar price)"... So I chose that...LOL.. the next ten items were from the same seller with only a few cents difference in price. Unfortunately, for that seller, he/she racked up a few hundred negs a week even though they had the TRS dogbadge...LOL. . He was the ONLY seller of that product ebay would show me. Went and bought it on Amazon. Go figure.

membersinceaug2001 · ‎07-27-2019

@redline_auto_llc wrote:
Just want to save this post, I'll be interested to see what the community says / feels about this practice, and I feel that I've seen sellers do similar things. My thought is that eBay's algorithms are so terrible, sellers are forced to take an underhanded approach to drive sales. It's sad, but I can't say I don't understand.

Yea, ebay rigs against the sellers, the sellers are forced to rig back. I've often wondered if some larger sellers buy buyers to get higher placement.

I recently noticed a pen on my watch list that I didn't put there. Poked around and figured out that the original listing for for ink refills, which I was watching. Seller just swapped item on same listing.

jraj2-9 · ‎07-27-2019

Thanks for the replies.

I agree, calling a customer service rep likely isn't going to yield any meaningful results in terms of altering their algorithms to protect against such practices. I really wish it would, because I'm here to compete, and I'll do what it takes to be competitive. I just really hope it isn't something as stupid and deceptive as this...

Also thanks for making me think I'm not just being crazy.

myjunqueyourtreasure · ‎07-27-2019

I'm firmly of the belief that "all things being equal" (ie - without ebay 'gaming the system' to favour certain sellers) the one thing that garners increased visibility is sales.

Whereas it used to be 'the more you list the more you sell' it now seems to be 'the more you sell the more you sell'.

So yes, sellers that do this are 'gaming the system' for increased visibility of ALL their listings, but unless ebay changes the algorithm, possibly to go back to weighting in actual seller performance, or finding a way to detect and stop this activity, it's not going to change and some sellers will continue to do this.

Reality is the leading cause of stress.

turquoisetulips · ‎07-27-2019

@jraj2-9 wrote:
So I noticed a seller has a ton of sales for a particular item. All of the items are sold to the same 2 users, at 99 cents per item (about 100 or so sales total, pretty consistently day after day). These items are listed under the computer category. After a ton of 99 cent sales, the user is now selling the listed item for around $500 USD and is ranking on the first page for gaming pc's. If you check his auctions, all of them follow a similar pattern. Is there something I am missing here, or is this guy blatantly cheating the system? He's ranking very high in this category for a lot of his products, even though the amount of non 99 cent sales is very very low. I am just curious if there is something I am missing here, or is he intentionally doing this to boost his auction SEO rankings? (considering hes getting a lot of sales, with a low click through rate, by doing this). Also, is doing this legal? I feel like more than likely I am missing something here, and this can't actually be happening and functioning in the way I imagine it to be. Any info would be highly appreciated. Thanks

I don't know about the legality of this method but it could be e bay just hasn't caught up with it yet . I've received a couple of messages lately in my inbox from someone offering to list my items for me . They say if they can't sell your stuff then there's no fee . They laid out some type of explanation about how they know how to list items more effectively etc etc . I've ignored these messages but I just wonder if they could be using the same methods. Tulips

rfmtm · ‎07-28-2019

Nothing illegal about it, just like counting cards isn't illegal, but the casino throws you out because they lose money. Ebay doesn't, because they make money regardless. Certainly not fair to the rest of us, and worse if a small seller did it, they probably would get a policy violation of some kind.

jraj2-9 · ‎07-28-2019

Nah, I mean I get what you're saying, the problem is when an auction is artificially inflated to a higher ranking on ebay's search than it deserves, its likely going to generate less sales for ebay in the long run. Promoted listings are another thing, because of course ebay makes more money per sale on those.