@glasser wrote:
@valueaddedresource I appreciate you posting this.
However, it is typical eBay opaque language. What I say to eBay (pardon the paraphrase Jerry Maguire) show me the data. Show me the data that reveals that sellers who use more item specifics have better sell through rates, that their items are higher in search results, Show me the data that indicate successful sales by the number of specifics buyers used in making a purchase. Explain in more detail how eBay will use specifics when buying paid searches on FB and Google. In other words give me the the data so I can improve my business rather than just trusting you.
Show me how having 5-7 specifics is better than 4. Show me the way people actually find stuff on eBay so I can improve my listings. Not only specifics but titles as well. They have this data and they should share it.
eBay wants buyers to more and more see eBay as the selling site not the sellers themselves (see the app where seller is the lowest thing on the page). This is flawed thinking. Sellers are eBay's primary customers. We actually generated the revenue. Buyers are sellers customers and we bear the responsibility for customer satisfaction and growing our businesses. eBay sees Amazon and Walmart as the competition. I see other eBay sellers as the competition (nothing I sell available on Amazon or Walmart).
this line irks me:
So there's a whole team here at eBay that is working hard every day to make sure that the required item specifics are the most meaningful to buyers so that the specifics you put in are the ones that buyers are looking for.
Why not spend time with sellers. Most of us know what we sell and how to attract buyers. Stop spending so much on the buyer experience. eBay is doing the most for me not by new bells and whistles and new rules. They do they best for me when they actually work to attract new buyers. They shouldn't be trying to be like Amazon. They should be looking to steal customers from Amazon. eBay sellers and there 1-1 relationship with buyers is something Amazon can never replicate. Help us do the best job at that.
This one irks me as well:
Notice in this statement:
And then in addition to the above, there are times that we have to make changes to meet a business requirement from legal or from policy from SEO, selling, search, shipping. So I think the takeaway here is that we are doing it on purpose because we truly believe that updating those items specifics will drive your business and will help result in more sales for you and a better experience for buyers.
See how sellers are an after thought in that paragraph?
Like I said show me the data not the marketing platitudes or corporate speak.
Sellers are your partners. Start treating them like and not as children who need to be told how to behave.
@glasser no pardon needed for the paraphrase 😉 and I think that is more than a fair request.
While I appreciated Rebecca taking the time to acknowledge the issue in the check-in, for me it just opened up more questions (like what you are asking about specifics on the data).
I absolutely agree with you about sellers and the unique products plus 1 to 1 relationships we bring being a huge positive differentiator for eBay vs other marketplaces.
I honestly think most of the friction around this comes from the lack of communication and frustration about the repetitive entry and feeling like this is all just a huge waste of time that may not result in much positive benefit.
If eBay wants to get sellers on board and be the "seller partner of choice" as Jamie Iannone likes to say, like you said, they are going to have to be willing to engage us like adults and have the kind of conversations partners would normally have when trying to hash out why a certain path forward is in the best interests of all parties.
Hopefully Rebecca is open to engaging with more of the in depth questions & concerns presented here.
