So what's the real story?

[mr_lincoln]

I just re-read the "Summer Trends" June 27th post by the SVP + General Manager, American Market (link below).  However, what I would really like news and details on is how eBay will turn around the continued decline in sales that many, many members are reporting here on The Community, and a lot of them seem to be newer posters ... with Pay per Click PLS Advanced kicking off last year, the November 2021 Category reshuffling, the more recent Views counter change and other changes made to the venue's programming in the last 6-8 months I have lost confidence in the Search algorithms being able to function properly.

Earlier this year on the Traffic report Impressions took an abrupt nose dive ... 80.5% in a very, very short period of time.  Historically I run at least one PLS Standard Campaign per quarter and they normally do well but not so in 2022 ... this year the two I ran under performed which is baffling considering one of the ways the venue makes additional income is through promotion fees ... and in checking Traffic the last few days Impressions are once again dropping.

For myself and the categories I sell in I am not buying in to the economy excuse for declining sales ... if that were true then I and others would be making a killing on acquiring low priced inventory to resell ... in fact, the opposite seems to be happening - meaning competition to acquire inventory is stiffer then in the recent past.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/Summer-Trends/ba-p/33032652

Something is seriously amiss within the organization and someone or some group knows what is is ... just wish they would let the rest of us know too ...

Regards,

Mr. L

[the_fancy_fox]

Read this thread yesterday and I too am being impacted.

I inherited an estate and today I am going through researching lots of NIB engine parts, racing parts etc. 

Over and over and over, ebay says none in search and tries to redirect me to items my search has no relation to. 

Cut my search words and pasted into Google and guess what…. They pop right up for sale ON EBAY. Open the listing and yep, exactly what I am researching. 

This is ridiculous. I repeated this search error ten times this morning (I just started) and by evening I am pretty sure my phones going to end up smashed against the wall due to the rising frustration level. Why put in all the work if no one’s going to find it?

Want to know why sales are tanking? This is NOT helping.

[donsdetour]

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@the_fancy_fox wrote:

Read this thread yesterday and I too am being impacted.

I inherited an estate and today I am going through researching lots of NIB engine parts, racing parts etc. 

Over and over and over, ebay says none in search and tries to redirect me to items my search has no relation to. 

Cut my search words and pasted into Google and guess what…. They pop right up for sale ON EBAY. Open the listing and yep, exactly what I am researching. 

This is ridiculous. I repeated this search error ten times this morning (I just started) and by evening I am pretty sure my phones going to end up smashed against the wall due to the rising frustration level. Why put in all the work if no one’s going to find it?

Want to know why sales are tanking? This is NOT helping.

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Crazy to have to go to some other search system to search eBay aint it..

And what does this do to the sellers on eBay/

[mr_lincoln]

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@the_fancy_fox wrote:

Read this thread yesterday and I too am being impacted.

I inherited an estate and today I am going through researching lots of NIB engine parts, racing parts etc. 

Over and over and over, ebay says none in search and tries to redirect me to items my search has no relation to. 

Cut my search words and pasted into Google and guess what…. They pop right up for sale ON EBAY. Open the listing and yep, exactly what I am researching. 

This is ridiculous. I repeated this search error ten times this morning (I just started) and by evening I am pretty sure my phones going to end up smashed against the wall due to the rising frustration level. Why put in all the work if no one’s going to find it?

Want to know why sales are tanking? This is NOT helping.

---

@the_fancy_fox   Sold Search research has been horrible since they shuffled categories last November.  I am constantly changing words, numbers etc. to get what I am looking for like a train engine instead of electrical connectors, automobile parts, other toys, etc.   Titles have 80 characters and for the life of me I can;t figure out which ones they hone in on to return the stuff they do in search?!?

And yep, you go off the site and search and sure enough, what you are looking for gets returned on the list and low and behold they are on eBay.  I've also had a number of search results returned that wound up being ONLY what I have sold on the first page or two ... that one I am still trying to figure out.

[katzrul15]

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@mr_lincoln wrote:

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@donsdetour wrote:

Mr L if you keep watching you will see a cycle:

On and then off on your sales:

It seems eBay has set up intentional, or some change unknowingly to cause cycles  (sellers into say "phase"); while dropping others from the "phase".

This of course may be incorrect: but seems to be what folks are reporting.

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@donsdetour   Some other members have posted (in basic terms) the concept that eBay drops sales so sellers panic then scramble to try different promotions or drop their prices ... that idea fits with the agenda to drive prices down or increase the venue's cash flow with Ad fees, promotion fees, etc.

Prior to this year, for about one week after I ran a 30 day PLS (Standard) Campaign sales would almost flat line before rebounding.  I run about one per quarter and prior to this year had very good success.  I ran 2 this year so far and sales were bad AND the drop afterwards never really seemed to recover.  The thought here is instead of 30 day Campaigns they want Continuous which is a setting on the Promoted Listings flow ... meaning they want extra fees ALL the time for EVERYTHING.

Here's another thought ... we know there are Search algorithms for finding things ... so how about the idea of Seller Algorithms that monitor how Sellers list (frequency), promote their items, etc.  So they tweak those algorithms and drop sales to "encourage" Sellers to panic and do what I mentioned above.

What you mentioned about "phasing" sales is of course another possibility.

At the end of the day the net-net result is that many are reporting abnormal - sudden drops in sales ... these would be outside normal ebbs and flows of sales.

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@mr_lincoln 

Exactly.

Abnormal is one word that fits.  Can't type the other word here.

[mr_lincoln]

@katzrul15   I don't think its limited to just one "other" word ...

[taskerztreasurez]

My biggest complaint so far is the scammers. I'm new to selling and everything I post, regardless of platform, gets at least 1 scammer trying his luck. You would think there would be more oversight on this issue from ebay to rid the auctions from scammers wasting your time and/or money

[donsdetour]

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@taskerztreasurez wrote:

My biggest complaint so far is the scammers. I'm new to selling and everything I post, regardless of platform, gets at least 1 scammer trying his luck. You would think there would be more oversight on this issue from ebay to rid the auctions from scammers wasting your time and/or money

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every id eBay toasts, they just make more< so it is best just to block em as the scams come in.

Oh and stop the auctions go to fixed price pay immediately is a way to stop this.

[katzrul15]

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@mr_lincoln wrote:

@katzrul15   I don't think its limited to just one "other" word ...

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The one I was referring to has a hyphen and begins with cluster

[femmefan1946]

he stated that the future of Ebay is higher end niches like sneakers, trading cards, etc. The real question is whether he will spin off the "traditional" small seller

Every CEO says that, and then discover the small sellers are persistent, and constantly renewing themselves, while the Big Boys put together an online customer base and then move to their own website.

I find it hard to believe that "trading cards" are a high end niche. While there are some expensive cards sold on eBay, a serious collector would be dealing with specialty sites and dealers and with specialty auction houses with better customer service reputations. (Like being able to return a purchase if it fails to get a certificate after the sale. )

[the_fancy_fox]

@the_fancy_fox   Sold Search research has been horrible since they shuffled categories last November.  I am constantly changing words, numbers etc. to get what I am looking for like a train engine instead of electrical connectors, automobile parts, other toys, etc.   Titles have 80 characters and for the life of me I can;t figure out which ones they hone in on to return the stuff they do in search?!?

And yep, you go off the site and search and sure enough, what you are looking for gets returned on the list and low and behold they are on eBay.  I've also had a number of search results returned that wound up being ONLY what I have sold on the first page or two ... that one I am still trying to figure out.

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It’s not just completed listings. I’m getting in both completed and standard searches. 

I also discovered that if you maybe misspell or transpose one letter, nope sorry. No matching searches. (This has been a small percent of my searches) .  Yet pasted into Google and Google has NO problem matching what your looking for even with the spelling goof.

Tested the spelling goof by fixing the typo and researching ebay about 50% of the time ebay would then find the item. 50% of the time, nope yet Google finds it 100% of the time, on ebay.

Hope ebay catches a clue soon or holiday sales will be in the toilet.

[donsdetour]

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@the_fancy_fox wrote:

@the_fancy_fox   Sold Search research has been horrible since they shuffled categories last November.  I am constantly changing words, numbers etc. to get what I am looking for like a train engine instead of electrical connectors, automobile parts, other toys, etc.   Titles have 80 characters and for the life of me I can;t figure out which ones they hone in on to return the stuff they do in search?!?

And yep, you go off the site and search and sure enough, what you are looking for gets returned on the list and low and behold they are on eBay.  I've also had a number of search results returned that wound up being ONLY what I have sold on the first page or two ... that one I am still trying to figure out.

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It’s not just completed listings. I’m getting in both completed and standard searches. 

I also discovered that if you maybe misspell or transpose one letter, nope sorry. No matching searches. (This has been a small percent of my searches) .  Yet pasted into Google and Google has NO problem matching what your looking for even with the spelling goof.

Tested the spelling goof by fixing the typo and researching ebay about 50% of the time ebay would then find the item. 50% of the time, nope yet Google finds it 100% of the time, on ebay.

Hope ebay catches a clue soon or holiday sales will be in the toilet.

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Yes to what you have posted:

and the reason I like posting, or similar.: 

If a buyer CAN NOT find your item, how can it get views, as well as a sell??

[bimm_corp]

@katzrul15 

>Already here. Laverne Cox Barbie. Sold well.

How about a "sugar daddy" for Laverne Cox Barbie?

[the_fancy_fox]

Can someone try this search to see if it’s just my connection?

B6y-1124-b Ford Genuine Wheel Bearing Spindle Hub Lock Tab Washer

I get nothing on eBay but when I search with Google there they are…

[donsdetour]

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@the_fancy_fox wrote:

Can someone try this search to see if it’s just my connection?

B6y-1124-b Ford Genuine Wheel Bearing Spindle Hub Lock Tab Washer

I get nothing on eBay but when I search with Google there they are…

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I find only 1 with that as a search;

https://www.ebay.com/itm/165571183347?hash=item268ccfc2f3:g:~yIAAOSwxOFiysQX

of course shows more on google.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/284588670214?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&item... 

https://www.ebay.com/p/1511198191 

[the_fancy_fox]

At least you got one. I got zero.