Yes. There is something going on with Ebay algorithm. Where is my promoted listing?

[bill.purvis2012]

I keep reading posts about poor sales, listings not showing up, and questions about promoted listings. 

Where is the Ebay I used to know? Where your listings appear for buyers to see. Where promoted listings are listed first? 

What are you doing Ebay?

I just ran a check on one of my listings to check placement since I promote all my listings at a 10% cap. The reason I did it is because I was sending out an offer the other day and there was a note on the offer that if it sold the promotion rate was 19.2%.  I couldn't believe it. I've never done anything but a standard promotion and it is capped at 10%.

So, I took time to check a listing to see the placement.

I have a pair of Fendi earrings listed. There's only 128 of them showing up when I check for mine.( I just put in search Fendi earrings.).

Guess what? Mine doesn't show up at all!

Now, here's a listing I'm paying 10% promotion on and it doen't even show up under search. 

If I remember correctly some years ago ALL listings were available for buyers to find and if it was promoted it was FIRST and then the not promoted listings followed.

When I look through the Fendi earrings listings the promoted and non-promoted are all mixed together. What's with that? And where is my listing?

No wonder sales have tanked.  What is wwith this?

[go-bad-chicken]

I searched "Fendi earrings" with all categories selected but eBay then automatically switched the category to the specific " default category" of Jewelry & Watches > Fashion Jewelry > Earrings (143 results) and your earrings did not show up.

That's because you have your Fendi earrings listed in the category of Jewelry & Watches > Vintage & Antique Jewelry > Earrings and therefore when I corrected eBay's default category selection and once again selected all categories (230 results), then your Fendi earrings showed up near the top as a Sponsored listing. Unfortunately not every buyer is going to notice the switch.

 

 

 

In my opinion whenever a seller can determine that eBay makes this switch to a default category based on preliminary key word searches prior to posting a listing; as a seller i find that its at least  worth considering switching that item to that default category whether or not its correct, otherwise exposure will be reduced especially when buyer's are using the mobile interface and have no clue that eBay has switched the search selection to a default category.

[redlinear]

Best I can tell (which I may find it is wrong in 15 minutes and right again 15 minutes later)...IT is eBay ya know.
But, best i can tell.
A new listing gets you on the 1st page for a day or so, within a week of listing it.  And as it gets older, there will come a time where it's back there again.  I would assume every 30days?  But what I notice, via sales, is 90 days.
Promoting the listing seems to do the same.  1st page for a day or two, within a few days of Promoting.
Quite often, no matter the promotion% or none....your listings just cannot be seen unless the person searching KNOWS they are there and searches in ways nobody else would ever consider.   

HOWEVER, Promoting seems to get you on OTHER sellers listings.  The higher the promotion, the greater the chance that your listing will be other sellers listings.   
So, check that. Open up several other sellers listings and see if yours is showing up there.

The more competition there is, the worse all this gets.

[yuzuha]

eBay often will not show you your own items in a search because it (logically) reasons that when you are searching for something, you are searching because you are interested in buying, and you obviously can't buy something that you have listed.

The best thing to do is run a search on a separate device, as that won't hide your own listings.

[dbfolks166mt]

     While there are issues with the eBay search engine it also depends a bit on how the search is being executed. When I search for FENDI Earrings using exact words any order I see your listing as the first item in a list where the search results are stacked by Best Match. If I restack the results by price + shipping lowest first I no longer find them in the search results.  

[meme6253]

Far more problems,than just that, & they run very deep!

[12345jamesstamps]

Shouldn't the title have the first word of what it is? "Fendi"...is what your selling.

You're not selling "Vintage"...and pretty much everyone who looks at these will know they are vintage without putting that word in the title. You can put vintage in the description.

[gloryglorygifts]

I'm on my desktop and just did a search by Fendi earrings, and didn't see your listing on any of the pages. Then I did a search with Fendi earrings gold and black and they are top line, 2nd position, and they show as sponsored. I guess it depends on how people search if they are going to see them or not. 

The other day I did a search for someone else and saw promoted listings 16 pages deep. I guess the algorithms work on the PL's too. So everyone that is doing them gets a chance to be seen. 

[unequivocalfruition]

Yeah - our country is not supposed to allow such marketplaces in the United States. Free and Fair marketplaces is what is supposed to be claimed. eBay is now a maffia outfit where the largest pockets can pay to know all the ins and outs of the algorithm, otherwise you get lucky if you're selling consistently. I heard somewhere that if you want 4 sales a day, you should be listing 4 items a day. I did that - I did not get anything close to 4 items a day, let alone 1 item a day. Everything has been promoted - I have tried different rates. I started a markdown sale last week after having no sales for ~ a week. the first 24 hours into the sale, I got 4 sales. Ever since - no sales. The markdown keeps going. This week I tried a 30 and 40% markdown - higher rates than I usually do and lowered the promotion to 2% - no sales and no looks/ interested buyers. My store has 1000 listings.  This is supposed to be the busiest time of the year. Are people paying to get more traffic on the backend and in doing so taking my visibility with that? Just curious as I will be taking control, ending my store subscription and taking eBays cut - I'm going to promote my own items and make sure they sell. The worst decision of my life was to keep using eBay the last year or so as I've had many small short-lived successful periods, but no one can tell me why 5 very unpopular items sold in one day with no sales a week before and no sales a week after. Well I can - it's the algorithm. And from my own experience I definitely hate algorithms because I generally will not find what I'm looking for at the right price. I'm no lazy person - I will search until I find it and in this iteration of the internet, eBay and others will show you what they want you to buy, not what you want to buy. That idea they tell you and convince you that you are doing something wrong is a whole part of this technocracy. This is a marketplace that not everyone is allowed to succeed in. Those people who do have success are sucking themselves good, but honestly, I don't think they know what it is they are doing beyond getting their own traffic. I have determined the risks I take in selling on eBay, that things will or will not sell and most definitely at random intervals - I have to take control. Get my own free traffic. I was going to do affiliate stuff for my items, but I'd rather take 100% and get sales at real full market values. It's a numbers game and if enough eyes actually see my items (eBay hides them) they will buy. I miss the honest search engine that was not corrupted by big tech. Everyone has been complaining for decades how that they cannot find what they are looking for on Google. Don't be afraid people - take back your control - your freedom is waiting for you on the other side.

[rja649]

WELL LATELY.......MY SALES HAVE GONE UP...........I AM BUYING MY OWN STUFF AND SAVING A LOT ON THE SHIPPING AND NO NEED TO PROMOTE..............TOR BROWSER IS GOOD..........MAKE SURE YOU DOWNLOAD OEM.......ELSE GET A TROJAN................IT WILL SHOW YOU WHAT OTHERS SEE AND NOT KNOW WHO YOU ARE.........