eBay advertised 12 competitor PRODUCTS INSIDE my listing BEFORE my ITEM's DESCRIPTION COULD BE SEEN

[home_decor_and_more]

I am beyond mad.  I just posted a 3-DAY AUCTION LISTING and was horrified to see that eBay immediately inserted 12 COMPETITOR PRODUCTS with PRICES and PHOTOS LARGER than MY GALLERY IMAGES and put them BEFORE my LISTING DESCRIPTION and PHOTOS COULD BE SEEN.  Then they added another 12 competitor listing links at the bottom of the page.   Does anyone else think this is UNACCEPTABLE?! 

It is already difficult generating enough listing views with the  vast number of products on eBay.   Having them steer buyers away from your listing by advertising other items which may be less expensive, BEFORE a listing, or IN THE MIDDLE of a listing is, in my opinion, intolerable as it can negatively impact a seller's sales and income!

I realize that sellers promote their listings for enhanced sales performance, which isn't available with auction listings.  Therefore, advertisements should be banned completely from auction style listings, especially 1 and 3-Day auctions,  and inside any Buy It Now listing's description, for that matter.  Anyone agree with me?

[dryophelia]

@home_decor_and_more 

It is very frustrating, as a buyer, I know it's there but I always scroll to find the actual item I was clicked on before looking at all that.

[gwzcomps]

They have been doing this for a while. What I don't understand is why they can't advertise the seller's own similar items on their listings?

[mam98031]

It doesn't just happen to you, it happens to ALL of us!!!

As a seller I hate it.

As a buyer I hate it.

[nc-daydreamer]

I agree. It is simply wrong. Many ads take the buyer off eBay - so they violate their own rules.  A case of "don't follow my example, just do what I tell you to do" .

It is and has been for years, IMO, a deceptive practice to run ads in the space I pay for.  If eBay wants to advertise other sellers - both on and/or off site - in my space, they need to pay me - or at least discount my store costs.

As a buyer, I find it annoyingly distasteful and ignore the misplaced ads. As a seller, it infuriates me, as it does you.  It's bad enough that the search engine is a joke - so when a buyer finally does find an item - for them to be lead astray like a lost puppy - is simply inane.  Buyers are not easy to come by these days and deserve more respect.

And this showing buyers AFTER they complete a sale with you that they could have purchased the item cheaper elsewhere, hence encouraging cancellations and returns just to collect fees from sellers and unfairly damage metrics (just to get more fees) - is just a cheap, underhanded, lack of class maneuver on eBay's part.  And placing the return option on the top of the purchase history item, that unmistakable large, blue button, instead of the leave feedback button being prevalent...  I could go on, but my blood pressure is rising - I can feel it. 

Anyway, I invite you to use this link https://community.ebay.com/t5/Ask-Me-Anything-Jordan-Sweetnam/idb-p/qfj select the button on the right and submit this as a question to our new fearless leader. Maybe he will at least think about it.

I wish us all luck...

[fashunu4eeuh]

Hi, yes it is intolerable.

Selling ad space on-site and in listings has become an important revenue stream for eBay. Very important. Ebay doesn't seem to get that it is a conflict of interest to sell this prime real estate to competing retailers, on the backs of eBay sellers. They are unlikely to care about this—sellers are a dime a dozen.

Since they will never give up this income source, my suggestion is rather than put direct competitors’ goods on our pages, why aren't they putting related and complimentary products there instead, which would encourage more sales ON THEIR PLATFORM? For example, say i’m selling toothbrushes, why not advertise those fellow eBayers selling toothpaste and floss products? This way they keep their revenue stream and we don’t have buyers navigating away from our listings in hot pursuit of cheap Chinese widgets.

[abfabvintage]

your reply here has been my Mantra since mid-year 2018. ebay sending cheaper product info to paid buyers all the way thru to delivery AND even after you have both left good feedback...and those cheapos were never shown to buyers when they originally searched...and that subliminal big 'ole RETURN button that stays there even beyond the seller's stated return window...if you have 30 days, ebay leaves it there for 60.

i posted these same issues on the Sweetman thread...and now with all this encouragement by ebay to cancel and/or return, we now have to pay PP a non-refundable fee. sorry about the typing...broke wrist but hanging in there. oh...and don't get me started about the 3 rows of other seller ads before you can even get to your listing info...

[wesk_36]

I have always thought it is very bad form for ebay to break up a sellers listing like this. Very Intrusive, disruptive, destructive, and rude on ebay's part. 

Perhaps this is one of the reasons that sellers complain a lot about buyers not reading the description; because in effect, ebay hides or buries the description by placing the ads in the middle of the listing. It appears that the listing ends where the ads begin.

I forgot about all this because of a uBlock browser extension; it blocks those ads so I see listings as they should be; unbroken and whole.

[southern*sweet*tea]

Well, on the plus side, YOUR listings are going to be spamming other seller's listings as well.

This has been going on for a decade, maybe longer.

That said, don't knock those competitor listings too much. As a buyer, I've actually found items and purchased items that way. Buyers could have purchased your listings that way - there's no way to tell.

 Ebay doesn't care who a buyer buys from, just as long as they buy something from someone.  Ebay doesn't exist to make money for you. They exist to make money for themselves.

(should I be wearing a flame proof suit?)

[chapeau-noir]

If they don't make money from us, they're not making much money for themselves.  There's only so much revenue to be had from click-bait.

[corvettestainless]

Here's a reply that you have not received. 

Notice these are 'sponsored' items- in other words- "promoted". You have to do 'promotions' to make sure these are your items. I believe 'promoted' has to be 'buy it now', not auctions. Do 1%, and your items will show there as well as in other peoples listings. If you are doing auctions and only have 1 item, no point, and this is the way it is.

This will never be changed. It makes money for ebay. 

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

I agree with Southern, that’s how I find other things to purchase. First I check to see the thing I clicked on. The I go look at related items. I have bought five pairs of velveteen jeans this Fall because I like them. The related items helped me find them since search sucks so badly. The problem is with clothing the related items don’t always make sense. If I’m buying size 16 pants I’m NOT going to buy size 4 pants even if they’re awesome.

When I’m buying for my business I also buy multiples if I can find them. Those galleries help with that. Maybe that’s how some of your buyers find you!

[psalms*22]

---

I realize that sellers promote their listings for enhanced sales performance, which isn't available with auction listings.  Therefore, advertisements should be banned completely from auction style listings, especially 1 and 3-Day auctions,  and inside any Buy It Now listing's description, for that matter.  Anyone agree with me?

---

In my opinion just one more utterly ridiculous reason why Promoted Listings is the worst thing for sellers in the history of ebay - this program starkly points out the exploitation of sellers and greediness of online sales venues - I said when these promoted listings first started it was like a seller putting the noose around their own neck if they took part in it - Trending rates? So you want to pay to get ahead of the crowd huh? Great - Here's how it works in  my estimation - The trending rate is 5.5% and you're gonna go 7.5% to eek up a bit - You and 5,000,000 thoughtless others - Well guess what - Now the trending rate is 5.75%, and so on, and so on...Surely I do not need to further explain the exploitation and insufferable greed this represents - Sellers have heedlessly set a TRAP for themselves by buying into this madness

So you beat the zombie hoard and sold a few things before more sellers started using promoted listings -  What did you really accomplish - You set it in motion because the venue got the response they were looking for - Should have just let them raise Fees a % point or two cause you just started the dominos falling - Now what?  - What happens when everyone is using it? - You get the exact same search result you had before it ever started - Hahahaha there is a huge part of the madness of the thing - Unless of course you are willing to pay higher promotion percentages, but you're just tightening the noose - eventually a program like this raises prices and lowers quality and service - Just what we need right? A program built on this structure will  hit a point of collapse for the venue and the user when it gets top heavy - It is a recipe for failure and hardly a soul thought about these ramifications before happily jumping in, or worse yet, did think about it, but jumped in anyway - Thats why we have so many animal species on the verge of extinction - No one cares about the end result, only the short term payoff.

The above is only a small portion of what is wrong with promoted listings - Hope all those using it sell something today - who cares about tomorrow right?

[psalms*22]

---

I realize that sellers promote their listings for enhanced sales performance, which isn't available with auction listings.  Therefore, advertisements should be banned completely from auction style listings, especially 1 and 3-Day auctions,  and inside any Buy It Now listing's description, for that matter.  Anyone agree with me?

---

In my opinion just one more utterly ridiculous reason why Promoted Listings is the worst thing for sellers in the history of ebay - this program starkly points out the exploitation of sellers and greediness of online sales venues - I said when these promoted listings first started it was like a seller putting the noose around their own neck if they took part in it - Trending rates? So you want to pay to get ahead of the crowd huh? Great - Here's how it works in  my estimation - The trending rate is 5.5% and you're gonna go 7.5% to eek up a bit - You and 5,000,000 thoughtless others - Well guess what - Now the trending rate is 5.75%, and so on, and so on...Surely I do not need to further explain the exploitation and insufferable greed this represents - Sellers have heedlessly set a TRAP for themselves by buying into this madness

So you beat the zombie hoard and sold a few things before more sellers started using promoted listings -  What did you really accomplish - You set it in motion because the venue got the response they were looking for - Should have just let them raise Fees a % point or two cause you just started the dominos falling - Now what?  - What happens when everyone is using it? - You get the exact same search result you had before it ever started - Hahahaha there is a huge part of the madness of the thing - Unless of course you are willing to pay higher promotion percentages, but you're just tightening the noose - eventually a program like this raises prices and lowers quality and service - Just what we need right? A program built on this structure will  hit a point of collapse for the venue and the user when it gets top heavy - It is a recipe for failure and hardly a soul thought about these ramifications before happily jumping in, or worse yet, did think about it, but jumped in anyway - Thats why we have so many animal species on the verge of extinction - No one cares about the end result, only the short term payoff.

The above is only a small portion of what is wrong with promoted listings - Hope all those using it sell something today - who cares about tomorrow right?

[corvettestainless]

@southern*sweet*tea  Well, on the plus side, YOUR listings are going to be spamming other seller's listings as well.

This is a secret:  Not if they don't pay for 'promotions' on all their listings. 

I noticed my competition on my listings, so I sponsored all my listings 1% (400 listings) and now my items are not only always shown on my own ads, but my listings are also shown across my competitors that do not do the 'promoted' thing. 

I have about 20% of my items being sold 'promoted' and cost me maybe $20 a month for $2000k worth of sales. 

[uncseniorsportsfan]

This keeps your traffic numbers up while your sales go down the drain.