eBay changes the rules in the middle of the game and puts you at a disadvantage.

[ten_o_nine]

Yup, that's right. eBay told me to do so many things to improve my listings visibility, and I complied with all of them, only to find out that a below standard seller has more visibility than me just because they promoted their listing. What a stab in the back eBay.

[m60driver]

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@ten_o_nine wrote:

Yup, that's right. eBay told me to do so many things to improve my listings visibility, and I complied with all of them, only to find out that a below standard seller has more visibility than me just because they promoted their listing. What a stab in the back eBay.

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What did you expect?!?  Ebay tells you to promote the listing to improve visibility.   A below standard seller pays a higher final value fee and that same seller is promoting their listing.   Never forget that Ebay is in the business to make money for Ebay and not to make money for any one seller.

[rugerskick]

But doing this also provides a sub-par experience for buyers, because the search results are no longer optimized for what they are looking for, but rather, for ebay to make money pitting sellers against sellers, and paying for the privilege to do so.

All the garbage we hear about search being made to work better for us is garbage.  The algorithm spends more time de-ranking sellers, spending more computing time finding why your listings should be lower in search results, or not at all, than it does trying to return the best results.

[ten_o_nine]

@m60driver 

I expect eBay to adhere to their promise.

[ten_o_nine]

I also expect eBay to live up to their promise of better placement for doing what they said, and don't forget I am in the business of making money too.

[mtgraves7984]

I always hope for the best but expect the worst. Try that. 🙂

[stainlessenginecovers]

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@ten_o_nine wrote:

I also expect eBay to live up to their promise of better placement for doing what they said, and don't forget I am in the business of making money too.

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Stating (promising...which they NEVER did)....Giving you 'better placement' does NOT mean that they won't give another EVEN BETTER placement because they 'pay more'. 

What did you expect? 

This site is in the business to make money. 

It's up to you to decide what you want to 'spend' on 'advertising.'

No different than Google/Bing where I know of competitors that spend $100,000 PER MONTH 'advertising' (seen them? They are on your email; on your Instagram; on your Facebook; on your Nextdoor- they are EVERYWHERE...

and then; had to sell the company after they lost $1,000,000 in year 1. 

[oldwestcoins]

That's a lame reply. Just saying.

[12345jamesstamps]

I notice a lot of "Top Rated Sellers" do not have a feedback of 100%....but rather negatives and neutrals feedback. Guess feedback means not a whole lot here anymore.

When I look at a listing of mine I will see these "Top Rated Sellers" under my posting and usually none have a 100 % feedback rating.

[ten_o_nine]

@stainlessenginecovers 

Really. had no idea eBay was in it to make money. Thanks for the valuable info.

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

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@12345jamesstamps wrote:

I notice a lot of "Top Rated Sellers" do not have a feedback of 100%....but rather negatives and neutrals feedback. Guess feedback means not a whole lot here anymore.

When I look at a listing of mine I will see these "Top Rated Sellers" under my posting and usually none have a 100 % feedback rating.

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When I was in college as a chemistry major (2014-2017) I spent more hours in the lab than in the classroom... albeit I skipped many classes, that's besides the point, I spent probably 20-40 hours in the lab between work and research and was very active. Throughout my time, I broke far more glassware or had to do more repairs to equipment than any of my peers. That is simply because I actually did things in the lab instead of sitting in a chair on my phone. I quickly adopted the fair and honest approach of "If something hasn't broken, failed, or blew up ... you haven't spent enough time in the lab"

I know I'm far too young to tell rambling off topic stories from "back in my day" ... so what's my point or connection? I think people view 100% feedback in the completely wrong light. Can we all agree on the statement "You can't please everyone"???  I mean, you can do everything 100% perfectly and still earn a neutral/negative. So my view is, if you have 100% feedback, you haven't sold enough on EBay 🤣 ... OR you're getting EBay to scrub your Negative feedbacks.

(Quick note: This reply is in no way directed at or aimed at 12345jamesstamps, you've sold plenty, I'm just giving my rambling tangential view on a topic you raised)

I rather see 99.9% or 99.8% feedback. If I see 100%, how do I know if the seller earned 100% or if they actually earned 98% and got a ton of feedback scrubbed, so we don't see the negatives. I want to see negatives, I want to read them, I don't want to see 0 negatives because "is it really 0? Or were there 100 FBs scrubbed?"  I want to see what the buyers are complaining about. I want to see how the seller handles it.

As a buyer, if I'm comparing two sellers, and it literally comes down to, one seller has 100% FB and the other is 99.5% I think those percentages are effectively meaningless. You have to have a lower FB rating for me to raise an eyebrow. Depends on category thought ... I'm lenient in electronics or clothing etc because so many people complain when buying electronics and clothing. 

To conclude, yes, I agree, feedback (especially feedback percentage) doesn't mean a whole lot anymore

[kenneth686321]

From the search results you don't know which sellers are below standard or above standard. All the results show is which sellers are "top rated" sellers with a Top rated seller badge. 

If a Ebay CS representative told you otherwise they are wrong and told you what you wanted to hear. 

A below standard seller CAN NOT used promoted listings see policy below. 

What happens if you are Below Standard

Directly after the evaluation:

• Your items may be placed lower in Best Match search results
• Your selling limits may decrease
• You'll be blocked from using Promoted Listings, and won't be able to create new campaigns or edit existing campaigns
• Funds from your orders may be placed on hold until tracking information shows that the item is on its way to the buyer

https://ebay.com/help/policies/selling-policies/seller-standards-policy?id=4347#limitations 

[toomuchstuffagain35]

But what if you have an existing campaign when you fall below standard? Sounds like that may continue and you have no choice to end it?

[inhawaii]

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@oldwestcoins wrote:

That's a lame reply. Just saying.

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I also think any post I don't  agree with is lame.

[inhawaii]

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@ten_o_nine wrote:

Yup, that's right. eBay told me to do so many things to improve my listings visibility

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 They didn't tell you, they suggested.

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@ten_o_nine wrote:

only to find out that a below standard seller has more visibility than me

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 How do know this seller is below standard? Do you have access to their seller dashboard?

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@ten_o_nine wrote:

 What a stab in the back eBay.

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You say ebay is stabbing you in the back. What are you going to do about it? Continue  to sell here and continue getting stabbed in the back?