Regards,
@fashunu4eeuh wrote:
@coolections wrote:You are very confused on that statement. Items WILL show, but in some cases, if servers go down, or if a buyer is trying to find something with 10,000 of the same things listed it will only show so many. It gives the buyer an opportunity to click SHOW ALL. It is no different than McDonalds warning you the coffee is still available for sale but is hot.
Not just confused, but very confused? I must disagree with that assessment. What is confusing is the vague wording of the policy i referenced and its actual meaning.
But i am fairly confident that the referenced wording from the UA in my post #19 does not say a listing will show up in Search, somewhere, 100% of the time—all you need to do is click “Show me all”. I am happy to read another policy reference that refutes this.
I am not talking about throttling or spouting conspiracy theories that eBay is out to get sellers. I am saying that eBay has the ability to manipulate Search results. It likely can hide listings if it chooses. Under what circumstances it might do so, i would not speculate.
" ... eBay has the ability to manipulate Search results. ..."
They manipulate search results on a regular basis. The tell for experienced Sellers is when their normal sales flow changes drastically in a short period of time. Sellers aren't stupid and while they may not be able to put their finger on exactly what Home Office has done they know "something" was done and result is poor sales.
I know one area they have changed things is PLS campaigns. Prior to 2022 and the launch of the new Views counting and PLA (Pay to play) I ran quarterly PLS campaigns with great success. I picked one fixed ad rate between 5% - 10% and put every BIN on a 30 day campaign. My fixed ad rate was always higher than their "trending" rates. The net result was average daily sales between 2-3 per day. In 2022 that all changed, "suggested" rates appeared along the way and average sales dropped to 1-2 per day and closer to 1 than 2. This year my first PLS in Jan - Feb performed like those of old then my 2nd quarter PLS tanked like 2022. So I just finished a shorter (17 day) "test" PLS where I used a 12% Fixed ad rate, way above even their "suggested" rates of about 8-9% (which had magically rose to the high end of my previous 5% - 10% range). Sure enough, average daily sales spiked right back to 2-3 per day in a short period of time. That's NOT a coincidence.
eBay's income is based on fees, period. Most decisions they make are to increase their income via fees. They now have enough total listings on the venue that they can manipulate things to their benefit.
Note: eBay referencing ad rates as "trending" in the past implied they were based on historical facts opposed to the current reference as "suggested" ad rates which to me implies the rates are what they want you to use opposed to having any basis in historical fact.
