eBay search results for my items dropping like a stone

[glasser]

The screen shot says it all. For like forever, I always have been about 25% top 20 25% rest of search and 50% non-search.

This week 9% top 20. When I search for my items they always come up in top 20 (think eBay has way to show your own items).  So is this data just wrong and not being accurately  portrayed? I have been using same keywords and I mostly sell no reserve auctions (one would assume no reserve auction with bids would always be ab it higher in results).

Also, looks like the impressions to page views also diminishing. Expected prices, my estimation based on my own historical sales, for items appears to be dropping as well.

Can't use PL in auction format listings. Am I being pushed down by PLs?

FYI, increase in in impressions for me is just a reflection of the number of items I have for sale some weeks one some weeks 4.

[reallyhardtofind]

I can't even see my items in my store again. Views are way down too.

[katzrul15]

Same here - impressions so very low.  This is a mess going into 4th quarter holiday sales.

[stuff4divas]

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@glasser wrote:

The screen shot says it all. For like forever, I always have been about 25% top 20 25% rest of search and 50% non-search.

This week 9% top 20. When I search for my items they always come up in top 20 (think eBay has way to show your own items).  So is this data just wrong and not being accurately  portrayed? I have been using same keywords and I mostly sell no reserve auctions (one would assume no reserve auction with bids would always be ab it higher in results).

Also, looks like the impressions to page views also diminishing. Expected prices, my estimation based on my own historical sales, for items appears to be dropping as well.

Can't use PL in auction format listings. Am I being pushed down by PLs?

FYI, increase in in impressions for me is just a reflection of the number of items I have for sale some weeks one some weeks 4.

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Probably due to eBay's roll out of its Promoted Listings Advanced program>

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/Introducing-Promoted-Listings-Advanced-BETA-for-business...

Anyone who uses it goes to the top of searches, but they pay a great monetary cost to do so

As I see it, smaller sellers will be squeezed out even more than they have been over the years by Chinese and other 'big' sellers who have thousands of listings because we can't afford the extra cost to do PLA

[ekmadonna]

I noticed the EXACT SAME THING. I have ZERO listings out of 1,800 showing in Top 20 Search Placement for the first ever in 7 years selling here. This is ONE REASON why I have gone from averaging $2,500-2,600 in sales per month consistently for the last 3 years down to if all continues on this spiral of a month to UNDER $500 in total sales. It is incredible who with a flip of a switch they can just turn off your sales. I average 65 sales a month and so far this month I have 11 total sales 1/3 of the way through the month.

[ekmadonna]

The problem with your theory which I do believe is somewhat correct is this-- Some of us SELL One Off One Of A Kind items or items with very little to no competition. So how is it that our one off items are not in the top 20 search results if we have the only one or say one of maybe less than 10?

[glasser]

@ekmadonna Yes, this is confusing and see your pint. Also, there is more than one way to search.  results can be best match (gives me least relevant results 🙂 ), newly listed, ending soonest, lowest price, etc.. It would seem that given those ways of slicing and dicing at some point items would appear in the top 20.

I know most of the things I search for--antiques and collectibles category--start with a newly listed search.  It seems almost impossible to not have at least one item in top 20 searches after having roughly 25% overtime.

I have certainly seen not the lowest price PL in lowest price sorts, which I believe hurts the legitimacy of search results as well. 

If this all has to with PL, then auction sellers (who can't use PL) and small sellers who can't amortize the cost of PL across thousands of listings will be hurt. eBay claims they want the site to be a place you can buy things you can't get anywhere else. Not sure they back that up.

I wonder if someone like velvet@ebay or tyler@ebay could chime in and see if this issue of 0% top 20 is a glitch (been a few as of late) or why we are see it.

[katzrul15]

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@ekmadonna wrote:

I noticed the EXACT SAME THING. I have ZERO listings out of 1,800 showing in Top 20 Search Placement for the first ever in 7 years selling here. This is ONE REASON why I have gone from averaging $2,500-2,600 in sales per month consistently for the last 3 years down to if all continues on this spiral of a month to UNDER $500 in total sales. It is incredible who with a flip of a switch they can just turn off your sales. I average 65 sales a month and so far this month I have 11 total sales 1/3 of the way through the month.

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We are trending the same.  Used to be $4k+ each month.  Barely $1200-$1500 a month.  Changed so fast when PLA beta hit.  Killing/killed our sales.

We posted - folks kept saying the economy...can't be e-Bay.  🙄