faulty logic for GTC

[evry1nositswindy]

I know we have all been talking about GTC and how it affects our accounts.  The reasoning from eBay was that it kept the item # the same so it would be 'current' on google searches.  If I look at my traffic report, VERY few impressions/sales come from outside of eBay itself.  Here is a picture of it.  Does anyone show that their views from outside of eBay are statistically significant (5%)?

[chapeau-noir]

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@mam98031 wrote:

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@goodluckselling wrote:

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@gracieallen01 wrote:

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@goodluckselling wrote:

I did the research you are asking about a couple months ago and both eBay and Amaz are showing about 20% of all traffic is from outside sources like google and any other incoming link as a combined total.  This number is up considerably from just a couple years earlier where both platforms were in the 10 to 12% area.

Good Luck Selling!

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I wonder if ebay took into consideration the increased percentage of external views to figure how much more they might be getting from promoted listings?  In general, do you know if the percentage suggested for the promoted listings still trending up?

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 eBay promoted listings will keep increasing because eBay is much more focused on specific advertising opportunities now than in the recent past. 

External traffic and promoted listings are not the same thing?  Promoted listing are on site promoted listings and not used as I have ever seen on external search engines.  Promoted listings actually would be against external search engines policies of no duplicate listings at the same venue.  I guess eBay has some kind of way to format eBay promoted listings so external search engines do not pick them up?

eBay in the past couple months (May 1st) ended a long running advertising area called eBay Commerce (old shopping.com) click here where merchants advertise products that match content people browse on those third-party sites, with the ads going back to merchants’ own domains.  eBay now wants to build its own data base about shopping and is focusing on affiliate sites (coming back to eBay only) and advertising directly on eBay (promoted listings, cross promotions, etc).

This first level data (eBay on site listings) versus the third level (eBay commerce) should render more data and better accuracy and increase revenue from advertising.  Remember eBay does not allow off site links any longer.  Basically they are saying we can drive brand name interest on the eBay platform.  I think we will see a big increase in famous big brands selling here from the trademark owners account and flooding the on site advertising opportunities.

Good Luck Selling!

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Just to add a little to this.  GTC decreases the chances of dead links with searching through Google or another outside search engine.  This fact was a driving force behind the change.  With listings that are short term, the links remain out there on the internet but they become dead links when the listings close.  So GTC will cut down on that.

I still don't think GTC is something that works for all sellers.  While I've used it for years, I know others don't like it for a variety of reasons.  And it is important for Ebay to understand this IMHO.

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I kind of wonder if part of this is eBay's desire to get back into Google's good graces after the headwinds the site experienced since the 2014 (I think that was the year) debacle.  One of the things that made complete sense to me with GTC was static URLs.

IMHO, going straight from various listing durations to GTC was an awfully big jump - eliminating the small listing durations and instead doing 30-day and GTC would have been less dislocating for a lot of people (though I'm sure the complaints would still have been loud - shorter BIN/FP listing durations have been a part of eBay since the beginning, and are really fundamental).  Despite having voluntarily moved to 30-day durations and frequently GTC, I was still startled by it! 

[goodluckselling]

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@mam98031 wrote:

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@goodluckselling wrote:

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@gracieallen01 wrote:

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@goodluckselling wrote:

I did the research you are asking about a couple months ago and both eBay and Amaz are showing about 20% of all traffic is from outside sources like google and any other incoming link as a combined total.  This number is up considerably from just a couple years earlier where both platforms were in the 10 to 12% area.

Good Luck Selling!

---

I wonder if ebay took into consideration the increased percentage of external views to figure how much more they might be getting from promoted listings?  In general, do you know if the percentage suggested for the promoted listings still trending up?

---

 eBay promoted listings will keep increasing because eBay is much more focused on specific advertising opportunities now than in the recent past. 

External traffic and promoted listings are not the same thing?  Promoted listing are on site promoted listings and not used as I have ever seen on external search engines.  Promoted listings actually would be against external search engines policies of no duplicate listings at the same venue.  I guess eBay has some kind of way to format eBay promoted listings so external search engines do not pick them up?

eBay in the past couple months (May 1st) ended a long running advertising area called eBay Commerce (old shopping.com) click here where merchants advertise products that match content people browse on those third-party sites, with the ads going back to merchants’ own domains.  eBay now wants to build its own data base about shopping and is focusing on affiliate sites (coming back to eBay only) and advertising directly on eBay (promoted listings, cross promotions, etc).

This first level data (eBay on site listings) versus the third level (eBay commerce) should render more data and better accuracy and increase revenue from advertising.  Remember eBay does not allow off site links any longer.  Basically they are saying we can drive brand name interest on the eBay platform.  I think we will see a big increase in famous big brands selling here from the trademark owners account and flooding the on site advertising opportunities.

Good Luck Selling!

---

Just to add a little to this.  GTC decreases the chances of dead links with searching through Google or another outside search engine.  This fact was a driving force behind the change.  With listings that are short term, the links remain out there on the internet but they become dead links when the listings close.  So GTC will cut down on that.

I still don't think GTC is something that works for all sellers.  While I've used it for years, I know others don't like it for a variety of reasons.  And it is important for Ebay to understand this IMHO.

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eBay understands perfectly well that not all sellers operate the same way.  IMO eBay believes and rightfully so that the benefits far outweigh the issues many sellers are bringing up which seems to be in larger numbers managing listings because they have more listings than free insertions. 

It is interesting to consider that now all FP listings are GTC so the competition is active just like yours are, and if you are suffering a lose of sales, it just might mean your listing is not as attractive to prospective buyers as your competitions?  This is a sure sign that change might be in order in how you present your listing to buyers.

Good Luck Selling!

[goodluckselling]

@chapeau-noir

I think both eBay and Amaz have created better working relationships with google since the panda 2 penalties that you are speaking about and that both venues suffered from.

The part that rarely gets recognized is how much ecommerce has changed since 2014?  Buyers actions are not to just go to the venue and search there any longer.  Buyers have many ways to be shown items they are interested in (social media marketing, watched lists, subscriptions to blogs and interest groups, external search engines, affiliate marketing sites, phone apps that remind you, more and more ecommerce sites, etc.

EBay understands these changes and wants your listing active all the time so they can use the stable URL's in many different ways to bring pre qualified buyers to your listings.

Good Luck Selling!

Good Luck Selling!

[gracieallen01]

I would like to believe that ebay is doing all it can for the seller - then again, perhaps ebay IS doing all it can (or is willing to) for the seller.

Time will tell.

[clu3]

I've never understood the logic of Ebay not giving information on impressions and views in real time.  Why does that information have to be a week behind?

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@orangehound wrote:

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@lintbrush* wrote:

Although they are low, my outside view days coincided with several sales.  (I still don't like forced GTC though!)

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It would be informative if eBay let us know how many sales were generated from people visiting our listings from outside eBay ... but alas, they don't distinguish.

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[greg5000]

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@mam98031 wrote:

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Just to add a little to this.  GTC decreases the chances of dead links with searching through Google or another outside search engine.  This fact was a driving force behind the change.  With listings that are short term, the links remain out there on the internet but they become dead links when the listings close.  So GTC will cut down on that.

I still don't think GTC is something that works for all sellers.  While I've used it for years, I know others don't like it for a variety of reasons.  And it is important for Ebay to understand this IMHO.

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From all the complaints I've seen here, I think many Sellers would prefer dead Links vs. dead Sales. 

[mam98031]

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@goodluckselling wrote:

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@mam98031 wrote:

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@goodluckselling wrote:

---

@gracieallen01 wrote:

---

@goodluckselling wrote:

I did the research you are asking about a couple months ago and both eBay and Amaz are showing about 20% of all traffic is from outside sources like google and any other incoming link as a combined total.  This number is up considerably from just a couple years earlier where both platforms were in the 10 to 12% area.

Good Luck Selling!

---

I wonder if ebay took into consideration the increased percentage of external views to figure how much more they might be getting from promoted listings?  In general, do you know if the percentage suggested for the promoted listings still trending up?

---

 eBay promoted listings will keep increasing because eBay is much more focused on specific advertising opportunities now than in the recent past. 

External traffic and promoted listings are not the same thing?  Promoted listing are on site promoted listings and not used as I have ever seen on external search engines.  Promoted listings actually would be against external search engines policies of no duplicate listings at the same venue.  I guess eBay has some kind of way to format eBay promoted listings so external search engines do not pick them up?

eBay in the past couple months (May 1st) ended a long running advertising area called eBay Commerce (old shopping.com) click here where merchants advertise products that match content people browse on those third-party sites, with the ads going back to merchants’ own domains.  eBay now wants to build its own data base about shopping and is focusing on affiliate sites (coming back to eBay only) and advertising directly on eBay (promoted listings, cross promotions, etc).

This first level data (eBay on site listings) versus the third level (eBay commerce) should render more data and better accuracy and increase revenue from advertising.  Remember eBay does not allow off site links any longer.  Basically they are saying we can drive brand name interest on the eBay platform.  I think we will see a big increase in famous big brands selling here from the trademark owners account and flooding the on site advertising opportunities.

Good Luck Selling!

---

Just to add a little to this.  GTC decreases the chances of dead links with searching through Google or another outside search engine.  This fact was a driving force behind the change.  With listings that are short term, the links remain out there on the internet but they become dead links when the listings close.  So GTC will cut down on that.

I still don't think GTC is something that works for all sellers.  While I've used it for years, I know others don't like it for a variety of reasons.  And it is important for Ebay to understand this IMHO.

---

eBay understands perfectly well that not all sellers operate the same way.  IMO eBay believes and rightfully so that the benefits far outweigh the issues many sellers are bringing up which seems to be in larger numbers managing listings because they have more listings than free insertions. 

It is interesting to consider that now all FP listings are GTC so the competition is active just like yours are, and if you are suffering a lose of sales, it just might mean your listing is not as attractive to prospective buyers as your competitions?  This is a sure sign that change might be in order in how you present your listing to buyers.

Good Luck Selling!

---

My sales always goes down in June.  They come back up a bit in July to tank it August.  Most years August is my worst month of the year.  Then about mid Sept things start climbing and continue that way through the holiday season.  January is typically my biggest month.

So for me having all sellers having to run their FP listings as GTC has not affected me or at least I'm not aware it has since this time of year sucks for me historically.

But other sellers have different experiences and history.  So it is a mixed bag for some and for sellers not use to using GTC, it can be especially hard.

[mam98031]

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@greg5000 wrote:

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@mam98031 wrote:

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Just to add a little to this.  GTC decreases the chances of dead links with searching through Google or another outside search engine.  This fact was a driving force behind the change.  With listings that are short term, the links remain out there on the internet but they become dead links when the listings close.  So GTC will cut down on that.

I still don't think GTC is something that works for all sellers.  While I've used it for years, I know others don't like it for a variety of reasons.  And it is important for Ebay to understand this IMHO.

---

From all the complaints I've seen here, I think many Sellers would prefer dead Links vs. dead Sales. 

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I believe you are right.  Many sellers would and do feel that way.  I believe you.  The real problem is that buyers don't like them.  And that is the point.  

Buyer's have changed over the years.  What they liked or expected a few years ago is very different than it is today.  In some categories auctions are very popular and in others not so much.  In my craft books, 5+ years ago I could run auctions with a fantastic sell through rate.  In 2014 that started changing.  Today I rarely run auctions anymore because the sell through rate is horrible.  Buyers like to come to a site, shop a bit, find what they need and just purchase it.

Some of our traffic here does come in from outside search engines.  So when a buyer is on Google, Bing, Yahoo etc and they keep running into dead links, it causes frustrations.  

I know it is popular to blame the problem some sellers are having with sales on the GTC change, but that is not likely to be the issue.  GTC isn't new to the site and there are sellers with slow sales that have always ran GTC listing or have for years.  

IMHO I thing the single biggest issue right now on the site are search engine issues.  That affects us all and not just those sellers that are new to GTC.  You frequent the tech boards, so you know.  There are many issues being reported right now and many have an affect on our rate of sales.  

[chapeau-noir]

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@goodluckselling wrote:

@chapeau-noir

I think both eBay and Amaz have created better working relationships with google since the panda 2 penalties that you are speaking about and that both venues suffered from.

The part that rarely gets recognized is how much ecommerce has changed since 2014?  Buyers actions are not to just go to the venue and search there any longer.  Buyers have many ways to be shown items they are interested in (social media marketing, watched lists, subscriptions to blogs and interest groups, external search engines, affiliate marketing sites, phone apps that remind you, more and more ecommerce sites, etc.

EBay understands these changes and wants your listing active all the time so they can use the stable URL's in many different ways to bring pre qualified buyers to your listings.

Good Luck Selling!

Good Luck Selling!

---

I'm sure that was a big part of aligning with Google - even last year Weinig was saying they still experienced some headwinds, which made me wonder if this prompted the GTC mandate rather than a more gradual roll-out.

I've experienced over and over finding broken links when following a link to an item I want on eBay with fixed price listings popping up like mushrooms every 5, 7 and 10 days (or even, good grief, 1 or 3 days), disappearing and popping up again, it turns into a real soup.

Also I've found listings on Google that I haven't been able to find searching on eBay itself and been able to follow to eBay due to an intact link.

[mam98031]

"Also I've found listings on Google that I haven't been able to find searching on eBay itself and been able to follow to eBay due to an intact link."

Off topic but on the same theme.  When I'm looking for an Ebay policy, I Google it.  It is so much easier to find what I'm looking for that way.  I find it so time consuming and next to impossible to search within Ebay for the same information.  Sad but true!!!

[chapeau-noir]

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@mam98031 wrote:

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@greg5000 wrote:

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@mam98031 wrote:

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Just to add a little to this.  GTC decreases the chances of dead links with searching through Google or another outside search engine.  This fact was a driving force behind the change.  With listings that are short term, the links remain out there on the internet but they become dead links when the listings close.  So GTC will cut down on that.

I still don't think GTC is something that works for all sellers.  While I've used it for years, I know others don't like it for a variety of reasons.  And it is important for Ebay to understand this IMHO.

---

From all the complaints I've seen here, I think many Sellers would prefer dead Links vs. dead Sales. 

---

I believe you are right.  Many sellers would and do feel that way.  I believe you.  The real problem is that buyers don't like them.  And that is the point.  

Buyer's have changed over the years.  What they liked or expected a few years ago is very different than it is today.  In some categories auctions are very popular and in others not so much.  In my craft books, 5+ years ago I could run auctions with a fantastic sell through rate.  In 2014 that started changing.  Today I rarely run auctions anymore because the sell through rate is horrible.  Buyers like to come to a site, shop a bit, find what they need and just purchase it.

Some of our traffic here does come in from outside search engines.  So when a buyer is on Google, Bing, Yahoo etc and they keep running into dead links, it causes frustrations.  

I know it is popular to blame the problem some sellers are having with sales on the GTC change, but that is not likely to be the issue.  GTC isn't new to the site and there are sellers with slow sales that have always ran GTC listing or have for years.  

IMHO I thing the single biggest issue right now on the site are search engine issues.  That affects us all and not just those sellers that are new to GTC.  You frequent the tech boards, so you know.  There are many issues being reported right now and many have an affect on our rate of sales.  

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Der...I should have read the rest of the thread, because I just repeated what you said lol - but yeah, I agree.  There are other fish to fry here when it comes to improving sales - glitches, saerch, etc.

[abfabvintage]

@greg5000 

I agree with you...would rather they see dead links than No links. One of my favorite off site engines, Topratedseller.com, used to show all of my active listings until this GTC set in. I can verify that prior to GTC all of my active items were there...and they were considered an "ebay affiliate" site. Now all that site shows me, as of yesterday, items that ended or sold 6 months ago. No actives. Maybe they are no longer an affiliate? I have no clue. But at least it still shows a clickable link to my store that is active. A second valuable plus is you can look up ebay sellers from around the world with their selling stats. 

From 2014-May 2018 I had a Basic Store (now a Starter since May, 2018), and all of my active items were in Google Shopping. Then they totally disappeared to nothing from May 2018 up til September 2018 when they reappeared but not all of them. All of my listings then were 30 day fixed, never GTC. Then when this mandatory GTC kicked in, I barely now see maybe 1 or 2 active listings that show up about 5 days after a new listing or a rollover, then again disappear in 2 days.

As of today, nothing in Google Shop. Starting to think maybe my downgrading to a Starter Store does not get me Google Shop views like it did when I had Basic. Have no clue. Been trying to figure this out since September 2018. And if you have a Store, ebay is supposed to be paying these affiliates to list your stuff. So this promoting by ebay one of the reasons for the mandatory GTC was to get off site search engine view? Poppycock.   

[orangehound]

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@clu3 wrote:

I've never understood the logic of Ebay not giving information on impressions and views in real time.  Why does that information have to be a week behind?

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In case you haven't noticed, the software development processes at eBay look to have not changed since the 1990s ... I mean, seriously, who deploys consumer software these days without usability testing and beta testing?

So, is it any surprise that data is delayed by a week?  That's the kind of performance one would get in the 1990's.

[luckythewinner]

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@orangehound wrote:
In case you haven't noticed, the software development processes at eBay look to have not changed since the 1990s ... I mean, seriously, who deploys consumer software these days without usability testing and beta testing?

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Beta-testing is an artifact of the 1990s. Most big web companies have moved to continuous deployment, meaning that as soon as a change is unit-tested it is deployed live.

[goodluckselling]

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

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@goodluckselling wrote:

@chapeau-noir

I think both eBay and Amaz have created better working relationships with google since the panda 2 penalties that you are speaking about and that both venues suffered from.

The part that rarely gets recognized is how much ecommerce has changed since 2014?  Buyers actions are not to just go to the venue and search there any longer.  Buyers have many ways to be shown items they are interested in (social media marketing, watched lists, subscriptions to blogs and interest groups, external search engines, affiliate marketing sites, phone apps that remind you, more and more ecommerce sites, etc.

EBay understands these changes and wants your listing active all the time so they can use the stable URL's in many different ways to bring pre qualified buyers to your listings.

Good Luck Selling!

Good Luck Selling!

---

I'm sure that was a big part of aligning with Google - even last year Weinig was saying they still experienced some headwinds, which made me wonder if this prompted the GTC mandate rather than a more gradual roll-out.

I've experienced over and over finding broken links when following a link to an item I want on eBay with fixed price listings popping up like mushrooms every 5, 7 and 10 days (or even, good grief, 1 or 3 days), disappearing and popping up again, it turns into a real soup.

Also I've found listings on Google that I haven't been able to find searching on eBay itself and been able to follow to eBay due to an intact link.

---

I agree with your understanding that eBay google relationship needed to improve.  Having all FP listings being GTC will certainly go a long way in how google rates all eBay listings because they will now be much more stable which google likes to see there users being able to enjoy using there search engine.

We need to remember just like when a buyer here at eBay has an issue many times the buyer blames eBay and not the seller.  Google's user base also blames google when they experience these dead links.

Good Luck Selling!