How to Track eBay Listing with Google Analytics - Beginers Guide

[rzg_store_2017]

Background

Google analytics is the top analytics tool to track any web site traffic, this guide isn't and can't cover Google analytics tool - please search google analytics in case you are new to this term. 
Every seller I guess knows  the importance of analysing the listing traffic in all possible analytics dimensions (users, time, geography, content....). 
While searching for a solution we saw that this is common challenge for other eBay sellers, hence posting this guide hopefully will help some.  
Apologies if this is very basic and simplified for advanced users, we've tried to keep this as simple as possible, as stated beginners guide.   

The Challenge

Adding google analytics tracking ability is very simple, usually for your own web site, its adding a JS code snippet including account key to every page.  
eBay listing pages however, is not accessible for adding JS code and active content guidelines, makes it impossible, to add active JS code in the item description section, that is accessible for us to write HTML code. 

The Solution and How it works

Adding a Google Analytics "Beacon" (or "tracking pixel") can get us there... by simply adding an invisible image (tiny one - a pixel in size), in the item description HTML section. 
 Every time the item page is loaded (visited), the small tiny pixel is loaded (by the customer browser..) and the server, where it was loaded from, sends the tracking information to Google analytics. 

Ok, you've got me! - how can I do this?

1.  If you don't yet have a Google analytics account, go and get one, it's free and worth every minute you will spend on learning it.
2.  Create an account and account property (Name it on your ebay store or any name you give your ebay listing pages you want to track as a group) , you should use http://ebay.com as the domain for this property (not mandatory, explained later on this guide). 
3. Get Google analytics account tracking code (will look like UA-xxxxxxxx-xx). This code will tell google analytics to record the data to your account/property.
4. Find Ilya's Grigorik guide on Github  - "ga-beacon", this guide explains the technical side and how to insert the pixel into any web site. Don't panic(!) if it's getting technical (for more advanced users - please read and you may want to create your own beacon server function), this guide will help you make it work.
5. On every ebay listing page please add the following HTML code into the description section, replacing the {{}} tagged elements with your personal data(!) :
   
    <img style="visibility:hidden;display:none;" src="https://{{beacon server function}}/{{UA-xxxx-xx}}/itm/{{ebay item id}}?pixel" />
   
   {{beacon server function}} - ga-beacon(.)appspot(.)com (type the period ignore the () , written to avoid external link policy limitation of this guide) 
   (More advanced users can use personal created beacon server function )
   
   {{UA-xxxxx-xx}} - your analytics account/property code you got earlier.
   
   {{ebay item id}} - the item ID for the listing you are adding this code to
   (and here is the reason for using ebay domain in your account - on Google analytics  you will get visited pages direct link, if you wish you could use any other tag like product name.)
6. DONE! - your Google analytics account is collecting listing pages data! log into the account and start tracking your listings. 

Limitations

This solutions is limited in its data collection, unlike direct insertion of code snippet in your own web site pages, not all the visitor data is visible to the beacon server that sends the data to Google, so you may notice some missing fields, but every visitor will show!! with plenty of data to learn from. 

Final Words

I hope this guide helps someone out there to overcome eBay listing pages tracking limitations. 
please contact me for any additional questions or comments on this guide. 

Wishing all The Best 

[rforte1]

THANK YOU
This information is incredible @rzg_store_2017

Thanks for you help!!

I have about 1000 *Unique listings & I've been experimenting with adding the GA-Beacon/Pixel my listings so I can track traffic.. The concept of this method works great! - Google Analytics provides so much insight & gives me exactly I need for my marketing/advertising plans.

MY PROBLEM
The problem I've been trying to solve over the past week is how to add the code to each of my listing without having to manually type the eBay ItemID into the code for each item.

Also, there is no way to add GA to your eBay store. Once you've migrated to the new store format, promotional boxes are no longer an option meaning there's nowhere to place your pixel/beacon 😞 

Sure, I can add the same code to all my listings in eBay's bulk editor & be able to track traffic in GA, however, the problem is - they will all show in GA under the same/url...

I've tried using the "Find & Replace" function in the eBay bulk editor & although it DOES work for finding the specific HTML, I haven't found a way to get it to replace that HTML with the eBay item ID (or Item Title). I don't think the replace function will allow you to input anything but plain text. (I could be wrong about that)

Anyway, doesn't seem to be a way around it, although you could pay $3.99/month to have the Ki Googalytics app do it for you.. I just can't bring myself to pay for it when I feel like I'm so close to having my own (free) solution!

Anyone with ideas?

Cheers!

[rforte1]

Hello everyone,

I was able to solve my problem & add *unique Google Analytics tracking code to all my listings by using a combination of eBay's "File Exchange" & Microsoft Excel. First thing I did was to download all my active listings in CSV format using "file exchange" then I used the "Substitute" function in Excel to substitute the eBay ItemID number directly into my tracking code using a placeholder in the place where I wanted the eBay ItemID to show. Then, under the "Action" column I set it to "AddToDescription". Finally, I set my "substitute formula to output into the "Description" column. Then I re-uploaded the file to eBay.

Works like a charm & now I can track the traffic to all my eBay items knowing which exact pages are getting the most traffic all without having to pay a single dime!

[roseuz]

How does this method compare with using the Ki Googalytics app? Does one get the same info or does the Ki Googalytics app provide more info?

[yesclothing]

How long does it take for the real time overview to start showing real time active users? This is the link I put into the system

<img style="visibility:hidden;display:none;" src="https://ga-beacon.appspot.com/UA-110186264-1/itm/162740205423?pixel">

It seems correct but there isn't any active users showing up. 

[topvendors]

The same, added code, but cant see traffic, maybe need to configure something?

[ilrandr]

If an item doesn't sell within the designated listing period (for most of mine it's 30 days) and gets relisted, I believe ebay issues a new item ID number.  Are you experiencing that and if yes, do you find it is still worth tracking through Google analytics?  Thanks.

[m44verick]

It worked! Thanks!

[xyreplayshop]

it seems like only your reply says it worked. Does it work for realtime metrics? or only aggregated data?

[marti*brand_store]

I do not understand, how I can do it my Url?) Please help

[happycattrading]

Can I ask - is this eBay-sanctioned, ie do they have a policy on it and are fine with it?

[shipscript]

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@happycattrading wrote:

Can I ask - is this eBay-sanctioned, ie do they have a policy on it and are fine with it?

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eBay allows externally hosted images within descriptions. When a webpage or listing is loaded into a browser, the browser will make a request back to the hosting server for each image to be loaded.

Anyone who is hosting images on their own website can track those image requests if they have some program to do so. Because eBay does not allow scripts, the information will be limited to referrer (eBay listing) and to some browser basics (version and language), but it is still usable. Without scripting, the visitor's IP address won't be sent, so unique visitors can't be determined.

Using Google or Ki to track images is no different, so the answer is that there is nothing wrong with using this technique.

[kh-ornesh]

Hi everyone,

Due to the length of time that has passed since this thread began, we have locked it from future replies. If this is still an issue that warrants discussion, don't hesitate to begin a new thread Here.

Thanks.