eBay

mypaperstuff · ‎07-04-2023

Hi there,

I notice something very strange lately on Ebay.ca. When I do searches, I notice that the first few pages of results contains ONLY sponsored/promoted items, instead of "some" sponsored items in selected spots in the result page. Some items do not display as "sponsored" in the first place, but if you do a CTRL+F (find) on the result page, all the items on the page (even if you switch to 240 result per page) appear to match and are highlighted. I also noticed that ALL my sales from June 28 to July 3 (except auctions, as I don't use the promotion feature for these) are sales that are from promoted items in my store. I'm really wondering (although worrying may be more appropriate here) what is happening with the good ol' organic placement in search results. Has eBay and Cassini borrowed from the videogame marketing concept of "pay-to-win" so that eBay sellers now heavily need to "pay-to-display"?

femmefan1946 · ‎07-05-2023

Why do you think I "suspect" the PL algorithm?

That snippet looks like you make a couple of sales every seven days. How long does that streak carry on? Have you looked at a six month run of sales for example?

Although you did miss the expected sales for June 26, so maybe there is less to this than meets the eye.

doc_scribe · ‎07-06-2023

Yes @femmefan1946 , very consistent, not only month to month but also year over year. Like many other niche sellers, I have my fair share of repeat customers returning throughout each year, in my case for a particular limited edition label. So each sale typically represents combined titles or custom bundled lots. In that selling environment, I think all of us just know whenever something is "off."

As you admit though, the workings of the "algorithmns" are all "guesswork."

rocketscollectibles · ‎07-06-2023

Did not read everything i may be off-topic but as sellers we're getting total scammed by promoted listings. They increased from 1% to 2% like it was nothing but the reality is that it was a 100% increase, which is insane. If they had 10 millions in fees from people promoting everything at minimum, now the pocket 20 millions from them. Any half competitive seller promote so you're just forced to do it. In my category i just cannot sell without it. I usually have 50-50 between organic sales and promoted. I checked and past 31-days, i'm at 67.2% promoted sales. It's just crazy. I personally slowly started selling outside ebay recently, too many excessive things in here.

fergua3 · ‎07-06-2023

This may be a clued out question but i just noticed that a bunch of my listings say 'sponsored' when i search for them. When i check these listings the promoted listing feature seems to be turned off....the little switch and recommended rate are greyed out, so i assume that means it's turned off.

Yet several listings have a little 'sponsored' right above them in the search results. Is Ebay doing some free promotion right now? I never turn on promoted listings, ever.

I don't pay much attention any more to the seemingly endless little changes ebay makes these days.

As a side note my sales have been beyond abysmal, despite, apparently having a bunch of my listings 'sponsored'.

doc_scribe · ‎07-06-2023

@fergua3 wrote:
This may be a clued out question but i just noticed that a bunch of my listings say 'sponsored' when i search for them. When i check these listings the promoted listing feature seems to be turned off....the little switch and recommended rate are greyed out, so i assume that means it's turned off.

Yet several listings have a little 'sponsored' right above them in the search results. Is Ebay doing some free promotion right now? I never turn on promoted listings, ever.

Not clued out @fergua3 . I think these issues are all interralated and dovetail with the OP's original post(s).

FWIW, I never promote either, but do not see 'sponsored' on any of my searches.

@fergua3 wrote:
I don't pay much attention any more to the seemingly endless little changes ebay makes these days.

As a side note my sales have been beyond abysmal, despite, apparently having a bunch of my listings 'sponsored'.

That seems counter-intuitive, suggesting that some Buyers might be interpreting 'sponsored' differently?? Like from a larger corporate source rather than an individual???

Beats me. But whatever happened to the concept of 'level playing field' anyway?

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎07-06-2023

@doc_scribe wrote:
@fergua3 wrote:
This may be a clued out question but i just noticed that a bunch of my listings say 'sponsored' when i search for them. When i check these listings the promoted listing feature seems to be turned off....the little switch and recommended rate are greyed out, so i assume that means it's turned off.

Yet several listings have a little 'sponsored' right above them in the search results. Is Ebay doing some free promotion right now? I never turn on promoted listings, ever.
Not clued out @fergua3 . I think these issues are all interralated and dovetail with the OP's original post(s).

FWIW, I never promote either, but do not see 'sponsored' on any of my searches.

@fergua3 wrote:
I don't pay much attention any more to the seemingly endless little changes ebay makes these days.

As a side note my sales have been beyond abysmal, despite, apparently having a bunch of my listings 'sponsored'.
That seems counter-intuitive, suggesting that some Buyers might be interpreting 'sponsored' differently?? Like from a larger corporate source rather than an individual???

Beats me. But whatever happened to the concept of 'level playing field' anyway?

@doc_scribe

Notice no one has been addressing these issues on ca/com or if they are it is very minimally. Sounds like a major concern. It definitely does nothing to level the playing field which eBay has mentioned in several recent announcements regarding system updates!!!

-Lotz

devon@ebay · ‎07-07-2023

@femmefan1946 wrote:

A question about jargon.

I understood that "sponsored" meant the seller had purchased advertising space on eBay. Money up front from a non-member.

While "promoted" meant the seller was an eBay member who had opted into the Promoted Listings, promising to pay a percentage to eBay, but only if the item sold.

devon@ebay

Has this changed?

Hi @femmefan1946! From my knowledge nothing has changed but I can check to see if that is correct.