eBay

ricarmic · ‎08-05-2016

(Glitch one) I've always gotten messages about my own items on sale after I've put them on sale.

I have no sales running now.

Got a message moments ago advising of big sales on my items.

First Item I look at is half off!!! (I looked at it at $19.99 and now it's $9.99).

WHAT???? (Pulse rate 125)

I look at the actual item, it says $9.99

I look at my promotion manager, no sales.

WHAT???? (Pulse rate still 125)

Finally sense returns to my head, the item is supposed to be $9.99 (pulse back to normal)

(Glitch 2) What's happened is that I used "sell similar" for an item that had sold for $19.99 and listed this one at $9.99. For some reason it is thinking that it is the original lot still on sale now and autogenerating the messages.

So the current item is not on sale, fortunately the price is correct, but anyone clicking on the link isn't going to get the sale they think they're getting. Now realistically it would only be sent to people who clicked on the item before that was sold that would get the message for this new item that they've never seen before and generally I think they'd figure out that this was a different lot than they saw before....

WHEW.......

momcqueen · ‎08-05-2016

Very interesting. Are you certain you used Sell Similar when you relisted, or maybe Relist but altered the price so as to inadvertently further confuse the ebay bots who send emails like these. Did you click the link on the email saying that you would like to 'tell them what you think of emails like this'?

I've had similar emails to yours where ebay will say something like 'We noticed you looked at this once for half a second, can we show you these similar items for less?' where the items cited were as similar as a sow to a show dog. I followed the link on the bottom of the email that lets the user enter feedback on how useful the email had been and said it was useless since the items were, in fact, as dissimilar as can be to anyone who actually looks at them.

ricarmic · ‎08-06-2016

Hi Mjw!

Yep, I have always been using sell similar (instead of relist) in the recent past in the belief it generates more views.

I've been getting the something you looked at is on sale messages for a long time that show me my own items. My sales cover a lot of stuff and anything I've looked at for whatever reason gets included in the emails. (I don't think I've ever received the similar items email.)

This is the first time it's showed me an item that isn't actually on sale, or rather it is the first time I've noticed it because I have been running almost steady sales for many months now and probably wouldn't have seen any erroneous ones anyway.

My "eBay holiday" starts Monday so I didn't renew the sales that all ended on July 31st, that's why it was easy for me to spot it this time.

I did not click on the link in the email, I very very rarely click on links in any emails regardless how legitimate they are.

momcqueen · ‎08-06-2016

It's probably better not to click on links in any email, I agree.

I am leery of this type of email marketing since I think it leads to overly excited purchases and SNAD claims by remorseful buyers. Click first, think later. While it's certainly nice to know when something I've watched has gone on sale, the Similar Suggestions are not always on-mark.

ricarmic · ‎08-07-2016

Got another email today, again for a "sell similar".

This time I sell a similar itemed a lot that my pricing has changed since the earlier one was created, I dropped it $5.

Today I get notification that the price on this lot has been discounted $5......

If I remember I'll put this in on the weekly chat so Raphael can put the fix it guys on it.....

momcqueen · ‎08-07-2016

Good idea.

momcqueen · ‎09-25-2016

I saw this tonight and thought immediately of your post from the past.

http://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/letters/blog.pl?/pl/2016/9/1474816785.html

ricarmic · ‎09-26-2016

Yep this is exactly it, I've given the details to Raphael who's passed it along to the support folks. I haven't sold similar for a few days so I don't know if it is still happening or not....will advise next time I do some..

rose-dee · ‎09-26-2016

You might also want to give Raphael the link to the ecommercebytes page, as additional weight to the request. I find often eBay's immediate reaction is to either 'Blame the Browser' or believe a reported issue is an isolated one.

This is of great concern, as such "false advertising" perpetrated by eBay is in fact creating essentially fraudulent listings with erroneous information. I wonder who eBay would stand by should a buyer actually complain?

EBay needs to fix this -- fast!

momcqueen · ‎09-26-2016

Speaking of that, if you look at the first person to comment on the ecommercebytes letter, you may notice they ask many oddly specific questions which makes me wonder if they aren't actually an eBay staff person incognito dispatched to do damage control on issues raised by the blog. If I was the boss of eBay, you bet your butt I'd have people on top of the industry blogs. That's how grassroots issue containment is done.