I'm creating a new thread for the purposes of discussing the changes to Product Identifiers. Please pardon me if one exists and I could not find it.
For the record, I don't think Product Identifiers are a bad thing. Anything that helps us on ebay.ca achieve greater visibility and sales is good and, while I am not necessarily looking forward to digging through my inventory to add them to listings where they don't already exist, I am seeing some areas of concern. I have raised them at:
http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Updates/2015-Spring-Seller-Update/m-p/296534#M593
Please read through my comments and questions there. There is also a side issue with the new term 'bundled' which we are supposed to now use in conjunction with the Product Identifiers and in place of the term 'lots' or 'sets' which is what most of us are currently using but that is minor in comparison to what else I found. At least in my area of selling. I can't speak for other products, whether they be books or video games or coffee-pots.
Please share your thoughts.
Below is what is paraphrased from the issues that I have brought to the attention of the Board at the link above.
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There is no Item Specific for UPC in the Sell form for what I want to sell. I have it on my desk, it is in my hand. When I do as suggest on ebay.ca for incorporating Product Identifiers into a listing, starting first with the UPC, I get this:
When I try another Product Identifier on the package, I get this:
When I try a third product identifier, I get this:
It should be noted that this item is neither a Hockey Card or Bra or Canadian Stamp.
Then, when I enter the title that I would use if I were to create this listing from scratch (which is what I always do since my items are never in the catalogue or, if they are, have incorrect information associated with them) I get this:
Now, we're getting somewhere. But this result had nothing at all to do with the Product Identifiers it should have been associated with in the ebay.ca catalogue.
So, if I go to ebay.ca and do an Item Search in the field like a buyer of the UPC, this is what I find:
Which is absolutely not the item in question. They are similar, but not the model.
If I scroll down into the search results far enough, I do find my item and here are the Item Specifics related to it. It is from a seller on ebay.com.
My concern is that:
(a) the Product Catalogue on ebay.ca is inherently flawed
(b) when I go to ebay.com and enter this UPC as a seller in their Product Catalogue, I get the right item immediately
Therefore, what assurances do we have that if Canadian sellers on ebay.ca have to enter their own UPC on an item as a Custom Item Specific (as we have been advised) that it will rank as high as it would in North American search results as it would for an ebay.com seller who has access to different results in their Product Catalogue?
Also, I was told that we don't have to use the term 'bundle' unless we want to but that it is more commonly used as a term anyway. I tested that too. On ebay.ca, when I search 'Disney Cars lot' I am given 2.486 results for multi-item listings.
When I search 'Disney Cars Bundle' I get 721.
This gives me the impression that people (sellers and/or sellers) are not using the 'bundle' term.
And the new 'Improve Performance by Bundling Items' instructions specifically say : "Title: Include the word "bundle" and the name of major bundled items in the title of your listing so buyers can find your item and know what they're bidding on or buying."
I would encourage any Canadian seller who is affected by the Product Identifiers to try a few of their own to see what results they gain from the experience.
Have a good weekend,
Maureen
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