@stouffvillejen wrote:
I think the OP means the spnsored ads at the bottom of listings...
I think you're right. EBay has ads all over the place now, but in my view, these "Sponsored Links" are the most objectionable and unfair of them all, because:
(a) They lead buyers to similar items that compete with what the seller has listed. For example, in one I looked at - a piece of silver 'snake-link' jewellery, the sponsored links at the bottom of the listing included at least half a dozen links to sellers of similar items. I've never done any searches for such items, so I doubt these links are search or preference based, but rather based on the listed item on eBay.
(b) Those links lead OFF eBay! I'd say something extremely rude here about that idea, but it would get removed. They won't tolerate their own sellers including links anywhere on the site, but boy, oh boy, if somebody is paying them for the privilege, link away!
(c) Who knows (or monitors) the legitimacy, honesty and customer service policies of those sites? There is nothing to assure an eBay buyer that he/she is going to get good service and a decent quality item from any of these links -- and is a buyer going to blame eBay and perhaps never return here if something goes wrong with one of those off-site purchases?
Not only are these links siphoning off buyers away from eBay's own sellers, but as I pointed out above, it's targeted competition that is related to the item listed, which is even worse. If buyers look at an eBay listing, but it's not quite the item they wanted, eBay is now making it easy for them to browse around on other sites.
These "sponsored links" have been around for quite a while, but they were always confined to the very bottoms of search result screens, i.e. if you couldn't find what you wanted on eBay through its search features, there was a list of off-site internet providers for similar goods. Now it seems buyers don't even have to leave the listing page. I'm not even sure how long this little tactic has existed -- eBay tends to quietly sneak these things in.
I'll have to check my own listings without signing into eBay, as if I were a guest buyer, and see what "helpful" little links are being tacked onto the bottom of my own listings.
Sneaky and disgusting is what this amounts to. Suffice it to say: Shame on eBay.
