eBay

reallynicestamps · ‎08-09-2023

Rows of other people's ads showing between our photos and description. If you want to show those, fine, but do it AFTER our full listing. It's a terrible experience for both buyers and sellers,

kyle@ebay

Quote is from yesterday's Chat.

I'd like to add that in addition to the 'terrible experience' and confusion when completely different listings are included after the buyer has Searched and chosen.

And eBay should care.

Because that confusion means more problems with Not As Described and even with customers who can't figure out how to complete the purchase.

So eBay loses fees and incures costs.

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/eBay-get-out-of-my-face-Suggestions-are-out-of-control/m...

mrdutch1001 · ‎08-09-2023

Unfortunately, Etsy has also been applying this exact same underhanded, ridiculously horrible experience to its sellers...cannot believe the audacity of selling sites to do this to its sellers> genuinely a deplorable idea which is a controlling interference of sellers' listings.

flipistics · ‎08-09-2023

Imagine someone using promoted listings advanced. The prospective buyer ends up on the seller's eBay ad, a click that the seller has to pay for, and almost immediately the buyer sees a bunch of other people's ads for the same item. Maybe they're cheaper, maybe they're not. Maybe the buyer thinks the other ads are additional pictures or other offerings by the same seller. Either way, the seller has potentially paid to bring a buyer into eBay only to have a buyer purchase the item off a competitor - not because of an issue with what they're selling, but because they're being bombarded with a bunch of ads by other people who haven't paid to bring the buyer to eBay.

I know most people don't use promoted advanced, but it's certainly a realistic scenario. I think it helps illustrate the magnitude of the issue.

recped · ‎08-09-2023

I continue to be very suprised at all the comments about this issue given that eBay has been displaying sponsored listings of listing pages for several years.

Theere have been two changes that eBay has made recently in regards to this.

1 - They have REDUCED the number of sponsored ads before the description section and moved them to below the description area and the new seller info section and feedback section.

2 - Up until a few months ago eBay did not show these sponsored listing when a seller looked at their own listings but regular buyers have been seeing them for years.

It's like sellers never look at anything other than their own listings nor do they ever look at other sites that are also full of sponsored ads.

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.

mrdutch1001 · ‎08-09-2023

This issue is not so much about the fact eBay has been displaying these ads, (Yes indeed, the ads have been prevelent for quite some time), but it is WHERE eBay is NOW displaying these ads...

There are 2 rows of sponsored ads between a seller's photos and the seller's description and these ads are HUGE! >all of THAT is unacceptable!

This is also proof that eBay can hijack/control/manipulate and do anything they so choose with our listings!

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎08-09-2023

@recped wrote:
I continue to be very suprised at all the comments about this issue given that eBay has been displaying sponsored listings of listing pages for several years.

Theere have been two changes that eBay has made recently in regards to this.

1 - They have REDUCED the number of sponsored ads before the description section and moved them to below the description area and the new seller info section and feedback section.

2 - Up until a few months ago eBay did not show these sponsored listing when a seller looked at their own listings but regular buyers have been seeing them for years.

It's like sellers never look at anything other than their own listings nor do they ever look at other sites that are also full of sponsored ads.

@recped

There were a multitude of discussions about this topic when it was first noted on dot com. Posts were directed at eBay staff and there WAS a response that it would be revised...reversed. Last time I checked the discussion I was following had over 200 responses. It was all double speak because it never happened. And the uproar was 100 times louder that it has been on ca.

-Lotz

aramatic · ‎08-10-2023

Not true. The "People who viewed this item also viewed" before the photos is new, and "Similar sponsored items" before the description has spawned a twin, "Related sponsored items" (what's the difference?). Bloated promotions aren't good for anyone. Perhaps even eBay realises this, as I've noticed the silly "People who viewed..." hasn't appeared on listings I've viewed today.

aramatic · ‎08-10-2023

It's rare that you agree with me or I with you, but we're on the same page at last! If anything, you're even more angry, quite rightly.

mrdutch1001 · ‎08-10-2023

as a seller on both eBay and Etsy, this interference of sellers' listings is providing serious thought to how much and how often I will list ANY items on either site...I have already reduced my presence on Etsy by becoming a "seasonal" seller there> only listing items for 4 months of the year.(that part of the year when sales are most possible/most probable/& when most sales have occurred in recent years...)

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎08-10-2023

@mrdutch1001 wrote:
as a seller on both eBay and Etsy, this interference of sellers' listings is providing serious thought to how much and how often I will list ANY items on either site...I have already reduced my presence on Etsy by becoming a "seasonal" seller there> only listing items for 4 months of the year.(that part of the year when sales are most possible/most probable/& when most sales have occurred in recent years...)

@mrdutch1001

The following was reported on dot com approx. July 17th. (Also in the UK). The findings match my display almost exactly for the 10 days some mysterious testing was in play.

Promoted Listings Views Plummet on 7/16-7/17

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Promoted-Listings-Views-Plummet-on-7-16-7-17/m-p/33922773#M225...

My view for that period:

Post 110 confirmation this was occurring:

I would say eBay is definitely deserving of a SNAD on this one...unfortunately the UK folks have already broached the subject and were very promptly directed to the user agreement.

mr_lincoln

Pretty sad for sellers to be believing they are actually promoting their items and having it turn out they may not have been (for a time) especially taking into consideration HOW stuff is being promoted with this latest unasked for change...above the sellers ACTUAL listing info.

-Lotz

reallynicestamps · ‎08-10-2023

@recped

I agree with both your points.

But it is still, in my opinion, a poor layout of the page, since what the customer wants is to learn more about the product they Searched for.

And because we are discouraged from adding anything to our descriptions, those sad words, black on white, tend to disappear on the screen

Discourage is not forbid, so I add a little code to make my Descriptions stand out. -- 195405434161

I peeked at one of @aramatic 's listings.

While I have no problem with the five rows of advertising below their Description (and I assume something similar is on mine), the two rows above are the problem.

flipistics · ‎08-10-2023

@reallynicestamps wrote:
@recped
I agree with both your points.
But it is still, in my opinion, a poor layout of the page, since what the customer wants is to learn more about the product they Searched for.
And because we are discouraged from adding anything to our descriptions, those sad words, black on white, tend to disappear on the screen

Discourage is not forbid, so I add a little code to make my Descriptions stand out. -- 195405434161

I peeked at one of @aramatic 's listings.
While I have no problem with the five rows of advertising below their Description (and I assume something similar is on mine), the two rows above are the problem.

There is, except there appears to be 9 rows below now, at least on your listing I looked at. In reality impressions are completely meaningless at this point.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎08-10-2023

@reallynicestamps wrote:
@recped
I agree with both your points.
But it is still, in my opinion, a poor layout of the page, since what the customer wants is to learn more about the product they Searched for.
And because we are discouraged from adding anything to our descriptions, those sad words, black on white, tend to disappear on the screen

Discourage is not forbid, so I add a little code to make my Descriptions stand out. -- 195405434161

I peeked at one of @aramatic 's listings.
While I have no problem with the five rows of advertising below their Description (and I assume something similar is on mine), the two rows above are the problem.

@reallynicestamps

Your ad stands out perfectly. Totally easy on my failing eyes. When I look at the majority of newly created listings, most have been created in a similar format...Black on white. Bare bones info in the description. Custom templates, backgrounds, additional fonts and the biggie font colours were uncerimoniously removed by eBay. Even to not have red as an included colour is baffling. It's the easiest way to make something important stand out. Or even an onboard realtime spellcheck.

Multiple sellers have shared with me listings created using the app have even less features/options to work with. I'm afraid to imagine how long before the PC version becomes the new dogs breakfast we are currently seeing with most random searches.

I used to routinely look at other items a seller was selling after landing on their page...Stores and non. Now I have little desire because of all the junk I don't want to see because of this new layout eBay has thrown at us. Do we even want to imagine the number of additional sales that have been lost by how difficult it is to find sellers who offer combined shipping and then accessing it? Something that would have been a real improvement for buyers and sellers alike.

-Lotz

reallynicestamps · ‎08-10-2023

I got the coding for that when I accidentally found it on another site I was using in the Oughts.

But anyone can add coding to their Description. IT IS ALLOWED.
http://www.tutorialspoint.com/html/html_formatting.htm

This might be helpful for total novices.

When you are on your Sell Your Item form -> Description

Go to->Show All Options

Go to-> See All Options

Go to -> Show HTML Code

When you have completed your listing, with the decorative coding,

Go to-> Show HTML code and click it off

You should now see your listing as coded.

This is the coding I use:

The bold is what gives the colour background.

fergua3 · ‎08-11-2023

while i agree these ads should not be there, i'm not sure they are doing much harm.

For me, when i look at Ebay listings or Amazon listing for that matter, they are always cluttered with ads of other items. I just skip right past them now without even glancing at them. And i would bet most other people do too.

So, it is not only an ineffective way of marketing other people's products, it adds unnecessary clutter and confusion to the listing people are interested in. Bad idea all around. But let's be honest, it's been a pretty long time since Ebay had any good ideas.

marnotom! · ‎08-11-2023

As an occasional mobile user of eBay (using the mobile site, not the app), I appreciate the colour, boldness, and detail in your listing’s description. It’s much easier than reading a tiny black on white message.

Unfortunately, mobile users who don’t tap the “See full description” link on the page are going to miss all that.

EDIT: Sorry, this was supposed to be in response to a post by @reallynicestamps.

devon@ebay · ‎08-11-2023

@reallynicestamps wrote:

Rows of other people's ads showing between our photos and description. If you want to show those, fine, but do it AFTER our full listing. It's a terrible experience for both buyers and sellers,

kyle@ebay

Quote is from yesterday's Chat.

I'd like to add that in addition to the 'terrible experience' and confusion when completely different listings are included after the buyer has Searched and chosen.

And eBay should care.

Because that confusion means more problems with Not As Described and even with customers who can't figure out how to complete the purchase.

So eBay loses fees and incures costs.

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/eBay-get-out-of-my-face-Suggestions-are-out-of-control/m...

Hi @reallynicestamps! Thank you for sharing your feedback on this. We are working with the product team in charge of the redesign on the desktop item view and will be sure to have this thread passed along to them.