eBay

frances74915 · ‎06-16-2014

I'm experiencing very low traffic these two weeks, nothing were changed from my listings but don't know why suddenly nobody come. I notice this happenned after eBay asked us to change password. Or maybe due to the World Cup?

pierrelebel · ‎06-16-2014

In late May two things happened which have resulted in much slower traffic for many sellers:

1) breach of users data at eBay making many buyers uneasy about using the site.

2) change in relationship between Google and eBay resulting in fewer eBay listings making the first page of a Google search.

For more information, please take a look at:

http://recode.net/2014/05/23/yes-google-punished-ebay-for-bad-seo-practices-but-it-wasnt-part-of-pan...

...and similar articles available on the Internet.

Some sellers have indicated they have not been affected and their sales are doing OK.

My traffic has been affected and sales have dropped to next to nothing in the last four weeks.

ricarmic · ‎06-16-2014

My sales are down very noticeably too, however the last time I checked before the password and google thing, I had very little traffic coming from outside eBay anyway so I suspect in my case it is the eBay password change... (My category is stamps).

pierrelebel · ‎06-16-2014

"I had very little traffic coming from outside eBay"

Same for me. However, it is impossible to calculate how many hits we get from "inside eBay" by potential buyers who got unto eBay from a Google search result and continued searching or browsing.

ricarmic · ‎06-16-2014

Hi Pierre, yes that is a good point,.....I had not thought about it from that perspective....

cumos55 · ‎06-16-2014

went to Traffic Reports

and found the following for referring domains...

the percentages have not changed much over the last 12 months...

Right now referring domains are as follows

eBay.com ... about 50 %

eBay.ca ... about 25 %

google.ca and google.com ... ( and other google sites by country) about 25 %

No google effect apparent

jt-libra · ‎06-16-2014

Pierre, I recall reading, a year or so ago, that we would no longer have our listings show up on Google search unless we specifically paid for that service. Am I wrong about this? I've just assumed that my listings would no longer show on Google.

pjcdn2005 · ‎06-16-2014

I remember what you are referring to but I think that was just for Google shopping.

rose-dee · ‎06-17-2014

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
I remember what you are referring to but I think that was just for Google shopping.

Google may be heading across the board towards a more commercial (i.e. paid) service, rather than just letting anybody and his dog show up on their searches. The "good old days" of freewheeling visibility on the internet may become just a memory soon. I've been receiving stuff in the mail for months touting Google Ads (for a fee, of course), and have to wonder how many small businesses are signing up. It's only a small step from selling ads to selling a place in line on searches.

I imagine EBay has had a very good, long, free joy-ride with Google -- and by the same token Google has probably benefited from the cross-marketing. However I wouldn't be surprised to see Google flexing its muscles and saying "he who pays the piper calls the tune". After all, they do seem to have become something of a powerhouse monopoly.

jt-libra · ‎06-17-2014

You mean to say I may be showing up on Google and I'm still not getting any views? Now I feel even worse

Actually I've done a test search on some of my listings on Google from time to time but I've never seen one. Maybe buried on Page 6 or 7 .... but who goes that far.

pierrelebel · ‎06-17-2014

"test search on some of my listings on Google"

Actually, you need to look at the bigger picture.

If a potential buyer came to visit eBay looking at another listing (not yours) you may benefit by the potential buyer eventually looking at your listings. I suspect most visitors to eBay look at more than one listing.

All sellers directly or indirectly benefit by having potential buyers directed to eBay listings by search engines.

jt-libra · ‎06-17-2014

I agree with what you're saying, Pierre. I just wasn't clear on whether you had to pay to be on Google search or if we were all showing up there, at some point or another. I was under the impression that it had become a paid service.

rose-dee · ‎06-17-2014

Hi 'jt' -- I don't believe it's a paid service --- yet, at least --- as far as ordinary sellers are concerned. It may be a different matter with big commercial entities.

For example, I still see my items showing up on Google searches (usually under the store name), and I see that I still get a reasonably good percentage of traffic coming via Google (both google.com and .ca), based on my Omniture information.

Pierre is right I'm sure though, that we all benefit from what I call "cross-pollination", when a buyer searches for one thing and ends up looking at several related things, or doing related searches within eBay.

jt-libra · ‎06-17-2014

Thanks rose. In fact, the other day, I was searching for an item on Google, clicked on the eBay listing and then spent about a half-hour looking around at other sellers' listings.

Both you and Pierre mentioned seeing how much traffic was coming from Google but I don't know how to access that information.