‘eBay Playbook Reveals Phased Rollout of New Search’

[momcqueen]

https://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2018/2/1519592274.html

This is required reading. The changes coming to Search have massive implications for sellers and use of the heavily-flawed Product Catalogue.

[Anonymous]

Actually when you add your own photo, I think it's supposed to remove the stock photo, at least that is the message that pops up. I know my post sounded really cranky but I like having control over my listings. I try really hard to be accurate and I am always honest. Yes I realize most of the people on here are the same, and that there are lots of scammers out there who are not so honest, but don't you just hate when they break something that didn't need to be fixed?

[hlmacdon]

From ECB. The initial phase is commodity electronics but this may explain some of the issues coming up in group listing testing currently underway? 

One remarkable revelation made during the webinar came when a seller named Marcus from Ontario asked, "Will listings from International Sites be included in the groupings in the catalogue?" At least for the first step, there won't be any international items in the product-based shopping experience, Ste-Marie said. It won't stay like that for long, "obviously we need to solve for that," he said. He said Marcus's eBay.ca listings that are productized would show up on eBay.ca, but not on eBay.com unless he listed on eBay.com from his Canadian account

[momcqueen]

I raised this at my Seller Hub webinar back in March. It’s a massive problem for me as a .ca seller.

[momcqueen]

It took me about 15 seconds to figure out that was the reason that my American UPC products that match .com product cards were completely ignored. Yet, I feel like when I raise this, the eBay Canada response is to .....? Not certain of the word I’d like to use. Maybe downplay the significance of it.

[hlmacdon]

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@momcqueen wrote:
It took me about 15 seconds to figure out that was the reason that my American UPC products that match .com product cards were completely ignored. Yet, I feel like when I raise this, the eBay Canada response is to .....? Not certain of the word I’d like to use. Maybe downplay the significance of it.

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It's a baffling omission at this point. It would seem they are figuring so few people are going to use the feature during testing that we shouldn't worry about it. If that is the case why bother testing it.

I suppose indifference would be the word for the reactions to concerns over this and other unpopular changes of late.

[momcqueen]

More on.... "eBay offered sellers some advice on how to make their listings show up once it moves to a "product-based" marketplace, away from its current "listing-based" format..."

https://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2018/4/1523500642.html

[cumos55]

My listings  are on eBay Canada, and they show up when listings of books are grouped on eBay.com

Grouping for books is based on  the ISBN, which is a number used worldwide for a specific book.  Sometimes  the book catalogue information will show at the bottom of a page of a group of listings.

ISBN is short for ....... International Standard Book Number 

With many non-book items ... DVD's and other such items, including electronics....the number might differ among countries......   This could be due to copyright... or the voltage of electricity as it differs between Europe and North America....  and perhaps other countries as well

My only concern with books  is that with recent publications a book will sometimes  have  two numbers.

an ISBN-10 with 10 numbers.....     and then an ISBN-13  with 13 numbers...

An ISBN-13 was added to the system  when it found that  the ISBN system would run out of ISBN-10 numbers  if only 10 numbers were used in the ISBN.

When a search is completed on eBay.com....  and similar listings are grouped.....  my listing shows up as the "Our pick" at the top of the page.....

The only problem is .....  Is this correct for all searches by potential buyers?... or... is this shown  with my listing(s) as the top pick because I am the one doing the search.

--------------------------------------

There are several things I have learned over the years....

(1) Buyers  might not buy a book if a stock photo is used.

(2) Buyers choose not to buy books priced  less than $10

(3) Buyers have learned to look at feedback......  Negative feedback is an indicator of poor customer service......  and many times... especially most recently.....  sellers  with millions of listings of books on eBay do ship books in very poor condition....

(4)  The listing on eBay may not be specific to the condition of the book, edition of the book, and many other factors.....  Sometimes  buyers are looking for a specific edition, with a unique dust jacket and more,  such as printing, and do not get the book described in the listing.

There is a seller of books  that will put the following  statement in all of their listings..... 

                    The book you get may not be the one described in this listing.

(5) Buyers will look for a seller with several books they may want to purchase.....  looking to reduce the cost of shipping, when a multiple purchase is made.    The buyer also looks at the ... total cost .....of several books, compared to buying each book from different  sellers.

[momcqueen]

Phase 2 announced this week:

https://developer.ebay.com/api-docs/sell/static/inventory/pbse-phase2-categories.html

Unfortunately, there are no details to be seen under Phase 2 Stage 2 so we sellers don't know what other categories are coming next.

Of course, a bigger problem is that if you don't list directly on that site, your listings won't be shown even when they match. This I discovered immediately. Meaning that if the search is done on ebay.com and the listing was created on ebay.ca or anywhere else, it won't be included in the Grouped or Product results. At all. This needs to be fixed. Obviously. 

[momcqueen]

Another take on it: https://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2018/5/1525530822.html

Sellers Worry about Flaw in eBay Product Catalog By: Ina Steiner

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

Agreed. I can only see these eBay Product Pages creating more time and trouble for a seller and the seller ending up being hung out to dry if there is an error in a listing when something arrives.

-CM