April 25th 2018 Weekly Session

tyler@ebay
Community Member

Howdy -

 

Opening tomorrow's chat for questions. I'll be able to respond to them tomorrow, along with the mentions and private messages I've received over the weekend. Thanks for your patience, and see you tomorrow!

 

Tyler

Tyler,
eBay
Message 1 of 10
latest reply
9 REPLIES 9

April 25th 2018 Weekly Session

Good evening, Tyler.

 

So. (Awkward silence.) 

 

What is it going to take to convince whoever-it-is that makes these decisions that Canadian sellers have waited long enough without access to Promotions Manager? 

 

I fail to even understand how bringing it to ebay Canada needs to be designated a 'project' requiring resources. 

 

I believe sellers on ebay.com have had Promotions Manager the whole time I've sold here on ebay.ca and that goes back six years now. Surely, Promotions Manager has been a feature on ebay.com for longer than that. Are we a decade behind our American counterparts? 

 

What is it that we need to do? A petition? A letter-writing campaign? Do I have to start dancing for nickels on a streetcorner? No one wants to see that, people would pay me to stop.

 

Inquiring minds want to know.

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

 

Message 2 of 10
latest reply

April 25th 2018 Weekly Session

amcdc79
Community Member

Hello tyler,

I have two questions,

 

1-In the past when I would search for an item, say a particular video game, we(the Canadian sellers) would be included in the list with the US sellers. Lately I have found my listings listed in the  "from overseas" area separate and further down along with the UK, Japan etc. listings. Please explain why this is happening.

 

2-After putting a watch or even just looking at an item, ebay will send an email suggesting a different listing because it's cheaper. That's fine if the one ebay suggests, is in the same condition, which most of the time it is not. If you were looking for a new item, and you kept getting notices about used, or incomplete items, you might be annoyed.

 

Same thing with multiples of items. When I see a seller offer a dozen or so of a game for a low price, of course another listing of only one of the same item is going to be cheaper. Can ebay not fine tune the bot who's job it is to send the emails, to check the listing(s) a little closer, so buyers do not get flooded with essentially "spam" from ebay. Again please advise and,

 

Tia(Thanks in advance)

Message 3 of 10
latest reply

April 25th 2018 Weekly Session

Hello,

 

I've noticed while listing in the Sports, Memorabilia, Fan Shop Category that there is now a UPC field for sports cards as well as for vintage schedules and other items such as sports programs etc.  The UPC is not applicable for any of these items.  Is there something down the line that I should be preparing for?  Should I be including something other than "does not apply" field which is what I have been using.  How come this field has been included in the listing form?

 

Thank you for your time.

Message 4 of 10
latest reply

April 25th 2018 Weekly Session

Not sure if I'm in the right place to ask a question.  I actually asked in the general forum, thinking that's were to post.  I would like to know why watchers are not shown.  According to other members here, they were supposed to be visible when there were 5 or more.  I currently have a listing with 7 watchers.  They are visible only on .com on the actual listing, not in the category with other like items, and not at all on .ca.   And, why do other listings show watchers in red for all to see, in the whole category, not just on the individual listing.  If there is an option to have watchers be visible, where do I find that?  To those of us selling  preowned items where price,  condition and shipping cost may differ, showing the interest in the item is clearly beneficial.  As it is in ebays best interest to promote sales, it's baffeling to me, why in the NEW selling structure, there are sooo many obstacles.  When changes are made,  it's customary for analysts to review the results.  In the case here, from just doing my own research of a handful of sellers, I find many have declining sales.  Maybe the math works, with the Asian market getting center stage.

Message 5 of 10
latest reply

April 25th 2018 Weekly Session


@momcqueen wrote:

Good evening, Tyler.

 

So. (Awkward silence.) 

 

What is it going to take to convince whoever-it-is that makes these decisions that Canadian sellers have waited long enough without access to Promotions Manager? 

 

I fail to even understand how bringing it to ebay Canada needs to be designated a 'project' requiring resources. 

 

I believe sellers on ebay.com have had Promotions Manager the whole time I've sold here on ebay.ca and that goes back six years now. Surely, Promotions Manager has been a feature on ebay.com for longer than that. Are we a decade behind our American counterparts? 

 

What is it that we need to do? A petition? A letter-writing campaign? Do I have to start dancing for nickels on a streetcorner? No one wants to see that, people would pay me to stop.

 

Inquiring minds want to know.

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

 


Hi @momcqueen - I wish I had a good answer for you. I'm not particularly technical, so I don't follow all the ins and outs of bringing features from .com to .ca and .cafr but I will see if we can get an expert to join for a weekly chat in the near future to see if we can get more detail on this.

Tyler,
eBay
Message 6 of 10
latest reply

April 25th 2018 Weekly Session


@amcdc79 wrote:

Hello tyler,

I have two questions,

 

1-In the past when I would search for an item, say a particular video game, we(the Canadian sellers) would be included in the list with the US sellers. Lately I have found my listings listed in the  "from overseas" area separate and further down along with the UK, Japan etc. listings. Please explain why this is happening.

 

2-After putting a watch or even just looking at an item, ebay will send an email suggesting a different listing because it's cheaper. That's fine if the one ebay suggests, is in the same condition, which most of the time it is not. If you were looking for a new item, and you kept getting notices about used, or incomplete items, you might be annoyed.

 

Same thing with multiples of items. When I see a seller offer a dozen or so of a game for a low price, of course another listing of only one of the same item is going to be cheaper. Can ebay not fine tune the bot who's job it is to send the emails, to check the listing(s) a little closer, so buyers do not get flooded with essentially "spam" from ebay. Again please advise and,

 

Tia(Thanks in advance)


Howdy @amcdc79 - responses to your questions follow:

 

1. Is the search result filtering to 'US Only' on .com? When I do a default search for one of your games it comes up in the 'above the fold' section. When I filter to show 'North America' it also stays in the main body of search results. The only time it gets moved to the 'International Sellers' section is when I filter to US only.  Feel free to get me a search term you're seeing this for and I'll do some more digging, but at the moment it looks like it's working as intended.

 

2. This is good feedback, thanks for getting it to me. I'll make sure that the right people are aware of what's happening. The next time you get a good example of this happening will you tag me in a thread or send me a PM with a screenshot or two I can grab? Thanks!

Tyler,
eBay
Message 7 of 10
latest reply

April 25th 2018 Weekly Session


@edubb101 wrote:

Hello,

 

I've noticed while listing in the Sports, Memorabilia, Fan Shop Category that there is now a UPC field for sports cards as well as for vintage schedules and other items such as sports programs etc.  The UPC is not applicable for any of these items.  Is there something down the line that I should be preparing for?  Should I be including something other than "does not apply" field which is what I have been using.  How come this field has been included in the listing form?

 

Thank you for your time.


Hi there @edubb101! Using a UPC is not currently a requirement for that category. As a general rule, if you have UPC information to provide it's best to include it. That will allow us to cross promote your items and associate them with product pages.

 

However, if your items genuinely don't have a code using Does Not Apply is just fine. There are not currently plans I'm aware of to mandate it for that category. Thanks!

Tyler,
eBay
Message 8 of 10
latest reply

April 25th 2018 Weekly Session


@pinetreecottage wrote:

Not sure if I'm in the right place to ask a question.  I actually asked in the general forum, thinking that's were to post.  I would like to know why watchers are not shown.  According to other members here, they were supposed to be visible when there were 5 or more.  I currently have a listing with 7 watchers.  They are visible only on .com on the actual listing, not in the category with other like items, and not at all on .ca.   And, why do other listings show watchers in red for all to see, in the whole category, not just on the individual listing.  If there is an option to have watchers be visible, where do I find that?  To those of us selling  preowned items where price,  condition and shipping cost may differ, showing the interest in the item is clearly beneficial.  As it is in ebays best interest to promote sales, it's baffeling to me, why in the NEW selling structure, there are sooo many obstacles.  When changes are made,  it's customary for analysts to review the results.  In the case here, from just doing my own research of a handful of sellers, I find many have declining sales.  Maybe the math works, with the Asian market getting center stage.


Hi @pinetreecottage - watchers are a great indicator that your item is on people's minds! There are 'hotness signals' that are included in search result pages for certain items. These are determined by the popularity of the listing - things like views, purchases, watches, questions asked, etc. Based on that the search results page may display indicators like 'deal', 'free shipping', or number of watchers.

 

We also test search results display regularly to determine what things work best to convince a buyer to purchase your items. There is not a hard and fast rule that says if you have 5 or more watchers they are displayed to potential buyers.

 

Ultimately we want to get your items sold, and we work hard to study what buyers are looking at or considering in that purchase. Changes are closely monitored, and if there are significant impacts to sales conversion overall those tests are ended or changes rolled back. Thanks!

Tyler,
eBay
Message 9 of 10
latest reply

April 25th 2018 Weekly Session

tyler@ebay
Community Member

Thanks for joining this week - I'll be on the boards for a bit longer today, and Friday as well.


Thanks!

Tyler,
eBay
Message 10 of 10
latest reply