posted on March 30, 2006 11:20:21 AM new
Yeah, I listened. It was alot of Blah, Blah, Blah from ebay. Basically ebay just stuck it to us.
Here was the response to a email I sent Bill Cobb about the store search change (of course not answered directly by him).
Hello Michael,
Thank you for writing to eBay Customer support. My name is Larissa and
I appreciate the opportunity to assist you.
I understand that you are frustrated with the choice for the Store
inventory rollback. I am happy to help you with this. In the few weeks
since we launched this new feature, it has become clear to us that it's
had some unintended consequences. Many buyers have found that their
search results are too long now, and that search results overall are
less relevant than they used to be. In addition, Auction-style and Fixed
Price listings are harder to find for buyers, so sellers of these items
are noticing an impact on their sales success. We strive to deliver the
best experience to both buyers and sellers on the eBay marketplace, and
we have concerns that this change is not providing optimal results
across the majority of our users. We are actually just taking it off
temporarily so that we can research this and make it better and more
fair for auction items and store inventory items. We are not doing this
to you, we are doing it for you. I apologize for any inconvenience this
may have caused. We are doing this with the best interest of the
sellers and buyers at heart.
I hope this reply has helped you with your concern about the store
inventory change. Your satisfaction means a lot to me! If you have any
further concerns, please don't hesitate to contact us again.
Regards,
Larissa C.
eBay Customer Support
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. - Albert Einstein
posted on March 30, 2006 01:10:12 PM new
I'm with fluffy here. I'm SICK of competing with stores that park their items near mine at almost no cost. That's why I list much less now.
posted on March 30, 2006 01:53:01 PM new
I believe that you are both wrong. The real problem is that when presented along side each other, buyers really do prefer the immediacy of buying now, rather than playing around with an auction. The only exception might be an unique item not offered in a store or as BIN.
As for the fees, consider the following:
Auction seller lists 100 auctions for $9.99 with 100% sell thru for the month. Total cost considering each sale unique is $35.00 + 52.50 FVF = $87.50
Now consider a store lists 100 unique items for $9.99 with 100% sell thru for the month. Total cost considering each sale unique is $3.00 listing + $14.95 store fee + $79.99 FVF = $97.94. If the store is a featured store, the total cost would increase to $132.99.
Now this is a simplified case. Neither selling entity experience 100% sell thru. Auctions may have had a higher sell thru than stores, simply because stores did not normally appear in search. This may give you an idea why the store operators fee cheated. We pay our bucks for store rental even if we have no sales.
The next problem will be Express. The same thing will happen. Remember the Ross Perot "whooshing sound" well, that may well be the sound of ebay buyers leaving the auctions, while headed to Express.
posted on March 30, 2006 01:57:18 PM new
I'm with Fluffy, annekila and Pelorus.
The search results for one of my main keywords went from 50 items to over 300. I can't even imagine what it's been like for sellers / buyers in categories like jewelry, DVDs, etc.
Seasoned eBay buyers KNOW how to search to eliminate unwanted results. New buyers / browsers don't and they can easily be overwhelmed by too many choices.
I myself will seldom go any deeper than 2 -3 pages of results before giving up. After that, everything starts to look the same and it becomes way too much work to find what I want.
posted on March 30, 2006 02:02:31 PM new
I can't speak for all sellers, but when I list an auction, I use the gallery photo...which I think is necessary for the things I sell. It's $.70 for each listing..$70 just for listing 100 items.
posted on March 30, 2006 02:02:39 PM newI myself will seldom go any deeper than 2 -3 pages of results before giving up.
Then you contradict your statement. Store items show up after the regular listings and in most cases will be further than 2-3 pages out. That actually makes you in favor of having the store search included.
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Many misleading tricks in 2006. The new Demomoron slogan.
posted on March 30, 2006 02:21:08 PM newStonecold - Not if I search the way I USED to before the change. I used to type in a keyword, and go the last page to see the newly listed items. If I do that now, all I get is store items. Several of my buyers used to search this way.
Annekila - You bring out a very good point. I too always use gallery and each of my listings cost .70¢.
posted on March 30, 2006 03:43:09 PM new
Auction sellers may not want to read this because I'm going to stomp on you
I sell both auction and store items. I previously sold very few store items and mainly auction items. When ebay made the change to search results the store sales went through the roof and my auction listing's did NOT suffer at all. If anything my auction prices went up also. I just added more items to my store and store sales keept going up along with good auction sales.
It's simple sellers. If your auction sales were down it was because people were finding better deal's. Simple economics, why pay one guy $10.00 7 day's from now when you can get the exact same thing NOW for $6.00. If you couldn't stand a little competition maybe you need to find something else to do.
To all the complainers that say "Well I use to go to the last page of the results to view newly listed items and when I do it now I see store listing's." Well here's a big bright lightbulb to stick on top of your head. In case you have never noticed there is a little drop down box at the top right of search results, TRY USING THE NEWLY LISTED FIRST feature.
If your tired of competing with store sellers then maybe you just plain need to re-evaluate what your selling and for how much. I'm not sure about you but I loved the new search system as a buyer. I found myself buying more and more store items than auction items because people had good priced items that I could buy NOW and not maybe have a chance of getting in a couple of day's.
Last time I checked this was still America and the guy with the best product priced the best win's. So suck it up all you snivlers.
Hmm, here's another idea. How about YOU OPEN A STORE!!! You might have been amazed how well you would have done.
As for ebay Express, bring it on. Hope it cut's out even more auction sales, though I doubt it will hurt my auction sales since the search change did not. I'm ready for it, are you?
Sorry for the vent but I get tired of all the complaining over nonsense.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. - Albert Einstein
posted on March 30, 2006 03:50:32 PM new
Neglus - Have you tried setting up a "gallery" type webpage with a direct link to your eBay store?
When I used to sell widgets that worked well in a store type setting, I had a one page website (free hosting from my ISP). I put up pictures and a light description of some of my better selling items with a direct link to the item in my eBay store.
It brought quite a few buyers to my store. You could also do the same thing by starting a Postcard info blog and get a free blog through google.
Another way to send referrals to your store if you have a website is to do an information page. Just basic info about collecting postcards, with pictures showing examples of different types, etc. and submit it to Google Base. It will run indefinitely and you'll get several hits from there. You could try doing an information page directly in your eBay store, but I'm not sure if Google Base accepts those.
posted on March 30, 2006 04:30:13 PM new
Hey Mike - I know about the drop-down box, but out of a habit formed when the box didn't exist, I used my old way of searching.
My auction sales haven't suffered. Like you, if anything they have improved within the last couple of months. One or two slower weeks when the search was first implemented, but since then better than ever. In our category, we consistently have the highest ending prices for our items and a 100% sell-thru rate. Granted, we only run around 15 auctions per week...but we'll be eligible for that little PowerSeller logo next month.
I would open a store, but quite frankly it just doesn't work for us. I tried it once before. I have a website with fairly good placing in the search engines, so I would use it if I decided to sell BIN stuff. Right now I only use it for leading people to my eBay auctions.
MY biggest complaint with the new search was it dramatically slowed down how quickly our auctions got indexed. However, this has seemed to improve the last week or so.
As a buyer, I used to always check the store listings it showed at the bottom of the page. Now I seldom do because there's no gallery picture. If they're going to include them in the search, they should have the picture too.
Hopefully, eBay will work out a way to make it work for everyone.
posted on March 30, 2006 05:05:47 PM new
Show me how complaining does any good? As I see it, They are the only game in town right now. I can't wait until they have true competition. Then and only then will ebutt really care what we want/say/think. Sorry, had to put my two cents in.
posted on March 30, 2006 05:18:14 PM new
Could just one person who is complaining that the existance of the store listing is taking away from your auction show me a search result page where a store listing is mixed in among the auction listings?
I've been searching ebay for items all day and I have yet to find a search result where the store and auction results were intermixed. Now since this seems to tbe the big b*tch of non store owners, I was wondering if someone could provide an example of it.
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
Never ask what sort if computer a guy drives. If he's a Mac user, he'll tell you. If he's not, why embarrass him? - Tom Clancy
posted on March 31, 2006 06:53:12 AM new
Mr. Kozersky: The cost advantage you cite for auctions is reversed if your sell through rate is not 100%. Mine is 50%. Plus, creating auctions is more time consuming than store items. And if ebay was making more off of store owners, do you really think they would be making this change?
Mr. Truckrepair: You said " If you couldn't stand a little competition maybe you need to find something else to do." Well, it's also now the American way to complain and act aggrieved until the powers that be take away someone's advantage and give it to someone else. Tough darts.
posted on March 31, 2006 07:09:03 AM new
Here is an interesting post on ebay store board that may come close to explaining why ebay made such a sudden move:
The Number Behind the Search Change
reston_ray (1611 ) Mar-29-06 10:05 PST
If I correctly understand the explanation for the removal of most Store items from search and we are being told the whole story, then it's just a matter of number.
eBay says that potential buyers were complaining, found the large number of listings confusing and a greater percentage were leaving without making a purchase.
I believe the number of people who make a purchase after visiting a site are referred to as a conversion rate. For example, if 100 people visit a site and 5 make a purchase then the conversion rate is 5%.
eBay had a conversion rate (number unknown) before adding all Store items to the search.
After adding Store items to the search the conversion rate fell.
Lets, for the sake of this discussion, say the conversion rate was 5% and fell to 4.5%.
The result was fewer sales per 1000 visitors.
But many Store owners, myself included, saw an increase in the number of Store sales.
If the conversion rate fell but Stores were getting more sales, where was there a lower rate of sales? The only answer can be on the Main Site, among Auctions and Fixed Priced listings.
To validate this premise I checked the Medved numbers. That's a site that tracks the number of listings and sales on the US Main Site (not including Store sales). I'm not sure I can post a URL to the site but you can add dot net to the Medved name and find it yourself.
Medved shows a steep decline in Auction sell thru rates starting in early Feb.
Medved also shows total listings on the Main Site to be below last years numbers, with a steady downward trend line and very little upward bump from the recent 10cent promotions.
A conclusion, subject to more knowledgeable people correcting my assumptions and numbers, is that a large number of Stores were experiencing increased sales but the Main Site Auctions and Fixed priced listings were dropping in number like a stone in water and the sell thru rate for Main Site listings was falling even more sharply.
Net result was panic at the highest level. Conclusion by management was to stop the inclusion of Store items in search.
Now they have to run the spin machine 24/7, figure out how to move to a fixed priced format(which they state is the future), have Stores profitable enough that they are maintained and not destroy the Main Site in the process.
While we as a group of Store owners are expressing valid concerns I think we are watching a top management in chaos.
They thought they had a great Plan A and after just a few weeks in operation it threatened to destroy their Main Site.
Now they have canceled Plan A, have no Plan B ready and are trying to explain why all this is good.
An interesting question is "Will the upcoming eBay Express have a similar negative result on the Main Site?". If that is possible, then major changes may have to be made before that can be launched.
We're concerned but peering through the darkened windows of eBay it appears they are in panic.
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posted on March 31, 2006 08:33:45 AM new
I think that the eBay express site is a disaster in the making. Since one bidder can purchase from multipe sellers and pay for all purchases in one payment, what happenes when one item is not shipped? How many sellers are going to be affected by the dispute. With the wacked shipping prices may use and the possible payment issues, I just don't see express being all that popular. I know that a number of the MW sellers are already saying that they will be opting out because system will not allow use of seller checkouts which can wreak havok on their inventory tracking systems.
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
Never ask what sort if computer a guy drives. If he's a Mac user, he'll tell you. If he's not, why embarrass him? - Tom Clancy
posted on March 31, 2006 06:10:06 PM new
Hello, I am back here and my account is officialy closed.
Neglus,
What that guy was saying in the post is exactly the same thing I have been thinking about and trying to say but he had some numbers etc. to back himself up.
The auction numbers are down as far as the amount of posts and sell throughs. I could see it but I had no proof. The buyers are there when they have the money and if you have the itmes they want they will buy. The vast majority want it now and will pay a few dollars more to get it now. They do not want to bid in the auctions and have to sit and wait and hope that they get it and they say to themselves did I pay to much? I started a little experiment a few weeks ago to see if that was true.
When I buy a deal (ie: closeouts)I put a certain amount in inventory and the rest I used to through in auctions. Well I started to put these items in at a fixed price 25% higher than my starting bid for an auction. Low and behold they are selling with a much better sell through rate than doing them in auction (70% compared to 30%). This was telling me something. I knew something was up when eBay started this 0.10 listing thing and did it twice in 2 months. They are not getting the listings.
Express will be a real big chaos I think. A lot of what I sell is not to be included and I complained to no avail. (They said we are looking into it) As I sat back and thought this out I realized that maybe I do not Want to participate.
posted on April 1, 2006 10:53:09 AM new
I have been selling on eBay since 1996. I sell, but seldom if ever buy. If I am searching for something on eBay, I search via the gallery - I do not have the time or patience going through the regular search, going to the ad and finding something I am normally not interested in.
My rule of thumb for years has been, if my item is not worth my posting a gallery picture, then it is not worth posting at all.
Occasionally, I will want something and check eBay for the item, BUT if it is not available via "BUY IT NOW", I go to the WWW and purchase it where I can get the item immediately and not have to play the bid game, and not know if I have won the item until 7 days later.
With web sites to keep up with, I do not post much on eBay any more. When I do post it is merely to draw attention to similar items I have in my eBay store.
With the latest store policy change, I may just close out our eBay store, as I can already see the effect of not being in the search is having.
~"It does not matter what I think, it does not matter what you think. The only thing which matters is: What is the TRUTH!"~
posted on April 1, 2006 12:40:03 PM new With the latest store policy change, I may just close out our eBay store, as I can already see the effect of not being in the search is having.
Are they rolling it back a category at a time or something? Our category is still showing the store listings. I just assumed it was an across the board type setting.
posted on April 1, 2006 01:03:54 PM new
The store items are still included in the postcard category but my sales have been DEAD all day . My ebay says I have 34 items ending today ..what's the chance that I out of 7400 I only have 34 items ending today??? TOo nice to stay inside anyway.
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posted on April 1, 2006 05:04:33 PM new
I'm beginning to wonder if the nice weather isn't getting everyone outside away from the computer - our views have been down all day compared to what they are normally.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. - Albert Einstein
. My ebay says I have 34 items ending today ..what's the chance that I out of 7400 I only have 34 items ending today??? TOo nice to stay inside anyway.