posted on June 20, 2006 04:12:12 AM new
WOW is all I can say. What a terrible week.
First our weekend auctions tanked. Put up 50 and sold 2. Then last night (our normal good night for the last 7+ years) we ran 100 auctions and sold--- ZERO!!
Dont know what to tell the bill collectors this month!
Time for a real job.
(note, we been full time on Ebay since 1997 and this by far is our worst year selling)
posted on June 20, 2006 04:29:29 AM new
Terrible is right. I'm used to June being awful, but not THIS awful! And Mondays used to be my best ending day (antiques and collectables categories) and now I don't get a bid, or a snipe most of the time. All I get are watchers ...
posted on June 20, 2006 05:16:14 AM new
There are some real search issues at play right now. Click on your store (or if you don't have a store click on "see sellers other items" and look at the item count - refresh again and again. If you see item count discrepancies you could be affected by this glitch.
Ebay announced that they would begin testing the "new search" right after ebay live...not sure this is the reason for the disappearing items of late (actually I have had disappearing items for months but seem to be more consistent now).
I know a lot of the people posting about the problem on the stores board sold women's clothing but that may be a coincidence because a lot of store owners sell women's clothing.
If you do have disappearing items I would suggest taking screen shots before reporting it because ebay seems to not see the problem.
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posted on June 20, 2006 05:18:21 AM new
What do you sell blurocks??
Ebay can say what it wants - there are SERIOUS problems with the system and reduced sales are not because of gas prices and seasonal lows.
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posted on June 20, 2006 05:39:01 AM new
Hello, we been selling vintage t shirts, concert t shirts and other items. This is on one account we have.
The other account we have is sports items from trading cards, baseballs, tennis racquets, lp records and so on.
Always had a real good mix and when one catagory died, we always had something on to help through the slow times.
Now nothing! I mean I know what you mean about search. Turned it on yesterday, 100 items live. Showed 66, 80, 75, 100 and so on. Even lasting today. We have 150 on.
First this morning, was 145, 150, 140, and get this 151! I did a double take on that.
Plus we closed out two Ebay stores this past week as well. Hardly anything was selling in there since March. Waste of time and money.
Today we are going to take a walk and collect cans! Curbside! Maybe at the end of the day get a whole $1.00 for our time!
Sure beats sitting here with nothing and the bills are coming in!
posted on June 20, 2006 07:10:52 AM new
Which dose of bs would you prefer?
******
Dear eBay Member,
My name is Shane from eBay Customer Support and I understand your
concern in this situation, and I will do my best to address your
question.
After reading your email I can understand your difficulty in finding
items by seller search. However, I would like to inform you that,
earlier this week, a change was made to the site that has disabled the
ability to find items by bidder and seller (available from Advanced
Search) when the searched User ID is no longer registered. This was an
unintended consequence resulting from other changes to our site
platform. We are working to restore this functionality which may take
some time.
(Last week my arse!)
************
Dear eBay Member,
Thank you for writing eBay's Customer Support in regard to your item not
being searchable all the time. We were experiencing some issues with
item not indexing, you item was not one of the items affected.
As a one-time courtesy, I'm pleased to let you know that I have credited
your account for the listing fees for Item xxx....Sincerely, Tiara M
(oh yeah? Then why not give me a credit on the other auctions I reported that "are not one of the items affected"?)
posted on June 20, 2006 09:25:40 AM new
There is a long thread on the Power Seller Board about Search being broken (title of thread is: "I just proved that search is broken -- second time in two days I have proof".
I think the following post MAYBE explains what is going on:
"
world_securities (4544 ) View Listings | Report Jun-17-06 16:52 PDT 46 of 386
> beyondthetreeline
> For the second time in two days I have proved for
> myself that search is in fact broken. Period.
>No excuses will convince me otherwise.
You won't like this answer, but, the search is not broken as it is operating according to eBay's Vibrancy policy.
The heart of eBay is the Search Engine. From eBay's inception the simple keyword search algorithm drove sales.
But over the last year and-a-half, eBay has been testing and making modifications, allowing the Search Engine to make focused searches.
Focused Search Symptoms:
a) large variation in number of items found
b) items disappearing and reappearing by seller
c) items disappearing and reappearing by format; auction and store, listing features, etc.
d) buyers in bunches from specific regions; France one day, U.S. North East another, Canada, etc.
e) large variations in hits, as criteria is throttled up and down
f) etc.
Keep in mind this was not universal. This is beta-testing after all.
The culmination of the million dollar software beta-test glitching was the eBay Express Search Engine.
• Interpret what the buyer is “really saying”: In the case of this search, the search engine interprets that what I want is an MP3 Player where the Brand = “Apple iPod”, Features = “Video Enabled”, Capacity = “30GB” and it displays ALL the relevant listings that match what I’m looking for, even if they don’t match the title exactly. The seller may have conveyed some of the key information (such as capacity) through item specifics or category structure, but the search engine indexes all that information, in addition to the title.
"How are express items displayed in a random search?" [email protected]
Chung
Note that the Express Search Engine is NOT keyword driven, but a focused 'best guess': "Interpret what the buyer is “really saying”, "even if they don’t match the title exactly""
Or as eBay calls it, "Best Match":
=====
"The default search results on eBay Express are based on what we're calling Best Match, which means that best selling items are ranked higher. An outstanding aspect about Best Match is that it actually learns, and never stops learning. Best Match, learns from aggregated buyers' activity over time, and accordingly adjusts product rankings on eBay Express. Product rankings are dependent on what buyers are looking for and clicking on. Buyers can also use other criteria, such as price."
On eBay Express, we are trying to present the "best matching" items to buyers. A wide variety of factors from the listing, sellers and buyer are taken into account, including the category the item was listed. Sometimes an item does not meet those criteria, and as such, we have elected not to show those items in either search or browse.
"eBay Express Brown Bag Lunch (May 5th, 12-1pm)" [email protected]
Chung
The adjustments to the eBay Search Engine have not stopped. And at some point eBay will announce improvements to the Search Engine that will 'enhance the buyer experience.'
If your items show up, congratulations you meet eBay's search criteria. Whatever they are ...
The following statement is true. In a manner of speaking:
The eBay Express Search Engine has no effect on the eBay.com Search Engine
eBay Express features a brand new search engine which categorizes listings based on a large number of factors. However, this new search engine has absolutely no effect on the way that listings are displayed on eBay.com.
(5/25) Update on Opting Out of eBay Express [email protected]
Adam Nash
Group Product Manager, eBay Express
Now, say you're a major corporation, and just invested a large amount of money and manpower in the creation of in-house software. Are you really Not going to use this expensive application in other aspects of your operation?
And your in-house programmers are telling you this is a wildly successful application ...
Now, say you're an eBay seller, will Search Engine changes affect your bottom line? Yes and no.
If your items show up prominently in an eBay Express search, the transaction from keyword to Best Match in eBay.com will have minimal effect on your sales. eBay Express and the future Best Match eBay.com is tailored to your business. Don't walk away.
If your items show up randomly or are poorly positioned or do not show up at all in eBay Express, expect the same when Best Match comes to eBay.com.
Oh. For the last month or so, eBay's programmers have been performing substantial Search Engine patches and testing on Sundays. Hopefully some will think beyond self and remember they have parents; and be somewhere else on Sunday.
Good Luck on Father's Day.
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?messageID=2002672676&forumID=21&x#2002672676
Interview with Chris Tsakalakis at eBay Live
AuctionBytes: Can you tell me more about the testing you are doing on Stores in Search?
Tsakalakis: Soon we will start the tests (keep an eye on the eBay Stores Discussion board). 93% of visitors to eBay will see identical search results the way they are today. The other 7 percent will see our 6 tests and one control.
Tsakalakis: "we'll vary the number of result of Stores listings shown in results"
Tsakalakis: "test the prioritization of categories. We will test showing category counts based only on auction and fixed-price listings, instead of including Stores"
posted on June 20, 2006 09:30:28 AM new
I think the search woes began when ebay implemented "Key Word Expansion" in March 2005 and has accelerated as new categories have been added to the expansion. Now they are preparing to implement a "new kind of search" on the core site - you can bet it won't be "keyword" driven.
posted on June 20, 2006 10:46:25 AM new
Neglus ... Then how are we supposed to gear our store items so that they show up in the searches? Last week I had an abundance of sales in my store. This week it is very slow. Would this account for the fluctuations in store sales? Sometimes they are showing up in searches and sometimes not? Is there anyway that we can get around this?
BTW -- I opted out of express because my store items weren't selling AT ALL. Since opting out, I had a great week last week. Fluke?
posted on June 20, 2006 10:56:27 AM new
I did what you said about going into your store and refreshing it. I hold steady at the same amount. But I have been having trouble with my auctions disappears from myebay page under the "items I'm selling" section. I've reported it to Ebay live and got the stock answer of "clear your cache". (Don't you just want to reach in and slap them??!!!) Then I got a the second stock answer that "they were aware of the problem and are currently working on it". (Now, I just want to choke them!!!)
That was 3 weeks ago.
posted on June 20, 2006 11:05:06 AM new
Diane - I am prefectly willing to change my business plan any way I can to keep up with ebay's changes - I don't even insist on "stores in search" anymore - JUST TELL US WHAT THE F#%@ WE CAN DO TO SUCCEED! I feel like it's a crap shoot at present - when the faucet is ON you sell and when it's off, YOU DON"T SELL! This isn't fair! I wish I knew what to change - I know I have spent too much time and $ worrying about it!
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posted on June 20, 2006 01:52:52 PM new
I kind of hate to say this, but Sales at both Yahoo and Epier have been pretty good this month. I keep my slower moving items listed at both sites and move my unsold ebay items to those sites.
Do you suppose buyers are finally getting fed up with Ebay and moving to other sites? Did I mention that my sales at both of those sites are much higher than expected?
posted on June 20, 2006 02:25:49 PM new
Neglus ... From the information that you posted, it sounds like the search is totally random, so I don't think there is anything that we can do. If it goes by most searched items that it picks up, we would have to spend hours just searching our own items over and over again to improve our chances of potential customers. Sounds ridiculous, huh?
posted on June 20, 2006 02:28:47 PM new
Neglus ... One other thought ... Would upgrading our stores improve our chances of being found? I only have a basic store, but wonder if I upgrade, if it would have any bearing?
posted on June 20, 2006 03:43:40 PM new
There is some evidence to support that featured stores MIGHT get preferential treatment on search pages but I am already a featured store and I can't say my sales are GREAT...still subject to faucet effect
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posted on June 20, 2006 03:50:54 PM new
Diane - one thing I found out about the "Keyword Expansion" is that if your category is NOT included in the expanded categories you might have to put the word for what you are selling (in my case "postcards" ) in every title for it to come up in searches where buyer puts in the word "postcard" for example.
I searched for "Wedgwood" in all categories and got 8806 results. I searched for "wedgwood china" and got 652. Ebay has been "teaching" buyers how to search with Keyword Expansion so buyers might get used to putting in "China" because it works in other categories but not in the "China" category.
I don't know if your categories have been expanded yet but it might be something to check out. I know one store seller sold Christmas ornaments and was just listing "Hallmark Santa etc (not using the word ornament)" in the correct category and felt in really hurt her sales.
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posted on June 21, 2006 06:44:41 AM new
And at some point eBay will announce improvements to the Search Engine that will 'enhance the buyer experience.'
Gosh darn it when are they going to "enhance the sellers experience?!!!!
Since we are the ones that pay for EVERYONES experiences!!!!
The next person who says to me "just throw in on ebay!" I will say AT or ON!
I am such a small fish in this pond... I have 150 give or take items in my store and run 20 or so auctions each week so I can help "drive people" to my store.I just want to make enough to pay my bills each month. I work hard to do that. I know reading a lot of threads here and on ebay itself,I'm not alone in this small fry quest. Why is it Ebay seems not to want our business? They seem to be going in a "if you ain't big time.. see ya ... direction"
It takes as much energy just keeping up with their tinkering as it does to list. I'm tired and really wish I could find a way to make my menial amount of $ without the energy draining ebay "experience".
[ edited by bjboswell on Jun 21, 2006 07:25 AM ]
posted on June 21, 2006 10:00:42 AM newPage views are on the decline!
But your graph shows what happens every year at this time. It would be helpful if you could post the graphs of the same time period for the past lets say 5 years. That would give us a true reflection of the current graph.
posted on June 21, 2006 10:10:27 AM new
I am randomly losing 50 - 2300 listings, including at least 25 current auctions. I asked for a refund from feebay but have yet to hear back from them.
posted on June 22, 2006 12:58:46 PM new
Dumb question but what caused the large page view jump in Oct 2004? Maybe they need to do whatever they did then, again.
1 out of 4 people are mentally unbalanced. Take a look at your 3 closest friends. If they seem alright, you're the one! - Kyle Stubbins, CMS
posted on June 22, 2006 01:40:43 PM new
Is that when they first included UK and Canada in US search? I would just as soon not have them included unless US items get automatically included in eBay.UK and eBay.ca searches
posted on June 23, 2006 11:53:31 AM new
There's a summer slowdown every year. Even Jay and Marie say they make no money during the summer but keep listing to maintain an eBay presence.
You think June is bad...August is probably going to be worse.
I've seen sellthrough drop a bit on my auctions, but with a 20 cent listing fee I don't really mind that.
Here's how I'm coping with June. Feel free to steal any ideas you like:
Added more BINs to the mix for impulse shoppers. Created fun specialty days like Freaky Friday when I list weird stuff. If I'm listing an item I've sold before, I email that buyer to let them now I have another one up now. (Many times a friend or relative admires the piece and wants one just like it.)
Spend some time cultivating your past buyers; they're your best hope. They may just be distracted doing summer things and have forgotten about your auctions. This is a bad time of year to try to attract new buyers, in my opinion.
posted on June 23, 2006 12:20:49 PM new
Good ideas! I am including a note in my shipping transmittal offering free shipping to return buyers. I might resort to free shipping across the board later in the summer if things don't pick up.
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posted on June 23, 2006 12:37:55 PM new
Who *are* postcard buyers, anyway?
The only old postcards I've ever bought in my life I bought from you, neglus. I have no clue what to do with them but they are neat-o.
So, what do serious postcard buyers do? Are there more men than women buying postcards? Are they young, middle-aged, old? Are they putting them in albums or using them for crafts? Maybe framing them?
Or are they using them as (sacre bleu!) postcards?
and look at the item count - refresh again and again. If you see item count discrepancies you could be affected by this glitch.
I will say AT or ON!
1 out of 4 people are mentally unbalanced. Take a look at your 3 closest friends. If they seem alright, you're the one! - Kyle Stubbins, CMS