guess they weren't getting enough fees off of auctions anymore, so store search results integration is being "rolled back". read the classic doublespeak in the faq. this is so unprofessional. what kind of a business rolls out changes one month and "takes them back" the following month? trying not to snicker.
posted on March 28, 2006 03:05:42 PM
I CAN"T BELIEVE IT!!!!!!! This SOOOOOOOOOO sucks - they could at least give it a chance! Yes, I am sure listing fees were down but what about FVF? WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
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posted on March 28, 2006 03:13:42 PM
I guess I am glad I did not open a store, everyone locally was doing well. Guess that was the problem, WE the sellers were making more money. You would have thought the 8% final value fee would have been enough for them!
posted on March 28, 2006 04:14:22 PM
I posted a question in the Town Hall meeting that is supposed to go on tommorow about this. Everyone that has a store should protest. I think it is really stupid and unprofessional. But then again it is the idiots at FeeBay.
posted on March 28, 2006 04:20:53 PM
This SUCKS!!! I was making as many sales in one or two days as I normally did in an entire month. Obviously the bidders want what I'm selling... they just can't find it! eBay ought to be more concerned about helping sellers find bidders for their items than they are about fattening their own wallets. I should have known it was too good to be true...
On the plus side, at least they're adding the store checkbox for the search. If only we could make them checkmark it by default... that way people could opt OUT rather than opt IN. Grrr.....
posted on March 28, 2006 04:25:06 PM
I agree - the store inclusion should be the default. Besides... the store listings still showed up at the end of your search. Its not like they were all mixed in together.
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
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 28, 2006 04:44:01 PM
Again flood the question box for tommorow with why they are this. If you are a Power Seller call your phone number. If you have a store only call that number. Better yet do all 3.
posted on March 28, 2006 08:47:54 PM
Would someone post Ebay phone numbers and Ebay e-mail addresses to lodge protests regarding this search change. All of us Store owners should protest. It just might make a difference.
posted on March 28, 2006 09:27:31 PM
There are a few things that come to mind on this one.
First. Do you think ebay let the store listings show up for Feb and much of March just to sucker more people into purchasing a store? Then to cancel the store listings from search once they suckered people into getting a store.
Second. I was almost there myself. I don't have a store now, but was just days from pulling the trigger. Glad now that I didn't.
Third and most important. Now that ebay has screwed you store sellers just as they have the regular listers, are you goint to keep your store or close it and move on to your own website?
Sad thing is, Ebay has become such a monopoly that they will likely get away with it.
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Many misleading tricks in 2006. The new Ebay slogan.
[ edited by stonecold613 on Mar 28, 2006 09:29 PM ]
posted on March 28, 2006 09:38:38 PM
Here is a few notes from ebay's announcement.
1) Why is eBay making this change? Many buyers have found that their search results are returning too many items
Are you kidding me? A buyer with too many choices. Would make sense too many listing for a seller, but a buyer wants as many choices as possible. Translation: Ebay is losing out on listing fees and needs to raise rates again, just through the back door again.
2) What pages will be affected by this change? In the next few weeks, Store Inventory listings will no longer be integrated into the main eBay search and browse results by default. This includes all searches started from the main eBay search box at the top of all eBay pages, searches from the eBay Home Page at ebay.com, and from eBay category pages.
Here's your opportunity to complain.
1. Town Hall with Bill Cobb – Wednesday, 3/29 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time Bill Cobb, President of eBay North America, and his leadership team will answer your questions on this decision and any eBay-related topic.
Just one last thought. Remember when ebay changed all of our defaults to include other sellers items to show up in our listings? You can bet it is going to happen again. Everyone better check their preferences at least on a weekly basis.
posted on March 28, 2006 09:43:13 PM
The phone number is listed under your manage my store page. It is: 866-322-9103
If you go to the post announcing the store changes (the link is above) you have a link to post a question for the town Hall meeting which will be 3-29 at 10:00 AM PST
posted on March 28, 2006 09:58:22 PM
This is similar to renting a store at the local mall, and the owner changes the terms of the lease every morning - to his advantage.
posted on March 29, 2006 03:25:30 AM
"First. Do you think ebay let the store listings show up for Feb and much of March just to sucker more people into purchasing a store? Then to cancel the store listings from search once they suckered people into getting a store."
I agree that the ploy above is the reason they made the search changes. Drive people to open stores and then revert back. They also pushed vigoriously for us to add listings to our existing stores. My plan is to continue to lower my store listings. I had over 6000 about a year ago but have continued to eliminate listings that have poor traffic(use hit rate in SM). I will also continue to drive traffic to my Vendio Store,which continues to do well with my customer base. All my advertising will continue to push the 7% more profitable Vendio store and never mention Ebay.
posted on March 29, 2006 04:46:49 AM
Oh just great ebay. I order a couple of thousand dollars of inventory to put in the store and what do you do. SCREW ME!! Ebay seem's to be getting better at that all the time.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. - Albert Einstein
never can get the link right. here is what it says.
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From Chris Tsakalakis of ebay– Update on Store Inventory Listings in Search Results
Hi everyone. As you may know, we recently implemented an expansion of item search results to include all Store Inventory listings. Our intent was to provide more exposure for these listings while improving buyers' shopping experience by showing more listings in search results.
In the few weeks since we launched this new feature, it's become clear to us that it's had some unintended consequences. Many buyers have found that their searches are now producing too many results, and that search results overall are sometimes 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 have unintentionally been put at a disadvantage.
We strive to deliver the best buying experience on the eBay marketplace. Therefore, we're going to discontinue this feature while we further test and refine it. Given the unintended consequences we’ve seen, we want to take more time to optimize this feature and ensure a healthy balance between Auction-Style, Fixed Price and Store Inventory listings on eBay. This is in the interests of both buyers and sellers.
We plan to make this change within the next couple of weeks – it will take several days to fully launch across the site. Essentially, we will make search the way it was in early February, with up to 30 Store Inventory listings appearing when there are 30 or fewer Auction-Style or Fixed Price listings in a buyer's search results. Buyers who wish to broaden their search results with all Store Inventory listings, will still be able to do so by selecting a box in the Search Options area on the search results page.
posted on March 29, 2006 09:03:47 AM
Ebay could be in the early stages of implementing a contigency plan. Don't forget, today is the day that the U.S. Supreme Court hears their patent infringement case. The final outcome, if adverse to Ebay, will have a far reaching and immediate impact on their business model, and the whole complexion of Ebay could be changed drastically. While it's impossible to know what their disaster plans are, one possibility would be to split the site into two seperate entities. The first would be for traditional auctions only. The other would be for stores which would be modified to accomodate anything that smacks of BIN or Fixed price listings. Avoiding the comingling of search results between the two may be necessary to comply with the injunction the winning party is seeking to enforce.
If Murphy's law is correct, everything East of the San Andreas Fault will slide into the Atlantic
posted on March 29, 2006 09:06:49 AM ANOTHER Ebay “sucker them in” deal. I was about to close my store, then when stores were automatically included in the search, my sales went up and I added to my store – now, just to have the stores cut out again.
If I see a drop in my store sales, I’m history as far as EbAY goes. Without Store sales we are basically dead in the water, and I won’t waste my time promoting and posting store items when no one will ever find them.
THANKS FOR THE BATE AND SWITCH, eBay. Guess you suckered in enough new store people, that it is profitable to go back to the old system.
I have an idea that most folks will not be believing eBay (if they ever did), the next time eBay comes up with a “good” idea that they “say” they are going to initiate.
~"It does not matter what I think, it does not matter what you think. The only thing which matters is: What is the TRUTH!"~
[ edited by jwpc on Mar 29, 2006 09:37 AM ]
posted on March 29, 2006 09:26:13 AM
Why am I still getting the store results in my searches? It is not my cache because I am going to searches I have not made for awhile. It is not that I have too few auction listings. Some of my searches have way more than 30 auctions. After reading the threads here I expected to find my searches had returned to the pre"improvement" form. Not so. I am still getting pages and pages of useless (for my purpose) store listings.
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“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.”
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
They are going to change over the next couple of weeks. I am sure they made the announcement yesterday to see what the reply would be. Having the box to opt stores in should be to make it so you can opt out.
Second:
That is right there is a case up today. I forgot what it was about exactly. Please refresh my memory.
posted on March 29, 2006 09:55:33 AMSEND YOUR PROTESTS IN NOW!
Why would I do that?
I support this rollback, both as a buyer and a seller.
As a buyer myself, I can only conclude that most of you Stores sellers don't do very much buying on eBay, and in my opinion that's very short-sighted.
There IS such a thing as buyer fatigue, yet many of you seem astonishingly unaware of it. For me, it hits around the 20th or 30th listing in the search results when 40% of the titles are too vague to indicate if the item is one I'm looking for. I start thinking that flipping back and forth between pages is too much trouble. And I'm on a fast cable modem connection. If there was a standardized title format that sellers were REQUIRED to use, it would be much less work for me.
There is nothing that you people (or I) sell that is so fabulously wonderful that people are going to spend all day digging through search results to find it.
Want more sales? WRITE BETTER TITLES!
As a seller who uses auction listing exclusively, my sales dropped dramatically when Stores were included in search results. How is it fair that your penny-ante Stores listings get the same prominence? It isn't. Maybe you have a higher back-end fee, but I sure didn't hear anyone complaining about having to pay 8% once your sales took off. And it sure as hell isn't fair that a buyer who sees your 2-cent Stores listing can then segue to your auctions. You guys received practically FREE advertising for your auction listings.
Face it: You didn't care who suffered as a result of the search change. You got yours, Jack, and that's all that matters.
Most eBay sellers DO NOT HAVE STORES. Historically, every time a small group of people is given a chance to screw over a larger group, they take that chance and milk it for all they can.
Don't kid yourself. You're no better.
fLufF
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[ edited by fluffythewondercat on Mar 29, 2006 09:57 AM ]
posted on March 29, 2006 11:42:32 AM
Fluffy - the problem I see wiuth your arguement, and with ebays is that Store items are not mixed in with auction and fixed priced items. They are listed at the end.
Example - lets say I am looking for a Silver salt shaker. When I do that search I come up with 13 pages of listings. Store items do not show up until the end of page 6.
Those first 6 pages are auction and fixed priced listings so how is it that that a listing that appears on page 7 is affecting the ability to make a sale on page 2? If it's about good pricing and an accurate title, why is it the store sellers fault no one came up with one that caught the attention of the browser for 6 pages?
I buy a few items a week on ebay and I love that the store items are listed in the same search. I can compare pricing between the two formats and clearly see if or where there is a bargain to be had.
Personally I think that they real issue is nothing more than the additional workload put on the servers and ebays inability to have that along with 300 catagories for store owners and the additional listing frames (which only seem to work every 3rd odd numbered hour of the day). But they can't exactly say say that now can they.
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
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
[ edited by fenix03 on Mar 29, 2006 11:43 AM ]
posted on March 29, 2006 11:54:37 AM
Fluff you may be right that the expanded search put the store owners at a new advantage but everyone can open a store and share the same advantage (unlike ebay express where sellers must have 98% positive FB etc to participate). I am surprised you were hurt by it because you have said that your customers like the thrill of the auction environment and would not be good fixed price buyers. Do you think perhaps buyer preferences are changing?
I feel sorry for the many store owners who enjoyed record sales during the past two months and ordered new stock in anticipation of continued good business. This "roll back" will hurt a lot of people who made plans based on Mr Cobb's assurances that the expanded search would be a "win-win" proposition. It turns out it was a "win-win" for buyers and sellers but evidently not for ebay (who is pouring money into China there is no tomorrow) so they took their ball and went home.
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posted on March 29, 2006 12:44:51 PM
I changed from an auction format to a store format a long time ago. I did so because after some thought, it appeared that the future would be in store sales to the domestic and international community.
The model is quickly changing. ebay's future, and our business futures will be in stores. ebay recognized this coming change and created Express in an attempt to be both a leader and a part of the change in buying attitudes. The younger generation wants their items now, not 3 or 7 days from now. I'm at the other end, and I also think the same way.
Oh, the auction model will still exist, however, auction sales will falter, and stagnate. Auction sellers are riding a dying horse. Immediacy will rule the day.
This fiasco concerning searches indicates the strength of stores vs. auctions. With a few exceptions, for items which lend themselves to auctions, buyers moved to store purchases, at the expense of auctions.
This is one of the reasons, that brought fluffy to the boiling point. Sure, she has loyal auction customers. However, that loyalty faded along the edges as her customers were attracted to the immediacy of store sales.
Now, the real question is: will ebay change Express to accommodate the crying of the auction sellers, who will lose sales to the Express model??
posted on March 29, 2006 01:26:02 PM
This time fluffy is way off base. I have used FP for some time now which is mixed in with regular auctions. The store thing was intriguing. Finally a chance to place items on ebay and have them listed for a period of time (30 days) without having to do baby sit them every 7 days or so. All with the prospect of having bidders find the item.
The old, soon to be current system, does not allow for that. You have to direct a potential buyer to your store as opposed to a buyer finding on their own. This turns into no sales. Doesn't matter how good or bad you write your Title. It will not show up at all under the regular item search. That is just wrong.
As a buyer, again fluffy is way off base. I want many listings. I want to shop. THAT IS WHAT SHOPPING IS. Comparing to get the best deal. If I only have one or two choices, chances are I am not going to get the best deal. If there are 400, then it is likely I will. Plus the chances increase that I will also find a reliable seller.
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Many misleading tricks in 2006. The new Demomoron slogan.
Not to mention... as a buyer... if I see 400 items, I'm more likely to buy at least one of them! If I only see 4 items, I might just not buy anything!
I don't think this has anything to do with what is best for buyers (and certainly not what's best for sellers). It's what's best for eBay's bank account...
posted on March 29, 2006 02:18:03 PM
I agree with Fluffy. Maybe Ebay should start a new site call Ebay Stores..totally separate from auctions....
[ edited by annekila on Mar 29, 2006 02:20 PM ]
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. - Albert Einstein