Will Latest eBay Changes Affect Traffic to Stores?

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November 06, 2009

Will Latest eBay Changes Affect Traffic to Stores?

By: Ina Steiner

Fri Nov 6 2009 16:02:48

We received two letters today about the news that eBay will remove certain graphical elements of the search results pages in an effort to make search results appear faster. Both of the senders expressed their concerned about the effect on traffic to eBay Stores. (See this article for details.)

To the Editor:
Re: "eBay will also remove the Matching eBay Stores module in the left navigation that displays individual eBay Stores. The "See all matching eBay Stores" will remain as a text link in the same location."

I hate to see this go as it was one more spot for my eBay store name to show up along with the number of like listings. I doubt that buyers will click on a generic text link to "see all matching eBay stores."

eBay keeps chipping away at the reasons to maintain an eBay storefront.
Jim

To the Editor:
I read, with much interest, your piece yesterday "eBay News for Sellers - Removing Graphics for Faster Search" and I have to say...once again the stores owners/subscribers are getting the shaft...and in what is supposed to be a busy season.

Many of the changes this last 6 months seem to be geared toward the mobile hand-held device users and this is a good thing...upgrading the system is always good. But when each change takes a little more away from the store owners, you see the priorities that stores carry with this group of ebay executives. They still take our money but cheapen the product.

In your article:
"In an effort to make its search results appear faster, eBay will remove two graphic elements from the search results page that it says are not widely used by buyers, but take extra time to load. Beginning November 9, it will remove the "Get More Results" module at the bottom of the page. However, the "See additional items from eBay Stores?" will remain a text link in the same location.

eBay will also remove the Matching eBay Stores module in the left navigation that displays individual eBay Stores. The "See all matching eBay Stores" will remain as a text link in the same location."
"eBay said it has tested both of the changes"...with whom did they run this test?

Also in the announcement: "eBay also said that it would hold off on making buyer email addresses anonymous in member-to-member emails. We're working now on a new system to beta test in early 2010. If all goes well, we'll launch it shortly thereafter."

We've been fighting this for years...communication is the key to sales...take that away and all you have is a sales sheet! A little more of the human aspect of commerce is taken out of the equation.
Carl G.

Comments (16) | Permalink

Readers Comments

Will Latest eBay Changes Affect Traffic to Stores?

by: stryker

Fri Nov 6 17:54:49 2009

Jeez, does anyone believe this ridiculously lame explanation for making the stores even harder to access for buyers? Or the remarkable co-incidence, that as we head into the shopping season, this will serve to steer a larger percentage of buyers to the fixed-price 30 listing of their platinum sellers? The search page is overloaded all right, with sponsered links and nonsense, The links to the stores have been increasingly hard to find, disappearing and appearing and moving , shifting and shimmying since the takover. Only the weird backward logic of ebay would deliberately make the millions of items in stores even harder to find, in order to promote the less desirable joblot listings of their preferred partners

Of course, Ebay has been suffering from store schozpherina for years, they like 'em, they hate 'em, they're in search, they're out of search, and on and on.

I think the disconected management at ebay has come to believe that the cheaper listing fees for stores are costing them money as well as distracting from the platinum pampered puppies, so bye bye stores, go buy from buy .

Many ebay sellers have thousands, even tens thousands of items in the store format. its the only logical way they can maintain an ebay presence, auctions have been murdered by mangement, FP 30 is reasonably priced, but feedback AND DSR MISHMASH have caused many seller standings to pinball wildly, plus the disjointed confusing search page, guarentees that a huge percentage of buyers never get past page one of the results

If this is step toward eliminating stores, That would be a massive mistake If ebay does kill off the stores, i think they will be suprised at the size of the exodous, Sadly I think the Management believes if the stores go, sellers will simnply move to FP30. Not gonna happen, so ebay , if this a step toward eliminating store format

THINK CAREFULLY you will loose far more sellers then you think

Will Latest eBay Changes Affect Traffic to Stores?

by: vince jelenic

Fri Nov 6 20:50:03 2009

we use ebay, only use store format, no auctions, no FP.
Store gone, we gone.
Very simple.
We don't worry about ebay changes, we look at profit. Two months no profit on ebay, we're gone.

Once gone, only one way to get us back......offer cheaper store option

I wonder how many in similar situation.
cheers.

Will Latest eBay Changes Affect Traffic to Stores?

by: Store owner

Sat Nov 7 08:31:45 2009

Store format is the only way to go for many one-of-a-kind-collectibles. Those OOAK items often need OOAK buyers and no one can predict who/what/when that's going to happen. While FP may be cheap for some, when you're selling a $5 - $10.00 vase, it isn't worth putting it out on FP @ 35 cents a month. Over a year that's likely your profit or more after subsidized, shipping which many of us do.

Has eBay done the math and figured out how many listing would go poof if they do away with stores?

I'm another seller that is already migrating off the site and now selling on Etsy etc. Take away stores, and I'm gone eBay.

Will Latest eBay Changes Affect Traffic to Stores?

by: joe

Sat Nov 7 09:28:25 2009

Whoever has an ebay store or pro stores, I bet you have selling manager pro and some of those other useless third party apps too...now thats really a bad business decision to use these tools...BAD WASTE OF MONEY.

WHY...For what!!! There's NO BUYERS ON EBAY...

Will Latest eBay Changes Affect Traffic to Stores?

by: RicRoe

Sat Nov 7 10:59:31 2009

Before they go after store owners for a fee increase, how about hitting those Diamond Sellers for a larger cut than was originally negotiated?

Store owners and casual sellers should not have to continue subsidizing Diamond Sellers who pay no listing fees. It is time they had some skin in the game and started paying their own way.

Will Latest eBay Changes Affect Traffic to Stores?

by: stryker

Sat Nov 7 13:30:54 2009

The diamonds were not brought in to generate revenue. They were brought in to ''plump up'' the site, and transform ebay into a ''shopping'' site.

The diamonds and platinums who can list tens of thousands or even millions of items don't need ebay, they have the organization to maitain and promote their own website.

Obviously any non ebay affiliated super seller will only stay on ebay in order to build a mailing list and siphon customers to their own site.

As soon as their sales flatline, and whatever agreement they made with the bay is up they're gone.

There is no way any of these platinums and diamonds would stay if they were paying the same fees (or even close) and operating under the same rules as the rest of the proles.

At this point I believe ebay is simply running down the clock, until the big fire sale. They are happy with the status quo, the paypal pig grows fatter, the items on site continue to expand, The oldtime sellers keep some traffic coming in with their unique merchandise, as well as paying huge fees .., and the new sellers fatten the coffers with paypal hold .

Ebay is almost completely transformed into a standard retail site, also ready for a sale, paypal has look of ''growth'' a sale is in the air ! I can smell it!

watch for it !

Will Latest eBay Changes Affect Traffic to Stores?

by: eBay for sale?

Sat Nov 7 13:47:15 2009

stryker

I agree. It smells like a fire sale to me too.

Mr D never liked the flea market feel to the site from day one and now that's he run it into the ground, he likely hates it even more.

Will Latest eBay Changes Affect Traffic to Stores?

by: Loops

Sat Nov 7 17:03:02 2009

"Ebay is almost completely transformed into a standard retail site, also ready for a sale, paypal has look of ''growth'' a sale is in the air ! I can smell it! "

I think we all can smell it, since Donuhoe has been hinting about it for about 2 months now. A sale might not be a bad thing, since usually new visions and new leadership emerges. It's a toss!

Will Latest eBay Changes Affect Traffic to Stores?

by: Dave

Sun Nov 8 13:42:51 2009

The handwriting is on the wall. It's been there for awhile. I've felt it in my gut for awhile, now we're just waiting for it to happen and planning accordingly.

They're not going to get rid of stores....just the store format. All the items are going to be back in the core. Look at the international sites that have stopped offering store format. The only way to get cheaper insertion fees to to change the subscription level of the store. We've got several thousand items in our store and typically run a couple hundred listings on fp30 to drive traffic to our store. We'll upgrade to an anchor store (currently premium) where insertion fees will be the cheapest. If they do it like the other sites, all of our items will be in core. Then it will just be a matter of people finding some of our items with best match and clicking through our listings to see our entire offering.

While all categories aren't the same, eBay generates about 4 times the sales as the other marketplaces we sell on including our website. I hate it, because our supposed business partner (eBay) doesn't give a crap about us. But we all have a choice, either adjust to the change they make or leave. As long as it's profitable we'll be there. When it ceases to be, we're gone. After all....it's just business to us, not a hobby.

Anyway, good luck to all. just my 2 cents.

Will Latest eBay Changes Affect Traffic to Stores?

by: stryker

Sun Nov 8 16:44:43 2009

They cannot and will not move the stores into core.

Their fixed price 30 listing was their attempt to move store inventory into core, and it worked. Millions of listings of higher priced items moved from the stores into the core listings. Sellers as the poster above correctly noted used FP30 and scattered auctions to drive buyers to the store

But what about the lower priced listings?, the $1-$10 items, sellers are not going to spend 35 cents a month to advertise a $2 item

By way of example , one seller I buy from has over 200,000 comics in hs ebay store, it is wonderfully conveniant as i can get what i need quite easily, however is he going to maove the 200,000 items into the core at 35 cents each?

And suppose ebay decides to move the store listings up at a greatly reduced fee , The site would be INNUNDATED with low priced merchandise which would drown out not only the platinum babies but everyone else as well

No, ebay had a good balance, the stores allowed sellers to keep their better items in core and their general merchanndise as an accessable and profitable venue, of course that was before ebay decided to to play HIDE THE LINKS , here it is, no there it is, now its gone, now its back, oh there it is in tiny little letters under the sponsered links, oh wait , there it is on the side.

Back when i was a systems analyst, we used to say the most dasngerous employee in the orginization was a programmer with nothing to do. They get bored and fiddle..

heres an idea, Leave the site alone,, and move your programming staff into customer support....

win.. win

Will Latest eBay Changes Affect Traffic to Stores?

by: Curio & Whatnot Shop

Sun Nov 8 23:41:09 2009

eBay's corporate motto: if it isn't broke, fix it til it is!

Will Latest eBay Changes Affect Traffic to Stores?

by: Ann

Sun Nov 8 23:48:49 2009

My bet continues to be that eBay stores are going the way of the dinosaur. Examples? The promotion and integration with ProStores; the continual demotion of eBay Stores without regard to their promised ''2-3 annual releases''; the lack of promotional support for store sellers; and constantly pushing their Advertising programs (hey, I thought I was ALREADY paying to advertise on eBay?) is all quite telling.

They aren't murdering us off overnight, but they are incrementally chopping off body parts that will ultimately accomplish the same result.

To pull this latest stunt just in time for the holidays is unconscionable!

BTW - while a long term seller, I am also a serious net buyer. I used to buy about 80% of my internet purchases on eBay. Now, I am down to less than 25%. Other than unique collectibles, eBay is awash in junk and redundant offerings at a higher price than the same sellers offer elsewhere.

It's near impossible to find any bargains on eBay. Heck, you're lucky to find what you want!

eBay has two options.

Go back to their core value of a people to people exchange. Or embrace the Amazon model which will require a total restructuring - but why bother? Amazon has already done it very well.

Anyone remember the Edsel? eBay will eventually become as obsolete.

Will Latest eBay Changes Affect Traffic to Stores?

by: ebay Nonsense

Sun Nov 8 23:59:41 2009

Removing 2 graphics will make search load faster? They're kidding right? LOL

Run the home page through this site.

http://validator.w3.org/

They will show how many html errors ebay has on their home page then pick a search page and try it. It's amazing anyone's browser can even GET that mess to load. 350 errors on a search page I ran and just about as many on the home page.

They need to fix the errors before making major UNSCHEDULED changes AGAIN just before the holiday buying season. Wake up ebay. Fix your existing problems before you hurt your sellers again.

Will Latest eBay Changes Affect Traffic to Stores?

by: DieEBAYDie

Mon Nov 9 02:05:20 2009

What traffic? There hasn't been traffic to stores since 2006.

Will Latest eBay Changes Affect Traffic to Stores?

by: Marvin

Mon Nov 9 04:30:22 2009

"What traffic" is right. The road to ebay has been blocked and detour signs posted. The buses full of buyers are stopping at other sites. Ebay's not even on their route anymore. . . OOOOPs my bad, prison buses full of criminals still making the stop!

Will Latest eBay Changes Affect Traffic to Stores?

by: Bill

Tue Nov 17 16:52:02 2009

I already closed my ebay store a few months ago because of the very very low traffic of hits. The same items in other 30DF formats were selling and my prices were lower. My items were not even getting viewed because when I would do a search my ideas would not show. I don't think ebay cares for store owners anyway. They will be glad when most ebay stores finally shut down.

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