Impressions broken again??

[swiss_expert_uk]

Can you please check if there is another problem with impressions? Another counting glitch? These stats can not be correct. Organic impressions promoted views down to under 3000 views today at time of writing. This time last week almost 73000 views. Please help.  dave@ebay kat@ebay 

[tackshackuk]

That also coincides when i phoned the beginning of july, when i was told it was a global glitch and it would be 3 months but it was ok because we had already had a month. My problems started june the 15th ish

[qualitycardsandgifts]

Give me my sales back and I'll consider promoting, but with my fees now being 66% of sales, there is no way I can afford it. 

[pg_kicks]

Just to clarify here, eBay did not admit fault, they said it was the sellers fault for not amending the VAT name to match even though when the seller (ebays customers) phoned/emailed customer service we were told numerous times to please ignore the email as it was a mistake by eBay to send it out. 

eBay gave accounts which were screwed over a form of compensation but when I asked if this was eBay admitting they were at fault I 100% got a reply of no we were not at fault it was an issue with HMRC and the seller account not having matching information, we (eBay) have done this as a gesture of goodwill, they never once admitted any fault to me.

[pg_kicks]

Absolutely mental how the community team have been telling us they are asking the ad team and will get back to us when they have an answer for weeks now but @pre_worn can get the reason for the slump before the team who actually work for eBay. Either eBay internal communications are terrible or the other possible reason opens a very large can of worms. I'm hoping the eBay open event has an Q&A session with somebody at a decent level where we can ask questions and either get a genuine reply on the day or a guarantee reply via email once they look into it and not just a that has been passed onto the team and they are looking into it.

[vintagewatchpart]

They can reduce impressions by limiting the number of locations items can be seen across site whether it be in listings, by device (so limiting mobile keeping desktop the same etc.) or within the search feed.

[creakykneez]

My impressions have dropped by nearly 55% tried everything to help myself to no avail....what to do? Broken a glitch what? 

[pg_kicks]

Going off the weekly Q&A we should have some feedback in the next 24 hours. It was very informative to find out that they have been reading the threads on the issue but for an unknown reason decided to stay silent and just allow rumours to flourish and staff to say untruths.

Hopefully come the 7th it reverts back to when it was working and they have seen the negative impact across the board and do not turn it on full time. I just wish they would ask sellers for feedback, we are their customers afterall and we know the hard truths about how good ro bad the test has gone.

[goingfishing]

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@pg_kicks wrote:

Going off the weekly Q&A we should have some feedback in the next 24 hours. It was very informative to find out that they have been reading the threads on the issue but for an unknown reason decided to stay silent and just allow rumours to flourish and staff to say untruths.

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Yes indeed, however according to the member here who suggested the reason why this is happening the ads team were not away of this thread or other reports of any issues.. to me that Q&A session is riddled with more contradictions and as you put it 'untruths.'  End of the day all we really want is openness and honesty not fibs and brush offs.  It's 4 weeks today this was reported here.  😓

[british-ceramics-and-paintings]

It's difficult to know what to believe.

All I can see are the facts relating to my business and sellers I have followed for years.

Also the financial numbers Ebay release, they have lost shed loads of buyers, G M V is down massively in real terms, those two things alone tell you that something will need to change sooner or later however I don't think it will happen until there are massive changes at Ebay HQ.

[pg_kicks]

The Q&A is annoying because majority of the time I feel like they are just answering with something vague enough that it seems to answer the question but never actually give anything back, we will pass this onto the team to look into is a very well used line, or please do this and the back end team will look into it, when it gets pointed out that you have already followed those instructions as you are not a newbie on eBay but been on the site for 10+ years and the issues have been going on for that long.

I feel for the community team as I understand they can not fix the issues but as they are the face of eBay they could and should be doing a lot more, its the same issues constantly being brought up, if I were on the team I'd be emailing each department on a Monday and asking whats the latest with this and that as I know they are going to be brought up on a Wednesday.

This thread is the perfect example of it, so far from eBay we have been told that there are no issues, close your account and start afresh, maybe some issues we will ask the team to look into it, beta test being ran, back end team read these boards so know of all the issues, and thats just what I can remember.

Hopefully we do get a reply in the next 24 hours and it clears up a lot of things but I'm hopeful (maybe stupid) that the ebay open day thing has an option of some management to be able to answer questions.

[lord_and_lady_m]

Yes, I'm going to Manchester. I went to Birmingham as there was opportunities to stand up and ask questions in front of the audience. With a microphone and it was recorded too. Never watched the footage though to see if it was edited out but there definitely was an opportunity 

[lord_and_lady_m]

Hi Dave, please feed back how they've ruined everything for me and no doubt many others. 

I appreciate they need to do tests to make improvements but at the cost of people livelihoods without an option to opt in or out and have the risks explained, that is absolutely not on. 

Do they think it's essentially ok to test something and play with people's lives? I've cancelled my shop as I cannot afford the subscription from my eBay sales. I'm not propping eBay up with money from my other selling places and risking even more hardship for myself. I'll be watching sales and conversions like a hawk as I cannot afford to renew any listings on a pay per listing basis of their is no chance of sales. 

I appreciate compensation isn't given for things outside of eBay's control, however if it is this case that this is within their control as is being reported, we absolutely should be compensated. Were paying for a service and not getting it. 

[goingfishing]

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@lord_and_lady_m wrote:

I appreciate compensation isn't given for things outside of eBay's control, however if it is this case that this is within their control as is being reported, we absolutely should be compensated. Were paying for a service and not getting it. 

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No matter what eBay state in their T&Cs or user agreement or on the back of the loo door if a judge etc decides they pay compensation then they pay compensation.  They are not above the law of the land.

[goingfishing]

So it's been a month since this was first reported.  Here you go ads team some data from your test.  Hope you are very pround of yourselves.  That 24 hours response time is dwindling.. 😓

[qualitycardsandgifts]

Trust me, mine are worse than that.    In six months I've gone from £1500 a month to less than £300.   Some sellers must be desperate if they rely on this for a living.    

[ojewellery]

I've had three days that have been okay for sales - something I'd hope for over payday weekend but also done a lot of ending, sell similar, title play, rephotographed, added offsite ads and some advanced promoted listings - basically tried to shake things up. 

Interestingly this coincides with a 25% increase in page views.  My impressions percentage is hovering around the same but my page views and conversion are up.

My (eBay) rolling month figures are shocking and its making it harder to invest in stock ordering for my peek season.  Getting distracted now by a nasty little dispatch not registering, even though delivery confirmed, technical glitch on another platform thats having an impact on performance metrics just as eBay picks up for me.

[paul*tribesandvibes*]

So for all their tinkering with PL's and impressions and all those marketing buzz words that have been bandied around - I can confirm that my sales are sunsetting! And it's the bottom line that I am most worried about quite honestly. Impressions are only good if you can convert them to sales. If you sell pig feed, and you have hundreds of thousands of impressions but only being shown to the fine dining market, then it's all BS.

A few weeks ago in response to another thread about lack of sales I was bemoaning the fact that I was having consistent sales, but there were at most only 4 a day, and it ranged between 2, 3 and 4 a day. Ohhh! - to have 4 sales a day right now would be a major improvement! With all these fabulous new impressions I'm getting (including the reported off-site ones), probably due to increasing my PL% slightly and renewing listings etc etc - the fact of the matter is that my sales are down by 19.3% (if ebay's figures are to be believed) on the previous month. So in reality, I have entered into a Binary Bottom Line - ie, a steady 1 or 0 sales a day.

So what's the point ? Truely, what is the point any more? I dont know what to do with this shop if ebay are just going to tinker with everything in the background without telling me, and skupper any chances I might have of making any headway on sales! I know this is summer, August tends to be quieter, but my sales are down 49% since this period last year! 🙈

[paul*tribesandvibes*]

Slightly off topic, but could be another consideration, I am concerned by this message that is being shown to me : 'Grow your business with the right funding. Get business funding from Capital for eBay Business Sellers by YouLend. Access extra cash when you need it, so you can keep growing. T&Cs apply.'

So having driven a lot of us to the point of near bankruptcy, ebay are now wanting to lend us money to help with our flagging businesses? 😞🤔 is this another way for them to make more money from us, because people from The Outside are not visiting ebay much anymore? Are they creating a culture of fear, and driving our sales down, so that we will borrow money from them, because there is more money in that for ebay? Or am I just being a bit too cynical ? Please tell me I'm just being cynical ...

[goingfishing]

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@paul*tribesandvibes* wrote:

Slightly off topic, but could be another consideration, I am concerned by this message that is being shown to me : 'Grow your business with the right funding. Get business funding from Capital for eBay Business Sellers byYouLendd. Access extra cash when you need it, so you can keep growing. T&Cs apply.'

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As I posted in the Youlend thread do not in the strongest possible terms borrow money fromYoulend, they can take up to 25% of your daily takings and that includes eBays chunk too.  So 25% to Youlend, 19%FVF, 20% VAT, 15-30% Advertising costs...ermm are you selling at a loss yet?  Remember Youlend have a minimum weekly payment clause so if you are having a bad week they still take their minimum.  Now factor in postage costs, cost of item etc.. sure you are not Bankrupt yet?

[paul*tribesandvibes*]

@goingfishing  Thank you for that. It just confirms what I think about the shenanigins on this site anyway. I could never understand why our sales were being driven downwards - I could not understand how ebay could survive that - but now I know! It's all about the bottom line for ebay, and it seems that we are actually worth more to them in a crazed fear-driven state when we will do anything to save our businesses. That really sucks out loud 😣

For the record, I had no intention of taking up a loan with them, or with anyone. I'd rather go and get a paper round than do that! 😆