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 

[sheba-knows-best]

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@oceanartsnorthdevon wrote:

I think in this instance when so many sellers are experiencing the same major problem (not just the UK) then it is correct to assume the issue is with Ebay and it is not the other usual patterns like seasonal, cost of living etc which most of us are aware and can spot the trends, these are not so drastic and immediate.  The last time I remember experiencing something similar to this was when they first launched the promoted listings and sales more or less stopped overnight.

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But there aren't "so many" sellers.  It's probably 20-50 sellers max? You need to understand, the people on these boards make-up an infinitely small, tiny, miniscule amount of sellers vs. the ebay whole and worse -  they are also self-selected -  they actually came here looking for a reason as to why impressions/sales were down (some might say even looking for a reason that put themselves in the clear).  

[lord_and_lady_m]

You're deluded. Considering you're quite keen on figures, I'd like to know where your '20-50 sellers max' figures come from. 

I found a lot of us sellers complaining about the problem on twitter that would never come on the forums because they are very large sellers that have account managers within eBay. They have since been in touch with them folk and still got no answers. If there were only a small numbers I'm quite sure it wouldn't be getting talked about on twitter and now videos from large sellers saying the same. Yes my impressions have shot up, my sales now haven't. 

I shared my 13 month figures for like for like and shared my comparative sales increase/decrease as impression data or irrelevant without the corresponding sales data, this is not a pattern.  The only obvious pattern is that  sellers across the world got thrown off a cliff on 17th. I guess the impact will vary from seller to seller, but please stop putting down us sellers that have jumped through every hoop going and worked hard to try to keep afloat. I've taken more on my website today than eBay. That's unheard of for me, so people are still shopping and are suddenly finding my website first. 

[goingfishing]

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@sheba-knows-best wrote:

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But there aren't "so many" sellers.  It's probably 20-50 sellers max? You need to understand, the people on these boards make-up an infinitely small, tiny, miniscule amount of sellers vs. the ebay whole and worse -  they are also self-selected -  they actually came here looking for a reason as to why impressions/sales were down (some might say even looking for a reason that put themselves in the clear).  

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Evidence please to show it's Globally only 20-50 sellers max affected. Thanks.

I agree the people on these boards are a very small number of actual sellers.  However if you'd read my last post in reply to yourself can you point out how I'm 'looking for a reason to put themselves in the clear?'

I stated points ALL which point soley and directly to eBay being the cause of the issues here.  Like I said I've jumped through all the hoops, examined this and that and paid to play.  Still faced with 80% down in sales Y-O-Y.   So again if you can explain why this is my fault or anyone elses here really struggling to pay bills and keep their company alive please do so.

[2007dcase]

I have the same drop on the 18th. I am usually fairly quiet this time of year (school holidays) but seemed more so than usual. Only checked after reading this thread and would suggest it's affecting more that 20-50 sellers

[oceanartsnorthdevon]

It is not just on this particular thread that I have read the same issues so it is bigger than you think, there are other related threads questioning the drop in sales/problems with the new promotions etc, querying what is going on, plus off site there is several debates under different headings on a certain site that cannot be named regarding the same issue.  You only have to look at Youtube to see there are numerous videos discussing this matter with the majority showing pages of comments below each of the videos, comments on the downdetector, I could go on. That is just a small example I haven't even ventured to facebook, twitter and other such sites so I would say that it is probably a few more than 20-50 sellers max people "looking for a reason to put themselves in the clear" as you put it.  Have you looked beyond the community page?

I have not had to come on the community page for years to get anwsers to issues as nothing has been that pressing for me to start or join in on a debate, when I have had issues in the past they have been quickly resolved but this issue is not being addressed, it is on going that is why it is still being disucussed with new people coming  on to the thread as there is no logic to this problem, we all know the tweaks we need to do to get things moving but when nothing works we know it is something beyond our control.

[best-range]

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@british-ceramics-and-paintings wrote:

My impressions are up massively since Saturday however page view are not rising with them so I can only presume Ebay is adding a shed load of promoted listing items to the description page of items which doesn't really help anyone imho. It just creates chaos and confusion on an item page.

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I noticed the same, massive up in impressions but not translating into more page views or sales.

Also the "impressions by placements" stats. shows the "non-search" impressions are 91.5 % of listings -  is that the measure how many listings are hidden from ebay search ?? 

The stats show the impressions from top searches have gone down, almost 28% but non-search impressions are up 15.7% :

I wonder where the items are being shown now if not in searches as they should be ? at the check outs after the buyer already paid for something else? non-ebay pages ???

It looks that ebay is no longer in the business of providing a well functioning selling platform but in the business of selling us impressions, that may or may not results in sales, mostly not as experienced by many.

Anyone noticed the latest ebay "performance" toy ? the brand new shiny impressions meter.

The "impression share" goes up with the higher % cap - of course.

[the_book_seekers]

ebay does different things to different people.  Manys the time I've seen glitches hit ebay and been unaffected myself and vice a versa so I'd never dismiss anyone reporting problems.  ebay's failure to acknowledge problems doesn't help in the slightest. 

[tackshackuk]

There is absolutely more with one problem or another, and to say people are looking for a problem, I can assure you i am not i have better things to do with my time! On one of my many phone calls to CS beginning of july (which are nearly daily) one rep told me it was a global issue - whether it was the impression i can't remember.

Global = to worldwide more that 50

[british-ceramics-and-paintings]

Thank you for your reply and detailed info. I have just looked again and my non search impressions have gone through the roof, I would presume most of them are pointless. The headline impression figure looks great however the vast majority of those impressions won't lead to a page view and certainly not a sale. It's almost as though they think every Ebay business seller is naive and clueless. 

[simplyessential_uk]

Sheba, Ive always admired (and often agreed in the past) with your "half glass full" optimism and positveness but you are way off on this one.  Sorry but you need to stop for a moment and wonder why so many sellers are experiencing the same awful results - I have been on YT & Twitter and other boards and they are all saying the same and Im not willing to accept the usual excuses (brexit, cost of living etc) as my sales over the water are flying (thank goodness, or I would be having to pack up shop after 20 years)   Ive seen ups and downs so I am not green behind the ears and seen many changes on Ebay, but this is horrendous - 1 sale today for £7! Thats it, all last week £40 max.    Im listing 4-5 new things aday, closing non movers (which used to work) listed 50 auctions in last 5 days, (which by the way all have 0 views bar 6 with max 6 views which is weird in itself)  I had a spike of sales on Thurs which was great but back to nothing again.   I used to be optamistic and on your side with this one but since the 18th July slump Im on my knees with Ebay.  Im glad you are not experiencing this and perhaps being in the pre-loved section you are reaping the rewards from Ebays run on TV ads and Love island preloved marketing (I read in Ebays quarterly statement that Preloved was their focus) but please do not brush off everyone as neurotic looking for excuses to blame Ebay.

[sheba-knows-best]

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@simplyessential_uk wrote:

Sheba, Ive always admired (and often agreed in the past) with your "half glass full" optimism and positveness but you are way off on this one.  Sorry but you need to stop for a moment and wonder why so many sellers are experiencing the same awful results - I have been on YT & Twitter and other boards and they are all saying the same and Im not willing to accept the usual excuses (brexit, cost of living etc) as my sales over the water are flying (thank goodness, or I would be having to pack up shop after 20 years)   Ive seen ups and downs so I am not green behind the ears and seen many changes on Ebay, but this is horrendous - 1 sale today for £7! Thats it, all last week £40 max.    Im listing 4-5 new things aday, closing non movers (which used to work) listed 50 auctions in last 5 days, (which by the way all have 0 views bar 6 with max 6 views which is weird in itself)  I had a spike of sales on Thurs which was great but back to nothing again.   I used to be optamistic and on your side with this one but since the 18th July slump Im on my knees with Ebay.  Im glad you are not experiencing this and perhaps being in the pre-loved section you are reaping the rewards from Ebays run on TV ads and Love island preloved marketing (I read in Ebays quarterly statement that Preloved was their focus) but please do not brush off everyone as neurotic looking for excuses to blame Ebay.

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Thank you for your measured tone.

Just to clarify - for everyone who asked - I was talking about sellers who had commented here on the UK business boards (which seemed 20-50? it was a guess). I apologise for being unclear. I am surprised more UK business sellers have not posted if the problem is as widespread as you are all saying - like with the VAT fiasco where I believe ebay did admit fault and offer some kind of compensation (albeit woefully inadequate).  

I would also like to addif you read my post a few back, I completely agree that ebay does tweak PL which does have a huge effect on impressions but it's hard to know when it is PL or other things.  I showed my own chart with the July 17th/18th slump.

For my own sanity I will continue to focus on y-o-y figures - mainly sales and profits not impressions. Which is why I have continually expressed an interest in seeing everyone's 13month impression charts - I don't recall more than one or two that didn't show last July similar in level to this July. But I only looked at charts (not quoted figures) and I was on holiday mon-fri last week.

I don't think pre-loved is somehow immune - although I woud have loved to hear from the other pre-loved sellers to see if they are also doing fine.

But I will bow out now as gracefully as I can, as I am clearly just an irritant. Good luck to all. I hope your sales (and impressions) pick up soon.

[sheba-knows-best]

One last thing, I do think the vast majority of sellers who hold a different opinion wouldn't dare comment on threads like these. It's not very British to say you're doing okay when others are suffering. I do it, because I see the need to add balance. But it's never a pleasant experience. Every time I tell myself, never again.

I'm going now... honest 😁

[lingerie0nline]

There are still gaps in sales, 4-5 sales in 10 minutes then nothing for an hour, absolutely nothing to do with economic climate, climate control or any other climate.

I just wish eBay would just let the breaks off and leave it alone, 2 or 3 days a month is not enough. I am on eBay 10+ hours a day and have been on for over 15 years, they do say 10,000 hours makes you an expert 🙂

Business sellers know when eBay is fiddling, it's been 2 years now. They have said that their restructuring of the system architecture will conclude in August, lets hope so.

[simplyessential_uk]

@sheba-knows-best 

I appreciate your balance and to share ideas with you and other sellers so please continue, unfortunately it sometimes it gets heated but ppl have alot to lose and can get emotionally charged, which Im sure you can understand.

Im always looking for ideas and looked at coupons this week (after you mentioned them on another thread) Its not something Ive used but saw I only had 478 but notice you have 1.6k followers, how have you done that? I think building those followers to send coupons too would be something to focus on if youre happy to share

[ojewellery]

Debate does involve multiple views - its good to know not everyone is effected in the same way.

I find it challenging to compare my last year figures to this year because my business stock has gone from majority a recognised/ searched brand to my own designs and own branded pieces.  It wouldn't be relevant to the thread to look at year on year pattern. 

What I can see on my multichannel software is volume of sales by platform and get lovely little colourful pie charts on daily/ weekly/ monthly/ quarterly/ year so far/ annual and rolling periods.  My eBay and Etsy sales Jan - June were about equivalent.  This past week they're 20% of my Etsy sales, the past month about 40% of my Etsy sales.  Thats unusual.  I try not to look too closely at day to day and take a broader view because there are so many reasons for fluctuations.

I have observed the thread, more than participated, because things we can't do anything about frustrate me and if it isn't going to help me or others then I'd rather focus on things in my control. 

I've gone back to basics.  Done a long end, rephoto retitle and sell similar, listed new stock, put multiple sales, multibuys, offers on, sent lots of offers out.  Added promoted listings advanced to seasonal lines, added off site ads.   So my eBay stuff is not only discounted the cost per sale is much higher.  It hasn't (yet) created any momentum.

Quite a few new listings have had zero views.  I've got newly designed lines that are sold out/ almost sold out now through other channel sales and not got a single view on eBay.  That just doesn't compute.   I'm not arrogant enough to think my items are everyones taste, its not fly out the door stuff but its not out there very bespoke need that one of unique individual either.  Its well priced, well packaged with good reliable customer service which is reflected in my feedback.  This tends to create a steady customer flow and I get a reasonable number of repeat customers. - which reminds me its start of month newsletter and send out a coupon day tomorrow, that tends to bring a few views and associated sales!

I have had a nice little upturn since Friday and I do agree with end of month boost - I almost always see this.  But the impressions boost is more than I'd usually see for this period.  Too soon to be a trend but hopefully what ever this past months oddity has been we're now moving forwards again.

[goingfishing]

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@best-range wrote:

Anyone noticed the latest ebay "performance" toy ? the brand new shiny impressions meter.

The "impression share" goes up with the higher % cap - of course.

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Ding ding ding we have a winner.  No doubt the introdutction of this awesome (we no doubt asked for it and they listened to our feedback) gadget is what has broken the impressions/sales.

[cotswold_curations]

It's a rollercoaster for sure - but that's a big dipper!

Hope it fixes soon!

Jay

[simplyessential_uk]

ive looked all over and cant find my shiny new tool 

[simplyessential_uk]

Over last 5 days I thought id use up my shop auction quota and listed 50+ items (mostly stuff I have on multi listings already) changing keywords in the titles so no duplicates so in theory maximising views of different items and putting auction prices slightly lower (no promo fees) Im baffled how 50+ autions have mostly 0 views.  Max is 6 views on 1 listing and just 1 view on 5 others... thats just weird.  

[pre_worn]

ebays ads team have confirmed to me that sellers experiencing a drop in impressions are part of a beta ads test they are running - We are currently trying to get our account removed from it.

Any claims that the mods have raised this issue are not true btw - The ads team had no idea that this issue was being reported on the community forums in so many different posts.

I have shared all the posts about this issue that have been raised on both .co.uk and .com.