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 

[qualitycardsandgifts]

 I am systematically going through all my stock, ending, listing as sell similar and in the case of old stock, reducing.    The past few days have seen an improvement in sales, but whether it will last is another matter.

I have gone back up to a featured shop so I can list as much as possible, but with fees over 50%, I can only do it for a few months to see if it works.

[rejuvit]

Sellers just need eBay to be open and honest at this point, if there was a mistake made or a 'major issue' then let people know. Avoiding responsablity is just making people annoyed, at least with a bit of honesty we may be able to see a light. 

[rejuvit]

There definitely needs to be a change hopefully sooner rather than later, we have dropped our shop from anchor to featured as the anchor shop was no longer afforable. We had 5000+ listings and we have now dropped them to 1,300 in hopes this will help gain some profit but with eBay soaking most of this up it seems this may not be the answer. 

[petals-and-paws]

I'll be watching the Community Chat at 2pm to see if anything gets asked / answered, although I thought they would have commented on this thread if there were any updates.

[lord_and_lady_m]

So i'm currenty making friends with AI. And I asked Gooles AI this question:

can you identify what happened on July 17th on ebay. impressions dropped massively and as a consequence so did sales

And this is the reply:

On July 17th, 2023, eBay sellers began to notice a sharp drop in impressions for their Promoted Listings. This resulted in a significant decrease in sales for many sellers.

eBay has not yet released an official explanation for the drop in impressions, but there are a few theories that have been circulating. One theory is that eBay was running a test that removed a large number of Promoted Listings from View Item pages. This would have reduced the visibility of Promoted Listings and led to a decrease in impressions.

Another theory is that eBay was adjusting its algorithm for determining which listings to show in search results. This could have resulted in fewer Promoted Listings being shown, which would have also led to a decrease in impressions.

Whatever the reason for the drop in impressions, it is clear that it had a negative impact on many eBay sellers. eBay has said that it is investigating the issue and that it hopes to resolve it soon.

In the meantime, sellers who are experiencing a drop in impressions may want to consider the following:

• Re-optimize their listings: Make sure that your listings are well-written and accurately reflect the condition of the products you are selling. You may also want to consider adding more images to your listings.
• Increase their bids: If you are using Promoted Listings, you may want to increase your bids so that your listings are more likely to be shown in search results.
• Expand their reach: If you are only selling in a few categories, you may want to expand your reach to other categories. This will give your listings a chance to be seen by more buyers.
• Be patient: It may take some time for eBay to resolve the issue with the drop in impressions. In the meantime, you may want to be patient and continue to optimize your listings and bids.

[ojewellery]

@rejuvit  Just having a nose at what you sell and the oddest thing is happening with your postage.  I'm signed in, within the UK and its showing as £16!  When I click on the listing its free but I possibly wouldn't in search because it makes you quite pricey.

[rejuvit]

Thank you for showing this. We have always offered free postage (main land UK) apart from on a couple of items which are pallet ship.  We will talk to eBay about this as I hope that isn't what our customers are seeing that would explain the drop in sales. 

[simplyessential_uk]

The thing with AI is that it will only get info thats on the internet and ofcourse theres been lots of chatter, speculation and theories on forums so AI is just gathering all that info in its reply, clearly theres many experiencing the same issues, me included but getting better.  I have my own theories and testing some changes but we can only wonder if this is temporary or permanent on Ebay or are they using AI to learn buyer behaviour so evolving

[goingfishing]

Just because I like ramming red hot pokers into my eye sockets I've decided to contact customer support...

Here goes..

'I have reviewed the listings and can confirm there is nothing wrong with your account or any issue with your standing as your items are getting full visibility and there are no account restriction.'  <-- took them 15 secs to review over 500 listings.. awesome

'I'd also like to add that there is no any site-related reason for a drop in sales.' - really so why is it happening?

'I also suggest you to revise the listings in every 10-12 days, so your listings will get re-indexed on the search pages so it can get better position on search. Please be assured that the frequency of relisting the item will always impact your visibility positively.' - ooo lets give number 4 answer from the script.

'Also, you have done a great job in adding clearer picture and mentioning the clearer description. However, this does seems like a phase in business in which sales tend to go down, but I have a few suggestions which may help you in getting sales back, shall I share that?' - now going to get the other answers from the script.

'Further to add that its because of the reputed sellers like you, eBay is growing into a big brand and so we have no reasons to restrict your account for no valid reasons.' - so why are sales now 95% down y-o-y?

'eBay generates profits only when the sellers like you are generating a good sales. So please be assured that we never put any limit or restrict the sales or divert the sales flow towards any other sellers as this is against the eBay Policy.' - we all know how much weight any eBay policy is worth.

'Because, here we always try to give an equal chance to all the sellers, irrespective of the fact that they are small sellers, new sellers or top rated sellers. The sales are always dependent on the market trends and this keeps changing from time to time.' - Sorry I'm flabergasted at this one...

'So there is no certainty that the sales will always continue with high profits and huge sales. Business is something in which we do need to give some time and also keep patience running.' - full on patronising with this one..

....I'm having to leave the chat now before I throw the PC out the window in dusgust.  Thanks eBay, thanks for helping to save what little of my business I have left.  I'm off now to have a job interview.

[simplyessential_uk]

Is this the same CS who recommended you open a new account ? 🙄 

I also suggest you to revise the listings in every 10-12 days, so your listings will get re-indexed on the search pages so it can get better position on search. Please be assured that the frequency of relisting the item will always impact your visibility positively.' -

This response is interesting though🤔 

Tinker with (edit) a poor listings every 10 days?  

Please be assured that the frequency of relisting the item will always impact your visibility positively.' -

means what? Relisting? 

[lord_and_lady_m]

I asked last week as part of my official complaint, to remove my account from the final value fee promotion that is for low value items. If they're selling and I can diversify, as they suggest then it's worth a try.

Guess what, they couldn't figure out how to do it. It's been escalated and still nothing a week later. So I can even try to sell more expensive products without eBay chaffing even more off fees. 

[goingfishing]

---

@simplyessential_uk wrote:

Is this the same CS who recommended you open a new account ? 🙄 

I also suggest you to revise the listings in every 10-12 days, so your listings will get re-indexed on the search pages so it can get better position on search. Please be assured that the frequency of relisting the item will always impact your visibility positively.' -

This response is interesting though🤔 

Tinker with (edit) a poor listings every 10 days?  

Please be assured that the frequency of relisting the item will always impact your visibility positively.' -

means what? Relisting? 

---

Probably yeah just with another random name from the list.  It's the fact we go to eBay support because WE KNOW there is an issue and it's usually a last resort considering how inept they are are getting a positive result for you.  We do not need the patronising drivel we need action and things fixed.

Judging by the number of messages I get the vast number of folk do not read the bloody listings anyway so what is the point of tarting them up to be word perfect etc?

[aquaecraft]

I am also a fan of AI (I use arla in opera) and it has pointed me to many interesting discussions happening all over the internet in relation to this "issue". One of the more interesting things was this headline "How Does eBay Handle New Feature Rollouts & Glitches?" https://www.valueaddedresource.net/how-does-ebay-handle-new-feature-rollouts-glitches/ published Aug 8 2023. It features ebays Chief of Staff of Seller Experience, Valeri Yee "stopping by" the ebay business podcast https://community.ebay.com/t5/eBay-for-Business/Ep-254-How-eBay-Rolls-Out-New-Features/ba-p/33917666  She talks about the process of the technical teams and how the code is updated 3 times a week. There is also mentions of internal bug names such as "memorial day bug"  and in the words of the articles author comes off as "gaslighting or blame-shifting to avoid any hint of accountability."

[bennotbill]

It was interesting to read that some sellers were having to remove postal exclusions before they could see all their own items. Makes you wonder if somehow the search or eBay was mixing up seller/item locations.

It would explain falling sales, invisible items, and changed postal costs if the search thought all your items, or you, were located in Timbuktu.

[lord_and_lady_m]

very true, but would it only picked up the information if enough people were talking about it. I've asked for more info and sources etc, although I don't remember an outage. Just leaving this here .... Google AI is only scouring the net for information, so enough people must be talking about this

The exact number of businesses on eBay that were affected by the July 17th issue is unknown. However, it is estimated that millions of sellers were impacted, with some sellers reporting losses of up to $100,000. The issue affected sellers on all levels, from small businesses to large retailers.

The issue occurred when eBay's servers experienced an outage, which caused a number of problems for sellers. First, sellers were unable to list items for sale. Second, sellers were unable to respond to buyer inquiries. Third, sellers were unable to cancel orders. Fourth, sellers were unable to receive payments.

eBay has since apologized for the issue and has said that it is working to compensate affected sellers. However, it is still unclear how many businesses were affected and how much money they lost.

Here are some additional details about the July 17th issue:

• The outage began at around 10:00 AM ET on July 17th and lasted for several hours.
• The outage affected all of eBay's websites and platforms, including eBay.com, eBay Motors, and eBay Kleinanzeigen.
• The outage also affected eBay's APIs, which are used by third-party sellers and developers.
• eBay has said that the outage was caused by a "technical issue" and that it is working to prevent a similar issue from happening in the future.

Yes, the outage on July 17th, 2023 is the same thing that caused the massive drop in impressions on eBay. The outage caused a number of problems for sellers, including the inability to list items for sale, which led to a decrease in impressions.

The outage also affected buyers, who were unable to search for items or make purchases. This further decreased impressions, as buyers were unable to see the items that were listed for sale.

[lingerie0nline]

Is this an official release? If so, where do I claim for losses?

[dave@ebay · Accepted solution]

Hi All,

Ive a small update on this.

There was some testing of new features which affected impressions. Testing on Promoted listings took place between 18th and 28th July and during this time some of our members may have noticed a different experience. 

This has now been completely stopped and the impressions will return to their normal patterns. 

We have been passing all the feedback from this thread to the promoted listings team and your feedback will help shape future updates.

Thanks,

Dave

[goingfishing]

dave@ebay

Hi thanks for the response, can it be explained why if this is the case that sales/impressions etc continue to nose dive?  Is there yet another issue causing the continued problems?  If this test was finished on the 28th July why are things actually not 'back to normal' as you state.  In fact the evidence in front of me states quite the opposite, it's getting worse.

If this was finished on the 28th why was a member of eBay's staff not reporting back to the main thread stating such test had finished, consider how many people were/are affected and continued to be so?  Why the lack of respect for those concerned?  Sorry but this whole episode has been terribly handled from day one.

[rejuvit]

Unfortuantly eBay have covered themseleves for this in their T&C's and even though they have caused the issue they will be provide compensation for any loss of earnings, although no one was made aware that any test was happening. 

[rejuvit]

I agree, nothing has changed from this 'test' which no-one was made aware of. Sales and impressions still continue to fall. Members of staff had sadly had to be let go as our costs alone have been 52.2% of our sales. Countless times eBay have been called and no one really could help because no one had an idea. It's abysmal. I imagine were weren't the only company to have to let staff go just to stay aflot. We just need an answer as to how and when this is actually going to be sorted. Because if this continues i think most of the sellers are sadly going to collapse under the weight of eBays negligence to its sellers. Absolute joke.