@derpybay wrote:
We need clarification on the word "buyer" after all logically a buyer isn't a buyer unless they buy, but in ebay parlance a buyer has usually been a class of user/actions opposed to "seller".
Why I bring this up is that most of our items are single quantity listings. So it could be read that such items aren't affected by this change. They can't be bought twice, and clicks (unlike sales) do not have a significant material benefit to us in best match.
But ebay has done this before- such as ads appearing after winning an auction titled "buyers of this also bought" or some such. Well no, they didn't did they. I am the only buyer of this item, and I haven't bought the things being advertised.
I don't have the money or mental health for legal action, but if they're doing what I think they're doing then I'd love to see it argued!
@derpybay you can look at what is already happening in Germany where eBay put this same exact policy into effect in February.
"Buyer" means exactly what eBay usually means by that word - as you put it, a class of user that is the opposite of seller.
As with most eBay policies (aside from how they count Active Buyers in quarterly financial reports which is a different thing all together) a "buyer" doesn't actually have to complete a purchase before they are considered a "buyer" even though I know grammatically that doesn't make sense.
In this case, you can and should think of it as "user" and not "buyer" specifically - that's what eBay actually means in practice and what they really should have said for clarity.
After all, anyone with an active account in good standing is a potential buyer, even if that account has historically only been used for selling - not to mention that even those who don't have an account registered and are just browsing the site not logged in can and do click on Promoted Listings ads.
If any user clicks an ad for one of your items but doesn't purchase it then another user finds that same item as an organic search result and buys it within 30 days, if that item is still in an active ad campaign at the time of that purchase, you will be charged the ad fee even though the click on the ad had absolutely nothing to do with the eventual actual sale.
And by the way, yes, this also works this way even if that user who clicked on the ad was another seller who either maliciously clicks on competitor ads or (much more likely and occurs more often in my opinion) simply another seller doing research and/or looking at other listings to "sell similar" from.
If another seller clicks on your ad in one of those scenarios and then an actual buyer comes along later, finds that same item organically and makes the purchase, you will pay the ad fee.
eBay says they have systems in place to detect and mitigate malicious clicks (which I'm personally very skeptical about their success in that area) but honestly I think the non-malicious but still no intent to buy clicks (like other sellers doing research) are a much bigger concern.
