eBay have announced some major changes to cross-promotions which are to be implemented on the .com site from June.
Those who are cross-promoting with other sellers will see this feature disappear. According to eBay, this feature has seen “very low usage”: it’s impossible to argue with this because eBay provide sellers with no effective way of measuring usage of this specific feature. But cross-promotions have certainly been very popular amongst many sellers that I know – and taking the facility to choose promotion partners away from sellers is likely to be an unpopular move.
Sellers will also lose the ability to specify which of their own items will be promoted on their listings. Instead, “eBay’s default logic” will choose items for them, “based on the buyer’s search”. Connections between eBay categories, Store categories and keywords will still be available, however, so this seems less likely to affect the majority of sellers.
It’s hard not to see all this as a move by eBay to take more control from the hands of sellers. With adverts for third-party non-eBay sites now appearing on search results pages too, one has to wonder where it all might end.
9 Responses
Hi Sue, sorry to be a downer but I don’t think it will ever end. Seller’s do not have any leverage and until they do each marketplace will continue down the same path.
One bit of good news, eBay management does follow bloggers like us though they would never admit it. Bloggers are gaining some power here as market changers.
We just have to keep up the pressure.
Randy, it’s the prospect of “targetted advertising” from third parties that’s really worrying me – imagine your DVD listings with Amazon ads on the bottom 🙁
If eBay’s “default logic” supplies cross promotions then I’m not too hopeful. Based on the “Personalized Picks page in My eBay” that makes recommendations on what I might like to buy it’s not too good. Not surprised they’re dumping that as well, but to use the same logic to choose cross promotions doesn’t sound like great news 🙁
As for the thought of third party ads – arrghhh!!!
Well considering that my cross promotion partner and I have been trying for about three months now to actually get our cross promotions showing at all, I don’t have much faith in any of it.
So, cross promotion becomes competitive rather than complimentary. Those who in future cross promote (will there be a choice?) will be sellers who believe they have a price or presence advantage over their competition. Nothing inherently wrong in that. Some will rightly suggest that it’s good for the buyer. Others, with justification, will argue that it promotes a pile it high/sell it cheap approach at the expense of quality, service, and support. .
eBay are morphing from a sales venue into a sales/advertising hybrid . Google are swiftly extending their advertising funded services into eBay territories. To continue to expand in the market eBay needs to meet or exceed the service levels of their ‘new’ competitors.
On a much lighter level. I’m someone who cross promoted incestuously with her other selling id (ukPostcards). I found some benefit in doing so. It was free to use and I’ll be sorry to see it go. For those benefiting from complimentary links it seems a great shame.
Allotment, my objection is that I have paid eBay for that page of advertising, and *IF* eBay were to choose to display my competitors’ ads on that page, that will seriously devalue the page for me. Of course, I have no way of knowing if that’s the plan.
Is it good for the buyer? It depends. I don’t frankly think that the current crop of Amazon/Play/etc. ads are good for the buyer. Almost all internet shoppers know of these companies, and if they’ve come to eBay, it’s because they’ve chosen to: suggesting they go back to Amazon or wherever – IMO anyway – devalues eBay.
I too was cross-promoting my own IDs, and I KNOW that generated sales for me (because I got emails asking if people could combine orders across two different IDs).
Sue,
Re my previous post, I should have limited it to the bit that said “To continue to expand in the market eBay needs to meet or exceed the service levels of their ‘new’ competitors”. eBay need to decide what they are, if they are to become a combined sales/advertising venue then their fees etc need to reflect that marketplace.
I support you objection to eBay serving competitor advertising when sellers have paid for their page.
No, no, never limit comments 😀 You are right in your assessment of what eBay are becoming, but sadly the fees are NOT reflecting that at all. They want to have the cake and eat it at the moment, and tbh with Donohoe in charge, I don’t see that changing any time soon.
Ebay suspend all my accounts, i did a mistake, selling something not allowed, even like that i ask for a last chance, since i am a member for over 8 years.
They simply don’t care, we are a bunch of idiots, trying to sell on their website, they allways call us, if they want to sell us something, but the day you need them, they never available, since they do not have any phone customer service, unless you sell a lot monthly…
Ebay, needs a strong competitor, someone who can cut their revenue, so that way, they may understand their SUPREMACY has a END!
Hope somone like Google, or another big one, can come up with another auction site… and If that auction site, just charge comission and NO LISTING FEES, many sellers will make the move.
Ebay dont understand, we THE SELLERS, make EBAY, what is today, and they should recognize that…