Finding changes and how to change your strategy

Since May we've been talking with sellers about two changes that were announced that we thought would dramatically change the strategies for sellers.  They are:

• Only 10 items/seller per page of search results
• De-dupe - anything that eBay flags as 'identical' is now eliminated by default

In fact back in July, we covered lots of specifics on how de-dupe would work, etc.

On July 31, Jeff King, posted to the AB that these changes were now live.  Definitely read this.  This part in particular is of importance as you think through your strategies:

As a reminder, our new Search   & Browse Manipulation policy prohibits sellers from  gaming"   the system to trick the system into displaying their identical items

Understanding de-dupe
eBay's getting complicated because there are essentially two search systems - finding 1.0 and 2.0.  Based on my experiments, in both systems the de-duping is the default, unless you opt out and then you have to nuke some cookies to get it to come back.  You can tell that the de-duping is turned on if you look at the bottom of your search results and see this:

What's tricky about the de-dupe implementation is that the search result counts with/without de-dupe are the same.  What you have to do to figure out how many listings are eliminated is do the math of number of pages of results times your results per page.

Here's the most extreme example. If I do a search for 'paypal' (titles and description) I get

8,780,542 items.  However, when I scroll to the bottom, the navigation says there are 137,646 pages of 50 results each which yields 6,882,300 actual results once the de-dupe does it's thing.  That's 22% of the listings that are de-duped.

De-dupe - how it is impacting sellers
There are many challenges with the de-duping of listings.  First is there are many sellers that are seeing items de-duped that they believe are different in nature.  For example, let's say I refurbish laptops.  Each laptop is a dell inspiron 100, but each one has a different config, condition, etc.  We're hearing that all of these listings are being viewed as identical and thus de-duped.

Second, a long-standing strategy for larger sellers was to own a particular search term by using saturation strategies to get as much shelf-space in the search results.  Well, de-dupe destroys that.

Also, sellers argue that they are paying a listing fee and the listing should show up!  Well unless they have the exact same ending/starting time, the hidden listings will eventually show, but in short - yes - you are not getting value for your listing fee.  More on this in the strategy section below.

10-listings - how it is impacting sellers
The 10-listing rule is even more disruptive to large sellers that own a category.  For example, many apparel sellers will concentrate on a certain brand and invest in a lot of inventory.  Let's say you are a shoe seller and you have a warehouse of Etnies shoes.  To take the de-dupe out of the equation (although it very much is), assume you have 100 unique paris of etnies you currently have listed.  The consumer does a search for etnies.

Only 10 of your 100 items will show up on the first page, then 10 on the next, etc.  What these sellers are arguing is that they have invested in their eBay business and inventory and created a certain market share (represented by their supply % in the search results) and now eBay is forcing them to a max 10/50 or 20% market share.  If you previously had let's say 40% of the etnies market before, this new change could effectively force a halving of your share.

Adopting your strategies to these significant finding changes

Both of these changes to me send a pretty clear set of signal that I'm not sure seller's are receiving:

• There is no economic benefit from listing the same stuff twice (in fact it's negative).  So stop!
• If you're only going to get ten items into the listings - make them count
• If you have X of an item, don't list X, list one with X quantity
• BestMatch seems to be favoring ending first less and less and conversions/listing more and more.
• We all know that eBay is heading towards a more retail site.

Add all of this together and you need to really re-evaluate your listing strategy if you are feeling any pain from these changes.  Even if you aren't, it would not be prudent in my opinion if eBay is an important part of your business to fight the direction eBay is signaling.

What you need to do is start adding a 7 or maybe even 10-day multi-quantity fixed-price listing to your strategy.

Multi-quantity fixed price is your friend (MQFP)
I've said this to several sellers and they are frequently not familiar with the format because they have historically put one listing per item they want to sell.  eBay has changed the rules of the game and the MQFP is going to help you get back in the game and even potentially get ahead.

Let's say you have 100 etnie shoes and at the end of the day you have 5 of 20 unique items.

With MQFP you list 20 listings with quantity 5 each at 10 days.  Now half your inventory shows up in search (previously it could be only 2 skus worst-case if you had five duplicate listings) because a) you aren't being de-duped at all and b) of course only half your items get blanked out by 10-sku, but page 2 catches them.  Before if you had 100 listings, you'd be spread over 10 pages - talk about waste of listing fees!

Add to the mix that I believe that as you sell one or two of the items, bestmatch raises a big green 'this listing converts! I'm going to advantage it!!' flag and you'll be off to the races.

What NOT to do
Remember the quote I pulled from Jeffs posting?  It's important enough I'm going to repeat it here:

As a reminder, our new Search   & Browse Manipulation policy prohibits sellers from  gaming"   the system to trick the system into displaying their identical items.

Sellers are contacting us and asking things like:
"Can your software automatically mix up attributes and titles to try and confuse the eBay de-dupe thing?"
"I'm going to create 100 seller IDs to get around the 10 listings/seller/page thing"

I don't think either of these moves is prudent and you don't want to find yourself NARU trying to game the finding system.  Trust and Safety has a VERY ITCHY TRIGGER finger right now and if you give them a reason to nuke you, they will.  Many sellers believe that eBay is very inefficient at detecting accounts from the same people, or matching items that are similar but with tweaked titles, etc.  I can tell you eBay is getting amazingly effecient at this and if they believe you are pushing the envelope here, action will be taken.

I think it's a much better (and less risky) use of your time to look at things like MQFP, etc.

How to leverage MQFP for those ChannelAdvisor customers out there....
For those CA customers out there that want to experiment with the MQFP listing, here's a tutorial on the strategy and support center (search for 'multiple quantity fixed price') and here's a tutorial on scheduling.  I'd recommend experimenting with taking your inventory and spreading it across 2-5 MQFPs so you can get some ending first benefit and balance it with the

 

Comments

[Christina]

Here's my question...Why does an item with this title:

2 END TABLES - SHELF LOG FURNITURE DECOR RUSTIC LODGE

show up first when I search for "Lodge Decor" or "Rustic Furniture" and my item with the title:

Twisted Juniper Rustic Log Home Furniture Lodge Decor

shows up on the fourth page, even though they are listed in the same category, and have the same amount of time remaining? We are trying to start an internet based Log Home Furniture business with eBay as a main part of it, but obviously I'm not going to get anywhere with my items showing on the fourth page. And, as you know, using Featured is a $24.95 joke...Anyway, any help you could offer would be GREAT!

[appointment scheduling software]

Really nice to know about ebay strategies. I think it will help me in my business to know clear view about the changes to be made in the strategies.

[Steve]

I find it very interesting that my motors rep, was not aware of the 10 item limit per seller, for unique items. I questioned him about this, and he and another individual in the same department indicated that it was only for Identical items. Shouldn't it be their job, to know this information?

[eBaySeller]

This was caught during a search of the system announcements. As a
PowerSeller I never was given word of this upcoming change..
*+eBay has been hard at work making changes to help ensure buyers enjoy
shopping on eBay and can buy with confidence.+ *
*+These program changes, to be launched in September, will provide our
buyers with 100% protection for the purchase price and original shipping costs
for all purchases paid with PayPal on eBay. This program will also no longer
have a coverage limit.+ *
So in otherwords, buy what ever you want, if you don't like it, send it back
for a full refund! The seller will have to eat the cost of the shipping. Oh you
can also Ignore notations or sellers terms that say "All Sales
Final!" "Item Sold As-Is" Etc. Just tell eBay you want your
money back and provided you paid with PayPal you will get it all back!
This is great for buyers! Heck in the past I have HONESTLY sold defective
laptops, electronics, etc. All clearly marked as such.. Some buyers tried
pulling the parts they want/need and returning for a full refund. Not happening!
eBay to the rescue.. eBay as of September will now get you your money back
in full! Who cares if you are defrauding the seller. Buy a DVD, copy it and get
a full refund! Buy a wedding or prom dress, wear it on that special occasions and
send it back for a full refund! Buy a book, read it, get a full refund! Buy
some tools.. Use and abuse them, heck you might as well kill them.. Does not
matter eBay will make sure you get 100% refund!
eBay has spent years dealing with unsatisfied buyers. And in many cases
their complaints have been well justified! I would estimate a good 30-40% of
sellers are out to screw buyers plain and simple!
But what about the reputable sellers? The honest sellers? The commercial
sellers? The private seller who is simply cleaning out their garage, attic, or
basement? eBay seems to have the philosophy that ALL sellers are guilty of bad
selling practices until proven innocent! Proven innocent by whom? If not by a
computer then someone who honestly does not care and will spend maybe 3-5
minutes reviewing the sellers claims, and is instructed to side with buyers
first!
It seems eBay's new policies are clear.. You want to sell on eBay? You
either do it on their terms or you won't do it at all! What choice do you have?
I for one have limited my selling on eBay until either eBay comes to their
senses on their changes, or their stock plummets to the point where
shareholders force eBay's new CEO Jim Donahoe out!
Now do not get me wrong I think eBay has the right idea in mind when it
comes to buyer protection. I personally have heard well over 100 complaints
from buyers regarding transactions with other sellers. Something needs to be
done!
Improved customer support? How about improved security? What about a LIVE
toll free dispute department to handle complaints and issues? The simple truth
from what I can gather is there is far too many complaints to handle. eBay
would have to hire an estimated 1/4 of a million (250,000) employees to keep up
with demand..
The simple solution.. Restrict, Ban, Punish, And Get Rid of ANY seller who
will not do it the new eBay way. Sellers are a dime a dozen, you get rid of 1,
10 more pop up. The ones that leave voluntarily will eventually be back, what
choice do they have? Craig's List, Amazon, Etc? Please.. eBay defeats them
hands down!
Here is a concept for eBay. Trust and Back your GOOD/POWER SELLERS
Who Make You Money!! If someone sells 500 items a week, month, or whatever, and
they get 497 positive feedbacks and 3 NEW or NOVICE buyers who complains, I
think you should re-consider who is the wrong here. But if you have a new sellers who sells 10 things and get 3 negative feedback. Uh, who do you think is wrong?!

[Janez]

Scott,

Do you have any comments about the DSR glitch Ebay has going on right now and the affect it has had on Best Match?

Thanks,
Janez

[Eric]

Anyone Looking to MIX UP or REARRANGE their item titles -

My name is Eric and I have unrelated software which can do this for you, quickly and easily. All you would need to do is send me a list of your titles, and my software will take care of the rest. The way it works is simple - it takes the different elements from a sentence and "slices" them up, so that all individual words stay the same, but are rearranged. I have talked to an eBay rep and they said that this would be okay to do. I have already done it for one large eBay seller, and the results turned out very good!

If anyone is interested, please, feel free to email me at eadlam@gmail.com

- Eric

[Brian Lawe]

Scot,

Great analysis as usual. The apparent subtext to eBay's moves is that eBay will no longer "sell" equal listing "space" to any/all seller in return for a pre-defined fee. eBay is quickly moving away the business of renting virtual-space (read: listings) in a virtual-mall (read: eBay.com) where just about all the "space" in the mall gets equal exposure at least at one point in time.

Rather, eBay is moving into the "merchandising business" where it will get paid only when it facilitates a sale between a buyer and a seller. This puts eBay in the position of being more like a sales agent, rather than a virtual landlord. Since eBay seems to have a greater stake in closing a sale, it will continually tinker with who or what it promotes at any point in time to increase the likelihood of a sale. The new metric will be velocity of sales (how long it takes from the time eBay "shows" a listing to when that listing sells). When eBay "learns" which listings reduce the time from posting to sale (or increases the velocity of sales), eBay will begin to ignore all remaining listings and focus on the "one" listing it thinks has the best velocity.

If my logic is right, I'd go beyond your analysis on posting strategies.

You have suggested excellent ways a seller can "adopt" to eBay's current search-display tactics. But, if I am right, eBay's search-algorithms will continually shift and sellers will have a hard time continuously cdeploying counter-strategies.

Instead, sellers need to read the writing on the wall here and understand these recent moves are the beginning of more frequent and varied changes to the order of search-results.

We seem to be entering a period where the relationship between sellers and eBay is more akin to Google's search algorithim changes against web-masters. There we see a pitched-battle between Google's search for relevance and a web-master's search for prominence. We know who ultimately wins that battle.

Sellers should start anticipating the risk that even though they might continue to post listings, eBay may not show their posted listing to buyers. In the past, the traditional seller strategy was simply to "post, post, post" with a 100% certainty that at least SOME buyer would see the posted listings at least sometime during the listing period.

That is fast becoming a thing of the past. Very soon a seller may post a listing and the listing may NEVER be shown to a single buyer searching for that exact item, during the entire listing period.

How does one counter-act this? Since, like Google, eBay has all the power because it has the search algorithm, each seller must instead begin to plan on taking more and more responsibility for driving their own buyer traffic to their own listings or, more likely, to their own web-site listings.

Adopting a philosophy of taking responsibility for driving their own traffic to any listing on any channel is a difficult transition for a seller who has been "posting, posting, posting" for 5 to 10 years. But it is inevitable. But expensive. And difficult.

However, remaining tied to the current "posting, posting, posting" philosophy, and trying to simply alter current posting strategies may simply be putting off the inevitable day of reckoning.

Brian

[BMX]

This helps auctions but hurts fixed price selling. I've done my own tests. Saturating a category with fixed priced listings would lead to more sales but thats not the case anymore.

So we turn back to auctions, which yeild lower ASP but almost a 100% sell thru rate (minus the non payers).

My advice is run some auctions with concurrent fixed price store listings. The auction can point them towards a BIN price which you can pay a low insertion fee for. This is assuming you won't lose on your auction.

The hard part is to keep track of inventory. The ebay system is very inefficient at this.

I'd be interested to hear everyone else's ideas.

Has anyone else noticed classified ads showing up in the search?

[Jeremy]

I am a little confused about the MQFP. Honestly, this sounds like an ebay scare tactic in order to cover the decrease in listings that will result from the 10 listing/page max. Example: Lets say I sell CA widgets in a category that doesn't have a lot of competition. Best match should automatically put me up front so no need for MQFP. However, lets assume there is plenty of good competition and my widgets don't show up in best match until they get down to 3 days remaining. Well, for those 3 days I'm at the top. How can I justify the increased listing fee in order to list MQFP? In order for the strategy to work someone would have to scroll through the pages and find me with more than 3 days remaining. Once they buy a widget the remaining widget will be advantaged. However, the point is someone had to find me beyond the first page to begin with. If my items are being found on pages 2-10 why pay extra to move forward a day or two earlier?

[Andy Geldman]

"There is no economic benefit from listing the same stuff twice (in fact it's negative). So stop!"

Does that need qualifying with "at the same time"? There still seems to be a benefit to listing the same stuff on a daily basis.

[seand]

Our category does not allow fixed priced listings (mature audiences)? Do you have any specific suggestions for people in our situation?