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Ads On eBay Piss Off Sellers
from the don't-forget-your-primary-business dept
By placing ads on its pages, eBay was able to make approximately $76 million in revenue during the second quarter of this year. However, in doing so, eBay has drawn the ire of it sellers, who complain that the ads distract buyers from placing bids on their listings. eBay claims that their analysis shows that the advertising on the site "does not get in the way of people who intend to buy or sell items on the site." Considering that eBay's advertising revenue has doubled in 2007 as compared to 2006, the ads are a good way to monetize traffic that does not end up making a purchase. Furthermore, since the ads are contextual, eBay argues that the product experience is improved since the ads are relevant to the user's query. eBay's findings make sense; if a buyer really is interested in placing a bid, it seems quite unlikely that they would be derailed simply by viewing an ad. In any case, sellers are not convinced; they continue to fear that the ads distract potential buyers, despite not having any studies that indicate such a trend. Perhaps this fear is actually symptomatic of the true problem that eBay is facing today: sellers are no longer ecstatic to be on eBay. And, there's data to back that hypothesis up: the number of items listed in the second quarter of this year was 2 percent lower than the previous year.
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Reader Comments (rss)
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Ads what ads
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Re: Ads what ads
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Ebay drops final value fee like the old days
gallery drops from 30 cents to 10 cents
Ebay attracts more sellers brings back the older ones and makes more money.
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Irritated with Ebay
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Ad Options?
I think it would be good for eBay to offer sellers the option to place ads for in their items for sale for a discount, maybe along the lines that AZ mentioned, this way everyone wins. Sellers can get lower fees by allowing ads and eBay reaps the increased revenue fee from the ads - and folks that don't want the ads pay full seller fees
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Re: Ad Options?
Good old FF!
There are ads on eBay? LOL! I have a shop but use FF and never knew. I will have to take a look using IE.
As for Fees - AZ failed to mention the PayPAl fixed fee that is killing me. On low value items it is a BIG chunk of the FV.
eBay used to be good but now it is all about their bottom line and bu**er the sellers.
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Not in the UK?
Thinks - as you guys in the USA seem to do nothing but sue each other, how about a class action on the grounds of discrimination?
If you win, can I get a cut for suggesting it? LOL!
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On the other hand, just maybe ebay commisioned research which show exactly what they wanted it to show? Surely not!
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Ads
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Re:
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Re: Ads
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Nothing wrong with ebay...
The internet presents an interesting phenomenon -- every niche has exactly one dominant player, and #2 is way back in the dust.
--
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Re: Not in the UK?
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ebay sucks
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Re:
However, minus-points to techdirt for shoddy statistics. A far more useful metric would be the percentage changes in the average number of bids per item (optionally per item successfully sold).
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Oh poor ebay...
Please. These days I only use ebay as a last resort when I'm looking for something. I'd rather pay that extra $20 (and with shipping that can be outrageous are you really saving by buying it from ebay?) for a new product with warranty.
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Ads within ads
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Re: Re: Ad Options?
Actually, it's how I work too, except it's "Adblock Plus" in Firefox on Linux and "AdMuncher" on Windows.
"AdMuncher" does cost money, but it's a one-off fee, and it works as a transparent proxy, blocking ads in all applications and browsers on the system on which it is running. $40 for life (£20) IIRC, and if you're forced to use Windows I think it's well worth it. It's extremely configurable and can do the jobs of the "Adblock Plus" and "Flashblock" extensions, plus smart image filtering.
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Opera has content blocking capabilities built in
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Re: Re: Not in the UK?
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Re: Re: Ad Options?
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Re: Re: Ad Options?
http://www.privoxy.org/
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Re: Ads what ads
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eBay Hypocrisy
For years they have stamped on sellers for even thinking about including links to other sites in their listings, claiming that it would reduce traffic on eBay and be bad for all. They have removed listings for just refering to tech specs on other sites in the past
My id used to have a _co_uk on the end to encourage people to go straight to this address in future from outside eBay – even though this domain redirected straight to my eBay shop my account was suspended as it encouraged people to look elsewhere (can’t find the mail but it was great reading)
So basically for years they’ve been saying that any reference to sites outside eBay would reduce traffic for all sellers but somehow now they are doing it, all's good?
I call bullshit
I think eBay have forgotten that their actual customers are the sellers NOT the buyers
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Don't they make enough?
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Ebay Ads
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Cheeky buggers should atleast buy us dinner b4 ******g us!!!
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eBay Shop Advertising?
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advertisment on Ebay
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ads on ebay listings
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