Another Way eBay is Evaluating Sellers?
Filed Under Feedback | 4 Comments
I needed a new door handle for my car, so of course I bought one off of eBay. I got the part quickly and it worked well so I faithfully left the seller an excellent feedback and 5-star DSR’s all around.
Apparently that was not sufficient for eBay as they followed up with an email asking me to participate in a three question survey regarding this transaction.
We’re always trying to improve the eBay experience, and there’s no better group of advisors than our own customers.
You purchased “1997-2001 Toyota Camry INSIDE Door HANDLE – Gray LH” from [user ID redacted] on 02/12/2011. We’d love to get your feedback about that experience, and invite you to take a 3 question survey to express your opinions. Your input will help us make eBay easier and more enjoyable to use.
Since I’m always interested in something to write a blog post about, I happily obliged.
Details after the jump…
In my last post I introduced eBay’s penalty for getting your listing found on Google. To recap, if a visitor arrives to your listing via the Google search results, eBay inserts a list of five other (competing) listings immediately before your description. Confused, many visitors take the bait and click off your listing directly to your competitors.
Unfortunately, this phenomenon impacts every seller who manages to get their listing found on Google. There’s no way to opt out, and even Top Rated Sellers get this treatment.
If you are concerned, there are some things you can do to minimize the impact of eBay’s Google Penalty.
Read about them after the jump…
Introducing eBay’s Google Penalty
Filed Under Sellers' Insights | 6 Comments
It seems when a potential customer finds your listing through a Google search and clicks through, eBay is terrified that you as a seller:
- might not make the sale; or
- might not provide this proverbial stranger wandering in the eBay store off the street a good buying experience.
eBay’s Google Penalty
Therefore, when a visitor clicks-through to your listing from Google, they are immediately presented with this unusual box at the top of the listing…
So, if you’re like me and spend the time and effort to run a Search Engine Optimization campaign for your eBay listings (or just lucky enough to rank highly in the search results), eBay thanks you by immediately trying to lure away the customer you just brought to the auction site.
But this is just the first jab of eBay’s Google Penalty. If your customer hasn’t clicked away yet, eBay shameless sticks five links to other listings before your listing’s description above the fold – meaning your customer has to scroll down to view your description, if they have any remaining inclination to do so! Click on the image below to enlarge it.