Ever since 9/16 when fp30 rolled along with a bunch of finding bugs, we have seen sales plummet in many categories with apparel and jewelry being hit the hardest.
While most sellers are focusing in on some of the eBay (EBAY) finding wackiness, one seller noticed Google (GOOG) had all but disappeared as a 'source' of traffic in their advanced store reports.
Based on that tip, we started doing some looking and saw some very unusual behavior.
Here's a search for a popular Nike product's model number:
Notice that the second, third and fifth search results are all for eBay international sites and not ".com".
I've run literally hundreds of searches and you have to really work now to find eBay in the organic (and even paid) Google results. Interestingly enough, when I did find the occasional eBay listing in the index, it was an FP30.
Note that eBay's pagerank [PR] doesn't seem to have changed - it's at 8/10.
Theories on what is going on...
I have a couple of quick theories on what's going on:
- Given their track record in the last couple of weeks, it's possible that eBay has done something to mess up the crawlability of the site.
- It could be that eBay has asked Google to not crawl anything but fp30 dramatically reducing the number of eBay listings in the google index (this doesn't seem very smart, but hey anything's possible I guess)
- It could be that Google is using this tough spot for eBay to kick them in the ribs and has decided that eBay listings are 'not relevant' and yanked them from the index.
Personally I think the last theory is the most probable given the near overnight disappearance of eBay's listings from the Google index.
Readers - any insights into what you are seeing/think is going on
Disclosure: Author is long eBay and Google.
This article has 45 comments:
Maybe Google shares the same perception as the rest of us, and is getting fed up with the whole thing.
Thanks.
My best guess is Google's algorithm has changed again and, this time, caught eBay up in the process. Google is mad keen to keep commercial content buried in its index in order to force increased demand for Adwords advertising. Of course the less commercial, content rich sites that then get favoured in Googles' index are also likely to display the corresponding Adsense ads. Nice business eh?
But this could also be a deliberate policy because when you do a check of Google Products for anything now you will see every eBay listing there has a "rover" link (eBay affiliate link format).
eBay affiliates have been complaining this month that their performance is markedly poorer which again suggests eBay is doing less well in natural search.
Last point, the numerical Google Pagerank you mentioned (8/10) is now virtually a vanity thing only and has little influence on position in natural search which is based on a much more fluid ranking formula.
They have the search market all tied up and are looking crush Yahoo next.
Ebay made a good move exposing poor sellers to neg feedback.
I have noticed this ebay results being lowered and raised in Google web searches going on since about March. Based on the F30 (whatever the heck that is) observation, I will venture to say I believe it has more to do with things that eBay is doing to its site than any "conspiracy" or "attitude" on the part of Google. Unfortunately, some of the alternative sites also fail to leverage the power of Google natural search for the sellers using their sites as much as they might.
It has been heartening to see eBay shoot itself in the foot in this area, as in so many others. On several occasions sellers searching for their items cross-posted on alternative sites to see how visible they are to buyers have reported the alternative "hit" coming up before the eBay hit. For a few days a few months back, eBay listings became temporarily invisible - every hit that came up was from expired listings or linked to Express items.
I hope eBay continues to make itself less visible in Google Search and in Google Products (though these returns have remained more stable as they rely more on seller submissions to GoogleBase and not on the spiders). That is one of the best things that can happen to the alternative marketplace, IMO.
All of the negative changes implemented this year have become a pain in the ass and very unfair to users. I hope eBay continues going down the sewer and Donahoe along with it.. the sooner the better. I was a 10 year eBay user and I helped make eBay the enjoyable, profitable auction site it had become. Fortunately I saw what was coming and sold my eBay stock months ago at a profit before it hit an all-time low. Now it is a sham and it is disgusting to watch them drive away all the members who put money in their pockets for so many years. They are just greed-mongers in my opinion and don't deserve our business or our money.
All of you who commented on how eBay sucks, and how eBay is doing things to hurt your business. Use your brain and think who is actually the one that is trying to run your business out. It's not eBay the company that provided you guys the platform to do your business. It's Google, the company that is trying to screw every single industry. Search, Newspaper, and now even the Wireless Phone industry. They will eventually start selling gTanpons, gCondoms, gStrings, gSpots....
To those who think Google is changing something: lots of people have noticed a sharper dropoff in references from Google since Sept 16th (see Auctionbytes and eBayStrategies blogs for discussions). It's a much simpler explanation that the new FP30 format which was rolled out on that date did something nasty to eBay's SEO, than to think it's deliberate on Google's part. But nobody is certain.
I'm hoping and wishing that Ebay goes bankrupt sooner rather than later so we don't have to hear any more of its "everything is great" crap which we all know is a " big load"..!!
PS: Fixed price sales are for Amazon and the rest of the Internet, Ebay was built on auctions. Hope this helps!
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This ass Donahoe who is posting comments here about how high customer satisfaction is, that stock prices are up, and that " Let's not get ahead of ourselfs here! As you can clearly see eBay confidence is at a all time high, and sellers & buyers are delighted with the new policy changes that have been recently implemented....The policy changes are prooven positive growth for the eBay community..Open your eye's and stop be sore tails" is obviously no CEO and is amusing himself with his B.S. First, get a life and go back to school to learn English, grammar, and how to spell. I see 5 errors in your 4 sentences. Sore tails???? What a jerk..!!!!
In my opnion this is just another measure ebay is taking to boost revenues while lessening the exposure casual sellers and small business get. Heck, unless you offer free shipping now or happened to be one of the largest sellers on the site, odds are your listings wont ever show up in best match much less in google search.
Donahue is one ruthless jerk in our opinion, and will stop at nothing to drive off the bulk of the grassroots auction style sellers while catering the big guns that have large inventories and infastructures, and this new adcommerce pay per click program they just implemented will further limit any search engine exposure all sellers on ebay once were accustomed to.
Looks like it just might work & Donahoe will have saved the planet from the evil mom & pop sellers at a profit!!
Best thing to do is avoid ebay like a the festering cess pool that it has become & buy & sell elsewhere.
Bonanzle ranks high in google search & shopping & is SOOOooo easy to use. Gives payment options at sellers discretion & even offers real time chat between buyers & sellers. No nickle & diming sellers out of business with many FREE options to actually HELP its clients.
Bonanzle is a fresh & HONEST new approach to online buying & selling with NONE of the drama & intimidation of ebays "Disruptive Innovation">
Just my 12%.....make that 15% (now have to include Paypal)
I used to do searches on google to see to research items. There are much less ebay.com results. True. Our store tracking shows only the ebay click throughs. Since the announcement of getting rid of the "flea market" was announced, product page hits are down considerably.
Fixed prices suck for antique trading. It takes the auction out of ebay.
david
Wake up everyone who thinks eBay is good. They are forcing the smaller people out and rewarding the larger sellers. Plus they are forcing people to only use paypal. Once that happens (10/20/08) you will see a huge decline in both sellers and buyers.
I have found that eCrater.com might be an option for people who want to sell like they use to. It is free and I sold a couple video games on it and had no problems.
My final thoughts are that the IRS and eBay are beginning to comingle. With everything going to paypal, the IRS will be able to track all of your sales so that they can send you a 1099 at the beginning of the year (for taxes). Once that happens, who would want to sell on eBay anymore?
We are planning some high profile initiatives to attract buyers to eBay that will ultimately bring more sales for you sellers.
Initiatives like free shipping will bring more buyers, and raise the eBay take rate for fees making eBay more profitable. On the other side of that rise in take rate, we allow sellers to raise their DSR's and achieve up to a 20% discount on these higher fees. Right now 60% of all sellers qualify for DSR discounts, unfortunately most of those sellers (excluding BUY) make up only 5% of eBay GMS, so you other sellers have a long way to go to get more competitive and get your DSRs up to get your fees down!
We at eBay want to get more seller listings on the site and offer more variety and a competitive landscape for buyers. We believe this strategy will bring more profits to eBay and lower prices for buyers, which means a better buyer experience - eventually helping sellers by selling more items at only slightly lower margins.
I think it has something to do with the Google attributes change. The traffic to my eCrater stores have really slowed down when these changes were implemented. I don't understand how to change the attributes to increase traffic from Google as it is instructed on the eCrater site.
My Google base store feed from my website does not work any longer because of these changes and my website store listings are no longer showing up in Google either.
Sadly, the problem is eBay believes that carp. Donahoe has single-handedly destroyed eBay (well, Meg wasn't doing much to help it either) with his arrogance and shortsightedness.
I have been boycotting since May 1, both as buyer and seller (I was only an occasional seller, but had been an avid buyer). Recently I needed something I normally would have bought on eBay. I found what I wanted on eBay, noted the store name, Googled it, went to the seller's website, and bought the item THERE for the same price.
eBay has made their bed. Now they can lie in it.
Donahoe should be fired.
Here's more good news for Ebay:
"Ebay Down Further as Morgan Stanley Downgrades"
by: Eric Savitz posted on: October 02, 2008 | about stocks: EBAY - "There’s new selling pressure on eBay (EBAY) Thursday morning, after Morgan Stanley’s David Joseph cut his rating on the stock to Equal Weight from Overweight."
“Seller checks and proprietary data indicate that trends deteriorated more than expected in Q3 amid eBay’s ongoing transition in its core marketplace, greater economic sensitivity and poor demand,” he writes in a research note Thursday. Joseph writes that he now expects greater deceleration in global gross merchandise volume in Q3 than previously expected, with a possible year-over-year decline in the U.S. And he also cautions that eBay faces a “challenging holiday season.”
"Joseph also notes that the company’s current issues are likely to linger: he cut estimates not only for Q3 and Q4, but also for 2009." "We have less conviction in eBay’s strategy to transform its core marketplace from an auction-based ‘thrift’ to a transaction-oriented platform that better addresses fixed-price in-season retail,” he writes. "Jospeh says he had been thinking that the end of the company’s 3-plus year turnaround would come soon, but that “recent trends are telling us otherwise.”
My associates that sell on EBM tell me business just quit like someone shut the key off. Very little hits on the counters too. A lot of vehicle exporters used to find EBM vehicles through search.
www.ebaymotorssucks.co...
Blog your dissatisfaction with eBay over here.
Just register an editors account, no personal info required.
www.firejohndonahoe.co...
www.auctionbytes.com/c...
On Sep 29 01:54 PM Wasabijim wrote:
> I don't see how customer satisfactions can be up. I'm a power seller
> on eBay and since their changes have taken effect I have seen my
> sales drop more than 50%. I'm seriously looking to find somewhere
> else to sell.
For a guy who leads eBay, you sound very unintelligent! Is there a reason why you can not answer the question directly? If your answer is laced with a coefficient of bull$#@! higher than 1, you need to fired!
Please address the question "Why Fewer eBay Listings Are Showing Up on Google". Thanks.
On Sep 25 11:27 AM J.Donahoe wrote:
> Listings are up 20%.Customer satisfaction is at a ll time high. Sellers
> are delighted with the policy changes, and buyers can buy with confidence.All
> the changes are for the eBay community.