100's of FAKE "views" added daily to items I have listed for sale.

[mykelmont]

Items (pot plants) which normally sell or reach the end of their selling period with perhaps only 25 - 40 "Views" at most are suddenly receiving , starting on the second day of listing 100 exactly  "views",  and always at the same time of day. The next day, another 100 or maybe 110, and the next day another 100, and so on until at the end of the selling period of 7 days there are 700 plus of these "views.

They are most certainly FAKE. No doubt about it. They could not possibly be genuine arriving in the listings always at the same time and the same round number.

Is anyone experiencing this sabotage or knows where it comes from?  It has been occurring daily for 2 months and of course it is impossible to know exactly the correct number of genuine "views"

[mykelmont]

Thankyou for the suggestion. Unfortunately, the additions are always 100 at a time and always at the same time of day,  which belies any spontaneity or authenticity.

[rocketcds]

Views are almost as bad as watchers that sit on things for months and then when an item sells ask you straight away if you have any more. I don't even bother looking at my views or watchers anymore except for our high priced items. More to life than worrying about viewers and watchers that for the most part never translate into a sale!

[p9games]

Possibly Ebay marketing on Google.  Perhaps an impression in a search result counts as a view, and it's possibly they are paying for x views of a certain category, so your items may be appearing in small windows of time and in round numbers

I find it curious but as other people have mentioned, it's hardly malicious or worth spending much time on.  What matters is sales

[mykelmont]

Sales don't matter. I'm not running a business but attempting to tidy up a corner of our back patio to the tune, hopefully, of about $120 - $140 in total.

Accurate viewer figures are important to me because I've always reacted to genuine indications of interest with the fact that the purchased plants are to be collected and there several factors which can affect a person's interest in purchasing, especially in COVID lockdowns and the like, weather forecasts for the probable day of pick up, distance to travel, etc., etc., all simple enough but can gather to influence any likelihood of even viewing the items.

Normally, over several years when these plants have quickly grown to a size where they are more a nuisance than a decoration, I list to sell from 1 to 4 plants at most. I normally receive, during the period of their listing, from about 25 views each in total. Maybe I'll have no Watchers and few views in that time but get a sale. 

Sometimes I'll get maybe 40 viewers and some Watchers and end up with no sale that time around.

So, all of a sudden I'm getting 100 views per day added to whatever views have been genuine and despite many unhelpful comments and some insults from some of the replies I have received I cannot and will not accept 775 views in 7 days as genuine.

But I thank you for your interest and taking the time and trouble to reply.

I have to get it stopped and I must spend time on it as a useful aid to  the overall sales picture as to timing  and attractive pricing

[davewil1964]

Offence? In your mind, but certainly not objectively. You are complaining about a non-issue. The number of views makes no difference to your sales or sell-through rates, thus is irrelevant.

As for lack of intelligence, I refer you to your seeming inability to understand eBay or simple facts.

[mykelmont]

Thankyou. You have been a lot of help, as promised in your first reply. Now you add even more rudeness to your inability to appreciate the problem of a simple, casual seller who understands very well that he is being screwed by something or other in the system that you are unable to grasp, along with the importance  of accurate view numbers at that level. I'm really very sorry and apologise for the fact that you are unable to understand something as simple as that.

I have been a member of eBay for over 11 years and have managed to struggle by  successfully until these last few weeks and never needed to contact the Forum before. Never again, if yours is the standard of quality of response. I hope eBay contact me to ask me about my  experiences. 

Good luck to you and every success in your business equivalent to your mindset.

[imastawka]

For what it's worth.......Dave's right....mole hills and mountains.

[davewil1964]

I reiterate - you are complaining about a non-issue. It's not a problem, it's a personal perception.

I've been a member for 13 years - so what? I have also never needed to ask a question in the fora. I DO read them, I do understand the issues that matter. Which yours doesn't. Once again - views are irrelevant. They don't affect ANY eBay metrics. Maybe stop trying to micro-manage phantasms

[springyzone]

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@mykelmont wrote:

Thankyou for the suggestion. Unfortunately, the additions are always 100 at a time and always at the same time of day,  which belies any spontaneity or authenticity.

---

I agree with you, it is odd and it doesn't seem they are authentic views.

I don't know why it is happening, it sounds like a glitch.

I would hope it isn't deliberate on ebay's part as I would consider that sabotage too. False information.

I don't actually think ebay would be a party to it, to be honest.

The only possible reason to show the number of views is to demonstrate to a seller if their ad is getting looked at. If numbers are low, they might then consider tweaking the ad, maybe a different, more descriptive title and so on.

The number of views is taken very seriously on some platforms such as real estate.

Do as others suggest, clear the cache etc and see if it makes a difference.

But for the time being, you are going to have to ignore those numbers as they won't give a true indication of how your ads are doing or how widely they are being looked at.

[mykelmont]

The value of the total sales of the items involved may reach as much as $140!! which obviously makes me an inferior person in your eyes with the incredible nerve to complain that his only way of judging the success of his small transactions and affecting the time and placing on sale and preparation of product on sale is critical, and this interference is compromising the whole system. magnitude of that. I'm sorry that the level of finance involved  invites as much of your scorn as to tell me my complaints don't matter.

Not to you, maybe, but you are missing  the point of all this - that eBay is interfering in the normal day-to-day trading of at least one of its members by adding these numbers? The motive is easily seen - to boost the morale of sellers who on a particular day had a low number of views. This is all a waste of time in its counter-productiveness. I intend to cease trading for some time until I test out the system and see if eBay have finished wrecking the sales program and reverted to normal.

I know you are disgusted by this obvious storm in a teacup and how this piddling little problem is irrelevant to you, but at least do each other a favour by not replying, because it would not be read.