topic Sudden Rise & drop in ebay impressions & Sales in Selling

Sudden Rise & drop in ebay impressions & Sales

prosper2019 — Tue, 11 Aug 2020 03:58:18 GMT

Dear Friends,

I am a 6 month old ebay seller,
From last month i have seen so much of high sales & also no sale days. Also my impressions go up & down. Whats happening to my impressions,& sales.
Thank you

Regards,
Prosper

Re: Sudden Rise & drop in ebay impressions & Sales

chameleon54 — Tue, 11 Aug 2020 04:41:50 GMT

The rise and fall in listing visibility and sales on ebay is well documented on the forums with numerous threads devoted to it over the years. Some refer to it as " lights on lights off " or " throttling.".

Ebay use a computer system called cassini which curates a selection of listings for sale for a potential buyers searches. Obviously not everyone can be on the first page of listings every time some-one searches " phone case " or " childrens book " While no-one knows for sure, it is widely speculated that Cassini shares searches and sales around, so that most sellers can sell something. Another theory is that new sellers get preferential listing visibility to encourage them to continue to use the site.

There are a number of things you can definitely do to increase listing visibility in searches and achieve more consistent sales. One simple trick that professional sellers sometimes use is to do a phantom bulk edit of all of their listings every week or two as revised listings get a boost in visibility for awhile. Popular items that sell regularly also feature highly in listing visibility. Listing items that sell a few hours after listing also lifts visibility of similar items the same seller has for sale.

There are a huge number of factors that go into listing visibility, but the main things to concentrate on when starting out are to describe items accurately, mail items promptly, answer questions promptly and try to list items buyers actually want to buy at reasonable prices. The other thing that helps is to find popular products that very few other sellers are selling. If there is only five of something for sale, you are pretty much guaranteed to be on the first page of searches every time.

Re: Sudden Rise & drop in ebay impressions & Sales

chameleon54 — Tue, 11 Aug 2020 04:43:29 GMT

Sorry, lost most of that response to your post. Will re-type it later.

Re: Sudden Rise & drop in ebay impressions & Sales

chameleon54 — Wed, 12 Aug 2020 00:07:57 GMT

Sorry, lost most of the post when it was uploaded and work commitments meant I could not re-type immediately.

Ebay use a computer algorithm called Cassini to decide who's listings get shown to buyers and in what order. Ebays terms and conditions state that not all listings will always be shown to potential buyers, meaning, at times only some will be show up others not visible.

The system used by Cassini is very complex and ebay don't publicly discuss how it works, but over time some things become obvious.

* New listings receive a boost in visibility for a short period.

* When you sell an item, all of your other listings get a boost in visibility.

* Many believe new sellers receive higher visibility to encourage them to continue selling

* Revised listings receive a boost in visibility for awhile. Some sellers run phantom bulk edits where they " revise " all of their listings without actually changing anything. Other sellers just vary the price or description slightly.

* Sellers who achieve a high sell through rate receive higher visibility in searches than those whose items are not popular.

* Individual items with a long and successful sales record receive higher rankings in ebay searches and also in general Google searches, getting a boost from both sources.

* When one item sells, other similar items from the same seller receive a boost in visibility.

* Ebay claim promoted listings ( where the seller pays ebay extra commission's ) receive a boost in listing visibility. I use this system regularly, but are not entirely convinced

* Ebay claim items with more item specifics receive a boost in visibility.

* Many sellers believe receiving a negative feedback lowers visibility.

So if you sell one item, the rest of your items get a boost and you get more sales........ Lights on

If you don't sell anything for a few days, your listings fall in visibility resulting in fewer sales.......Lights off. Until some-one stumbles across one of your listings and buys the item.

Many people believe ebay uses Cassini to rank sellers and spread sales among all sellers., using a complex system based on the main categories you sell in. They certainly track your two main categories as this information is displayed in seller hub. Some people believe if your sales drop too much, you get a boost in visibility to help you get a few sales ( lights on ) and conversely once you sell your share, visibility drops again ( lights off ) to enable some-one else to sell something. ie. ebay has more sellers than buyers in many categories, so needs to ensure everyone gets a few sales.

Many also believe larger sellers receive a regular quota of sales. Basically guaranteeing them $X of sales per month, with whats left of buyer demand spread amongst remaining casual sellers. If true this would tend to exaggerate the high and low sales periods for casual sellers.

But again Ebay are not telling so, the above is all conjecture based on peoples experiences.

Re: Sudden Rise & drop in ebay impressions & Sales

south.coffee — Thu, 13 Aug 2020 01:53:40 GMT

The big fat algorithm is not unlike the one used in China to rank their citizens. Every aspect of your behaviour is factored into that 'number'.

I recently had a tearse encounter with 'Customer Service' regarding my seller level. I came away even more disgruntled and immediately my sales dropped off a cliff ?

I have a suspicion at the end of the chat session, the CS person ranks the sellers attitude, behaviour and manners exactly the same way when you finish a chat session with any other organisation. 'Please rank my service'.

One a CS person might right a book on all of this... what a revelation that will be !