eBay Watch : EBay's Google glitches, eBay.ca clashes with media shipping limits and new Web shops.
Bloggers Discuss EBay's Lack of Results in Google
Over the past month, eBay sellers have been reporting drops in traffic coming to their stores from Google. Starting with fluctuations at the end of August, eBay listings in Google have steadily dropped to an unbearable level for eBay sellers.
Seeking Alpha's Scot Wingo in his blog offered three theories why this is happening: "eBay has done something to mess up the crawlability of the site, eBay has asked Google to not crawl anything but fp30 (eBay's Multi-quantity 30-day duration fixed price listings), or, Google has decided that eBay listings are 'not relevant' and yanked them from the index. Wingo went on to say that the third reason is probably the most valid and we'd have to agree it's that or eBay has messed something up (again)."
For instance, in a recent search I conducted for "Nike," there were 1,520,000 results and I didn't notice any eBay listings in the first several pages. Type in "Oneida silver spoon" and an eBay listing is the third result. This leads me to believe it's actually the keywords being used that brings up eBay listings or not. It is quite possible that Google just might not be finding eBay listings relevant any longer.
ColderICE also posted his last five weeks of traffic charts to his blog, which show a downward trend — a 60-percent reduction in Google traffic to eBay ads. ColdeICE, in his blog posts said, "At the highest point it was 6 percent of add traffic and now it is down to two. That is a pretty significant decline in a very short span of time".
Lisa Suttora over at WhatDoISell has also noticed a big decrease. In her blog she said, "Ever since our members started reporting a loss of visibility in Google search results (around Sept. 16), I've been checking random product listings every day. It used to be that the first several listings on Google (in natural search) for any given product were all eBay search results. They are virtually gone now. We're seeing people's Google traffic to their eBay store drop from 70 percent to 10 percent overall."
eBay Asks Canadian Sellers to Inflate Media Item Prices
Ok, directly, eBay didn't say that, I did.
What eBay did say is that Canadian sellers shipping media into the US (or listing on ebay.com) should be prepared to follow the US media shipping limits. These media limits are not mandatory on eBay.ca, but if you don't follow them anyway, it will impact your listings on the US site. The problem is that shipping from Canada, using Canada Post, is substantially higher than shipping domestically within the US. Since eBay's shipping limits chart was designed for domestic US shipping, the maximums are no where near the price Canadians will pay when they ship items in the Media category.
In a public post, Ira Grossman, senior manager of shipping, said, "Sellers charging actual shipping costs from Canada using either flat rate or calculated shipping may be negatively impacted in Best Match sort or Total Cost sort on eBay.com as a result of the higher shipping costs. We encourage Canadian sellers to consider strategies to lower their stated shipping costs, or even offer free shipping to the US, if, for example, they can successfully shift some of the cost of shipping into their item price and still remain competitive."
In a nutshell, eBay's media shipping limits are not in tune with the actual shipping costs that would be incurred by a Canadian seller. In the eBay forums one Canadian seller pointed out that while VHS limits are $3, his actual shipping cost into the US is almost $8.00. EBay has long touted the benefits of sellers shipping internationally, but they still have set policies that have a negative effect on doing so.
In my opinion, Grossman's post offers Canadian sellers poor advice. The options: use real world shipping prices and not have your listing seen in Best Match searches, or, Canadian sellers can offer free shipping by inflating their item listing price. Another approach, which is better than not having your results seen in searches, amounts to higher fees being paid to eBay by those affected Canadian sellers. In this case, sellers would pay fees based on item cost only, but would now pay fees based on an inflated item cost that includes shipping costs.
Inflating item prices or not being seen in search results is not really a viable business option for Canadian sellers in the Media category. So really, the best strategy just might be for Canadian sellers to forget international (US), and stick with ebay.ca, but this means not tapping into their largest potential shopper pool. That also is not a very good alternative, if you want to actually make money on eBay. Perhaps eBay should have considered the strong selling and buying ties between the US and Canadian eBay marketplace long before they rolled out their shipping limits policy, which was based only on domestic US shipping prices, to ensure the policy worked for all their marketplaces.
Shipping Limit Updates
Back on the US side of the eBay border, the auction giant has increased the maximum shipping amount on magazines from the previously announced $4 dollars to $5. EBay says this is in response to USPS changes to their Bound Printed Matter (BPM) service.
You can read more about eBay's Media Shipping Limits, here in our previous Ecommerce-guide.com coverage.
Online Hosted Shops and Sites Roundup
Just in time for holiday selling, several companies have announced new hosted storefront solutions. Here are several new Web shops, full sites and hosted auction offerings from the past week:
1&1 Offers New eShop Packages
Hosting company, 1&1 Internet, recently launched a new line of eShop packages that can help merchants get online starting at just $9.99 per month. The new eShops, designed for small businesses and home users seeking an e-commerce platform, offer e-commerce functionalities such as eBay integration and secure payment processing, as well as marketing tools. 1&1 Internet eShops offer online payment methods via PayPal, WorldPay and the 1&1 Merchant Account, which gives you low rates on credit and debit transactions.
New Infopia Storefronts
Infopia also released what the company called enhanced e-commerce Web sites for Infopia merchants. These new Infopia Storefronts are a part of the Infopia Transact eCommerce growth platform and offer merchandising and analytics. Merchants can also take advantage of calls to action and critical product information — such as key features, accessories, and reviews as they are strategically placed above the fold to entice customers with on-the-spot purchase decisions.
Ready to Go Web sites
Premier Hosting is offering "Ready to Go Web sites", which are custom-designed sites that include domain names, merchant accounts and access to dropshippers. The complete Web site, already designed and hosted, starts at $1295.
Hosted Auction Sites
Auctionwire.com launched its Auctionwire Platform for businesses and non-profits looking for a way to run and control their own fully branded auction site, which taps into the Auctionwire Network. The company says that the Auctionwire Platform allows clients to establish a personalized online auction site that integrates online bidding, live-to-air bidding and broadcast auctions through a network of privately branded auction sites residing on the platform.
Vangie Beal is a seasoned online marketplace seller, frequent contributor to ECommerce-Guide.com and avid online bargain hunter. She is also managing editor of Webopedia.com.
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