Huge glitch on eBay affecting everyone and leading to lower click and conversion rate

walkingupwards · #1 06-22-2020

Every listing on eBay that has variations is not being showed correctly in search.

Let me give you an example:

Say you have a listing with 3 variations of colors (black - red - blue). This listing has 2 sets of pictures (main pictures + variations pictures). Now when you go to eBay and look for the item, the image of the variation is showing up in search first... Only after clicking on the listing you get to see the main image.

We all design the first picture to be eye-catching, when buyers don't get the chance to see it we lose sales and our click-rate drops.

I am not sure if a lot of sellers are aware of this problem because this started to happen around 10 days ago.

Anyway, please shoot eBay a message and make them aware of this, the more messages they get regarding this glitch, the quicker they'll fix it.

walkingupwards · #2 06-22-2020

My click-rate has dropped form 8 to 3%!!! And my sales are slashed by a whopping 40% due to this.

Please chat with eBay ASAP and ask them to fix it, they need to hear from multiple sellers about this to take quick action.

prodigyace · #3 06-22-2020

I actually brought this up to them i think last week as well...very annoying.

walkingupwards · #4 06-23-2020

I chatted with eBay.com employees and they understood how urgent this is, they said they'll make an urgent request to the "technical team" to get the issue fixed within 24-48 hours.

On the other side, the employee I chatted with on eBay.co.uk said it could take up to 30 days to get this fixed!!

**SaiJin** · #5 06-23-2020

Is this for eBay europe or USA?

walkingupwards · #6 06-23-2020

Quote:

Originally Posted by SaiJin

Is this for eBay europe or USA?

This is eBay-worldwide, all sites are affected by it.

Could you please chat with eBay and demand they fix this ASAP

I am not kidding folks, this glitch is destroying your click-rate (sellers in the apparel category are especially hit with this)

james13v · #7 06-23-2020

Quote:

Originally Posted by walkingupwards

I chatted with eBay.com employees and they understood how urgent this is, they said they'll make an urgent request to the "technical team" to get the issue fixed within 24-48 hours.

On the other side, the employee I chatted with on eBay.co.uk said it could take up to 30 days to get this fixed!!

only 30 days? Lucky!

crazybin · #8 06-23-2020

my order has reduce more than 50% ,it is for 2 weeks

walkingupwards · #9 06-23-2020

Quote:

Originally Posted by crazybin

my order has reduce more than 50% ,it is for 2 weeks

O.k then maybe you would like to take a minute and chat with eBay to get this fixed?

walkingupwards · #10 06-23-2020

Quote:

Originally Posted by james13v

only 30 days? Lucky!

This is affecting sales big time, I don't think they can ignore this at all

james13v · #11 06-24-2020

Quote:

Originally Posted by walkingupwards

This is affecting sales big time, I don't think they can ignore this at all

I didn't say I'm ignoring it. Just saying you're lucky that they'd actually fix something, anything, in 30 days.

walkingupwards · #12 06-24-2020

I can't believe this is happening, my sales are down by 80% now.

crazybin · #13 06-24-2020

30 days,so long time

james13v · #14 06-24-2020

Quote:

Originally Posted by walkingupwards

I can't believe this is happening, my sales are down by 80% now.

So I don't understand. Your sales went down 80% because your pictures aren't as eye catching anymore? Are you saying all your competition is also losing 80% of their sales? Are people buying 80% less of your type of product, on ebay, in general? If ebay is losing 80% in your specific market, I'm pretty sure they'd do something about it.

So if that's not the case, what exactly is your competition doing differently, that you aren't doing? Why are only you and a few others affected?

Am I missing something? I don't get it. 80% is pretty extreme.

james13v · #15 06-24-2020

Quote:

Originally Posted by crazybin

30 days,so long time

it's ebay. Like I said, 30 days for them to fix an issue is actually pretty damn good. Tho that's not saying much, obviously. Took me 3 years to get them to fix a site wide issue I brought to their attention.

walkingupwards · #16 06-24-2020

Of course my competition is suffering too, I got an email today from eBay and they said they've received multiple complaints about this already and are working to get it fixed, but they can't give a timeframe.

I amnot exaggerating at all, listings that used to sell 200 pcs a day are now cruising at 9!!!

walkingupwards · #17 06-24-2020

UPDATE:

This is not a glitch, it seems that some genius from eBay suggested changing the way images are shown in search. The genius proposed that showing the image of the best selling variation of any listing would result in more clicks and sales.

Anyway, I think they've figured out the hard way that the suggestion was made by a complete moron and they're now struggling to fix this quickly.

james13v · #18 06-24-2020

Quote:

Originally Posted by walkingupwards

UPDATE:

This is not a glitch, it seems that some genius from eBay suggested changing the way images are shown in search. The genius proposed that showing the image of the best selling variation of any listing would result in more clicks and sales.

Anyway, I think they've figured out the hard way that the suggestion was made by a complete moron and they're now struggling to fix this quickly.

I mean, that does make sense tho? The only thing he didn't consider, is that pictures for variations wouldn't be good enough as the main pic.

walkingupwards · #19 06-24-2020

Quote:

Originally Posted by james13v

I mean, that does make sense tho? The only thing he didn't consider, is that pictures for variations wouldn't be good enough as the main pic.

The traffic on eBay has improved lately due to COVID-19, but the geniuses running the company were working hard trying to figure out a way to wreck this for all of us.

I have seen some threads on community forums, sellers have been complaining for 3 weeks now and nothing has been done yet.

I don't know, but I have a feeling this is intentional

**SaiJin** · #20 06-24-2020

If it is intentional, what is their purpose you think?

walkingupwards · #21 06-24-2020

I don't know, it is so ridiculous that it feels as if some covert agent is wrecking things from the inside.

I mean does it really take 3 weeks to get such a glitch fixed?!! Everytime they boast about their team of "specialized engineers" that is working 24/7 and nothing is getting done.

My best selling item has turned into a nightmare, it used to bring me 60 sales a day and today I got 2 so far.

walkingupwards · #22 06-24-2020

UPDATE 2:

This is not a glitch, this is how eBay will function from now on. They've implemented this recently and they want to show buyers the most relevant photo in search... How is this calculated you may ask? Well, it depends on your cookies and your purchasing-behavior.

Congratulations everybody, the eBay you knew before is over and there is nothing you can do about it. They told me they ran questionnaires before the implementation and they are of the opinion that this will lead to more sales not less.