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Tony, Same here. In my experience: Happy Wife, Happy Life.
Just watched Ryan’s update. Nothing new really, it’s what I’ve been saying all along. This is no big deal.
Tony2Times, We do use PLs, and I don’t have to worry about ad blockers either, because it is simply nothing to worry about… LOL.
Jay, Doesn’t surprise me at all.
Jay, Here’s the response. I think Don also has a new video out in which he talks to ebay about this, but I haven’t watched it.
“I am the Head of Seller Experience for eBay, and I appreciate your video and everyone’s comments. I would like to provide some feedback – Ad blockers generally are intended to block intrusive ads (like pop-ups) that disrupt the user experience. We have designed our Promoted Listings ads to align natively with our site experience, and most ad blockers do not block that sort of non-intrusive content. However, there are a host of ad blockers on the market, and each maintains its own user settings and policies distinguishing between intrusive ads and acceptable native content. Currently, our data suggests that promoted listings are being blocked for less than 2% of traffic. Like other marketplaces and social networks, we are constantly evaluating our user experience and our advertising programs, including the impact of ad blocker software on the content we make available”.
Not sure, but I think ebay originally posted this to the Comments section of Don’s first video.
Jay, Apparently, ebay sent a response to The Auction Professor, etc. I know Don published the text of the response on his FB page, if I get a chance I’ll do a copy and paste later. Basically, I think ebay isa saying what I’ve said….yes, ad blockers CAN be set to block PLs, but very few are, so the ACTUAL effect of ad blocking is minimal. I did’t have stats, but ebay’s stat is about 2% of PLs are blocked. Personally, I can live with 2%. Heck, just think of buyers who use some of the filters, like Free Shipping—-if my items don’t have Free Shipping, the buyers using the filter won’t see them. And again, I can live with that.
I continue to view this as an unfortunate tempest in a teapot. I think Don The Auction Professor meant well, I think he sincerely believed (and, apparently, still believes) that this is a major issue.
ebay has responded to this, acknowledging that Ad Blocking software CAN block PLs, but noting that most buyers who use it don’t set it to block stuff like PLs. eBay’s data suggests about 2% of PLs might be blocked by ad blockers. So, yes, eBay could probably include a pop up message about ad blocking software, but….for 2%? I don’t think it would be worth it.
I think this was a totally unnecessary tempest in a teapot, frankly.
almasty, PL can make you sales. I don’t doubt that. It is not a gimmick or scam. BUT…you are correct. If your item is way over-priced, or has terrible photos, it probably won’t be chosen to be displayed as a PL to begin with, no matter how high a PL fee you’ve chosen. What’s the old saying? God helps those who help themselves? Well, PL helps those who create good listings in the first place.
Jay, That’s correct. The Rally Roots fear is that if only the PL is shown, and never the organic, they will ALWAYS pay the PL …before the recent policy change, a buyer could see both the organic and the PL, and thus there was a chance of selling without the PL fee. The totally incorrect assumption they are making—contradicted by their own search results—is that with the new non-duplicate policy ONLY the PL will show. This is false. It is true, only one result will show, but it can be the organic OR the PL.
People (like Rally Roots and Don, the Auction Professor) all just assume ebay will show the PL because ebay makes more money if the PL sells. They fail to take their analysis any further. They ignore the fact that ebay has also said they want only so many slots filled by PLs on the search results page. Now, I’m making this up, but bear with me: Let’s say ebay wants two of the first five slots to be PLs. That means that, even if all of the tip five have been designated as PL by their sellers, ebay will choose only two of the five to display as PLs, the other 3 will be shown as organic. And this is dynamic, by which I mean, buyer A may see these two as PLs, but buyer B may see these other 2 (depending on a number of factors).
In other words, even if ALL your items are designated by you as PLs, you will have some organic sales because they won’t all be shown as PLs all the time. It also means that Don’s fears about ad blockers is way overblown. He assumes any listing designated as a PL will only be shown as a PL, and therefore, buyers with ads blocked will never see his listings. He also assumes something like 50% of buyers have ad blockers on. I seriously doubt that. I think the percentage is smaller, and I think it is much smaller if you check to see if the ad blocker is set to actually block the PLs (most blockers can be set, for example, to block only pop ups, banner ads etc….and I think most do ONLY that by default.) So he’s making a series of unproven assumptions….
The sky is not falling. Period.
I just watched that….unfortunately, it looks to me like they have completely misunderstood what is going on here…and they have a lot of followers, many of whom are dumping PLs because of the misinformation they shared. Sad. Although, again, less competition for those of who will continue to use them, I suppose. Still, I feel bad for people who are being misinformed. His own search in the beginning proves that the non duplication rule means that ebay will sometimes show the organic and sometimes the PL. (Initially, the Concierge incorrectly says they’ll show ONLY the PL….but she does correct that…but Ryan incorrectly claims she’s wrong…but as I said, his own searches at the beginning PROVE she’s right. And I think she tries to exit as gracefully as she can, because it’s pretty clear Ryan isn’t going to really listen…)
So, this isn’t actually directly related to what Don the Auction Professor is saying, since he’s talking about the impact of Ad Blockers. They aren’t really getting into ad blockers at all. What they are doing is TOTALLY misunderstanding the effect of the change ebay made in the Fall Update.
Still, Don made that same error. He says early on in his first video that ebay is now , due to the non-dup policy change, showing ONLY PLs. That simply is not true.
Don has posted an “update” video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7axIHx-5pxA&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR0BCO45Lv2jfStnFA-_al7nKcvqDz5m-orFjpA_kqPDpH4j7DN4X7DDSqY
So it appears that at least some ad blockers can be set to block PLs, although it doesn’t really sound to me like that is the default setting for most blockers.
But that’s been true for quite a while now. The ONLY difference is, before the recent change in PL policy, even if a buyer blocked the PLs, he would be shown the organic version of the same listing, since both were displayed. Now, when ebay chooses to show the blocking buyer my PL, the duplicate organic listing won’t be shown by ebay, which means the buyer will not see my item.
I can live with that. I’ll continue to use PLs. Don advises everyone to stop using PLs until ebay “fixes this” but it’s not clear just what ebay can “fix”. ebay is required by law to identify the PL as sponsored, and it is presumably that identification that triggers the ad blocker.
My view:
1. Yes, a lot of people use ad blockers. But how many have them set to block PLs if that isn’t the default? My guess, the percentage of buyers who have done that is very small.
2. The buyers who do block may eventually realize they are ensuring that they will miss out on some stuff they might actually like to buy, and will drop the blocking when they realize they are basically shooting themselves in the foot.
3. Most of the buyer complaints I’ve seen about PLs have centered around two things: 1. Many people didn’t like the duplication (PL and organic for the same listing) ,which ebay has now addressed by getting rid of it. 2. No one, buyers, or sellers doing research, like the PLs showing up in places they shouldn’t. I’ve seen them show up, for example, in low to high search results, but they don’t abide by that structure…they just appear, regardless of price. I’ve also seen them show (as active listings) in solds….this issue is known to ebay and it does sound like they are working on it, but I think they need to coordinate between the search team and the PL team to resolve it. But ebay is aware of it. If they can resolve that, there will be even less reason to block PLs.
So, I just don’t see any reason to jump the PL ship. I think it will continue to be a useful tool.
But, as Atomic Star says, if enough sellers take Don’s advice and drop PLs, well, all the better for those of us who continue to use PLs.
From FTC website (this explains why ebay calls PLs “sponsored listings” in search results, rather than calling them promoted listings):
Terms likely to be understood include “Ad,” “Advertisement,” “Paid Advertisement,” “Sponsored Advertising Content,” or some variation thereof. Advertisers should not use terms such as “Promoted” or “Promoted Stories,” which in this context are at best ambiguous and potentially could mislead consumers that advertising content is endorsed by a publisher site….
I just did a search on etsy (with Ad Block Plus on) and their PLs show up….etsy puts the word “Ad” in the upper left of the gallery photo.
Jay, I think by law ebay is required to identify PLs as “sponsored Listings” , so a PL will have that phrase shown. I suppose an Ad Blocker could look for that phrase and block anything that says “Sponsored Listing”
Jay, the thing about Don is, that’s his usual take on things….that if your ebay sales aren’t good, you need to look in the mirror, not blame ebay. I just think in this case he may be rushing to judgment because he thinks he’s got a real “scoop” here…he’s not advising people to give up on ebay, he’s advising them to not use PLs until ebay “fixes” this. Since I’m not really sure there’s much of a problem for ebay to fix, I’m not sure just when that will be.
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