eBay Pulls Traffic Reports Leaving Sellers in the Lurch

by: Rexford

What did I need this for anyway?  I already know that for the most part my items are invisible, except perhaps the very newly listed items for which, if they don't sell fairly quickly, they will be invisible too.  As it relates to watchers, I've got mostly 0s and if I'm lucky 1s or 2s on my listings.  That clearly shows me that my items can't be seen by most. (Longtime seller, I remember the days when items got views and as a result watchers.)

eBay love to pull anything and everything that give transparency.

by: serioussellers

We just saw the message from eBay about this -- right after we just finished up an EB Blog comment that we had started earlier today.  Then we saw this AB Blog post. Please check out our comment (with multiple references to the Omniture traffic reports) posted on the ''eBay Gets Tough on Dupe Listings''.

As some very wise and admired past contributors to this site (EcommerceBytes) repeatedly said, EVERY seller needs to save all of their Omniture traffic reports --- including ALL of the detailed reports as far back as the system permits them to go.  This documentation is invaluable --- even though multiple CSRs have said in recent week that the Omniture counters are not working properly (claiming that they have not been accurate in recent years) and that we are each really getting hundreds or thousands of views of each item even if the Omniture ''faulty'' lists, graphs and charts show just 0, 10 or even a few more.

Those statistics and reports fully document the throttling/search invisibility/blackouts -- and the gutting of the small sellers.

by: Basset

''...in the weeks ahead, we'll let you know all about the new reporting features we'll soon offer''

Offer. At what cost?

by: moto-science

"eBay traffic is in the toilet......"

Or more like selling on Ebay today is like selling through a toilet.

by: Enough Is Enough!

This morning, I got an e-mail from ebay that stated my Stores subscription would be renewed.

Four hours later, another e-mail arrived, and it mentioned traffic reports will be ended June 30th.

IN A NUTSHELL: Thanks for your one year commitment. Now we are going to hide your listings, and you won't be able to see how or when. We appreciate your business!

Time for the 60 Minutes folks to do a ''What Happened To ebay?'' expose on this company so all can see the lies, theft, and other wrongdoings inflicted on their sellers.

And why this once proud organization is losing money, instead of continuing to be the great American internet success story they once were.

I can see the Ho running away from Morley Safer and his microphone now, yelling ''NO COMMENT!'' ''NO COMMENT!!'' when questioned about his ineptitude......

by: ajeweler

surprise again, now they not want you to see your blackouts but now they want you in the dark about them as well as everything else ebay does
more rolling blackouts for sellers that use google to find out what is selling and what is not,
really ebay enough is enough
stop beating sellers as they are buyers also

by: pace306

"It would appear that eBay is discontinuing store traffic access during the summer months so that sellers will have no idea ( other than their declining sales volume) that eBay traffic is in the toilet.

EXACTLY

by: Sonny Young

Sellers have been complaining about dismal traffic, so in typical ebay fashion, their answer is to hide traffic reports. What  a bunch of s#*m bags.  

by: Frank Abagnale

Traffic reports are really unnecessary. It's the sales reports you should care about.    

by: Ric

It should not surprise anyone that eBay is removing a useful seller tool and leaving sellers with nothing while they take their sweet time creating that tool's replacement.

This is just the latest illustration that the management team is about as disconnected from their sellers as they could possibly be.

If management was committed to providing sellers with a consistent experience, they would have the replacement tool ready to roll out the day after they retire the existing tool - not leave sellers blind for an unspecified time frame.

It is glaringly apparent that this management team continues to have no idea of what it is like to sell in the environment they create. The information gap which sellers will experience typifies the ignorance which permeates the executive suites in San Jose.

by: The End

KILL EBAY.
It's over.

by: iheartjacksparrow

Wow, the bad news from eBay is never ending today.

"... in the weeks ahead,..." Nothing is more nebulous than a statement from eBay.

by: Ed Gadfly

Things will get better. You need to have faith in the leadership. It is not a waste of time or money to be at eBay because it is the best place there is, and it would be mean to disparage you for staying in this caring environment for year after year.

Now my Kool-aid comes in but one color: blue. No yellow, no green, no red.

I drink my eBay Kool-aid and I am blue.
eBay is true blue.

by: Rexford

You know, I had hope that Wenig would make some positive changes. He is already showing that nothing is changing. Things are only getting worse.

Maybe I'm just too gullible. Actions speak louder than words, and never again will I believe anything that the management of this organization spouts. They have proven over and over again that anything that they say that give small sellers a glimmer of hope is just lip service.

by: ebay refugee camp

Yep, a cover up by the corrupt John Donahoe!!
Can it get anymore obvious what a jerk!!!

by: encoreresale

Perhaps a "rolling blackout" explains why our sales (and many others, if the discussion boards are any indication) suddenly tanked in late March. We started watching the traffic reports closely earlier this week to see if we could learn anything we didn't already know. Lo and behold, suddenly people are finding our items again! And sales this week are approaching what we would consider a normal level - yay!!

And then we get this email that traffic reports are being terminated, with no definitive timeframe for a replacement.

It more than strains credibility to believe this is all coincidence.

Well, that just gives us 60 days to continue our migration to other selling platforms...

by: Map

I have warned of this many times before and now it is finally happening.

I knew ebay would do this.

If all us sellers were to compare our traffic reports on the same time line over the last several years there would be clear evidence of fraud & manipulation that John Donahoe & company did against all of us small business sellers.

Sellers if you have not already print & downlaod all your traffic reports for each month of the year as far back as you can now go.

by: Frank F

WHOA! A LOT of sellers use the reports on a daily basis. What is ebay trying to hide NOW?!

EBAY needs to keep the old reports in place until the new tool is available. Its a total outrage that they would announce that the old tool is being made unavailable and a new tool will not be available for months.....

Something smells REAL fishy here once again... PS: My current sales report have not been working all day, each time I try it gives me a black screen and will not load (never seen that before, whereas we have got the unavailable message in the past)..

by: Anonymous Annie

It's not as if sellers needed any MORE proof than they already have, but something like this TRULY demonstrates how LITTLE REGARD and LITTLE RESPECT eBay has for sellers.

I must be missing something here. Even if we take eBay at its word, and even if something ''better'' or ''new and improved'' is coming down the pike... it makes NO SENSE TO ME why eBay would eliminate a valuable selling tool like this BEFORE the new version is ready to be rolled-out.

It seems too hasty, too unplanned, too un-thought-out. Almost as if they're reacting to something.

It's not just an ''in-your-face'' type of move... it's an aggressive, extended-middle-finger, skru-yoo, slap-in-the-face type of move. (Just another typical day at eBay I guess.)

Am I reading too much into it? Am I too cynical and suspicious of eBay? Or was this a panicky-move on their part?

Was there some nefarious, tricky and clever way for sellers to manipulate and massage the data to reveal ''too much'' about eBay's inner workings? (What comes to my mind is how some sellers were able to run multiple reports to determine, with some degree of certainty, which buyer had dinged their stars.)

by: Frank F

Most sellers are seeing traffic continue to fall. Traffic and views have been off since 2012, but in the last few months they have truly been 'flat lined'... I have less than 100 views a day for well over 1000 items, and views yesterday were a measly 22. We are top rated with no account issues, so not sure what the issue is, but obviously ebay has very few buyers and browsers these days, and this is an attempt to hide it all from view.