Can eBay Drive Traffic through Social Media and Podcasts?

by: mcposty

Uhm, should have been doing that all along, little late to the party. I doubt podcasts will help. They certainly need a national ad campaign such as commercials and print ads

by: pace306

"It's not easy to get attention on search engines like Google" ... that's because eBay "refuses to play ball" and wants to do things its own way.

eBay may be able to push sellers around, but they more then met their match with Google.

You need to ask yourself why that idiot Uncle Good Grief BEGGED sellers to input item specifics. Why would he cry (like a little girl) about how "it will be the EBD of eBay" if sellers dont ... why? It was a Google "go around".

Knowing that Google looks at specifics (data stability - data about items on web sites thats common and can be used as a search and define item) eBay thought they would outsmart Google, didnt work.

So NOW, the genius's over at San Jose - after wasting MILLIONS on some stupid welcome center (what are they a rest stop on the NJ Turnpike?) - thinks they can get ahead of Google with a Social Media Blitz.

Epic Fail.

Ina mentioned it last week - how eBay hires people (some from outside eBa and some from inside eBay) to bombard the universe with eBay ads and BS. Aint' gonna work.

As I've said 9000000x, stealing from 100 sellers means you will lose 100,000 buyers. Why? because each ripped off seller will tell EVERYONE they know, everyone at their work (their main job if they have one), everyone of their friends, everyone at the bar, everyone at their Church - even their moms - about how that lying, cheating, scheming company stole their money. Wanna bet how many of THOSE people will no longer buy on eBay after that?

Take me for example - I tell EVERYONE I know - manufacturers, people in the business, friends, people I associate with, the cop on the corner - even my deli man about how bad eBay is. They then shake their heads and say WHY DO YOU STILL SELL THERE THEN ?

Multiply me times a hundred and you get the point.

Millennials will go to Amazon. They have Prime Video, games, free music downloads, free 2 day shipping, and a whole lot more. They would NEVER sully themselves with the likes of people on eBay. And based on how eBay treats its "business partners" aka sellers - they are %100 right.

Go ahead eBay, Tweet, Pinterest and Facebook people - see where it gets you.

by: Bill

No they can not. The millennials hardly look at eBay anymore from what both of my sons tell me. One who is in the Navy tells me that eBay is dead to him and all of the sailors that he knows. If they want or need anything they go to Amazon period. My other son does look on eBay since he is looking for hard to find things but that they search is all messed up and he has missed items that other people buy for incredibly cheap prices that never showed up in his search using the same parameters of search words. eBay is broken and like what Pace says one person tells 10 and those 10 tell a hundred and those tell 1,000 and so on that eBay is horrible and this has been going on now for 8 years so that multi-millions of people now know that eBay sucks.

by: FeelingFroggy

No one in our family of 22 people has purchased anything from SleezeBay in the past two years and have no intention of every again buying from them.

They and their miserable begging ads have been blocked from everything we can block them from.

Obnoxious companies like Sleezebat should follow the dinosaurs and find a hole and crawl into it.

by: Chicago48

I appreciate that EB is trying to help the online seller.  It's not easy getting the attention of sellers online with all the competition.  Now is not the time to criticize EB for past decisions, but salute them for trying.

by: pace306

48 :) you are %100 entitled to your opinion - I just cant agree.

When the engineer makes a mistake on the bridge he makes and he car goes over it and falls into the water ... "trying doesnt count".

In the above situation, there was simple human error - it happens.

On eBay, its all dont on purpose - over and over again - the only salute most people have for them is a specific finger on ones hand.

When eBay becomes a TRUE partner with its sellers (not letting them run amok, but takes REAL time, effort and uses their ability to make change happen) THEN and ONLY THEN will things change.

We all had high hopes when the new CEO came in. He talked a good game about reconnecting "reaching out" to sellers to try and correct past wrongs.

Nothing happened. Crickets chirping is MORE then what happened ... unless you count the new higher then ever fees (compensated by free smelly tape).

So far for me .... my Amazon sales are now 3 to 1 vs eBay and its growing. Im not going to cast off eBay - I still have 300 or so items listed - but the real effort will go to Amazon and FBA .... ebY just isnt "worth it".  

by: rhawk

I quit ebay after 16 years a few weeks ago.

Ebay still has no vision, and is out of touch with reality.

Why anyone would want to base a business on shaky and unstable ground is beyond me.

I had hoped that when Wenig came along, he would change things.

Most Sellers now have even less visibility.

The leadership at ebay is horrendously incompetent.

by: Ric

Before eBay reaches out to attract anew buyers, they need to fix the site so that it works in order to avoid alienating another generation of potential buyers.

eBay needs to face the reality that their search engine is a hot stinking mess that relies on algorithms that do not produce relevant results on a consistent basis.

Instead of expending efforts to attract new buyers to a dysfunctional marketplace, they should focus on getting their house in order by allowing sellers to thrive.

Once again, ebay executives stick their heads in the sand while out of touch management puts the cart before the horse.

by: mcposty

If they want milliniels, they need to cut out china from their listings and big box stores..and focus on having american sellers ship fast and with quality customer service.

Having the first 10 pages full of 15 cent knock offs that they will receive in a month isnt winning buyers.

by: Bloggo

In the world of Social Media, eBay is about as exciting as MySpace.

by: IDKwhoIare

What Ric said...exactly.

@rhawk...welcome to the club.  Ebay 2001-2015 RIP.  It is nice (for me) to not have the angst of a store there anymore, not to mention those really nasty Buyers that came on about 2012 or so.  Good luck in your new ventures!

by: IDKwhoIare

BTW, I have not noticed eBay ads while internet shopping...I use Ublock so maybe they are being blocked.  I am on FB, but have seen Zero from eBay...but I do not go to their page.  On Pinterest I have seen a few pins,  but those are from the Sellers themselves, not corporate eBay.  My 19.5 year old says he sees nothing on Twitter or Snapchat or anything else he does.  He is not about to 'follow' eBay for G's sake.

by: The End

Can eBay Drive Traffic through Social Media and Podcasts?

No.

by: Moonwishes

>>It is nice (for me) to not have the angst of a store there anymore,<<  Precisely why I left in 2008. Could take it anymore. I don't need more ulcers. Working out in the real world I got very tired of all the 'office politics', and dealing with ebay was about 1000 times worse when I left. This is our own business and I'm tired of big companies telling us what we can and can't do. One of the big reasons that google upsets me as it iisn't even a selling venue yet it thinks it can ontrol ALL on line sellers. I don't recall signing a contract with them, nor do they send me paychecks.

For ebay to start advertising now is too little too late.

by: strife

Latest stats show that over half of promo/CPC links in social media go unclicked.So if this wasn't a fool's errand already just from it being Ebay involved, the ROI wouldn't even begin to approach "worth it" territory.

Ebay can't make it without Google in their corner so why they refuse to get that through their thick skulls is beyond me. Eventually all the big boxers that are paying for advertising space will realize they are not getting any worthwhile return on the investment and that will be the end of that.

The only other revenue stream that eBay now has is the Chinese and the fees from those $9.95 or less items, no matter how many they churn out, are not going to cut it to keep eBay's head above water.

eBay is done unless a huge about face happens and even then it may be too late. The sad thing for me and others like me is that there isn't a replacement for a market selling antiques, collectibles etc. I have looked into every other venue possible and the sell rate is pathetic on all of them. The supposed best of the lot, Ruby Lane, has on average a 4.5 to 7.5% give or take a half point sell rate for all items listed. That's horrid given the fees over there.

It looks more and more like having your own site and struggling through promoting it is the only option.

by: Philip Cohen

"Ruby Lane, has on average a 4.5 to 7.5% give or take a half point sell rate for all items listed."

Check out some eBay Completed listings and you will likely see that that's better than the majority of sellers on eBay are now getting ...

Regardless, fortunately, it’s always been easy to tell when an eBay/PayPal spokesperson is being disingenuous—their lips are moving ...

The eBay executive suite—where the incompetent mingle with the disingenuous, the unscrupulous, the malevolent, the outright criminal, and the just plain stupid. ...

by: ZZ

mcposty said:
''If they want milliniels, they need to cut out china from their listings and big box stores..and focus on having american sellers ship fast and with quality customer service.''


If you would run the desktop version of eBay on your phone, you would see on the left side where you can select ''USA Only.'' Thus your complaint has been solved for many years. Smart phones are toys. Get a real PC.

by: bitbybit

If eBay is trying to attract millennials, it will never work. Having a millennial myself, I know for a fact eBay isn't with it. Besides all those millennials who have or had parents who sold on eBay know how horrible eBay treated their parents and all the stress it caused over the years. Ebay pretty much committed hari kari. No matter how much revamping eBay does it will always be considered as old news, a once fun thriving site whose time has come and gone.

by: Twiganne

Yes big deal.  I try to use the share with Pintrest and it won't work on their website or through the app.  I called and talked to customer service about the pintrest button not sharing my listings but Twitter would.  All she had to say was thank you for letting me know about this.  She offered me no help to correct it. That is why I am phasing out of ebay and either using Etsy or eCrater.  Ebay charges the highest commision fees and my listings rarely make In the search.