 Welcome back and another episode of your thoughts and comments. So we're not going to waste any time We're just going to get straight into it. So it's been at least four weeks since our last episode So there's lots to cover. There's been a lot of changes happening and let's get on with it Okay, so let's start straight back about four weeks ago now and the video in question was around the Legitimacy of the promoted listings Suggested ad rates now with this I Had mentioned and I have mentioned several times before around the conflicting percentages that it suggests when you go to your Promoted campaigns and what is actually showing as The average in the top 10% and the bottom 10% under your quality report There's a massive massive difference on this now B-dog had mentioned that he believes that the organic listings can still compete against promoted listings if you have a great Products great pictures great prices and proper items specifics He feels like it's almost 50 50 may be promoted only for the most saturated of categories Food for thought like I've mentioned in the video My response was literally absolutely so true organic can easily compete for placement Or at least this is what it looks like from search. I Guess I have been so indoctrinated to Promoting so high. It's unnerving to even think about dropping that percentage But at the same time which figures from which eBay source can you or should you trust? and this is a very good point and It has been covered since then by Josh and John on the power power our podcast to name but one They've gone into very similar information and John actually mentioned in there that's the wording of suggested Deviates them legally from saying this is an average but they imply it now whether that that's actually a legal Situation there. I don't know but it's definitely worth keeping an eye on your quality report page as well for a specific category and looking at What the top 10 percentile are promoting at This may not be the only factor while they're getting that top as top 10 percent's worth of sales But it's definitely going to be an impactual Factor within that Choice Now moving along. We've also got just Kath who also mentioned on the eBay promoted scam possible Sorry eBay promoted listings scam or opportunity, however you look at it And she says definitely agree that the eBay suggests things based off how much they want to get More so than what our competitors are doing and I absolutely agree with this This is absolutely spot-on and I think that is the crux of it is they want you to promote to that level in order to generate Revenue although you don't necessarily need to be promoting at that to be getting that sale But then the other factor is does eBay? hold you back Does eBay hold you back under that? Provides over that because you're choosing not to promote it the suggested ad rates something to think about Moving along one of the eBay lives the eBay live for episode 4 live and unedited I'm happy to be here 4246 Commented the hasn't listed anything new since June and he sells two to three a day I do edit every day and check keywords to match similar listings so that I get indexed properly Yes, his sales and impressions are low, but still sells almost every day I have been running tests for a few months and it has been a huge lesson and I love it I plan on listing new items next month and he sells men's clothing Now as my comment back was that was glad to see someone is having the same ethos and work ethics Have you been running any other tests that you're willing to share always glad to see another take on things? Which we are in the community were always testing always trying new things to see what's coming down the pipeline and what's working for individuals and Yes, I absolutely agree the the the sales have been low Excuse me the sales have been low They are indexing still through the new AI Vector search indexing system But yes, it's definitely having a slowing impact on sales across the board for the majority of sellers Obviously, it's not everybody affected some people do you do better than others? So around the item specifics hack or boosting ability Video that was out there that I put up. Oh good. Good few weeks back now Julie Do boy or do bow if I've got that right or wrong. I do apologize eBay's asking me to so eBay's asking me to fill in these item specifics character But when you have a black wool men's sweater What do you put? It's irrelevant, but still eBay want it Don't know what to put there. Well, this is a prime example of what I was stating in the the content on the video is You don't necessarily have to put anything that's direct It's least specific if you if you don't have if you have certain item specific boxes that don't have any relevant Content to put in that box as far as like you say it's a character Well, we know the character is basically saying if it's Disney or Mickey Mouse or or Star Wars or whatever that may be If it's not relevant relevant do apologize relevant Then use other keywords that are specifically read related to the listing Excuse me. It doesn't have to be a character But obviously if there is one put it in but don't put none NA not not applicable or leave it blank if you can if you don't have something specific Find something relevant to the listing this can only possibly increase your Placement, sorry, I just need a quick drink Thank you Right. Okay. So moving along we have sellers struggle Who commented on the how the new eBay search works now? Obviously, this is prior to some of the newer changes, but still the basis of that new vector search system Algorithm coding would generally work If you haven't checked out the video certainly worth looking into there might be some points in there you can gain Excuse me So seller struggle says I don't see any mention of geographic location This is good result resulting to my video Which I think is a huge factor in a search Seeing as one of eBay's pain points when it comes to a buyer satisfaction is the inability to control the shipping component Also a well-trained buyer and seller match gives me the impression that they may be able to distribute sales more evenly across Sellers which I think is ultimately one of their end goals Before bigger sellers we're using all kinds of hacks and eating up sales of smaller sellers forcing them to either leave or Just go public on social media with their bad experiences Distributing the sales more evenly can negate some of that bad press. I also think That part of them pushing the social media in the back end is not just for free marketing But to be able to keep track of what sellers are publicly shaming them I never trust anything eBay does on the surface The executives want to make money. They don't care who they squashed to do so Even if they drive the company into the ground they can just leave with their golden parachutes My initial response back to this was all very valid points, thank you for mentioning these I'm sure all of these points. Sorry. I'm sure we'll be playing a factor into the system including geographic the social media section I'm also very curious and at this point I was I've looked into it since Has to be as to their true intentions They are definitely pushing hard with this one. We would have to Keep the community's ear to the ground and see what can shake loose Excuse me, sorry very cough is very annoying. I know So His response back was absolutely I'm always watching eBay like a hawk and in the comment sections or videos sharing my findings I'm a previous web designer developer. So I tend to be more aware of the sneaky moves They're making when it comes to nudging and dark patterns Absolutely, absolutely. I'm not a web designer or designer But I do come from an analytical and data-driven background myself in part of my past Experiences, so yes, I absolutely agree. There is definitely something more at play and it seems to be going that way They are Definitely pushing social media and it would seem as I've put out in my most recent video prior to this one That I think that what they're doing is gathering data From your sharing through the social life social Tab of your listings and I think what they're going to do and this is just my view I think they will probably approach the platforms the social media platforms and say this is the sort of data and The traffic that's moving through your platforms with this social linking system We would like to monetize this through promoted fees and if you are willing to obviously Use it on Your platform through your boosting system. We can give you a cut of that promoted fee I think that's where they're probably going to end up going with it to be fair If buffers also commented great to see Biff buff on here I appreciate the thought you've put into this as it and this was around the eBay search again As it makes somewhat more sense Than what I've seen elsewhere Which is a lot of mind-blowing conspiracies and baseless theories. I have my own ideas Having watched a lot of MIT lectures about AI and machine learning But most importantly one very important video that no nobody has referenced yet scaling ML embedding models to serve a billion queries Which only has 115 views to date that video offers more insight than thousands of resellers. I Believe that far sell-through items have had the illusion of being preferred because they have the inherent benefit of having more Trial and error repetitions than slower selling items More interest more searches more testing faster results eBay has not given up on slow sell-through items, which I agree despite what many poorly informed people may believe The long-tail items will get there it will just be slower since they are slow by nature People claim eBay is trying to get rid of small sellers nonsense eBay wants good sellers of all sizes People think eBay favors high ASP items nonsense eBay favors can conversion above all else They love the seller who can move at 10,000 iPhone cables each month at $6 each GMV to ASP People think eBay needs to match the number of buyers and sellers more nonsense The market corrects itself as markets tend to do People think eBay is sabotaging its own search to encourage promoted listings ridiculous conspiracy It's so far-fetched. I don't even know what to say some of the people with the biggest reach have the least knowledge about AI and they have Propagated some very illogical conclusions and practices Whatever let people believe what they wish Now my response to that was fairly short But it says hey there if boffo great to see you on the channel. I'm very interested in the video You've mentioned I will put some time aside to watch and digest this during the weekend Many thanks hundred percent agree with your points regarding the far sell-through illusion This makes total sense the more repetitions the coding has the quicker it learns In fact, I agree with all these points There is never going to be a time eBay wants to get rid of small sellers or low-priced item sellers And I don't think it does. I think it's just looking at the The poor quality With regards to as they always have done to be fair to remove off the platform But as far as low price or high price, they're happy to have both what they're concentrating their expansions on on the platform and their growth That's a different matter. That is predominantly towards the higher priced items as for promoted For promoted. Well, there are so many factors the coding takes into account. It's difficult to find enough factual information to give anything anywhere Definitive on that subject But to some degree I think a lot of the theories play a part but in smaller percentages than they think I think they have a plan and They is eBay But they keep it to themselves the AI has a purpose everything and everyone is learning it will take time But it will make sense for everyone eventually So moving along we have around the sales increase hack Now this one Lord Finn commented I appreciate the hard work and effort But if you're telling me eBay is asking us to work for that much harder for each listing then I refuse There is a simple fact here youtubers are ignoring eBay is strong arming sellers to pay ridiculously high promotion fees in order to compensate For declining revenue. It's as simple as that if you don't want to pay to play then you lose sales Also, I've noticed an increase in eBay's attempts to connect customers to direct sales direct sales When is when a company like crocs shoes creates an eBay profile and then sells the product directly to buyers within the eBay platform It appears eBay is encouraging buyers to purchase directly from large company profiles like crocs Rather than resellers on the secondary market This approach allows eBay to become more competitive with amazon and also passes off customer service to crocs themselves 100% agree 100% agree With all these views to be fair Defendantly expecting us to think much more analytically when creating listings Which in turn is taking us much longer to achieve the level of sales we were used to before the changes As for promoted listing, this is a massive issue that is definitely out of control Yes, eBay are using promoted listing to compensate for declining revenue and they don't hide that fact They just won't address it openly as such It is definitively a pay-to-play platform regardless of the direction of sales approach Yes, this is clearly an angle that eBay are seriously pushing and going for and as you say Is a way for them in their eyes to compete with the likes of amazon Unfortunately, these are all factors that we'll have to face and work with if we want to continue selling and growing on eBay And this is it. This is absolutely the case Um, it is exactly what it is and it is pay-to-play Whether you want to or not is entirely your choice whether you feel you need to is entirely your choice But if you expect to grow At any sort of rate like like you have been then you will need to promote it just part of the business Uh, lord fin goes on to say the has had a lot of success on other platforms like macari posh mark and facebook marketplace Uh, and there are other larger platforms. You can try in the are there. Sorry. Are there other large platforms? You can try in the uk I'm at a point where almost 50 percent of my sales come from other apps Thanks for the hard work or thank you lord fin for the comment of the work that's going into the channel um and if you want If I want to cross list using cross listing software the only option was posh mark uk, which is now gone uh, I have considered Considered looking elsewhere But it it's just not something that can be implemented the only platform that i'm aware of Yes, you have facebook marketplace, but i'm not going down that road I'm not having people knocking at my door or am I wasting my time Going out there to meet people to do a sale I am an e-commerce platform and that is where i'm staying as far as cross listing all the cross listing softwares are Shall we say aimed at us sellers and as such they don't allow outside Countries to use the software quite simply i've tried it's that simple Moving on a little closer. We're only a week in already. Blimey. Okay, so uh heavy metal picker 1272 great stuff been following ump on this issue and this is around sales increase hack For a while. I've experimented using ai to format a description as well as formatting the item specifics the It it eliminates having to deal with notepad and then add manually working on automating this process currently now this was around the points of at the earlier part of september i made a video which so many people have just They've not grasped it. They've just not grasped it There was an update to the algorithm through the ai out coding in the item description box The data you put in the item description box. It has more prevalence now than it ever did You can believe me or not that is your choice, but it does And I was explaining that you need to be putting as many Keywords key phrases long keytail descriptions, etc in that box. We know the buyers don't Really read them But the algorithm does and it is gathering data from the item description box now They wouldn't have given us ai either. Let's let's let you think of it the bigger picture Why give us the option to generate ai Based descriptions for your listings in the description box if it wasn't of benefit to them They don't put money in for nothing there has to be a reason and the reason is The update at the beginning of September around the description box Is gathering more data directly from it Moving along again. We have Leonard quit 9131 I think we've got a couple of people commenting on this thread here. So I'll just read out as best as I can How and why would putting item specifics in description box do any good since it's not a searchable area Well, I've already answered that one. Yes, it is and it does Put a unique put a unique word there wait till next day and do a search It won't come up. It's got nothing to do with that It's to do with it's taking that information for its indexing that box isn't indexed or searched again You're wrong Leonard. Yes, it does. I have played with description area for months. What you say is not possible It is possible I'm sorry. I just disagree completely. I know because I've been told You can believe me or not believe me that is your choice I hate killer clowns if it's searchable It is searchable. Sorry, but by a very very small minority it was that's absolutely right It was a minority, but it's growing and it's not to do with searchable It's It's the indexing side of the algorithm not the searching side of the algorithm. It's where it's taking data to find to file your listing better And then it can withdraw that and put it in front of more people when they search Majority using keywords to drive traffic to their store no matter how much ebay tries to make us believe item specifics Have this dramatic effect on rankings in best much best match I recommend age or the country or manufacturer, etc The develop the devs play with the code algorithm every day. Absolutely agree There is no way to game it. Well I disagree to some degree, but I also agree in the long term Even with what's Even what we consider going above and beyond the top 5% of ebay fill in every item specific And there is no evidence it makes this difference people claims. Well The fact that the top 5% proves it does Uh lenders response it was searchable index. It's not any more. Please show your evidence put some unique like Polish Pete's sweater Then wait and search for it. It will never show up ebay implemented drop down item specifics to replace bots indexing description box okay, so Let's put this in a little bit more depth firstly Leonard Polish Pete got it from me So there's the evidence I don't need to back it up. It's already there. I also don't need to back it up. I've already been told by ebay It's not an argumentative situation, but you are entitled to your opinion and your views. That's absolutely fine Uh quite simply It is what it is They've made the change It has an impact How it's used is down to ebay Whether you choose to put the extra effort in or not is entirely down to yourself Polish Pete's video went into a bit more description visually as far as the listing itself But I also covered this too But Polish Pete obviously gave me props because I was the one that came up with it originally It is what it is. I'm afraid it is what it is Uh goes on a bit more there's some more Leonard and some I hate killer clowns Obviously not the greatest to fans of the information. I just don't shoot the messenger. You know, it's not my fault I can only tell you what I know So along with the posh mark shut down. I was basically saying what can I do? Where can I don't go if I wanted to do anything? Cross listing and what ed thinks has put isn't depop in uk. Yes, it is. But whether or not I can use depop Dot com or depop uk for a uk account to promote across uh crosslist Is another question Mm-hmm So back on to the sales hack again user z G5 sr2 zh 7j I don't mean to be a downer, but I have been doing descriptions which include all of my item specifics words for years Polish Pete advised to do this recently. So I checked all my listing descriptions and realized that all is Was already all is was already in the description It has not made a difference for me. I don't think after zero sales for five days this week I finally got three total including yesterday and today I am grateful for those, but I need more this weekend to be able to pay any bill. I agree uh, when I could tell When I could tell my listings were being shown I would typically ship out 12 12 to 20 items every monday and more during the week I can't remember when that happened last thanks for trying to help Maybe this will help those sellers who never put anything in the description box But I always have and again different results for different people and there are other factors that will play into the the placements The account health etc your pictures etc etc. There's so many other factors, but I'm hoping For you that your sales have increased since then and the things were moving better for you now going forwards Okay, so another video was the prioritizing self-care as we are all Lonely people in this work at the end of the day, you know We are self-employed and claire mentioned excellent video and I say to thank you I think we're really under appreciate the importance of mental health as an ebay seller I just think that the levels of stress and depression Uh and seclusion are just part of ebay selling. Well, it's not Under the video for ebay site changes and the effects on sellers year to change year of change for 2024 uh space law commented Okay, so he's coming. I mean, I'll put it up there because it's all all constructive now I've been having some issues with my camera and I've tried a few different cameras and at the moment the quality Just keeps dropping here and there and as funds become available As we're not monetized on the channel Um, I will obviously invest in a higher quality camera uh, but it's basically just saying that the You can see that i'm trying to take the youtube thing seriously your camera gives footage like it was made 20 years ago Like space lord honest to the point and I agree but at the end of day It's more about getting the content out there and then as the funds become available I will increase and uh put shininess into the channel for everyone Um grammy's Miniatures nice to see her back. She stated nice explanation And thank you. I listened while working. So camera quality doesn't matter to me. Just saying thanks again grammy Okay, episode six of live and unedited had Motorcycle dork come in great to see you motorcycle dork I mean, I know you've been struggling a lot and he says I enjoy your videos You're definitely not alone. We've got to hang in there, dude. Absolutely. And this is the point We've just got to stay together and keep moving forwards. It's all we can do. It's all we can do around the rule breakers and on that video we've got Eric de la russia And he says perfectly said i'm in a few ebay seller groups And I can't believe how many members complain about other sellers My pet hatey sellers competing to be the cheapest cheapest isn't always the best Anyway, I've taken your advice and enjoying some time out from ebay to relax eat some lunch and watch your video Keep up the good work Well, thank you for the support Eric de la russia And I hope you've enjoyed your breaks and you're keeping them up because you need to keep your focus for you and your health Otherwise the business will just fall flat so my boring really My boring reseller life james came onto the channel and commented to say wow Thank you just finally got some time to scroll youtube and found this honored And it was around the must-watch top 10 ebay resellers channels and which ones to watch So check out that video as well if you want to see the preferences on there I've also got a bottle of scent second hand gopro would be a lot better than a brand new new chinese crap that was around the Exploring ebay's quarter four sales and talking about the camera that I purchased so as I say It's something we're working on space lord mentioned live stream discussions Uh with other sellers a lot of the content you have Has been done or to death already channels are about people and personalities personal and conversational and what people want to watch Much more so than talking about promoted listings point of view Uh, thanks again space lord for your input and obviously yes, I will look at trying to do some uh co labs but I don't completely agree with your Assumption that people don't want to talk about promoted listings or how to sell or how to best Increase their sales all these things are always going to be of benefit and everybody has a different take You can choose to watch or you can choose to not to watch those videos. That is your call Okay, just uh scrolling through mooching to the next content Uh, here we go Well, okay, so around quarter four. Where is it? Where the sales space lord came on again Uh, ebay is a zero sum game if someone buys from you someone else therefore misses out on the sale Therefore the idea of collective advancement makes no sense This is why I don't like the masses using promoted listings if everyone promotes nothing is promoted But we all lose money and there is truth in that there is absolutely truth in that Also on that video, we have bmx bandits You need to take a look at the retail consortium figures for the explanation of your Sales and quarter four. Uh, I did ask what they was actually meant by the retail consortium figures and As yet I've had no response Kathy yellow or kath yellow Uh, commented on the top 10 ebay reselling channels I stopped watching most of the channel as you mentioned most just whine about what is not working instead of working to solve their Problems within their business After you get the basics of how ebay works following youtube has become just a joke Some are just full of clickbait and lie about the amount of sales they are having others just want to cause problems For other resellers, especially in the us if you're going to watch ebay youtube is it's best to watch the uk ones They have less drama And yeah, there is a lot of negativity on the platform. That's for sure And I think some of it could be subconscious and just due to the frustration of the way the platform has been running And this is a partial venting Of that frustration in order to keep Moving forwards on the channel, but we have to understand everyone's cases individual. I do get your point of view but It's a world for everyone, you know, we have to live and let live Okay, uh around quarter threes earnings report Space lords back again for another comment. I love the content and obviously We can always discuss and debate doesn't always have to agree The collectibles focus is bad news every time ebay puts attention onto something they make it worse Their first objective will be to make life harder for sellers They did this not long ago with watches which were becoming a popular collectible that in some cases Like rolex facts for very high prices These change the they change their rules so that any watch even 100 years old That had a single non original parts like a new crystal replace strap new screw or even a suspicion of a replaced part was deemed a fake And as such a watch I had such a watch. Sorry. It was 100% genuine made in 1918 They threatened to close my account claiming it was fake. They never consulted with me or would explain exactly why it was fake And were extremely nasty and aggressive when I questioned them expect similar rules to come in for other cat other collectibles Expect any new perks to come with a cost for sellers And for fee increases overall I expect listing to become slower and more onerous with more item specific Specifics required if ebay were serious they clean up the abysmal listing system and listing management system My hope is that other platforms continue to emerge so I can leave ebay 100% And yes, it can be frustrating and yes, they have made some bad moves and good moves and there are always room for improvement for sure And yes, we do need to as resellers and resellers keep our eyes open to other avenues To sell our wares, you know, yeah, we have to keep our eyes open Robert hill make also commented and gem captivated by a video obstacles are the stepping stones to personal growth And we're moving closer now to the end so under the hacks live the updates And from hazel cowy thanks Carl for flying the flag for the uk scott's smart small part-time seller with basic shop Just to report I changed seven of my listings to full capital letters on saturday and four of them sold over the weekend Obviously going to change a few more today to see if it's a fluke Other comment I wanted to add about pricing is that I've noticed that if I send folk an offer for x amounts They work out to be a clean number for the total with posting, for instance It's just made up an example If I had a jacket for 12 pound 50 plus postage charge of 375 that would They would want it to add up to 16 pound exactly. It's a definite pattern. I've seen with offers Folk like to keep the number clean if you know what I mean. I hope that is of use. Cheers hazel Thank you very much Hazel. Yes, that is very helpful Sure, I also asked How is she finding charging for postage because I do free postage on it free shipping and everything And just keep it clean that way. But obviously there are pros and cons to that She just said that she does charge postage on all her items and uses royal mail She's an honest seller honestly With a winky face I will refund a buyer if for instance their parcel goes As a large letter size instead. I send them the difference just how I would like to be treated I occasionally will do free postage If it's something like a cd that I would That would go as large letter size been selling since 2018 and I am one of one of the do not promote gang Okay, and final comment is from hay fro jeff over hay fro cells it was around the Promoted listings and where they're going and what they could be doing with it and His response was ebay needs to give me a reason to promote my ebay items on my social platforms They can't ask us to pay for them for promoted listings and then want us to essentially promote their listings for free My comment was hey there jeff Yes, they would have to give a good reason enough reason But you're making the fundamental mistake of they're not ebay listings. They're yours And the promotion they would like The promotion they would likely be giving us Is if they arranged a deal with the social platform And again, this is also speculation, but I could see it's a possibility Whether they would or could be more targeted geographically gender age Etc as we know through your own uh For example facebook marketplace, etc You can promote your listings. You can promote your your posts on your page And get a boost that way and you can do it geographically, etc Now I think if ebay were to look at some sort of package there may be A cheaper option that's more targeted. I don't know but this this is just speculation. Um But yes, that could be the way they're going. They can't really do much more with promoted listings as is We've had the pay per click. We've had the campaigns. We've had the uh, the Paper sale and we've now got the advanced the beta advanced There's nothing left. You know if they go any higher with the percentages There's going to be no profit people just won't use it So there we go, that's everything for today and I hope you've enjoyed the the content and found some of it to be of interest If you have any questions, obviously drop them in the comments Alternatively, don't forget to subscribe hit the like button and share the content as you wish across your platforms Thanks again. Take care and keep it real