eBay Sending Shoppers Off Its Site with Yahoo Ads

[Kristijntje]

eBay has ramped up testing of its ad program with Yahoo on the US site, and sellers - and possibly some eBay executives - are concerned about the possibility of the ads cannibalizing eBay sales. The ads appear in a section called Yahoo Sponsored Links at the bottom of eBay search results pages and now compete directly with eBay's own listings.

eBay has told sellers that the Yahoo ads would appear where there were no matching eBay items, or for complementary items, both in the original announcement and during June's eBay Live Conference

That is no longer the case...

full article: http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y07/m09/i05/s01

[jessie]

Sometimes the Yahoo Sponsored Links contain adult ads, such as the one containing the description, "Meet Sexy Local Housewives For Real Nasty Sex. Every Type and Fetish."

[sneakymagenta]

BACKGROUND ON EBAY BUYERS
1. always assume the average Ebay buyer is a moron
2. many morons use the search box at the top of the page to search by seller name
3. the morons' search naturally returns 0 results

TIPS FOR EBAY SELLERS
1. see number 3 above
2. buy your Ebay user name as a Yahoo keyword and link the ad to your website
3. the moron searcher will see your ad when their search for you returns 0 results
4. the buyer will click on the ad and go to your website
5. you acquire a website customer and save on Ebay fees

[bargainbloodhound]

[quote author=sneakymagenta link=topic=16247.msg64618#msg64618 date=1189181698]
BACKGROUND ON EBAY BUYERS
1. always assume the average Ebay buyer is a moron
2. many morons use the search box at the top of the page to search by seller name
3. the morons' search naturally returns 0 results

TIPS FOR EBAY SELLERS
1. see number 3 above
2. buy your Ebay user name as a Yahoo keyword and link the ad to your website
3. the moron searcher will see your ad when their search for you returns 0 results
4. the buyer will click on the ad and go to your website
5. you acquire a website customer and save on Ebay fees
[/quote]

#6-that ad strategy will only work if you're an established seller and buyers regularly search for you. 

sellers - and possibly some eBay executives - are concerned about the possibility of the ads cannibalizing eBay sales.

I'm a seller. I'm not concerned.   I'm actually thinking of running a few ads in the hope that they do cannibalize eBay sales and drive buyers to my websites.

EDIT- If I was an eBay seller I would be concerned/pissed/etc about the ads (and I would also have much lower margins )

EDIT- A comment from the Auctionbytes blog that I agree with:

We noticed that we had been getting eBay hits lately and didn't look into why. Now we realized that it's the YahooSM ads appearing on eBay! All of our prices on our website are cheaper than eBay (no eBay fees, hello?), so we welcome this move. Anyone who is still stuck on eBay either needs to accept that they are trash to eBay, or pick yourself up, grow some courage, and move off of eBay.

another comment:

The sellers that have the sponsored ads get the benefit of the exposure from eBay without eBay's hefty fees.

...and without having to deal with eBay's glitches, changing policies, fraud, bla, bla, bla. Hmm, lookee here, I have a promo code for a $75 YSM credit.  Off to sign up for Yahoo Search Marketing. 

[dimucci]

The sellers that have the sponsored ads get the benefit of the exposure from eBay without eBay's hefty fees.

...and without having to deal with eBay's glitches, changing policies, fraud, bla, bla, bla.

Thank you for reducing my monthly fees Ebay! 

[mandy]

From Channel Advisor CEO Scot Wingo via Auctionbytes:

You might wonder why eBay would serve ads that compete with its own listings. eBay said it's to improve the buyer experience. ChannelAdvisor CEO Scot Wingo has an interesting theory.

Wingo believes that eBay may be dynamically calculating the CPC (cost-per-click) revenue from the Yahoo Sponsored Links ads versus the Final Value Fee (FVF) commission it charges to its own sellers when an item is sold. "This makes economic sense for eBay, but for those sellers who paid a listing fee..., they are now being negatively economically impacted," Wingo said. "eBay is now on a slippery slope where they are in many cases economically driven to NOT drive traffic to listings that sellers have paid for."

full article: http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y207...bu0199/s01

[mandy]

Update:

***Update on eBay.com's On-Site Advertising Strategy*** 

Hi everyone...I'm Steve Hartman, the Director of On-Site Advertising for eBay. My team is responsible for the ads that show up on eBay.com and I'm here to give you an update on our progress and future plans.

From the beginning, we've approached on-site advertising with the belief that displaying some types of ads to the right people at the right time would benefit buyers by providing them with greater opportunities to find what they were looking for. By satisfying needs this way, we add value to the overall marketplace and further establish eBay as the first and best place to shop.

Our findings so far
There are different reasons people use eBay. Some come to browse, buy, sell, and connect. Others simply come to research or have fun. The testing we've done has helped us better predict when providing advertising actually helps as part of these experiences.

Today our strategy is to identify when people are most likely to buy or bid, so that we don't display ads that are likely to put potential transactions on eBay at risk. In addition, we're working with our advertising partners to show ads that are more relevant, so that their presence truly enhances the buying experience. Analysis to date has shown that this approach to advertising does not get in the way of people who intend to buy or sell items on the site.

Make no mistake  above everything else, we want buyers to transact on eBay. But we also want to offer alternatives when we believe it will improve the buying experience. Our advertising efforts have shown no significant impact to our core transaction business, and subsequently to our sellers' revenue, which further convinces us that we are on the right path.

Let me also say that while we are encouraged about our findings to-date, we have more to learn. I'm sure that everyone can come up with an example of an ad on eBay.com that was not "beneficial" to their user experience, and, yes, I've seen a few of them myself. To that point we're continuing to try new and improved ways to show the right ads in the U.S. And globally, our other sites are developing their own approaches to advertising that meet the unique needs for their markets.

[mandy]

Update:

In searching eBay last night, I noticed the "Sponsored Links" ads at the bottom of search results looked like listings. They now include a photo and the price of the item, and more detailed titles and descriptions of the item! The formatting also blends more into the page...

full article and screen shots: http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blo...78246.html

[bargainbloodhound]

[quote author=mandy link=topic=16247.msg66180#msg66180 date=1194515419]
Update:

In searching eBay last night, I noticed the "Sponsored Links" ads at the bottom of search results looked like listings. They now include a photo and the price of the item, and more detailed titles and descriptions of the item! The formatting also blends more into the page...

full article and screen shots: http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blo...78246.html
[/quote]

http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/ 

[mandy]

Related:

It appears to me, that one of the best ways to get around this new Best Match default and always be on the 1st page, is by participating in the Yahoo sponsored ads program.

On the US site, Yahoo Sponsored ads are on almost every eBay search. You no longer have to pay for a 7 day listing in the hopes you will show up on the first page for at least one of those 7 days. Instead you can use Yahoo's PPC program to get access to everyone who searches on your keywords. You also only pay when they actually click through to your website and in many cases your website doesn't have any FVF...

full article: http://rksmythe.blogspot.com/2008/03/one...match.html