Listings # Watchers Ebay # Viewers Seems Inflated & too fast to have lookers

Hey Vickie,
The same thing happens to me (to ALL of us I'm sure) all the time. Pretty sure Ebay ups the numbers. Their counts are never right anyway so I don't pay attention. I used to use Vendio counters (at the same time) and there were always big discrepancies between the two. As long as I have bids I'm happy, lol, so I don't really care how many views are shown. I don't believe it anyway

Thanks. . I always thought their numbers were messed up some, but this is absurd and has really just started where EVERY SINGLE item I relist within less than one minute of listing has viewers. I mean EVERY ITEM I have listed now has views where even week before last it was about 15-20% views.

It sure makes one trust them when it is soooooo obvious that they are doing this. IF they were smart they would at least make it look realistic as I think they did for awhile. I guess they think. . well mercy me those stupid sellers did not catch it with a few thrown on, so we will just put viewers on ALL of their listings.

I guess it is a ploy to make us think the site is busier than it really is.

Believe me I did not dare fantasize that that many people happened to view my items. Wish it were so!

Thanks
Vickie
http://stores.ebay.com/VICKIES-VARIETY

Here is note I got from ebay today regarding the viewers numbers

Dear lookandbuyme,
In communication with our technical team here at eBay we are showing that you would create that first view. You might not even have to click in to view the listing.
We couldn't find a time frame where the change might have taken place that you might be the first view. It might be something that some sellers will and won't see all the time.
I am sorry that I don't have a more definitive answer for you, but hopefully this information is helpful.
If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to us.
Sincerely,
Katrina T.
ebay customer support


I do not buy this as I was under impression that it was UNIQUE visitors and that the item actually had to be clicked into.


Interestingly tonight listed items got 6 hits on one item in less than 1 minute. I called eay and was told that IF I type in for instance JONES OF NEW YORK SWEATER and scroll down entire page that each of those people who have Jones of New York Sweater listed will get a view added to their page because all of those items have been "looked" at?

I begged to differ with girl and she backed down and is going to have support look at again.

I do not fully depend on counters by any means but do adjust prices sometimes based on counters being way high or way low. It is more of a general guide.

Would someone please look at their listings about a minute after they list through auctiva and see if it shows hit for all of the items they relist. No rush just when relisting.

Also, does everyone have a hit on ALL of the items they have listed. That seems impossible to me that I would all of a sudden have hits on every single item.

Thanks for any help others may have or know of this with.
Vickie

quote:

I do not buy this as I was under impression that it was UNIQUE visitors and that the item actually had to be clicked into.

It IS supposed to be unique visitors and the item DOES have to be actually clicked on...I have heard some of the most ridiculous responses by Ebay phone reps to easy questions..they really have no clue.

Here's what happens to me with new listings or relists.. there are no views immediately, it is at zero.
1 to 2 minutes later they are all at 2 views.

About 5 minutes later they are all at 6 views. If I click on one it will also count my first view (but none after that).
I list auctions that run for 7 days. By the end of the week some of course have alot more views than others and I figure that's probably kind of accurate. But there will always be 1 or 2 that are still stuck at the original 2 views (which I just can't believe, especially when there are 4 or 5 bidders, lol..it makes no sense)

So that is why I just ignore the number of views for the most part, as this happens every single week. Hope my experiences are of some help

Thanks that does help, so I know it is not just mine. I have never noticed this before being this bad & honestly sometimes my items use to have no hits at times. I knew she was "clueless". Especially when she said, well you know we are nationwide so that could be why so many people are looking.

I said, are you really, in 8 years of selling I did not realize that you were international. Needless to say I was irritated at the tone in which she relayed "we are nationwide" Guess they are nationwide by not on our side!

I am surprised they did not try to blame auctiva for it.

I had 100 views on one item last night in less than one hour and in 24 hours after that jump I had 7 hits on same item. Not likely.

Thanks for the info.. that does help!!

Vickie

LOL..."we are nationwide"...they are WORLDWIDE, lol, she didn't even get THAT right

I am amazed at their ignorance, (or lack of training) hate to say that.. but my reply was very sarcastic back to her. First if she had looked she would see that I sell international and already knew that. They treat you like the seller is sttttoooooppppiiiidddd.. or should I say stopid.

I rarely call them that I am not put on hold for them to check with someone else. Then if I ask another question they have to go back to "someone else". Why do they not save time and have "someone else" answer to start with or transfer me to "someone else" when it is over the first reps head.

I do feel kind of sorry for them that they are not trained and get people who have sold for a long time who question their comments. I feel we really could chew them up and spit them out if we wanted.

Anyway, interesting my counts are down today. . so who knows. . we'll see what happens when I list tonight.

This is a good thing about AUCTIVA is that they DO look into your account normally and know what they are looking at when they comment. I have to give them a lot of credit for that and I think basically their people are well trained and know what they are doing.

Vickie

You know, honestly...I would NEVER call them. I already know FOR SURE they cannot answer any questions I might have. I've found I get better results by emailing them, and even that is tough to do. When you're a TRS the only links you have are to call them. It once took me almost 2 hours to find a roundabout way to get an email link, but it was worth it.. SIGH.

Hey.. I also liked emailing them because I had written information rather than my memory.

However, lately every time I put in the problem it only shows telephone. The ones I do no longer show CHAT or EMAIL. Which I hate because I like to read and re-read if necessary plus they can't deny what is written. Also, it is not always convenient to call.

Lord send me that link to write when you can. I LOVE the written word!!

Fortunately, I do have to say that the one thing I have noticed is they answer phone calls very fast now, which it use to be a 45 minute wait even to get a human.

Thanks

http://stores.ebay.com/VICKIES-VARIETY

It was really hard to find a link for email..I'll have to try again to see how I managed it
I know I got to a link to 'Chat with Emma' so I put in a nonsensical question hoping to stump the bot (which it did) and THEN it gave me a link to email. If I can figure it out again I will post it here.

... please consider:

the "1" view is auctiva's virus screening system scanning the listing as it ques to go out and "2" is ebay's as the listing comes in.

If anything sets off a "warning" the listing gets a "3rd" and even "4th" view by the scanning system. Thus, the listing has in fact been viewed.

Personally, I get worried for all of us when I don't immediately see 2.

Well that explains alot and it makes sense It never would have occured to me. Thanks for posting.

Well, of course, that would be news to ebay too. After being moved up food chain they said listings have to be physically opened to get a count and it has to be unique openings. I can't imagine each being opened even by bots since they are so inefficient in so many ways. However, I take 1/2 of what they say with a grain of salt. Many of mine in the past have had 0 count from start of auction to end and I mean many. I only noticed this because all of a sudden EVERY single item I had had viewers where in past they had not.

I do not however, understand how Auctiva count would show to a listing going out when it is not in ebay system yet. I would think it would have to be on ebay to count. But even so that would mean ALL listings would have 2 counts at least and some of mine do and others do not.

That would also not explain 100 views in less than 24 hours on one item that had been listed for days. This particular item is not a HOT item that has ever gotten near the views it had. It had been on 5 days so was obviously not rescanned that many times.

Auctiva. . any in put on this?

Thanks
Vickie

Vickie,

I'm not sure if I'm going to answer your question here but I'm going to take a shot at what I think you are asking.

The Sellathon counter provided by Auctiva and the eBay counter will almost always never match up, and this is because most counting systems have a different definition of a "visit". One possible reason that some hits may not be picked up by the Sellathon counters is if the visit is placed to the item through some type of desktop application and not directly through eBay. Another reason could be that it typically takes 8-12 hours for listings posted directly through eBay (don't know if this applies here) to be imported into Auctiva and appended with the scrolling gallery and the Sellathon counters. Listings created in eBay could potentially have up to 12 hours of visits to them before the Sellathon counter is appended to them and records its first visit.

That help?

Is the Sellathon Counter still accurate? I log onto the site and I am unable to see bids on items that I currently have 6 bids on? Anyone else having this issue? Or do I need to copy and paste Sellathon into my saved templates, and listings code?

I would also like to find out how with Sellathon it says you can do a search of Ebay. Where it will search all of ebay for a keyword. And tell you what is the best time or phrases to post it for that keyword.

I would like to know when is the best time to post an item in my current sells area which are Magic the Gathering cards, and football cards.

gblilbear,

Please see my post just above for issues that can arise with Sellathon counters.

You ask if you need to copy and paste Sellation into your saved templates and listings code. For new listings, if you do not have the Sellathon counter being added to your listings, you will have no counts. You can control that from your Account Preferences where the 'Append Sellathon Counters to my listing must be selected to 'yes' and you have a choice of selecting a visible or invisible counter. If you have a lot of saved listings that you relist over and over and the Sellathon counter is not in them, I think you will need to add it manually, but I would recommend contacting Auctiva Support on that question.

You ask about searching eBay with Sellathon. Sellathon Counters record hits made to your eBay listings, and Premium subscribers will see an additional "Hit Stats" column on their Active Listings page. The displayed stats let you track your sales, trends and other vital information about your listings on eBay. The Hit Stats are shown in 3 different graphs—Hourly hits, Daily hits and Daily Repeat Hits.

The functionality you mention--searching all of eBay for a keyword and telling you the best time or phrases to post for that keyword beyond what Sellathon can provide at the current time.

Hope this helps.