"Best Match" and "Free Postage"...... what is going on?

[*Brum6y*]

Is eBay's latest playing around with Best Match causing problems...?

I speak of the push for Free Postage.

I've made some observations of my own and I've had a couple of comments made.  The comments (from a seller) follow the same issue as has been raised on the eBay Selling board: Link

Comments from that thread as at the time of this post are given below.

Has anyone here noticed anything similar?


Best match search standing now prioritize free postage
missemmyloo (2029)  
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2/04/2011 11:50
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has anyone noticed that as of 1st april - best match is now showing all buy it nowlistings with free postage above listings without free postage - regardless of the other best match factors such as sales over impressions, feedback history, etc!

I dont think its only in my main categories (mostly clothing) because I have performed random searches and seen the same thing. My search standings were always on the first page - as of yesterday I had about 10% of the number of page visits as any day in the preceding month! On one search ("Sailor costume") i always had 5 buy it now listings on the first page of results - as of yesterday my listings dont start until the 5th page because there is 4 pages of "free postage" listings above them! The ridiculous thing is that my listings have sold literally hundred - and many of those ranked above me from yesterday have never sold as single item until now!

Is anyone else losing page visits and sales due to this?
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w_variety_store (1598)  
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2/04/2011 20:04
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Thank you for Shinning some light into this matter, my sales have dropped 90% due to this issue, i was ranked No1 out of 11k listing and now i cant even find my listing, i tried to find answers from ebay help which is no help at all, and a load of crap, they kept blaming seller performance or lack of sales, they did not have a clue. With this new best match result i cannot find my listing until i put the full listing name, which it will probably show in the second page, even with the featured plus. Hopefully ebay rectifies this issue and is not a permenant feature.
Also my main category is Beauty and health.
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missemmyloo (2029)  
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2/04/2011 21:13
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Live help did the same thing to me - sat there and assured me that postage costs are a small factor in best match, but that my overnight 90% drop in sales and page visits must just be due to a market shift or other competition - yeah, right!.... They argued with me black and blue, switched the representative i was talking to- twice! then faked a system error and said they couldnt respond for an hour..... i maintained my ground and said im not an idiot, and can see with my own eyes that every single free postage listing is listed above every single listing with a specified postage rate and i wont go away! So they said it must be because my search standing has been lowered due to poor feedback or etc - by that stage I had done about 2 dozen random searches in random categories and had seen the changes are ebay wide, and obviously not just my listings. I told them to make a search and tell me one single listing with a postage cost that was ranked above a listing with free postage - so They finally admitted that this is just part of the new changes and that several people have been complaining!! I cant believe they sat there and argued with me about it for hours when the whole time they knew i was correct! They said the changes are to offer buyers better value... but free postage listings are NOT better value - postage prices just get added to the item price and thus sellers get charged extra final value fees, which are passed onto customers - so item prices are actually higher with free postage listings!! Ebay are just putting listing at the top with free postage because they make more final value fee revenue! Many of the listings showing above mine have never sold anything and have bad feedback scores - mine have sold literally hundreds per listing and i have great feedback and have always been at the top of search results! It is such a rip off, I am so disgusted. My invoice for March is $2800 - then April ticks over and the thanks I get is to be dropped below listings that never sold anything, and from sellers with bad feedback - simply because their listings have "free postage". They stopped ebay UK from implementing a policy that would force all listings to offer free postage and this is nothing but a way to try and circumvent that. I have already written a complaint to the ACCC today. I am losing hundreds of dollars of sales per day and it will have clocked to thousands within a week if they do no reverse these changes. Anyone who is being affected by these changes should also complain - ebay is trying to keep customers and sellers unaware of their attempts to rip us off - they should not be allowed to get away with it

[tellomon]

ebay is trying to keep customers and sellers unaware of their attempts to rip us off - they should not be allowed to get away with it

*snipe snooze control*



(You owe me one....)

[*CountessA*]

Brumby, my default search on eBay is lowest price, as I loathe, loathe, loathe, LOATHE "Best Match", but I've just tried searching using it, and I find that free postage items are indeed rising to the top like scum...

[*Brum6y*]

I understand.  My search preference is Lowest price+postage first..... but I would hazard a guess that the majority just take whatever eBay serves them - which will be Best Match.

[tellomon]

I'm dead.
Why don't I fall down?

[*Yibida*]

I'm dead.
Why don't I fall down?

Could it be because someone super glued ya earhole to the saloon dart board when you were plastered ?

[*smee*]

or stapled your scrotum to the bar stool