eBay is changing how it counts page views on sellers’ listings to be more accurate by filtering out more “non-human” traffic. It announced the change as part of the Spring Seller Update published on Wednesday.
“To give you clearer insight into your listings’ performance, we’re changing to a more accurate way of counting page views, and updating how we display traffic data on your listings,” eBay said.
eBay said that there was no change to the number of buyers on eBay, nor was there a change in the number of buyers visiting a seller’s listings. “The change you’ll see in your page view numbers is a result of a new way of counting views that filters out more non-human traffic.”
eBay also said it would begin displaying a 30-day rolling count of listing views instead of a lifetime count. Sellers will still be able to access data for the past 2 years in a new listing traffic history report.
In answer to a FAQ, “Does this mean I’ve been overcharged for Promoted Listings or selling fees,” eBay said no – “Listings’ view counts are never used in the calculation of any fees, including Promoted Listings fees and ad rates.”
But the question came up anyway in a thread on the eBay boards: “I understand that listing views don’t impact PLStandard and PL Express fees, but PL Advanced is based on CLICKS, and isn’t a click required to “view” a listing? So, wouldn’t each click BE a view?”
When another seller asked if the change would impact placement in search results, since it was their understanding that the number of views a listing receives may positively affect placement in search returns, a moderator replied that there would be no effect on search placement because the algorithm wasn’t changing.
Here’s an excerpt of eBay’s announcement where it explains what non-human traffic is – including bots –
“The current page view numbers on your listings count various types of traffic, including a significant amount of non-human traffic—one example is programs called “bots” that scan websites and now account for approximately 40% of internet traffic.* Learn more about non-human traffic and bots in the Listing Page Views FAQs tab.
“Although this non-human traffic is currently counted as a “page view,” it doesn’t represent real shoppers or lead to sales, and recent analysis has shown how much it inflates your page view numbers.
“As part of eBay’s continual efforts to bring you better data to run your business, we’re updating to a new way of counting page views that will better filter out non-human traffic and more accurately show views by potential buyers.
“While the amount of non-human traffic on the internet is considerable, it also varies across categories and products. As a result, while most sellers will see a significant drop in page view numbers, the impact of filtering out more non-human traffic may vary. Importantly, the actual traffic from potential buyers to listings isn’t changing. We’re just updating what types of traffic we count as page views to more accurately show views by potential buyers.
“Page view counts based on this approach have been available in the Seller Hub Traffic Report and Promoted Listings reports for some time. The changes outlined above will increase the consistency of how page views are counted and displayed across eBay.”
Sellers who reacted to the news also had some requests, such as one who asked eBay to bring back granularity in the reports, including details about the source of traffic (Google, Facebook, eBay Store homepage, etc.). “Are there any PLANS to provide this? Or is ebay going to continue to ignore our plea?”
Another seller said they would also like to see keyword data and search filters buyers used within eBay to find their items, explaining, “If I had access to which keywords and IS (Item Specifics) filters buyers used to search for my items, I could use shorter- more concise listing titles.”
eBay said it would start rolling out the new reports in late April – “When your listings are ready to be updated to the new page view counts, you’ll see notifications on your Active and Unsold listings pages.”
You can find more about the eBay Spring Seller Update 2022 on the EcommerceBytes Blog.
