Possible to change the eBay link destination? - geek/talk: Signature-free discourse for serious web publishers

Ralph Slate · 08-09-2001, 07:11 PM

I'm having such poor luck converting eBay this month. I generated 81 clicks with exactly zero leads. Compared to last month where I generated 381 clicks with 10 leads.

You'd think that with a conversion rate of almost 3% in July, and 4% in June, that eBay would convert at least some of those links. I haven't changed the way I send traffic to eBay in any way.

Here's how things have been trending for me:

June: 1.6% CTR, 4.2% CR
July: 1.7% CTR, 2.6% CR
Aug: 1.5% CTR, 0% CR

So in order to shake things up, I'm wondering if it's possible to change the link so that it goes to a specific category, or to prefill the search box. Or even point it at the registration page -- it's not that easy to find on the site.

Ralph

sdarken · 08-09-2001, 07:26 PM

Hi Ralph,

I was using the previous version of the interactive (search box) link until it expired at the end of last month. I was using pre-fills and I was getting a pretty high number of hits (but low conversion ratio).

At the beginning of this month I switched to the new (smallest) style search boxes. The code had an error and the "find it" button didn't even show up. I reported the problem but didn't get a response. Without any notice, the code was eventually corrected to fix the problem. I replaced all of the search boxes on my site and tested each one.

I have to tell you I think that the eBay tracking has problems. I have clicked on the search boxes on all my sites several times and only about half of my tests seem to register. I have not seen a single conversion this month. (The number of hits being registered is fairly low so I have no way of knowing whether I have actually missed any sales.)

Assuming that the tracking is no worse for the search boxes, I expect that prefilling the search box must increase conversions since the person is taking directly to auctions that are of interest.

I don't know if it is possible to direct banners to a specific place in eBay but I did read a post in CJs discussion forum which suggested that deep linking to ebay was no longer allowed. (The post iteself was at least a few weeks old I think.)

I would be interested to hear your results if you use the search boxes.

- Simon

cagey · 08-10-2001, 02:39 PM

eBay is claiming they discontinued the deep links because Commission Junction(CJ) was reporting leads that eBay's internal tracking couldn't confirm. Read more here:

http://www.revenews.com/archives/00000129.html

Note that Todd Crawford (CJ spokesperson) claims in a follow up response (on 7 August) that he is "hopeful that eBay will have at least a "work around" that will allow deep link shortly".

08-09-2001, 07:11 PM	#1
Ralph Slate Registered User Join Date: Apr 2000 Location: Springfield, MA Posts: 334	Possible to change the eBay link destination? I'm having such poor luck converting eBay this month. I generated 81 clicks with exactly zero leads. Compared to last month where I generated 381 clicks with 10 leads. You'd think that with a conversion rate of almost 3% in July, and 4% in June, that eBay would convert at least some of those links. I haven't changed the way I send traffic to eBay in any way. Here's how things have been trending for me: June: 1.6% CTR, 4.2% CR July: 1.7% CTR, 2.6% CR Aug: 1.5% CTR, 0% CR So in order to shake things up, I'm wondering if it's possible to change the link so that it goes to a specific category, or to prefill the search box. Or even point it at the registration page -- it's not that easy to find on the site. Ralph

08-09-2001, 07:26 PM	#2
sdarken Registered User Join Date: Sep 1999 Location: San Francisco Posts: 1,396	Hi Ralph, I was using the previous version of the interactive (search box) link until it expired at the end of last month. I was using pre-fills and I was getting a pretty high number of hits (but low conversion ratio). At the beginning of this month I switched to the new (smallest) style search boxes. The code had an error and the "find it" button didn't even show up. I reported the problem but didn't get a response. Without any notice, the code was eventually corrected to fix the problem. I replaced all of the search boxes on my site and tested each one. I have to tell you I think that the eBay tracking has problems. I have clicked on the search boxes on all my sites several times and only about half of my tests seem to register. I have not seen a single conversion this month. (The number of hits being registered is fairly low so I have no way of knowing whether I have actually missed any sales.) Assuming that the tracking is no worse for the search boxes, I expect that prefilling the search box must increase conversions since the person is taking directly to auctions that are of interest. I don't know if it is possible to direct banners to a specific place in eBay but I did read a post in CJs discussion forum which suggested that deep linking to ebay was no longer allowed. (The post iteself was at least a few weeks old I think.) I would be interested to hear your results if you use the search boxes. - Simon Last edited by sdarken; 08-09-2001 at 07:27 PM.

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08-10-2001, 02:39 PM	#3
cagey Registered User Join Date: Jun 2001 Posts: 24	eBay is claiming they discontinued the deep links because Commission Junction(CJ) was reporting leads that eBay's internal tracking couldn't confirm. Read more here: http://www.revenews.com/archives/00000129.html Note that Todd Crawford (CJ spokesperson) claims in a follow up response (on 7 August) that he is "hopeful that eBay will have at least a "work around" that will allow deep link shortly".