Can Ebay Views Be Trusted Anymore?

That's a good question.

I'm not sure what you mean, Brandmeister. When I search on the ebay app, it takes me to a results list, not an individual listing. Am I misunderstanding the issue?

The old style search results were a grid of images for listings. You had to open a listing to view it, which would result in the seller logging a view on that item.

The new style search results are a long strip of single items down the left side. The entire middle and right side of the window is for displaying a complete listing. When your search results are returned, there is now a listing already open on the right. If that counts in your seller stats as an item view, then that is quite misleading, as the user didn't actually open your listing out of interest, the app just opened it automatically by default.

Since the update, I have noticed a considerable increase in views on listings. As a shopper, I have also received a ton of offers on items that I have no interest in, because sellers can send offers to anyone who has viewed their listing, apparently even if the app opened it automatically.

Does it matter that much? Hard to say this early. But anything that distorts useful stats is something to keep an eye on.

I'm not seeing this new experience either, so maybe you're in some A/B testing group where ebay is trying this out.

Personally, I wouldn't like it at all. Some of my bookmarked searches I hit several times a day -- I'm looking for the gotta-grab-it-now listing, so not only would someone get a lot more views than they deserve, it's a negative experience for why I'm searching in the first place.

I should note that this feature came out with the update where for some auctions, you are required to lock in a credit card or alternate method of payment prior to bidding.

Yeah, and sellers can automatically send offers to people who viewed items or added to their watchlist. They don't even need to do it manually, so sometimes I get offers instantly after examining a listing.

I am more concerned about spamming in the opposite direction, as a seller. If an item has 50 views, but only 10 real views, I am now sending a discount offer to 40 people who didn't even voluntarily open the listing. They get the notification, the message, and the offer that is a pain to dismiss, all for an item they never chose to view. That's bad marketing.

This is strange, if it were to just make use of the extra real estate you'd think it'd be the same on computer too. My computer view is totally normal with a long string of auctions going down the left side and an ad on the right side with auction advanced search features on the far left. So maybe it is an app only thing that is going on here. So the website itself hasn't changed, but the app is trying out some new stuff?

I noticed that last week when I got several offers in just a few minutes. Used to have to add it to my watch list first. Not sure how I feel about this yet.