eBay Community Hosts "Ask Me About eBay Ads" Discussion
UPDATE 8-31-24
eBay community staff have finally responded to the rest of the questions posed in the Ask Me About: eBay Ads topic, a month and a half past the originally promised date - though some of the responses did not in fact provide any real answers.
Community Program Manager Kayomi Kayoshi also responded to user concerns about how this "event" was handled, promising that feedback was being reviewed and they will "aim to improve the process" going forward.
A frequent commenter in the community responded with a question about whether anyone would be held accountable for this debacle. It's been over a week with no response - the silence speaks volumes and provides a very clear answer about whether eBay has actually learned anything from the many mistakes made here.
Meanwhile.....eBay's still spending money on paid ads and sponsored influencer posts to try to distract from the fact that the new ads dashboard is missing business critical data, is less transparent and granular, and is a downgrade in almost every way from the previous reporting sellers used to be able to access.
UPDATE 8-17-24
Now 3+ weeks past originally timeframe, eBay apparently thinks they can get away with unpinning & burying Ask Me About eBay Ad discussion without providing any additional answers.
When caught, they said they will respond but gave no timeline.
Meanwhile eBay is paying for LinkedIn ads to promote a feature they won't even answer basic seller questions about.
UPDATE 8-11-24
We're now 2+ weeks past the original time frame given for the eBay community team to provide answers in the Ask Me About eBay Ads discussion topic - so far they've only managed to respond to 2 out of 17 posts.
When pressed to provide a more definitive timeframe to address the rest of the questions, or at least give community members who took the time to participate the courtesy of a statement if there was no intent to provide further responses, eBay staff again attempted to brush the topic away by saying "some things have come up" which prevent them from having or sharing an updated time table.
My response: that's nowhere near good enough.
What could have possibly come up that would prevent at least one person from the entire ads team at eBay from being able to provide answers to a very small handful of questions now 2+ weeks later than originally promised?
What is the point of even having "Ask Me About" (not really) "discussions" if eBay can't even say when/if any response will be provided?
If what has come up is that the community team is short handed - that would seem to be a good argument for why the "teams" involved in whatever "Ask Me About" topics are presented should commit to being on hand to respond directly, rather than this dysfunctional game of telephone blocked by internal silos and obstacles or intentional efforts to obfuscate and avoid having to answer tough questions about why eBay has chosen to make the new ads experience less transparent and more difficult for sellers to navigate.
UPDATE 7-28-24
eBay missed the "next week" timeframe originally given to provide answers to the Ask Me About eBay Ads discussion.
When I seller asked about the delay, the eBay community team responded:
Our apologies for the delay. The ads team is working dilligently to provide the answers to all questions in depth, so it should not be too much longer. Once we have those answers we will get them posted. Thanks so much for your patience.
Apparently the ads team wasn't prepared for such in-depth questions - or at least not prepared to give direct, transparent answers about why eBay has decided to remove visibility and granularity for critical business metrics in the new ads experience.
eBay has posted the next installment of their "Ask Me About" discussion series in the community forum with a dedicated topic all about eBay Ads.
These discussion "events" have been promoted as a replacement for the previously regular monthly chat that was discontinued in February - though some have questioned if it's really accurate to call it a discussion when the thread will be locked before eBay staff provide answers, leaving no ability for follow up comments or additional questions from sellers.
Luckily, community staff did at least get the topic posted in time to give 3 days for sellers to post questions - rather than the completely insufficient few hours notice sellers received for the previous "discussion" about Product Research back in May.
Liz Morton
Sellers with questions about the new eBay Ads experience can post on that dedicated community forum topic from now until July 18th.
It’s time for our next installment of our Ask Me About series, and we are focusing on eBay Ads. We recently announced the latest evolution of eBay Advertising—a redesigned suite that's all about empowering you with simplicity and effectiveness.
The new tools are designed to simplify advertising experience, increase listing visibility, and ultimately lay the foundation for stronger sales velocity and continued business growth.
With a variety of options for businesses of all sizes, sellers can choose the one that’s right for them! Got questions? Now is the time to ask them!
Here's how you can participate:
- Submit Your Questions about eBay ads here, starting now, until the end of day Thursday, July 18th. This is your chance to get personalized advice and clarification straight from the source.
- Answers Provided Next Week: The Ads Team will compile their responses and provide comprehensive answers to your queries next week.
To ensure a smooth and informative session for everyone, we kindly ask that you:
- Stay on Topic: Please make sure your questions are related to eBay Ads.
- Check Existing Questions: Before posting, take a moment to scroll through the questions already submitted to avoid repetition.
- Be Concise: Aim to keep your message or question clear and limit it to one or two key points. If your post contains multiple questions, please note that they may not all be addressed during the chat.
We're looking forward to an engaging and productive discussion. Your insights and inquiries are what make our community thrive, and we can't wait to see the valuable conversations that will emerge from this series.
If eBay really wanted to facilitate an engaging and productive discussion on this topic, they would do well to have VP GM of Global Advertising Alex Kazim personally in attendance rather than hiding behind generic "community team" and "ads team" identities.
My previous invitation to Kazim to host an in-depth interview in a format of his choosing still stands - but in the meantime, you can bet I'll be providing insights and inquiries in the eBay community, even if it is impossible for valuable conversations to emerge where there is no opportunity for actual back and forth discussion.
Top of my list, of course, is the various ways in which the new dashboard has neutered reporting functionality and provides less transparency, granularity and visibility to business-critical advertising metrics.
Liz Morton
If you're not comfortable posting your questions to the eBay Ads team directly in the community (or you're one of the many sellers who have been banned from the eBay Community by overzealous moderators for spurious reasons in the past) - leave your insights and inquiries in the comments below or contact VAR!
