Requirements for Uploads to Google Shopping

[banrigh]

I know I haven't on the forums in a long time, but I wanted to share this information to those that are listing items and want them uploaded to Google Shopping.
Requirements seem to have changed in the recent months.

All listings will require at least one photo image and have BuyNow Price above or equal to £2.50 ($3.25 USD).

[theElench]

Hi banrigh, that's interesting new info., may I ask where you came by it?? My sales have increased slowly on ebid, mainly as my listing numbers have grown, helped (I assumed) by putting fliers in parcels sold on another site drawing buyers here.

Sales there have declined but sales here have continued to grow without the aid of fliers. Again I assumed, that my buyers were finding my stuff on GS rather than fliers and when I had a little spare time (not very often) I've tried to work-out how to get more of my items visible there.

Some intriguing questions that I'd like to find answers to are:

Why Ebid doesn't have a regular place on the "Sites" side bar. When independent web-sites, with presumably less listings and traffic, will be shown regularly.

Why does GS show my listings in what seems to be a completely random way. Price, age of listing, etc. don't seem to be criteria, they seem genuinely randomly placed.

Ebid gives us the basic requirements to qualify for up-loading but possibly a better understanding of how GS works would not only increase individual sellers' sales, but if we knew how to raise ebids visibility as a site, it might help all sellers?

I'd be grateful for any further insights into GS you have, even ideas of where to look for more info. would be helpful.

[tony41]

Google Shopping moves in a mysterious way.
They refuse to clarify how it works presumably to prevent the larger players from gaming the system (unless they pay GS fees)

[banrigh]

theElench
When I noticed a drop in the amount of items on Google Shopping, I emailed support and that was their reply. I could find no information on eBid on what the minimum had been changed to.

[Policequilts]

theElench
When I noticed a drop in the amount of items on Google Shopping, I emailed support and that was their reply. I could find no information on eBid on what the minimum had been changed to.

Wow - interesting to know.

There is a large portion of my craft supplies that are below that $3.25 and there is no way that I would raise the prices because of this. I am not going to group items and reprice to meet google requirements. The majority of that shop is over the $3.25 price.

Something to think about . . .

[banrigh]

Knowing this will be changing what I list and how I list on eBid going forward.

[Maelbrigda]

It used to be over £1. I didn;t know about the increase. Explains why most of my cards are never on google. Maybe i ought to add postage on and offer "Free" postage instead

[theElench]

Google Shopping moves in a mysterious way.
They refuse to clarify how it works presumably to prevent the larger players from gaming the system (unless they pay GS fees)

I've read that before when GS has been mentioned in discussions, perhaps it was you that wrote it? It certainly does move in a mysterious way, @banrigh noticed a drop in their listings on GS. I wonder how they noticed that? While I can always find some of my listings, they are scattered through the results without any logic that I can see. I rarely look at the results beyond P.10 and assume that if I looked further, I would continue to find more of my items. But I have no idea whether, in total, more or less of my items are visible at any one time.

Perhaps we need a "pinned" thread on GS that could run long enough to pool what different sellers do know and talk about ways to improve both site and seller visibility on GS? Over time it might become a valuable resource for sellers and the site.

I remember a few tips that have come up in discussion, I probably missed others, or forgot them and the threads have now gone taking those insights with them.

[banrigh]

I've read that before when GS has been mentioned in discussions, perhaps it was you that wrote it? It certainly does move in a mysterious way, @banrigh noticed a drop in their listings on GS. I wonder how they noticed that? While I can always find some of my listings, they are scattered through the results without any logic that I can see. I rarely look at the results beyond P.10 and assume that if I looked further, I would continue to find more of my items. But I have no idea whether, in total, more or less of my items are visible at any one time.

Perhaps we need a "pinned" thread on GS that could run long enough to pool what different sellers do know and talk about ways to improve both site and seller visibility on GS? Over time it might become a valuable resource for sellers and the site.

I remember a few tips that have come up in discussion, I probably missed others, or forgot them and the threads have now gone taking those insights with them.

The first thing I noticed was an extreme drop in sales starting in April. Since April, sales have not recovered. I can check Google Shopping by typing in 'banrighs' in the search. My stores have banrighs as part of the name. Looking through the results I noticed nothing under $3.49 was there. I had suspected that eBid had changed their listing requirements, but I couldn't find it mentioned on eBid anywhere.

This is not a Google Shopping requirement, it is one set by eBid. I know it costs them to upload to Google Shopping, but I wish I had been informed of the change. Sure, they are saving money by uploading less or higher priced listings, but since my sales have dropped considerably, my monthly invoice is quite a bit less in money they receive from me. Not sure they are gaining anything here. I would have raised fees by a percent or two since they are so much cheaper than all other sites.

[BordersBargains]

By increasing the threshold they have now reduce sales which in turn is now reducing their profits since the number of seen listing has probably dropped by an easy 20 - 30% on GS. The easy fix would have been to inform us they are increasing fee's to cover the costs of GS visibility but we get no information and the sales on the site drop. It's possible they are thinking like the CEO of *bay who has set his goals on getting rid of low value sellers and buyers!!! and look at the state they are in now, Massive loss in buyers, massive drop in amount of sales, GMV down everything down, except fee's which are going up. The point is Higher value sales are great for a site but the large volume of Low value sales make up a bigger number of the profits than they thought, so cut those out and your only losing not winning