What counts as a 'view' on e-bid?

[scootersandcommuters]

Hello all. Brief intro - joined e-bid in 2006 ...sold a reasonable amount but sales then faded away and ebay was going great so all my efforts went there. WELL thats not the case any more so i went and did a bulk upload from ebay about a week ago, including sorting 120 of them into a store that i had already from earlier. 9 days on, no sales , no offers , no questions .... but respectful enough number of views. SO to my question: what activity generates a "view" on e-bid? I ask as the same number of views over on the other site would generate messages AND an offer or two AND some actual sales.... so the metrics here are different but can anyone help with factual definition of an e-bid "view"? thanks in advance for any replies

[InkyEvans]

Hi, I'm finding the same thing. Only been on here a few weeks and my viewing figures here are far higher than they were on that other site, but no offers, questions or sales. I saw a comment on another post asking about stats saying view figures are unreliable as many views are from 'web-crawlers'. I don't really know what that means. I suppose I'll just be patient and hope to sell something eventually! Jill.

[goldenwonders]

Hi, I'm finding the same thing. Only been on here a few weeks and my viewing figures here are far higher than they were on that other site, but no offers, questions or sales. I saw a comment on another post asking about stats saying view figures are unreliable as many views are from 'web-crawlers'. I don't really know what that means. I suppose I'll just be patient and hope to sell something eventually! Jill.

I'm no expert, but 'Web crawlers' or bots, spiders etc are little searchers that are constantly trawling the ever changing web in order to get information. This information about the pages is then used to create what could be described as an index in order that when someone does a search it speeds up their search in finding what they are looking for. Hope that helps a bit.

With regards to the views, I've found that by listing my items in facebook on certain pages it dramatically increases the views.
As example, I listed 6 old keys, put one on facebook yesterday - its had 17 views, the others have had none? This is not a fluke as I did the same with several other items and had exactly the same result. Now I'm thinking that's because bots are searching (maybe policing?) Facebook.
I'm now looking for other sites to try out the same excercise - if anyone has any ideas I'd be interested?

[johnwash1]

Hi, I'm finding the same thing. Only been on here a few weeks and my viewing figures here are far higher than they were on that other site, but no offers, questions or sales. I saw a comment on another post asking about stats saying view figures are unreliable as many views are from 'web-crawlers'. I don't really know what that means. I suppose I'll just be patient and hope to sell something eventually! Jill.

Web crawlers are used by search engines. Such an engine wants to build up a database with details of as many pages on the web as possible, so it can answer queries by giving questioners links to appropriate places. So they use programs that visit web servers everywhere often, to look for new and changed pages.

That way, Google, DuckDuckGo, Bing and others can give sensible answers to questions like "What is a web crawler?".

[tonnesofstuff]

Web crawlers are used by search engines. Such an engine wants to build up a database with details of as many pages on the web as possible, so it can answer queries by giving questioners links to appropriate places. So they use programs that visit web servers everywhere often, to look for new and changed pages.

That way, Google, DuckDuckGo, Bing and others can give sensible answers to questions like "What is a web crawler?".

Do we know whether web-crawlers direct traffic to listings via the information they collected or just gather information? I'm just wondering whether the bot views on my listings will ultimately result in sales further down the line? Any opinions?

[theElench]

It's something I've wondered about, particularly in relation to my PYA threads. I list one new item each Sunday as an auction and start a new PYA to highlight it. It's deleted the following Sunday.

This week a Uranium glass candlestick has already had 6 views of the thread it's translated into 0 views of the advert.
Last week I listed a Walther bowl, the thread only got 8 views in the whole week. But the ad. has had 4 views.
The previous week I listed a Hermanova vase. The thread got 15 views. The ad has had 6 views.
The week before I listed a Walther Uranium bowl. The thread got over 50 views. The ad. has had 7 views.
The previous week I listed a Sowerby vase. The thread got 42 views. The ad. 13 views.

As no-one can see the item without viewing the thread or searching for my new listing (in which case why look at the PYA thread?, how do more 'interesting' items get more views and more mundane items, less?

The Uranium candlestick thread will, I predict, get a good number of views.
The Walther bowl disappointingly few.
The Hermanova vase, not much better.
The Walther Uranium bowl, got what I think of as a good number.
As did the Sowerby vase.

Uranium and Walther items are always popular so should get higher views than Hermanova or Sowerby items. I can only conclude that some of the views of my threads are passed on somewhere by the bots. and the rest are humans as I don't think bots. know the differences that would attract a glass buyer to the threads or the ads.?

If all views were by bots, wouldn't all the threads end up with more or less the same number?

[johnwash1]

Hi Elench,

I have to declare my hand here. I've sometimes, as this week, seen your PYA of a uranium glass item and gone to have a look at it.

I used to have a uranium glass plate, so I'm aware how eerily attractive such glass can be. I just view yours to see how nice it is, there's zero chance I'll buy it because I need to declutter. As in really really need to.

Also it evokes unique memories for me. My father was a potter and ceramic artist. He studied colloid chemistry, did lots of experiments formulating glazes and had many bags of chemicals in his pottery. Including one of uranium oxide. Most of his chemicals had come from Wengers, a chemical supply company in Staffordshire. Before the war they'd sent him this bag of uranium oxide, to see if he could make use of it. Back then there weren't many people who had any idea of what uranium might be used for!

I doubt the other 5 views are for similar reasons! But thought you might find the insight amusing. I hope you get a sale.

[DougsVinyl]

I to.get loads of views, over 100 in some cases, but not even an offer. I don't quite understand that. Even in my dying days at eBay I would have had offers or enquiries. Ok all platforms are suffering because this country is going down the toilet, but to reiterate what I've put on another thread, nothing sells on here it seems bar stamps and postcards. The site seems dead. It's an easy site with good core values, but has insufficient outreach, indeed people.I speak to have never heard of it. I specialise in vinyl 45s, but in 6 months on here have sold just one item: a laptop pc. I've just started on Discogs, a specialist US vinyl site, so I'm reasonably optimistic. I've looked at Vinted, but like eBay they hold on to your money until your item is delivered and I couldn't even set up a site. Ok for clothes but little else. I've sold a few none vinyl items on Facebook Marketplace. It's local and is collection only but despite its bad publicity does seem to work ok. Again though not specialist enough. Probably have to wait till Labour is kicked out!
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[johnwash1]

I to.get loads of views, over 100 in some cases, but not even an offer. I don't quite understand that. Even in my dying days at eBay I would have had offers or enquiries. Ok all platforms are suffering because this country is going down the toilet, but to reiterate what I've put on another thread, nothing sells on here it seems bar stamps and postcards. The site seems dead. It's an easy site with good core values, but has insufficient outreach, indeed people.I speak to have never heard of it. I specialise in vinyl 45s, but in 6 months on here have sold just one item: a laptop pc. I've just started on Discogs, a specialist US vinyl site, so I'm reasonably optimistic. I've looked at Vinted, but like eBay they hold on to your money until your item is delivered and I couldn't even set up a site. Ok for clothes but little else. I've sold a few none vinyl items on Facebook Marketplace. It's local and is collection only but despite its bad publicity does seem to work ok. Again though not specialist enough. Probably have to wait till Labour is kicked out!
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I think on ebay they filter out the views by robots such as search engines. Here I think any visit by anything counts as a view.

Probably have to wait till Labour is kicked out? I think you'll have to wait until we get a competent government. That could be a long long wait. You don't really suppose Farage will fix it. The world is global. We also need to see Trump, Putin, Netanyahu, Hamas, Khamenei, Modi and several others kicked out. Let's just focus on eBid and forget politics.

[DougsVinyl]

No Trump and Farage,the only one with any common sense. Not the best but at least they support there own people unlike woke Labour and that worm Starmer. People conveniently forget that Israel never started the war, the baby killing rapists of Hammas did.But no you're right shouldn't do politics here! Focus on ebid? No after 6 months it's not worth my time.