Ad Placement on eBay Searches

EBay has begun placing ads at the bottom of the search result pages. This program began last year, but I just now noticed the ads, since the number of ads has recently increased. The number of ads has increased because eBay has been sending out coupons to encourage people to buy the ads. These ads appear immediately after the results but before the links to the additional pages of results. This is annoying to me as a buyer and of deep concern to me as a seller.

This is what the end of the search results pages look like:


The above screen cap is of the end of the first page of results for a Nancy Drew search. Notice that the ads appear right after the last results. Unless the buyer scrolls down quite a bit, the buyer will not see the link to the next page of results.

Here is another screen cap:


In this one, you can see that the results page has four ads which completely take up the screen. I removed all of my toolbars from my browser temporarily and still could not see the tail end of the results along with the ads and the links to the next pages all at the same time. This is not good.

I should also point out that that my screen resolution is set at 1268 by 768 pixels, which is what I prefer on my 22 inch monitor. I know that I could increase the resolution to see more, but I am quite happy with the amount that I can see on all websites, or should I say all websites except eBay's search results pages. As I have said before, "Way to go, eBay!"

The above screen caps were from results using Internet Explorer. Google Chrome gives the same results with the ads. This is Firefox:

Notice that the ads are missing! Firefox is the most awesome browser that blocks the vast majority of embedded and and pop-up ads on all websites. Firefox completely strips eBay of all of its obnoxious ads. I believe that it is necessary to get the Firefox add-on Adblock Plus to remove all of the ads. I highly recommend it.

I would not be aware of the ads except that due to my continuing problems with Firefox and my saved searches page in My eBay I have to use Google Chrome to access my saved searches. As as result, I do most of my searches in Google Chrome these days, and the ads are getting on my nerves.

I access my most recently-saved searches from the quick list that appears in the upper right part of eBay's advanced search page, so I use Firefox for those searches and do not see the ads. I make a point of making certain that my most common searches are always in that quick list so that I can use Firefox for them.

I am concerned that some buyers will not realize that more results can be found on additional pages due to the placement of the ads. When I first encountered the ads days ago in Google Chrome, I was thrown off at first and wondered where the links were. I found them, but new buyers may not know to keep scrolling down the page.

I wondered how many buyers are seeing the ads and how many are not. Since I know that users of Internet Explorer will most likely see the ads (it is possible to tweak Explorer to block ads but it is difficult), I decided to find out how many people use Explorer.

Browser Statistics

According to the above page, 43.6% of web surfers used Internet Explorer in February 2009. This means that potentially close to half of eBay's buyers will see the ads, and some of them will not know to scroll down to the next page. This is not good.

Additionally, people like me will be forced into the new search in April, which means that I could be using the new search as soon as Wednesday. I am bracing myself for it.