Get more clicks by removing bids
Removing the bids from your phpBay sites is a simple way to get more clicks and earn more money. It’s an easy hack that anyone can do if they follow my step-by-step instructions.
But before I go into the details of what to change, I’ll take a moment to tell you why removing bids from phpBay sites will help you make more money with phpBay.
It’s really not rocket science. People will click your links when they see a product that is at an amazing price, a price they can’t get anywhere else. But if I’m on your phpBay site and I see an ipod for $20, but I also see 0 bids, I instantly realize it’s not an amazing deal, it’s just that the ipod has no bids on it, and the price will go up. So I’m less likely to click. But if I see an ipod for $20, and I don’t se anything about the number of bids, then I’m gonna click in a heartbeat because I think the ipod is selling for $20.
True, when people get to eBay they will realize that it’s not selling for $20 and that there are no bids, but at least we planted the eBay cookie. The goal with phpBay is to plant as many cookies as possible.
So lets take a look at how to modify your theme to stop the bids from displaying in phpBay auction results.
Step 1. Locate your template files. You want to edit the file called “template.ebay.results.html” for the regular auction layout and “template.column.results.html” for the column layout. The path to both files is “phpbay_plugin > wp-content > plugins > phpBay > templates”
Step 2. Save a copy of the files in another folder BEFORE you edit them.
Step 3. Open the files in an HTML editing software (or in notepad).
Step 4. Look for this line of code:
<td width="60" align="right">%%bid_or_bin%%</td>
Step 5. Now you can delete that whole line. But I prefer to comment it out in case I want to turn it on later. To comment it out, replace that line of code with this line:
<--<td width="60" align="right">%%bid_or_bin%%</td>-->
Step 6. Save the file and upload it over the current file using an FTP software (I like Filezilla).
Step 7. There is no step seven. Your done! Go to your site to make sure it worked.
Hope that little hack helps you get more clicks on your phpBay Sites.
Subscribe
Subscribe
June 30th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Have you done an analysis of the effects of this? What was the change in CTR? What about bids per click / winning bids?
I always kind of wonder if the “extra” clicks traded for information increase actual conversion rates at all.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Robert,
extra clicks does not necessarily mean higher conversion rate. But it can still translate to more money. If you get 100 clicks and they convert at 5%, then you get five conversions. But it you get 200 clicks and still convert at 5%, you get 10 conversions.
Even if you get 200 clicks, but now only convert at 3%, you still get 6 conversions. That’s one more than you had with 100 clicks.
More clicks=more cookies.
More cookies=more CHANCES to convert.
Remember, i don’t care if they buy what they saw on my site, as long as i set the cookie i get commission for anything they buy on ebay in the next 7 days…
June 30th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
This is odd. I’ll have to look into it, but I do not get any bid numbers next to my listings. I do not think I configured anything special in my phpbay code, but again, I should look into it.
June 30th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Ah, got it. If you select column-mode, the bids do not show up. In the phpBay settings, it is:
Display Listings in Columns? – Listings are displayed in table columns rather than rows.
I had that selected instead of the native row-based format.
July 1st, 2008 at 3:39 am
What I am asking, is DOES it increase your revenue, or do you think it SHOULD? Did you do any before / after numbers checking?
July 1st, 2008 at 4:33 am
I’ve heard other recommend this before but I’ve been on the fence about it. I just removed it from one of my sites so I can compare how it does vs the other stores that still display bid info.
I couldn’t get the comment tag to work since the bid display was still visible as was the tag. So I just delete that line and it worked.
Great step by step tutorial. Thanks.
July 1st, 2008 at 4:43 am
Robert,
I’ll be posting June earnings in a week. I started this technique beginning of June, I’ll post the details then. But in short, yes.
July 1st, 2008 at 4:47 am
@Alan, don’t test vs. other sites. test on the same sites. Take your clicks for the month of June and divide by the amount of visitors, so u know the avg clicks per visitor. then remove bids for all of july and do the same and then compare…
July 1st, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Where is the templates file?
Also, Josh said “Display Listings in Columns? – Listings are displayed in table columns rather than rows.”
I don’t have this option for some reason…do you have to update to 3.0 to get it?
July 5th, 2008 at 4:26 am
@Turbolapp: Yes, you need to upgrade.
July 26th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Removing bids makes a huge difference in click-thru and conversion in my experience. Remember the main thing that you want is a click-thru that sets a 7 day cookie. That’s why you want them to surf for the best deal on eBay, not on your EPN site.