Merchant Support Knowledge Base

WHAT IS BIDDING ON SHOPPING.COM?

Bidding allows qualified merchants to bid on a product category level for the top six placements (Featured Store placement) on the Shopping.com offer table, where search results are displayed. Merchants with the six highest bids within a product category can secure one of these six featured store placements. All other merchants are sorted based on different qualifications and they pay their minimum bid (except the Smart Buy position).

WHY IS BIDDING IMPORTANT?

Bidding helps your campaign by displaying your product listings in the featured store placement on Shopping.com. Featured store placements get more clicks than regular placements on Shopping.com as your products listings are sorted at the top of the search results, driving more leads to your site and increasing conversion to sale.

WHO CAN BID?

While the bidding tool is enabled for everybody, bidding is only beneficial for merchants who meet the following minimum requirements:
• Have a minimum store rating of 2.75 (from a minimum of 10 reviews)*
• Provide product availability information (in stock)
• Configure tax and shipping information

*Note: No rating is required to bid for the featured store placement. However, if you do have a rating on Shopping.com, it must meet the minimum rating requirement as stated above.

HOW CAN I BID?

If you meet the aforementioned requirements and want to bid for the featured store placement, log into the Merchant Account Center and navigate to the CPC Program tab > Bidding Info section to enter your bid (default bid setting is the category minimum CPC). Your bid will be updated on site approximately every 10 minutes.

HOW ARE PRODUCTS DISPLAYED ON SHOPPING.COM?

The search result categories are displayed as follows in structured categories (computers, electronics, home & garden, etc):

1. Featured Store Placement (top 3 placements)
2. Smart Buy Placement (lowest price from a Trusted Store)
3. Trusted Stores sorted by price (lowest to highest)
4. All authorized resellers sorted by price (lowest to highest)
5. All other merchants sorted by price (lowest to highest)

The search result categories are displayed as shown below in unstructured categories (clothing, jewelry, etc). There are two requirements for the featured store placement in this category. In addition to having the top 3 category level bids, your
product must also be relevant to the item searched by the consumer.

1. Featured Store Placement (top 3 placements)
2. All other merchants (sorted based on product relevance)

HOW IS A MERCHANT CHARGED FOR A CLICK?

If a merchant is rewarded with the featured store (top 3) placement, the cost-per-click (CPC) the merchant is charged is based on their bid relative to the merchant with the second highest bid. Please refer to the chart below. The CPC will always be $.01 above the next merchant’s bid, unless this exceeds the max bid set by the merchant. In this case, the merchant will be charged the maximum bid.

Example: Bid list for Electronics category

Merchant A
Bid:$3.0
Charge per Click: $2.92

Merchant B
Bid: $2.91
Charge per Click: $2.81

Merchant C
Bid: $2.80
Charge per Click: $1.71

Merchant D
Bid: $1.70
Charge per Click: $.71

Merchant E
Bid: $.70
Charge per Click: $.70

Merchant A will be charged $2.92 for a click as their products will be listed first on the offer table.
Merchant B will be charged $2.81 for a click as their products will be listed second on the offer table.
Merchant C will be charged $1.71 for a click as their products will be listed third on the offer table.

Note: Merchants must have the new product in stock in order to secure a featured store placement. Otherwise, merchants with the next highest bid with products in stock will display in the featured store placement.

The ‘Charge per Click’ rates are commonly referred to as the Smart Bid on Shopping.com.

To summarize:

- When your product is clicked in the “Featured Store” placement, you are charged your Smart Bid (refer to Exhibit A).
- If you occupy the Smart Buy position, you are charged your bid.
- If your products are not displayed in the ‘Featured Store’ or ‘Smart Buy’ placements, you are charged the category minimum CPC rate, regardless of your bid amount.

For category minimum CPC please refer to the Shopping.com Rate Card.

WHAT IS THE SMART BUY PLACEMENT?

The Smart Buy placement highlights a Trusted Store merchant selling a product at the lowest price. The smart buy merchant will pay their bid in this placement. The Smart Buy position on our offer table usually generates the highest volume of clicks and the highest conversion to sale. But you cannot bid your way into the Smart Buy position. To earn a Smart Buy position, you need to first be a Trusted Store on Shopping.com.

HOW DO I BECOME A TRUSTED STORE ON SHOPPING.COM?

Merchants with a Trusted Store seal enjoy many benefits on Shopping.com. In addition to being a candidate for the Smart Buy position, Trusted Store listings are sorted above all other merchant listings in structured categories on the Shopping.com offer table. For consumers, they are more likely to purchase from merchants where they can buy with confidence.

Trusted Store Requirements:

- Consistently receive positive customer ratings and reviews (min 60 reviews with an average rating of 4.1).
- Provide accurate price, shipping, and availability information.
- Configure basic store information including store address.
- Must note when products are used or refurbished.
- Honor prices listed on their site without excuses.
- Resolve customer service complaints quickly and fairly.
- Must be listed on Shopping.com for at least one year.

HOW DO I BUILD A RATING ON SHOPPING.COM?

Shopping.com offers a free tool to capture consumer feedback via surveys called the Shopping.com Surveys. Surveys are questionnaires displayed to a merchant's customer after completing the checkout process. When a customer completes a purchase, they will be prompted to fill out a survey regarding their shopping experience.

There are two sets of surveys:
- Point of Sale Survey (used to capture the customer’s email address to send the follow-up survey)
- Follow-up Survey (emailed to a customer to capture feedback about their shopping experience).

The results of the follow-up survey are used to determine a merchant's rating on Shopping.com. The merchant rating represents an average of all completed follow-up surveys.

HOW MANY COMPLETED SURVEYS ARE REQUIRED TO GET A RATING?

We require that a store have at least 4 approved follow-up reviews for the rating to be displayed on Shopping.com.

Back to Category Index