Anyone seeing new keywords submitted not allowing the bid amount you want to be accepted? i.e. if you are trying to submit a new keyword with a bid for, say, $0.15, the UI keeps returning $1.00 or some other higher amount. Seeing this across many, but perhaps just 5% or so, of new keywords I am trying to submit.

Multiple submits of the actual bid amount I want does not seem to change the high bid MS is returning. I even get the little pop message stating that I am entering a high bid, and I should review it... Bug?

Need3, it's happening to me too.

breny -
This downtime was to perform scheduled maintenance and to improve our infrastructure for the roll out the first phase of the Microsoft adCenter Content Ads Pilot - so you won't see any changes.

RE: the high bids issue - could you please let me know how you're submitting new keywords when this happens for you? i.e. copying and pasting or importing? In the meantime I will check in with adCenter support about this.

Is this happening for anyone else?

Thanks!
adCenter411

Adcenter411...

the high bids issue happened to me the other day and scared the pants off of me.

On the keyword performance/price estimation tab, I entered a new maximum base bid and clicked "apply to all keywords." I then sorted by base bid to make sure the bids were correct. I saw $2.00, $5.00, and $42.00 bids! The maximum base bid I entered was a far lesser dollar amount. It was a small percentage of total keywords that were affected, but it could've been devastating had I not caught it.

Thanks.

Yes adCenter411, it is happening to anyone else!

Like any other previous update – this one comes with new bugs and a lot of disappointment.

I called the support center again.

I got the confirmation that - after this update:

-bids are simply adjusting themselves
-during the weekend the ads were not properly displayed. I estimate 7-8x less exposure then normal over this last weekend
-the conversion tracking was not working either

As far as I am concerned – this update was a disaster compare to the last ones!

No other comment!

It's distressing to me that this product has been around almost a year and very few (if any) of the basic usability issues have been addressed, there are major bugs with these updates, and AdCenter persists in adding new products. I am thoroughly disgusted right now.

WE WANT A PRODUCT THAT WORKS AND IS EASY TO USE. Why is no one hearing us and addressing this? We've been complaining about the same issues over and over and over and we are being ignored.

AdCenter411, who do we need to talk to? Who do we need to write? What do we need to do? What are the plans? I've hung in here in the dark with reassurances that "we hear your complaints." But now, when an update is done, it screws up the bidding process MAJORLY, and we're told this is for a Content Ad rollout and not to correct the defects in the existing product, what should we think?

We are your customers. No customers=no AdCenter. Don't you want your customers to be happy?

Hello,

I am also having the high bid problem. The high bids appear randomly after hitting the "apply to all keywords" button. This problem is with new and existing keywords.

This is still very much a problem, and preventing me from adding any new keywords or making any other changes until it is fixed. The problem affects both new and existing keywords. Any update on this problem adcenter411?

This problem is very easy to duplicate... just take any order in Adcenter (an order with a large # of keywords may make it easier to notice), and click Price Estimation. Enter in a max bid for all keywords, say $0.20. The UI will then return the new estimates, and state at the top something like: Based on the keywords you selected, you have a maximum cost-per-click (Max CPC) of USD 3.51. Re-enter $0.20 and get another estimate - it will again return a high bid, way above what you are entering. Check the keywords below, and most will be at $0.20 but a fair number will be higher - often MUCH higher. I have seen bids as high as $43 when I was entering $0.25 or so.

Needless to say, this is pretty scary to see, since if you arent paying attention, you could easily end up bidding way more than you want to. When you enter a max bid, you assume that will be the MAX you will pay. Not potentially 2 to 100 times more.

[edited by: Need3lives at 8:12 pm (utc) on Oct. 12, 2006]

I sent screen caps this morning at AC411's request. The support team couldn't recreate the error so they requested the screencaps. I haven't heard anything this afternoon but apparently they are working on it.

I'm continuing to work but I'm sorting my bids and changing the erroneous ones by hand, then saving and sorting again to make sure it took. It's a GIANT PIA but I can't wait around for them to fix it as some of the things I'm working on are time sensitive.

Good deal on the screen caps - strange they cant recreate it since it happens every Order in my account.

Also, be careful with editing by hand - I tried that also, and it seems at least a few of them reverted when I saved. Ouch... hopefully resolved soon.

Hi everyone,
I just wanted to let you know that we are still investigating this issue as a high priority.

Thanks for your patience,
adCenter411

Morning All

Update for you...

Our support team have managed to repro this issue and are looking into it as a matter of the highest priority.

I should have an update later on today GMT.

Thanks

adCenterEU

adCenterEU, adCenter411,
any news regarding this issue?

Hi webdudek

They are working on it. I've asked for a status update and we should have some news later on today GMT.

Regards

adCenterEU

Hi all

A fix went out over the weekend for the bid update issue. Please let us know if you are still seeing this behaviour. I have tried to recreate it on my campaigns and all looks fine.

Thanks for your patience.

adCenterEU

I tried to import keywords and had a few problems.
At first my csv was rejected saying it is invalid. The csv I use is the one I exported from my account with a few more keywords. I use Firefox.
When I converted the csv to xls, upload worked but now I got a message saying I have errors.
The word 'Errors' is a link that probably shows the error reasons but the link can't be opened.
At the end, upload partially succeeded, but I didn't get any explanation which keywords failed and why.

Hi Webdude - I am assuming that is not the same problem as the one in AdcenterEU's fix is it? If it is, my sincere apologies. If not, maybe strat it in a new thread? (I know the MSN guys so LOVE to hear of new bugs! LOL)

Dixon.