eBay May Switch to New 'Item Page' Before Holidays 33 comments
-
Font Size:
-
Print
- TweetThis
eBay Seller's hearts are pounding
Friday we started to get frantic and panicky inbound calls and emails from sellers that had heard through the grapevine that eBay's new item page that eBay (EBAY) previously been talked about as being in less than 10% 'test' mode, open to lots of changes, etc. is suddenly being talked about as going live for the holidays. Turns out it was a post the developer blog last night that was the first time it was revealed that this is something that could change by the Holidays. eBay also introduced another complexity called an iFrame that puts the content of the template into a different domain name to help with some fraud issues.
A seller's item page is where they do all their merchandising and most larger sellers have significant investments in their 'template' (ChannelAdvisor speak for the design of their item page).
While we have a clarification into eBay around this sudden 'get it done for the holidays' kind-of-announcement, I thought it would be prudent to alert people as since we're hear at mid-September, I'm guessing this would definitely be out as early as Thanksgiving and maybe as early as Halloween. If we assume Halloween, maybe you have a month to month and a half to adapt. Based on our early investigations the changes needed could be substantial.
Test your listings now
The good news is any seller can see how their template will look in the new item page by following these directions:
- Login to eBay under your seller ID
- Bring up a live listing
- In the upper right you will see a link that offers to show you how your listing looks under the new View Item Page.
- Click that link
Challenges with the new design
There's lots of negativity from sellers in general around the new design, but since it looks like its hear to say, I won't spend time on that. However, some design elements are going to make updating your template a potential MUST.
To understand the challenges, first you have to look at this page eBay provides to identify the various elements of the design (click on image to see an expanded version):
The problem is the width of the description element marked number 4 in the diagram. The upsell elements 6 and 7 take a good 20-25% of the width and squish the description into a small area. If your template is wider than this then you get some really weird scroll bars in there that we worry will keep buyers from seeing a large portion of your template. We're seeing some designs cut off in weird places, images hidden and a variety of other problems with this setup that sellers will want to have resolved before this goes live or potentially suffer a decrease in conversions and an increase in customer inquiries.
Conclusion
The bottom line is regardless of if this was a mistake and the new new item page isn't really coming out for the Holiday, I think it would be prudent to look at a good 5-10 of your items and start to think about how much work you are looking at and how you could possibly do it by late October.
Related Articles
|
Find People on SA
-
The Seeking Alpha 100
See allThe top 100 stock
market authors
selected for publication
Seeking Alpha 100 » -
Fastest Climbers
Authors with the largest
increase in followers
in the last 7 days-
1
David Fry
-
2
Philip Davis
-
3
Bill Gross
-
4
Tyler Durden
-
5
TraderMark
Fastest Climbers » -
1
-
Top Commenters
Top commenters,See all
as ranked by their peers
Top Commenters » -
Top Instabloggers
The 100 most activeSee all
Instabloggers.
Top Instabloggers » -
Top StockTalkers
TopSee all
StockTalkers.
Top StockTalkers »
This article has 33 comments:
No doubt they will continue to 'improve' the page and SYI form until it screws everything up completely. Christmas is coming, and eBay will screw it up, some way, some how, depend on it. They do it every year.
A question: Aren't Ebay sellers customers? It seems so to me, since we pay all the fees. Why would one continue to confuse, irritate, harass, and otherwise p.o., ones customers?
Many thanks for the heads up!
The design is set up in such an awkward fashion that it turns off buyers and sellers. It really hurts people that have ebay stores.
Why can't ebay leave the pages as they are now? We need some stability.
I don't know where it is getting this, on flat rate items, we are usually shipping at less than cost already (trying to work with the DSR policies).
I think the new item page MIGHT be a GOOD thing---if eBay makes it simple for buyers to see USED vs NEW and RETURNABLE vs NOT returnable...that could save us some trouble with the buyers who don't want to read the descriptions carefully. I hate to take any blame from buyers who don't read, but it can be a real hassle finding this information as some buyers try to hide it and even those who post it openly...well, we each put it in a different place.
None of my listings have had the ads scrolling down the right hand side as yet...that looks to be quite distracting and too busy.
"Test of a new item page design"
"New Auction Page Layout?!"
"Opinions on the new home page...."
"OLD PAGE VS NEW PAGE"
"terrible new page format"
"New page is a Fiasco!"
"new item page - seen it?"
"Test of a new item page design"
"Ebay new page design is AWFUL"
"Lousy new design for ebay page!"
"Rally against the new page changes!"
"New listing page screwed up my bidding"
"Test of a new item page design"
"NO! NO! NO! TO THE NEW ITEM PAGE DESIGN! IT'S PLAIN AWFUL!"
"YAY OR NAY ON NEW LISTING PAGE DESIGN??"
"HELP! New Search Page Just Showed Up???"
PLEASE keep in mind that ebay IS DELETING multitudes of posts AND is suspending ebayers for being HONEST on their discussion forums. What you will read there from ANGERED ebayers is ONLY the tip of the iceberg!
This is extremely disturbing & probably done by design.
It is rumored that about 15 - 20 new LARGE sellers will be introduced to the site. They will instantly (without having sold 1 single item) be considered as Diamond Power Sellers. They will pay no listing fees and WILL NOT be subject to any DSR's. These are supposed to be in the media and electronics categories. they are doing this in time to have these buyers enough feedback 10,000 or more by the time the real holiday season begins in early november. This is going to SCREW even more eBay sellers.
Another "glitch"? or just another commie attack on the members to silence them?
Oh, and don't forget to watch the stocks drop! It's more exciting than horse racing!
Each eBay seller uses their pages to differentiate themselves from competitors.
I found that the new form distorted many of my product images (large image to the top left). It did allow most of my formatting for variable page width, fixed page width and information tables.
The new form did make a LARGE ERROR. I offer free or reduced price shipping, but charge $2.50/$100 value for insurance on Opal & Gemstone Jewelry. The eBay form translates 'free shipping' by also incorrectly telling the buyer that 'insurance' is also free.
The ebay disclaimer seems more obvious now at the bottom of the page: "Seller assumes all responsibility for this listing." I will add a disclaimer stating "I am responsible for the item and description only, all other solictations (ebay credit card, experian credit scores, other sellers' recommendations, PAYMENT OPTIONS, etc) are out of my control and have been placed into my listing without my consent."
The new format is weak and looks like something from a new company in the midst of upgrades. What are my $1200/mo fees going for???
Maybe I'm wrong but I call DESTROYING STORE BRANDING & screwing up millions of listings a little more than a bump.
This is the "Titanium" time to do so! The Holidays!
Diversify, diversify, diversify!
Do not wait ANYMORE!
Why continue to CLING?! You are not wanted at ebay! They do not care if you cannot pay your bills or feed your children! They do not care if you are handicapped, stay-at-home mom, or retired on a fixed income! All the "We're one big happy family!" was a joke!
Didn't you get that?!
So would Amazon.com
Ebay has lost site of their customer, which is one of the first things any business should do... identify the customer. Ebay's customer is not the buyer, unless the buyers are going to start paying for the priviledge of buying there; whereas, Joe and Jane Seller pay fees to list, enhance, and completed sales.
And to the seller who wants the next ebay... IS THIS TRULY WHAT YOU WANT??? More of this same insanity? Or do you want a site that submits your items to shopper's gateways?
Wise advise was given... diversify. Try several sites. No site can guarantee you sales... NOT EVEN EBAY!
There is such a thing as integrity. And honor. And character. It is highly visible... when it is absent.
Wow. looks like it's here to stay.
Proofread, man.
A survey concerning eBay's 2008 changes sellers please fill out
no I am not from eBay
If you are a providing a service and you skimp on what you are providing then why do you exist. Concentrating on a few large sellers is putting all your eggs in one basket since the competition will take notice and beat you.
WOW! Do you write for John McCain???
Seller satisfaction is at an ALL TIME LOW pal! If you can't see that then perhaps you are who you're name says you are.
The new item page does not let you revise your listing. This may be a BETA problem, however, it was impossible to change back to the old view, once I had clicked on the link to check out the new page. They used ot have an "opt out" link at the top of the page, which has now been removed. I had to request help on the community boards to see if anyone else knew how to get out of this trap.
If you should experience that particular problem, you must clear your browser history and cache to be able to return to the "old" page.