This Week in eBay and Online Selling
EBay cans its Listing Policy changes but rolls out what some sellers call an "unfair" Multiple Listings policy, and the eBay Partner Network announces a new affiliate compensation plan. Plus, PayPal gets ready for back-to-school spending and PrestaShop announces version 1.0 of its free, open source e-commerce solution.
eBay Hot Topic: Multiple Listings Limit Policy Rolls Out
This week, eBay's Senior Director of Finding, Jeff King, got the dubious distinction of making the latest announcement to upset sellers on the eBay auction site. Earlier in May, eBay warned sellers that the company would make changes to the Multiple Listings policy. In this public statement, King said starting this week, the display of multiple identical items from the same seller will be limited in eBay search results.
Under the new policy, duplicate items from the same seller will be limited to a single showing in search results. eBay defines identical items as listings from the same seller that have the same title and the same listing format. King did say that multiple auction-style listings with the same title with a different number of bids and different prices are not considered identical and will all be displayed in the search results.
Sellers who list many different items will also be limited to up to 10 items shown on the search page. So, any seller who has twenty unique items listed, for example, will see only up to 10 shown on the first page, with the remainder shown on the second and subsequent search results pages. These changes are being reported by sellers in all searches, not just eBay's Best Match. Under the new change, if you list 10 items, all with the same title and price, buyers will only see one of those listings in their search results. Once a bid has been placed, however, the listing with a bid, plus a second listing theoretically should show on the first search results page.
Before you consider slightly changing an item title, or varying the price by a penny or two to get all your similar items shown in the search results, it is important for sellers to note eBay's Search & Browse Manipulation policy, which prevents sellers from doing anything that would trick the system into displaying identical items. It includes the following description under activities that are not permitted: ".. any activity that eBay deems as inappropriately diverting members to a listing or harming the finding experience for buyers."
Some Sellers Call Policy Unfair, While Others are Positive
In the public discussion forum, which was opened and linked to from the announcement, eBay tried to clarify these changes to sellers, saying that limiting the display of duplicates from the same seller prevents buyers from being overwhelmed by identical listings. Unfortunately, many sellers participating in the discussion did not agree.
Some vendors say they could potentially lose some last-minute bidding activity, as well as exposure in general, but more importantly, wonder why they must pay fees on items that won't be shown in search results.
One seller, Easy_buys, who appears to list mainly multiple identical items, said that only one of his 12 listings was showing up in search, despite being responsible for paying the eBay listing fees on all 12 items. This seller raises one of the best question so far — how can eBay accept payments for these listings, yet not "list them" (or hide the listings)?
As always, those who vehemently disagree really tend to be the most vocal in the discussion forums. With that in mind, seller Autogrilles*, suggested that the removal of identical listings from the same sellers does help buyers sort through the listings better, plus it gives more exposure to more sellers giving them a better chance to sell their items. While a few other sellers say that identical listings is just a waste of money, no one seems to be disputing the fact that eBay should be giving sellers exactly what they pay for; and with this new policy that isn't what some sellers are getting.
Links Policy Changes Canned
In other eBay changes this week, or perhaps we should say proposed changes that won't actually take effect, John McDonald, senior director, trust & safety, said the Links Policy updates are being shelved. The updated links policy as proposed back in May would have allowed sellers to include links on their pages to any page on eBay, as well as to PayPal and StubHub. (These would have been in addition to PayPal and eBay stores, which are already allowed.) It also would have allowed more flexibility and options for links to product photos and videos, as well as to third-party and solutions and services directly related to the particular listing. The current Links Policy, for those that need a refresher, can be found here.
eBay Partner Network News
EBay just announced changes to its Partner Network that includes a new pricing structure for Active Confirmed Registered User (ACRU) compensation. This structure is designed to reward affiliates for quality traffic.
Starting this month, new publishers that join the eBay Partner Network will be enrolled in a new quality-based pricing structure for the US program. Under the new plan, each publisher is placed in a quality tier at the end of each month based on that month's and historical traffic. The tiers will range from $1 to $50, and the higher the expected lifetime value of the customers referred by a publisher, the higher the tier.
All publishers that joined the eBay Partner Network before August 1 will remain in the existing pricing tiers for the next few months, however, by November, all publishers will be placed in the new pricing structure for ACRUs. Further details can be read on the eBay Partner Network blog.
PayPal Offers Parents Site For Back-to-School Deals
Hoping to cash in on the upcoming school year, PayPal launched a new back-to-school Web site with the season's hottest deals and styles. In addition, the new site lets parents use their PayPal accounts to avoid busy malls and receive discounts, cash-back offers and other promotions at some of the most popular shopping destinations on the Web, such as American Eagle, eBags, eBay, Guess, OfficeMax and Shoebuy.com.
Coinciding with the launch of the new site, PayPal also released details from its back-to-school survey, which was conducted by ACNielsen Customized Research. Some of the fun findings include the following:
- While most teens concede they need basic school supplies, 52 percent of boys said they wanted a laptop for the back-to-school season; 41 percent of girls listed clothing as the number one item on their shopping lists.
- Friends are still the biggest style influencers for teens (78 percent). Magazines (29 percent), television (27 percent) and family (27 percent) are also factors.
- While moms seek sales and bargains, dads are more likely to assign their kids a budget (43 percent) and let them spend it how they see fit. Dads are also more likely than moms to buy their kids whatever they want (12 percent versus 7 percent).
E-Commerce Cart News Round Up
For those online sellers and merchants who prefer to sell through their own Web shop, rather than using eBay or other alternative marketplaces, this week PrestaShop announced version 1.0 of its free, open source e-commerce solution, and both Summer Cart and Webplus Shop also introduced new versions of their cart software.
PrestaShop Version 1.0 Now Available
PrestaShop, a free and open source e-commerce solution, is now available for download in its latest 1.0 stable release. PrestaShop lets store owners sell an unlimited number of products and includes tools for managing currencies, tax settings, shipping options and languages. Web store owners using this version can also offer customers gift vouchers, recommended accessories and the chance to order out-of-stock items.
Other features found in PrestaShop 1.0, according to the PrestaShop Web site, include the ability to offer special deals, free shipping, package tracking, merchandise return (RMAs), newsletter opt in, inventory management, unlimited product specs and more. PrestaShop is free under the OLS 3.0 license. Merchants interested in checking out the first stable release of PrestaShop can visit the site to download the software, look at a live example of the cart in use on the Pop-Line Web site, or access a full front and back-end PrestaShop demo.
Summer Cart Claims 1,000 Features
Mirchev Ideas announced its latest entry into the shopping cart sector, complete with options for multi-language support, 39 built-in currency options and what the company says is 1,000 other features. According to the company, Summer Cart has all the features to enable a retailer to sell online, with advanced product catalog functions and popular billing and shipping methods. Some of the new features being touted by Mirchev Ideas include a search-engine-friendly product catalog, comprehensive order management, a new content management system, real-time shipping rates from UPS, USPS and FedEx, a multi-language store front and admin panel.
Summer Cart, by Mirchev Ideas, is priced at approx $350, and the company is offering free professional installation until Aug. 31, 2008. Customers can also choose to purchase an additional copyright notice removal license and a lengthier support package.
Webplus Shop Announces Version 6.5
In other cart news, Webplus, Inc. released v6.5 of its platform, Webplus Shop. Online merchants can use Webplus Shop to display products, processes orders and track inventory on the backend. The company says the new version incorporates a number of improvements, including automatic image resizing, a new payment gateway for accepting credit card orders, the ability to customize virtually any element of the shopping cart, as well as an improved store setup and layout tool.
Webplus Shop can be added to an existing Web site or used as a stand-alone business Web site. Pricing for Webplus Shop software is based on a subscription level. At $14.95 per month you can use the cart for 10 products, and subscriptions go up to 1,000 products at $99.95 per month.
Vangie Beal is a seasoned online marketplace seller, frequent contributor to ECommerce-Guide.com and avid online bargain hunter. She is also managing editor of Webopedia.com.
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