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» SEO Tips: Courting Google with Your Content EBay Stores are optional storefronts where individual sellers pay a monthly subscription fee and can display all of the items they have for sale on eBay. With the new version, searches within a seller's Store will include titles, categories, item specifics, and similar keywords for more relevant results, making it more consistent with the rest of eBay.
So far sellers have had a mixed reaction to the news. Some like the new layout — eBay educator Janelle Elms of OSI Rock Stars believes buyers will stay on the site longer and spend more money with a more consistent and less frustrating experience.
Others worry about possible unintended consequences of rolling out a new version or don't see the need for change, particularly after enduring more than a year of major policy and feature changes on eBay.
Storeowners who had customized their Store designs are also worried about whether their templates might break with the new version. EBay said it would begin enforcing Site Interference rules that some owners had been breaking with their design templates. Storeowners who used CSS or Javascript to take over the eBay global header or change the appearance of the in-store search items list might find their Store looks "broken" under the new design, according to eBay, and it will restrict the use of item specific stores tags in the eBay Stores header.
Timed Roll Out, Execution IssuesEBay Storeowners can preview their Stores and may choose to opt-in before April so shoppers can experience the new look and functionality right away. The new format will be optional for now; after March, all Stores will be automatically upgraded. EBay has already identified some issues with the new format and created a thread on its Discussion Boards to keep users up to date.
Cindy Shebley operates the CloverCity Sells eBay Store and has opted in to the new version of Stores. She likes the new design but worries about all of the changes eBay is making to the site. "I believe that this new design makes it easier to skim the page quickly. That's essential," Shebley said. But, she added, "Every time eBay rolls out changes the time it takes to implement them takes away time I could be spending sourcing and selling more product on the site. I hope this new round of changes will stabilize and the upgrades will slow down so sellers can catch their breaths and focus on listing products again."
Storeowners are advised to check the way the new version affects the layout of their Stores sooner rather than later to make sure nothing "breaks," but they may want to quickly opt out again until closer to the changeover date. Because eBay changes the URL of Stores that have opted in to the new design, it appears to cause some temporary problems.
On the Google discussion boards, for example, some users reported they could not send their eBay Stores product feeds to Google Product Search via Base because of the change in their Store URLs. But when they opted back out of the new Stores experience, the problem resolved itself.
EBay had 294,120 Stores in the US as of Dec. 31, 2008, down from 303,600 in June 2008. Worldwide, eBay has 516,000 eBay Stores, 3 percent fewer than a year ago. For more information, read the announcement and FAQ posted by eBay. Ina Steiner is publisher of AuctionBytes.com and the EveryPlaceISell.com merchant directory.
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