Ok I admit it i’m a bit of an eBay addict, so challenged with the chance to look at their new interface I just had to indulge.  The interface although not so much different to the old one does cause some confusion, both in searching for items and setting up advanced search criteria. Most of the options still seem to be there but finding them is not that easy.

eBays own SERPs have altered and sellers are concerned their stores aren’t getting the visibility in the last two weeks that they once did. eBay Express could well be the culprit then getting maximum exposure and perhaps taking search traffic from the stores ?

It seems the auction giant is doing its best to make even more of a commercial enterprise.

Hmmm tough one if you just won an Ebay Auction for a Playstation 2, for £95, and instead of the games console and games turning up you get a box full of 65,400 Euros..

The £44,000 question is, what would you do ?, and rememeber under UK law if the money isn’t claimed within 6 months you can potentially apply for it to be returned to you under the Police Property Act.

So do you go to the Police with the money and wait 6 months or go buy a brand new Playstation 3 ;)

DaveN

full story on BBC

Bill Tancer at Hitwise, just did a follow up post on the Ebay and Google tit for tat, here is the story what happened and when it happened on SEL

Anyway Bill posts so interesting upstream data and promises to keep us updated.

DaveN

In a “bid”, excuse the pun to be more friendly to buyer’s eBay will make dramatic changes to its site.
The pressure has finally mounted from investors to give growth a kick to the auction business.
Apparently, the expectation levels of eBay are getting higher; well this is what the analysts are saying.

The acquisition of Skype and other services non-auction related has seen a slow down in auction activity, meaning sellers are finding other sites which do not have such an extensive product range to tout there wares.
New home page design is planned with a simpler interface not to confuse its users.
New ways to deliver search results will be seen in coming months by more focus applied on seller’s feedback from other buyers and what
EBay considers more appealing, rather than item expiry listings.

Accelerated auction growth is anticipated when the major markets of the US and Germany implement the changes.

EBay needs to keep the on the right side of its sellers too, so reduction in carriage charges and other services are expected.

I was bidding on the keyword “Acova“. They make Designer radiators. We are suppliers of Acova radiators and are authorised to do so, and use that keyword. But what really annoys me more than anything is the unfair playing field.

At present you have 7 companies bidding on the keyword Acova, 5 of them using titles.

Acova Radiators Online
Acova
Acova
Discount Acova Products
Acova

and one in the description :

Free Delivery & Discount Prices On
All Acova Heated Towel Radiators

the thing that gets me most is that, Google will look at your Adwords campaign and pull trademarks that’s fine, but don’t you think they should at least type the bloody word into their search engine and see what ads are showing. I don’t mind getting an ad pulled but when all the competition are still using it, that just makes me mad.. so google how about you

a) check for all advertisers that are bidding on a trademark,
b) if an advertiser has gone through the trademark approval in Google, then pop a little (TM) by the ad.

Seriously it would stop people feeling that you are favouring people with bigger spends!! Like I know that Acova want to sell new stuff and not on ebay !!

DaveN

It’s my third week at Bronco Internet and I keep reading lots about people’s online privacy, identity theft stealing of databases and concerns about blogging, what you can and cannot say.

Universities taking legal action for defamation of character when students name and shame their teachers.

Myspace profiles targeted as a reason for people not to be employed the list go on!

Much like the company internet policy documents that had to be drafted up some years ago, which were always somewhat of a legal grey area with their “reasonable personal usage”. Yet, IT Administrators ignore their own company guidelines and actively snoop into people’s personal information.

Will it now be the case that blogging has to be included in the employment contract?

I welcome the recent blog by DaveN and Bronco’s open ear approach to the voice and opinions of its staff, how it demonstrates a level of trust and recognition to the team and their efforts.

Meanwhile, Google find themselves being questioned over data retention periods of more than two years and their proposed acquisition of Double-Click.

Personal surfing habits should be kept secret then?

Think of the potentially powerful marketing information that you would have at hand if you really knew your WORLDWIDE audience lifestyle and surfing habits.

What impact does demographics have on Google Search ?

Geographically targeted advertising has proved very useful.

But imagine this add campaign generated by Google Search Universal Adwords

Paris Hilton Handbag UK

Would you like to target people who regularly search for Paris Hilton after 9 oclock at night using a second hand apple Mac purchased in 2001 through eBay item number 1000334 under user name Del Trotter and listening to their ipod in the UK tick Yes/No?

Would this add campaign apply to those people in a semi detached house living in Norwich with 2 dogs a plasma television and who regularly watch Friends Yes/No?

Which income group should this add be applied to ?

• under 3 p per hour but has money obtained through inheritance following death of close relative back in 1995.
• Over 20k per year but current spending habits is excessive and Google predict breakdown of relationship with spouse.
• Million Plus Google prefers this option.

Update:

Elements of Google’s privacy policy are “vague” and need to be made more precise, the firm’s global privacy counsel has told BBC News.

Dan Horton

A newcomer asks questions

Ok, It’s my second week and DaveN asks me to look into the No Follow tag. He initially asks me what it is ( he knows) I stumble, give a few rather low grade answers- quietly, so nobody else in the office can hear. DaveN looks over,smiles and asks why don’t you look into it Dan…

“no follow” is a relation tag (rel=”nofollow”) ie: Don’t follow this persons link, I wouldn’t trust him/her well I might do, well maybe, what do you think Google?

no follow initiative?  How come it’s an initiative? Oh I know …(Initially used as a mechanism to stop link spam on blogs)

An initiative “The power or right to introduce a new legislative measure”  Hmmmm. That will be the No follow tag then?

Six apart fully supported the tag  rel=”nofollow” back in 2005  link attribute to alert their search spider that a particular link shouldn’t be factored into their PageRank calculations.

The blog  comments on the announcement all supported the idea saying “great idea”, “we will be following” etc quite spammy you might think.

A tactic to protect the huge cogs of the search engine wheel? From a business point of view this tag could be really useful.

Meanwhile, spammers continue to add their own Google juice lubricating the wheel at will?

Oh, i’m new to this so I will play devil’s advocate.

What about legitimate non-spam linkers who will now have as much weight as an anorexic on slimfast ?  Wikipedia voted yes or no, took the tag off then put it back on.

I think the net should be a place to actively share information and valuable resources authority links should be rightly deserved. EBay had problems with its own feedback mechanism, leaving people unaware as to the credibility of the seller; it’s now addressed the problem with a more informative feedback system.

Is Google able to decide on when and how it should be used?

Its seems everyone wants a share of the great Google pie and grubby fingers are all over it at the moment.

Let’s boost the good resources and forget the rest ehh? Not  worry about  PR in Blogs. ( You may wish to start an adwords campaign to resolve this issue or get Google accredited at minimal cost….Google’s pockets are huge)

The tag doesn’t discourage spammers commenting on blogs.
What weight does Google give to the no follow in any case?

Come on open up- tell us.

So effectively, what happens if you’re buying or selling links on your website? Who decides who has the Elixir of youth and who has a tumbler of water?

I think I understand what the tag is about now, it has it’s merits but does it do what it set out to?

Google overlords we bow to you….

PS

Please leave comments here for comments sake and not for the motivation of getting a free link. ;0)

Dan Horton

http://www.google.com/tisp/ <- googles free Tisp home wifi

http://www.webmasterworld.com/ <- webmasterworld shows adsense

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/ <- blog hacked by darkseo and davenator .. hmmm

http://thepiratebay.org/blog/61 <- piratebay to host in North Korea embassy

http://customsoftwareconsult.com/extensions/uberware/uberware.html <- Firefox extension thats
way too good to be true

http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/03/31/techcrunch-has-acquired-fuckedcompanycom/ <- TechCrunch to Acquired FuckedCompany.com actually thats a good move lol

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ <- launches sniff screen.

DaveN

After playing with the aeron chair, my attention moved to Paul Mckenna, If you ever need to get your head sorted give Paul a go..

DaveN

If you can’t afford a new Aeron Chair, that’s a Herman Miller Aeron Chair, buy one on ebay.

added : Aeron Chair sizechart :), and a TIP WHEN SEARCHING EBAY.. Search for “AERON” not ” Herman Miller Aeron” if you’re quick you could get a Aeron from £30 that’s because the guy forgot to add Herman Miller .. lol

DaveN