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