eBay

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎11-09-2024

I recently looked at some ebay storefronts, including my own (Using a PC and Chrome, in case that matters)

I created a store billboard ages ago. And I have a video of sorts, and an "About" description on the About tab page.

Now, imagine my surprise and confusion, when, with no announcement and no explanation within the store help pages or the "Edit Store" page, my previously static billboard now scrolls, showing first my actual billboard image, then a clickable link to a pop up if my store video, and then partial text of my About description and a button to link to the whole thing.

Now, I actually like the scrolling billboard idea. But....

Seriously, once again, despite our never ending pleas, no announcement? And in the middle of Q4?

OK, that said, a couple points:

1. There appears to be no seller choice here. I see nothing that indicates I can choose a static billboard OR a scrolling billboard. This seems to be scrolling, period. (At least, if the seller has a video and/or an About text description). Why no choice?

2. My video was made as a slideshow, and the slideshow photos have had their dimensions altered to fit the pop up video size. So, tops and bottoms of some of the items are cut off in the pop up video, which is not the look I want.

3. Obviously, there is a character limit for the text in the final video, and since as sellers, we have no warning about this, it cuts off the text abruptly. If ebay indicated the character number, we could probably revise the "About" text to fit better.

So, what's going on here?

Is this a test? Is it an unannounced change that is in a gradual roll out?

Are we going to be given any information about this?

Not advertising my store, just an easy link to my store front for those who want to see the scrolling Billboard at the top of the page (might not work in all browsers):

https://www.ebay.com/str/mycottagebooksandantiques

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎02-14-2025

@trinketsandtreasures the SELLER decides whether to choose carousel or static .

The carousel appears to run by default, but the viewer can click the pause icon to stop it.

I don't believe the carousel works on the App at this time, so if you are using the App, you won't see it at all...just a static billboard.

mcdougle4248 · ‎02-14-2025

@trinketsandtreasures wrote:
I was hoping to find a solution to this new feature as well. I personally find it distracting to have anything moving or blinking when viewing a web page, and was hoping to find a way to turn off this scrolling billboard. I did see the previous post with screenshot to leave it static, but am not seeing it in my own controls.

Go to your edit store page. Then, click on Tell your story (underneath your logo). The page that opens will have the option to choose Carousel billboard or Standard billboard. It sounds like you want to select the Standard billboard.

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎02-14-2025

@mcdougle4248 @trinketsandtreasures

Yes, @mcdougle4248 is right. And all you need to do is click the static option. That's it.

@trinketsandtreasures Are you saying you never clicked the Carousel option? If so, then ebay is defaulting stores to Carousel, which I don't think will go over very well with store sellers. I have mine set to carousel, but I chose it (or thought I did...maybe it was already on?)

fbusoni · ‎02-14-2025

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques

Just now seeing this crap alteration which will do NOTHING but drive buyers away.

Thank heavens we can turn it off.

eBay seller since 1999. This is a posting ID.

wastingtime101 · ‎02-14-2025

@trinketsandtreasures wrote:
I was hoping to find a solution to this new feature as well. I did see the previous post with screenshot to leave it static, but am not seeing it in my own controls.

@trinketsandtreasures At the very top of this screenshot, see Tell your story? Edit store page is on Stage your store, and you have to click Tell your story to edit your about info and the type of banner. You'll see this below your banner image on the edit store page.

GLORIOUS!

my-cottage-books-and-antiques · ‎02-14-2025

@fbusoni Well, I ratcheted up the crappy level by providing a primitive store video about the sale I'm running.

Mostly because I was curious about how long the review would take (it was fast) and whether it would be approved (it was). Now, the store video is on my About tab page, which I suspect few people go to, but it is also in my carousel billboard, which I'm guessing also has few people, but probably a few more than the About tab page.

I am pretty sure I am in the minority when I say ebay should do more to give us ways to communicate with buyers, but I see at least some possibility of using this to communicate with buyers. (Of course, a lot depends on what ebay permits).

But I could see using the video in a variety of ways, IF the seller can drive enough traffic to the storefront AND IF ebay would provide the sort of granular traffic data we've spent years begging them for.

fbusoni · ‎02-15-2025

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques

In the hands of a professional web designer, the carousel can be effective as an advertising tool.

But making the carousel available to 18 million eBay sellers, of whom perhaps .003% have the necessary design experience to create an effective carousel billboard (with no controls other than what appears in a fixed-size space) is in my opinion irresponsible because it will NOT help sales for the vast majority, and if you want to know why, just do a Google search on the topic, which has been studied to death for many years by design and usability experts.

To start with, the images in a carousel should at minimum be of uniform dimensions. Otherwise the resulting display is amateurish, confusing and for most people, off-putting.

Such a display will REPEL buyers, NOT generate more interest.

The rate at which the images in the carousel shift is critical. When I built websites and was asked to install a carousel, I always provided the site admin with a full set of controls -- speed, fade, and dozens of others to tweak the appearance for optimal results. Of course eBay would never offer such options to 18 million sellers, lest its servers catch fire.

In the wrong hands, the carousel achieves the precise opposite of what it is intended for.

Once again, it seems that eBay engineers discovered a nifty, cool coding feature 10 years too late and have not read the usability literature available to the rest of the human race to realize that they are actually achieving the opposite of what they intend.

The utter lack of coordination within eBay between the technical and marketing sides of the house is apparent... although I should hasten to add that that statement assumes the marketing side of the house knows what IT is doing.

(Tagging @valueaddedresource in case she has any historical context for this absurd "innovation.")

eBay seller since 1999. This is a posting ID.