Listing Frame

[creativecrisis]

tyler@ebay 

Thanks for your response to my question on the community chat today. As you requested, I'm including a link to one of my listings. If you scroll down, you can see that the listing frame includes my store information, a message I created for buyers, and the categories I wanted to feature when I was last able to do an update. At minimum, I need to edit those categories. Even better, I'd love it if the listing frame could include my store billboard. Thanks for taking a look at this.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/203731514926 

[pburn]

I'm not Tyler, but boy, what a great store! Love your listings, photos, fibers, everything . . . great job! (I've saved it for future reference!)

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@creativecrisis tyler@ebay 

The Header/Listing Frame is a long time perk exclusive to store sellers. The page to edit the Listing Frame has been of dubious value, as some things worked, some didn't, and ebay left it that way for years. At one time, there was a link to the page in Seller Hub, but that appears to have been removed, presumably as part of the Stores Team overhaul of the store home page design. So, as far as I can tell, there is no way to get to that page, UNLESS you have the old link bookmarked. I believe this will get you to the page:

https://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?SetupYourCustomListingHeader&saved=true&displaytype=2

However, as I noted, not all the features are functional. It is basically a zombie page, and, as a result, there are literally millions of store listing pages that have listing frames that no one can fully edit.

So, the stores team took away easy access to the page, but did not actually remove the page. But they also did not fix the non-working parts. And since few sellers will ever find the page, our listing frames are basically lost in limbo, which is NOT  good for buyers or sellers.

One of my resolutions for the New Year is to edit and simplify my Store Categories, but I frankly have no idea what happens if I do that....presumably, my new store categories will show properly on the Stores Home page, but will they show properly in the listing frame? I don't know. 

Frankly, this is a mess, and needs to be fixed. I suspect the Stores team believed their responsibility was to the Store Home Page, and not to the Listing Page design, which probably is the responsibility of another team. BUT the header/listing frame, as an exclusive stores perk, IS the responsibility of the Stores team, or at the very least, is one they share with the Listing Page team...and someone needs to step up and fix this, ASAP.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

tyler@ebay I just want to be clear on this: If I change my store categories but those changes aren't carried over onto the listing frame, I will then have correct store categories on my store home page and conflicting incorrect categories on all my listing pages, which could cause a lot of confusion to say the least.

Sellers aren't screaming about this, and  ebay seems to believe nothing needs to be fixed unless a certain number of complaints are heard, but, seriously.....this needs to be a PRIORITY, because the stores team has taken a bad thing (a semi functional page) and made it worse (millions of zombie listing frames).

[dhbookds]

To add to the discussion about listing frame.......relative to the categories that are shown on listings......I chose some years ago to use Ebay categories, rather than make my own.  That is still an option......but this is what shows on a listing:

Obviously, not even a small % of the categories in which I list.....  I've asked repeatedly about this since Open and before and no one has ever answered.......  I have changed to My own categories and then back......several times.......still as you see it.......  On the Store Landing page, all the Ebay categories show up on the drop down.......but NOT on the listing page........

[creativecrisis]

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@pburn wrote:

I'm not Tyler, but boy, what a great store! Love your listings, photos, fibers, everything . . . great job! (I've saved it for future reference!)

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Wow! Thank you for the feedback. You made my day. 😊

[creativecrisis]

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques 

Thanks for adding this detail.  Completely agree that it's past time to fix the listing frame; it could be so useful if it worked correctly.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@creativecrisis  I suspect the listing frame will be going away at some point (in part because it is probably very old code), but if so, it will hopefully be replaced by a more modern substitute with some or all of the same features (and maybe more). I like the new store home page, a definite improvement in my opinion...the entire listing page is overdue for a similar overhaul....it could be so much better.

[creativecrisis]

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques 

Well, it only took them a few years to fix the stores. We might have a new listing frame by 2027. 🤣🤣

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@creativecrisis Sad to say, I fear you are right. Around 2017, there was talk about revamping stores, but instead, the Stores Team was abruptly dissolved. And it hasn't really come back until recently....and it's taken a long time for the team to get to where they are now (which is where they should have been in 2017 or earlier). Stores have been neglected for years, and I think that was a decision made by the last CEO. The current CEO seems to understand that stores have real value for the site and for sellers...now if they could just move a little quicker LOL

We can only hope they revamp the listing page a little faster than they revamped the store home page. So far, ebay hasn't had much to say about it. LOL

[tyler@ebay]

Thank you so much for getting me this info @creativecrisis - and I also have to agree with @pburn, your store is beautiful. Also your handmade cards are so cute!

I have some frustrating news though: the Listing Frame itself as a feature has been deprecated. This means that there isn't a way I can find for you (or myself) to manage the listing frame now that it's gone. 

I've asked for some detail from the Stores team: is it a feature that they're 'revamping' with intent to re-release or is it gone? And if it is gone, how do folks who had it turned on when it was removed as a feature manage it?

I will update you as I hear back!

[creativecrisis]

Thanks so much for looking into this, tyler@ebay . I'll be curious to hear the response from the Stores team. While the code for the listing frame may have been deprecated, the listing frame itself is still out here on some store sellers' listings, so we do need some way to manage it. BTW, the bookmarked link that @my-cottage-books-and-antiques provided earlier worked for me to make the urgent edits to my listing frame, so that's maybe a temporary solutions for others who need to do some quick fixes.

Really appreciate your kind words about my store! 😊 The new functionality has definitely helped me take it up several notches in terms of design.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

Thanks Tyler!  

Deprecating the listing frame feature while allowing it to remain live on listings has created zombie listing frames which are going to be an ongoing problem if they don't either just remove the frame entirely (not just hide the page that allows us to edit it) or replace the frame with a new version. I realize both these options might take some time, but at the very least they need to make their intentions clear. 

Management talks a lot about transparency and seller engagement, but just leaving us in the dark is too often the reality. I sincerely thank you for making the effort to get an answer to this.

[tyler@ebay · Accepted solution]

@creativecrisis, @my-cottage-books-and-antiques , @dhbookds & @pburn - I heard back about this!

 The Listing Frame as we know it has been 'walled up' but not retired - meaning you cannot get to the controls (more on that in a bit) but it's still a live feature. 

The longer term plan on this is to rebuild and relaunch it with a better codebase and a refreshed look soon (I was told Q1), but they are still working through it. 

In the meantime, they gave me a direct link that should work to take anyone to the Listing Frame control options and let them update or change them. The link is here. 

I'm going to accept this as the solution so it floats just below the OP for anyone coming to the thread fresh. 

Thanks for your patience while I waited to hear back and Happy New Year!

[pburn]

Thanks for your follow-up on this, tyler@ebay. Appreciate your time and effort!