New Store Format Bad For Sellers and Buyers... Or Am I Wrong?

[laughingravy21]

It looks like they've changed the format for eBay stores.  At first I was impressed with it's nice clean look.  However, I think it's going to mean decreased sales and a much worse experience for buyers.

First, searches within the stores are useless, including the default search box that eBay includes directly underneath the item specifics.  It goes directly to the main store page, showing all items as organized by best match.  In other words, it's not searching anything at all, so it just defaults to the main page.

Second.  Forget about using internal links to make it easier for buyers to find either "sets", or similar items.  That doesn't work either.  So as an example, say you're selling vintage postcards and you have a keyword search link to all your items by a particular company or artist, perhaps Ellen Clapsaddle.  That doesn't work anymore.  Any internal link will default back to the main store page.  Those are the same links that eBay previously allowed and actually still has a link generator to create them.

Third.  The search box at the very top of the store page, does actually work.  It's the only one I've found that does.  I've personally never used that when browsing somebody elses store but kudos to eBay for allowing at least some ability to search.  That said, it seems that, now, eBay is selling outside advertising within stores.  The very first search I tried, returned an off-site "featured ad" in the very top, number one, spot.  I replicated it with a few other searches.  So, and I'm talking anchor store, it seems we're paying for the privelege of having eBay direct buyers to shop elsewhere.  Again, the outside ads were the VERY FIRST thing seen searching within the store.

[laughingravy21]

I've been playing around in some stores, trying to see if there's any easy way of navigating and searching them.  Sadly, I've discovered that even using the search at the top of the page won't display all results.  It will display even fewer results if you search by title and description. Title and description searches seem to show results for "description" only and ignore the title entirely.

I have also discovered that there are items which don't show up in a store search at all.  It's not across the board, but I can type the exact title of items into ebay's "search this store" (the main one at the top of the pages), and the items will not show up anywhere.  Even searching the exact eBay item number will not return a result in the store search.

[ymeagainlord]

The search this store search bar at the top ONLY shows ALL cats in the dropdown. How is THAT an 'improvement"? Especially since they've decided to list our store categories without showing the subcats.

[laughingravy21]

This is what I get by searching miniature in Pro-Spins store.....  I don't know what level store they have, but I'm paying for an anchor store and have the same situation happening.

[demyan1978]

I like the view of new store and it is mobile friendly. I had very good sales few days ago in "old format store". Now they are low. Also Clicks in Promotions fall down. Links inside listings to my categories don't work - if you click on it then you will see all listings from my store, not from the catagery.

Hope everything will be OK soon.

[ymeagainlord]

Yep. Seeing the same thing.

There should NOT be 'featured" listings on a seller's store search . PERIOD.

[packratville]

That's what I'm seeing. How incredibly stupid. If I'm searching your store for "miniature," I don't care to have a huge ad in my face, especially as the very first item - and totally unrelated to what I'm looking for.

I like consistency, and by that I don't mean all the stores looking identical (think "Little Boxes" by Malvina Reynolds). But consistency in where the search button is, how things function from day to day. Every day with eBay it's something different. And the more they switch things around, the more they introduce glitches that make the selling and buying experience less than pleasant.

[ymeagainlord]

This "new" layout is not only going to irate sellers, but also buyers.

[ted_200]

I suspect there are a lot of other buyers who feel the same way. I've purchased over $200k on Ebay and don't use the store format.

I'm just like you, I never use it as a buyer either, it's "See Other Listings" 100% of the time.

As a seller, and I do have a Store some of the time, I wished I could just get the pricing plan, and make the actual store go away entirely (I don't have thousands of listings, and I run 100% auctions).

All that was even before they made it worse, which based on what I'm reading here is exactly what this is.  The featured ads and redirecting traffic out of the Store is pretty low.  Stuff that doesn't work, that's par for the course.  More search stuff that doesn't work?  Yikes. 

[ymeagainlord]

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@ymeagainlord wrote:
This "new" layout is not only going to irate sellers, but also buyers.

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That was supposed to be irritate

[ymeagainlord]

If someone actually goes to my store and searches it how DARE they show other sellers ads?

[newview]

I've seen better Myspace pages than this new eBay store layout.

[enchanted_teacup]

I find the look of the new store front appealing.  I find the function apalling. 

The sort order does not stick, I have to reset it every time.  This is important to me as it's one way I keep track of things.

The search box is horrible.  Staying within a store to search is far more useful than being taken out to the rest of the site.

If they would just put the search box the way it was and make the sort order stick, I could live with the new format. 

[booksandjava]

We have called and wrote merchant support.  Here is part of what we said:

How long do you think it would take Home Depot to react if Lowe’s hung a banner in front of Home Depot? And if that sounds unethical, How long do you think it would take Home Depot to react to Lowe’s sending a cart of stuff to sell in Home Depot with a Lowe’s check out person selling in the Home Depot store?

This is now what is happening when customers request to “search this store.” I would suspect with over 4000 promoted listings, we benefit from this new marketing strategy, however that does not make the policy a good policy. It is also slightly deceptive when customers “search this store” and get results from “this store” along with other stores.

[booksandjava]

We contacted merchant support and let our store voice be heard.  Here is part of what we stated:

How long do you think it would take Home Depot to react if Lowe’s hung a banner in front of Home Depot? And if that sounds unethical, How long do you think it would take Home Depot to react to Lowe’s sending a cart of stuff to sell in Home Depot with a Lowe’s check out person selling in the Home Depot store?

This is now what is happening when customers request to “search this store.” I would suspect with over 4000 promoted listings, we benefit from this new marketing strategy, however that does not make the policy a good policy. It is also slightly deceptive when customers “search this store” and get results from “this store” along with other stores.

[booksandjava]

How long do you think it would take Home Depot to react if Lowe’s hung a banner in front of Home Depot? And if that sounds unethical, How long do you think it would take Home Depot to react to Lowe’s sending a cart of stuff to sell in Home Depot with a Lowe’s check out person selling in the Home Depot store?

This is now what is happening when customers request to “search this store.” I would suspect with over 4000 promoted listings, we benefit from this new marketing strategy, however that does not make the policy a good policy. It is also slightly deceptive when customers “search this store” and get results from “this store” along with other stores.