WIDshops is a different proposition to Create Your Template though, it’s not flash based, you don’t need ChannelAdvisor to have a WIDshops design and it’s a lot more affordable. WIDshops are fully HTML5 designs which and optimally tuned for the latest mobile devices including the iPhone and iPad. They’re also compatible with all eBay listing and management tools as well as Facebook and Twitter integration.

The key to WIDshops is the navigation, you’ll not need to worry about eBay Shop Categories (I’ve always found that listing in an eBay category and a shop category adds unnecessary time to the listing flow). WIDshops utlises eBay categories and Item Specifics to automatically generate search results and display your listings in you shop.

Although the basic WIDshops layout is fixed, it’s highly customisable and can be a brand new look and feel for your eBay shop, or it can just as easily be made to look just like your existing website. You can choose from one large top image or from a series of smaller banners although WIDshops don’t recommend more than six as it would start to look cluttered.

The key features of WIDshops are: an Adaptable homepage, Dynamic search, Adaptable product view, Integration of custom pages, Category filter navigation, Cross-selling galleries, Full text search, Social Bookmarks and of course full eBay integration. WIDshops are also an eBay certified solution so you have no worries on compatibility.

An important part of WIDshops is that it runs on their own servers – this means that whenever changes are needed or eBay tweak the back end of the site you’ll never have to manually make changes to your shop design. WIDshops will take care of this in the background to ensure your eBay shop always looks stunning and works.

Costs for a WIDshops design are around £1500 plus a monthly service fee depending upon the number of listings you have. If you’re interested in WIDshops make sure you’ve downloaded the eBay & eCommerce Tools & Services Guide 2012, it’s got a discount voucher for WIDshops in the back.

Of course no such article would be complete today without advice on how to protect your Detailed Seller Ratings and Mark covers this as well along with how to give gold star service and handle eBay communications.

Mark has done his homework with quotes from Angus McCarey, eBay’s Retail Director, Patrick Munden, eBay Head of Communications and he’s even squeezed in a quote from TameBay.

There’s advice for everyone trading on eBay whether it be how to rack up your customer service a notch, how to get to grips with eBay search, or just how to lower your eBay fees then the article is worth perusing.

If you’re near a reputable newsagent or WHSmith then a copy will set you back a mere £5.99, but as an added bonus you’ll find a £50.00 Google adwords voucher inside (valid to 14/2/12 dropping to £35.00 until 31/3/12). That’ll pay for the magazine and more, but to be honest if you run an eBay business (or especially if you are thinking of setting up an eBay business) then this is a must read article.

You can also buy the digital version of the .net magazine with the eBay article direct from the .net website, or directly from Apple for the iPad or iPhone.

Angus McCarey, director of eBay Enterprise, said “The Fashion Outlet is our fastest growing sales channel.” Fashion sales have grown 25% in the last year. Since launch in May, sales through Fashion Outlet have generated around £4m revenue for the brands sellling through the site.

eBay’s publicity remains relentlessly about the brands. Angus again: “We know that consumers are increasingly looking for a range of high-quality high street goods at low prices, and eBay’s Fashion Outlet provides them with the ability to purchase goods from the brands they love.”

Is there any good news for smaller sellers in all this? It’s to be hoped that there is a knock-on effect from promoting eBay as a destination site for fashion shoppers. The bizarrely unusable category landing page for Clothing, Shoes and Accessories does feature items from non-outlet sellers. With 4.6 million buyers purchasing fashion items from eBay UK in the three months from May this year, at least some of them must end up in the shops of underpromoted smaller sellers. Mustn’t they?

If US sellers are anything like UK sellers this one will kick up a stink as sellers complain it’s another knock for Store owners and that the link should be kept to promote sellers who have invested in their eBay store.

Most significant is a change to the navigation bar at the top of the page. “eBay Motors” has been added, and some users are reporting seeing a “Fashion Outlet” button here as well as the normal “Outlet” one. This presumably is linking to the new fashion site for brands: contrary to what eBay told us at the time, the general Outlets tab has stayed too.

Non-outlet sellers are quite rightly asking why, when this tiny group of stores merits two links, we can’t have the old “Shops” tab back as well: there’s plenty of room left on that navigation bar.

Then there are a bunch of fiddly little changes that will doubtless cause eBay users to wonder why those things are being changed when there are Great Big Things that need fixing rather a lot more urgently. The disappearance of the underlining on forum topic titles has caused some comment, with even eBay UK’s community manager saying that “personally I’m not a fan” of the change.

For no good reason I can see, the Search button at the top of the page sometimes goes lime green. This one sometimes happens and sometimes doesn’t for me. Confused? You soon will be.

There are also changes to the details shown in search results, with seller name showing in list view, and proximity in gallery view. Seller name is a nice idea: as a buyer, I like to be able to spot my favourites and avoid some other sellers easily, and for sellers, it all adds to name recognition.

Proximity though is largely-useless crud on the page – I honestly don’t care if a CD or a pair of shoes comes from Lands End or John O’Groats. If I were in the market for a big heavy bit of furniture, I’d be more than happy to do a special search by area just for that, but it’s not needed for the vast majority of eBay purchases, and is only going to lead to more buyers expecting lowered postage costs “because you’re only down the road from me” (think I’m joking? I’m so not).

Many thanks to Jon from Beatchapter for the screenshots and the heads up.

What have you seen? If you’ve spotted anything we haven’t, leave us a comment (and grab a screenshot if you can).

(And ten points to the house of your choice for the movie in the title.)

Updated to add:
Pics of the old and new versions of search supplied by the lovely Darth Baggins:

	Old version
	New version

The new version seems to make better use of screen space – and it didn’t take long for them to start shrinking the TRS badge, did it?!

Spot the difference

Although this is currently a test I’d expect to see it roll out for all users in the near future. Back in November eBay removed the shops module from eBay.com, and now their testing in the UK unless some surprising results come up the shops module is pretty much history.

It’s also worth noting that for both eBay.com and eBay UK SIF listings (shop inventory format) are no longer available. When much of a sellers inventory could be hidden from the main search results there was a strong case for higher shop visibility. Today Best Match is supposed to surface the best matching listings across the entire site so driving traffic to shops appear less of a priority. Having said that some categories attract browsers who want to pick and mix from a selection from a single seller so removing matching shops could affect some more than others.

eBay say that the module is very rarely used (except by sellers) and the reason for it’s removal is to speed up page load times. I have a better idea for them though… how about removing some of the off-eBay adverts as that’d save a fair amount of bandwidth!

Removing the graphics used to build these modules will result in faster page loads and eBay say that faster page loads directly correlate to more sales. They also say that they don’t see many clicks to these two sections of the search result pages so impact should be minimal.

In the mean time many UK sellers are still sore at losing the Shops tab from the top of eBay pages. Personally I think there’s less justification for keeping that page element – On eBay UK there are no Shop Inventory Format (SIF) listings left, every item is in main search. There really is no need to direct buyers to a shops search to reveal additional items when every item is visible in the main site search. That’s not the case on eBay.com where SIF listings still exist and 10s of 1000s of items can’t be found from the main site search.

Removing shops visibility is always a touchy subject for eBay sellers, but do the modules really make a difference to sales? I’m pretty sure that there are some strong opinions out there but ultimately eBay are the only ones who see the full click through rates for the definitive answer. What’s your gut feeling though? Do the shops links make a difference to your sales on eBay?

Via Auctionbytes

What do the monthly subscriptions for “shop & template” and “image hosting” pay for?
Shop and template covers the hosting of the actual graphics which make up the design and branding inside a store and a listing template. Every time a listing or a store is viewed that means a call to our servers so that the graphics can be displayed. The fees we charge represent our costs, which with popular items and popular sellers – can be quite expensive.
Image hosting is exactly what it says – this is optional for eBay sellers. We also offer a website solution where our hosting is required.

Why did you charge for the NSE update on top of the monthly “shop & template subscription”?
We invest an incredible amount of time and money into developing our product and regularly launch free updates, which are often based on customer requests for enhancements etc. When eBay released NSE it meant a complete graphical structure change to the basic store template and in addition changed the way in which code had to be delivered. For any designer delivering advanced graphics (not basic logo and picture!) It meant a massive structural and coding re-write.

A popular misconception has been that the monthly subscription covers everything from hosting to free updates to 24/7 phone support. It would be great if we could offer all this for just £15 a month but unfortunately that is not economically viable.

Why have you started charging for support?
Frooition is committed to providing great customer service by ensuring that customers can keep selling successfully without problems. Our software is really strong and robust and now we have a great support solution, which suits all budgets. Whether urgent response times are needed or clients simply want minor changes making here and there we have a support structure to deal with it.

Can I still get support without paying?
Absolutely, we have a whole suite of video tutorials, a knowledge base, faq’s, a forum and a ticket system with a guaranteed response time. We are constantly adding to our knowledge base and video library to bring you the most up to date information, as well as hints and tips to help improve your workflow.

Do I have to pay if I find a bug/error.
Of course not, whether it’s a bug or a feature we don’t currently offer we have a facility for customers to notify us so that we can fix and perhaps include updates in future versions of our software.

Some say that Frooition have run out of cash and are now desperate to get cash off customers since the investors have left.
I am actually really pleased to say that Frooition is a profitable business and is completely self supporting. It’s true the seed investors are no longer involved in the business on a day to day basis and this is because the business has a strong and capable management team who are driving the business forward. Frooition continues to deliver great results for clients as well as the capacity to develop new exciting products and services for the future.

What do you say to users who think the Frooition NSE is not as fully implemented as the old Frooition shops – why is the design cost still the same when effectively you’re only doing one page?
NSE has meant change and there are huge pluses to the way the new store looks and feels. We have much more flexibility in terms of the style design and branding we can deliver per page within eBay’s guidelines. Listing templates are completely unaffected and there’s still loads we can do with these.

Why do you not template all shop pages when other designers do?
We work really closely with eBay to ensure that our designs are compliant. EBay are retiring their old storefront on May 20th2009. Frooition customers who have upgraded to NSE are 100% safe and compliant.

Using certain versions of Internet Explorer there is a pop-up blocker when clicking on custom promo boxes and the frooflow box – can you (when will you) fix this?
Currently links from the promo boxes on the new store experience launch to a new browser window. Following feedback from clients we realize that some browser toolbars maybe blocking these links. We will be implementing a change to this to launch links within the same browser window, which we will be rolling out automatically to all of our NSE clients with the next few weeks.

Why don’t shop categories on live listings update?
Categories can be updated within the frooition software, this does change this information dynamically both within the storefront and a users listings. EBay’s change to its store front does mean that the categories are displayed differently, but frooition has added tools to its software to enable users to change categories that will also change category content within live listings.

Similarly the “more items” box doesn’t update on live listings.
The “more items” cross promotion box on listings does update dynamically, even on live listings, this information is directly collected from an users eBay account, and the information contained within a “more items” promo box is wholly dependent on the cross promotion settings within a store owner’s eBay account.

Any comment on certain people’s insistence that your templates have been breaking eBay’s rules for years. Is the Frooition NSE fully compliant with eBay regulations.
LOL– yes, Frooition are 100% compliant and continue to set the standard in leading eBay design. With over a million live listings at any one time and combined feedback of over 11 million – we work very closely with eBay, they see everything we do so of course we are compliant and more importantly so are our clients.

There are reports your hosting was down on the weekend of the 25th/26th. Was this a temporary glitch or could it happen again?
Frooition continue to invest significantly in our dedicated server farm (hosted and managed by Rackspace in Dallas) to cope with growing demand for our services, and this is exactly what the hosting and subscription fees cover. The froo infrastructure has been designed and built with best of breed hardware, software, and network products from providers including HP, Cisco, Red Hat, MySQL, Panther and High-Availability.Com.

In order to significantly bolster system capacity and performance, on we recently implemented a new high-end database cluster and seamlessly brought it online with no disruption to any of our clients.

After this most recent investment, even during peak traffic times, our infrastructure is now running at less than 10% server capacity and we have a massively scalable infrastructure that will continue to grow with us.
 
 
Frooition will be reading responses to this thread and are happy to answer any additional questions. It would be helpful if you could state in your comments if you are either a Frooition customer, work for an eBay services provider (or eBay), or if you simply have a casual interest in the topic.

Disclosure: Frooition advertise with TameBay.

A company is looking to set up their first shop on eBay and like everyone else have started out with zero feedback. They need to open a shop (minimum 10 feedback or PayPal verified) and want to make use of fixed price listings (minimum 10 feedback and PayPal verified) so the quickest way to achieve this is from buying.

Needless to say when I advised them to get a budget from their manager and go spending they had no hesitation in doing just that. A spending spree on office funds, what could be better? I suggested mundane items such as paper, ink, toner and staples but they had much better ideas. £700 for a new CCTV system? Not a problem, we’ve been meaning to get one for ages!

Two hours and well over £1000 later and they’ve already got their first two feedback from sellers that leave feedback on payment. Just another eight to go which in all likelihood will come from sellers with automatic feedback left on receipt of feedback so it might take a couple of days. They’ve bought more than 10 items to make sure they get more than the 10 feedback needed

Buying is fun though, even when it’s at third hand it’s still exciting. Most sellers spend all their time on eBay selling – if you’ve not been on a buying spree for some time then Christmas is just the excuse you need to go spending.

There’s a good business justification for buying on eBay as well – how will you know the pitfalls your buyers have to face and how search works unless you genuinely use the site yourself as well? Buying is the perfect way to spend a morning and it’s justifiable as “work”.

In view of the fee changes and possible discounts which level eBay shop should you subscribe to? eBay have a microsite which goes into the changes in depth including a cute (and useful) shop fee illustrator.

What this site doesn’t cover is the added benefits of shops over and above pure fee discounts, however as a start point it’s worth looking at when BINs justify a shop on their own merits. The following table shows the level eBay shop you should choose based on the number of fixed price listings you have on the site.

An anchor shop had no real advantage over a featured shop in the past, so it’s good to see real anchor shop benefits introduced. Anchor shops are still not suitable for most sellers, only those with over 7500 product lines (not listings!) will be able to justify the cost.

Feature	Basic Shop	Featured Shop	Anchor Shop
Cross Promotions
Shop Categories
Listing Frame
Markdown Manager
Holiday Settings
Minimal Page Header	-
Telephone Support	-
Sales Reports Plus	£3.00
SMP	£4.99
Scheduling*	6p/listing
Email Marketing	1000 free	2500 free	5000 free
Custom Shop Pages	5	10	15
Traffic Reports	Basic	Extended	Extended
Shop Promotion	Basic	Priority	Priority

* Free scheduling requires SMP subscription

If you already use SMP and/or wish to make use of scheduling then the benefits of a featured shop really start to stack up. Sellers with a basic shop but subscribed to SMP should upgrade to a featured shop if they have more than 160 BIN listings live on the site at any one time.

Anchor and Featured Shop subscriptions will come with telephone support, a great bonus for non-PowerSellers who would otherwise be reliant on email support.

Which ever level eBay shop you consider remember that your listing strategy is likely to change.

eBay are encouraging sellers to list just one fixed price listing for each product line. In the past you may have listed the same item on a daily or even hourly basis. When choosing your shop subscription from 24th September you should factor in a reduction in your total number of fixed price listings.

It’s worth considering auctions, even if you don’t currently have them in your listing mix. Fixed price listings will no longer be sorted with “Ending Soonest”, but auctions will. The one way to ensure visibility of your items on the first page of search results is to run auction listings.

The mix of auctions and fixed price listings on the first page of search results will vary by category. In collectible categories I’d expect to see more auctions and in commodity categories it’s likely a higher percentage of fixed price listings will be displayed. It will be worth experimenting to see if auctions attract more buyers both to bid and to drive traffic to your fixed price listings.

We are aware that the changes to shops are making it unprofitable for sellers of low cost, low sell through rate, unique items to list their inventory on eBay. Currently there is no easy solution and it’s hoped eBay will address this situation prior to the changes going live on 24th September or hundreds of thousands of products will disappear from the site.

For sellers of higher priced items the reduction in listing fees and change of listing strategy should make it economically viable to list more product lines in greater quantities.

Finally there are still some notable holes in the fee structure to take advantage of:

• Technology and Media products have lower final value fees
• Multiple quantity fixed price listings will now have lower insertion fees than Dutch Auctions
• Listing enhancements will cost up to 3 times as much for 30 day listings – consider shorter fixed price listings if you have limited stock.