[CA Catalyst] eBay reveal more details on Adcommerce and Multi-Variation Listings

No primary category set

In an informal session today, eBay revealed more of their future plans for two new additions to the site. Firstly, Adcommerce: conversion data is coming! A trial release of an updated dashboard which includes sales information will roll out shortly in the US and in Germany: quite why the UK’s been excluded, I’m not sure, but the product you see today is not a finished one. eBay’s message is that it’s being developed in response to seller feedback, so if you get either a survey request or a telemarketing call, make your feelings known!

I also asked if it will ever be possible to advertise something other than your eBay listings via Adcommerce: i.e. I want to advertise my website rather than my eBay Shop. The answer I got was extremely non-committal, but I get the feeling that eBay haven’t entirely ruled this out as a future development.

There were also more details on the “multi-variation listings” which Mark Lewis announced yesterday. These are to roll out in three stages:

  1. June 15th: UK, US, DE in men’s shoes and women’s shoes only.
  2. July 15th: UK, US, CA, CAfr, DE, IE, AT, CH, IT in all clothing categories and some Home and Garden.
  3. Date TBC: rest of Europe, all categories.

In the US and Canada, any seller currently permitted to offer multi-item listings will have MVLs available, but in Europe, a Shop subscription will be necessary.

It will be possible to vary the price within listings: e.g. larger shirts can cost more, but shipping prices cannot be varied. Sellers can remove particular variants from a listing with sales without needing to end the entire listing. Variations will be indexed for search, so you can list red, blue and yellow shirts without necessarily needing to mention each colour in your title.

MVLs are a voluntary feature: if sellers want to carry on listing variants separately, they’re free to do so. I’ll be testing this one to see how buyers react to it – they’re so used to single-feature listings on eBay that it’ll be a bit of a shock to suddenly have variants available.

8 Responses

  1. Why the hostility?

    I read this as a report of a seminar. This will be interesting (and understandable #2) to part of the Tamebay readership and not to others.

  2. Just so my comment at #1 is clear.

    AdCommerce Conversion Data.
    “eBay’s message is that it’s being developed in response to seller feedback”

    Conversion data is a vital part of any adword campaign, it beggers belief it wasn’t there in the 1st place.

  3. conspiracy theory>
    I’m sure the idea with adcommerce is to get people used to the adds as a feature of the site in a not overly negative way (better than off site links) then once they are established start allowing off site linking. <conspiracy theory

    But will eBay have the discipline of google and keep the adds in a discrete and fixed position & format & why would an advertiser choose the adcommerce product over adwords?

  4. Thanks Sue, nice to get the low down on Catalyst from a reliable source especially for those of us who were not lucky enough to be there. Some very interesting points to ponder and to help ‘plan’ the next 6 months eBaying.

    No future plans for a Catalyst creche then? Maybe more of us Mumpreneurs could attend 😀

RELATED POSTS..

News-UK

eBay and News UK team up to push targeted content

eBay-Promoted-Listings-ft

eBay announce “Promoted Listings” feature

eBay-Promoted-Listings

eBay Promote Your Listings trial coming to UK

eBay-Promoted-Listings

eBay Promoted Listings Beta keyword tests in US

overstock

Overstock.com takes $1m Bitcoin payments in 2 months

Featured in this article from the ChannelX Guide – companies that can help you grow and manage your business.

Latest

Take a look through a selection of the latest articles on ChannelX

Register for Newsletter

Receive 5 newsletters per week

Gain access to all research

Be notified of upcoming events and webinars