eBay are running a test to display items from eBay UK and eBay.de on eBay France. Items will only be displayed from UK and German eBay Top Rated Sellers and currently only a group of French buyers will see items from these two countries.
The big advantage for French buyers is that they’ll see items from the UK and Germany without having to log in to eBay.co.uk or eBay.de. The experiment will almost certainly mirror other recent eBay International Visibility experiments by displaying inventory that is in short supply on eBay France.
Assuming the tests displaying products on overseas eBay sites is successful and made permanent it does bring into question the viability of paying for the International Site Visibility upgrade on listings.
2 Responses
The idea of paying for international visibility was the work of either a silly billy or a genious at eBay.
Increase sales and final value fees by expanding the visibility of goods for sale and at the same time charge fees for offering the service of allowing its sellers to do this.
Given that final value fees are almost certainly the biggest income generator at eBay it is sort of self defeating to charge for international visibility (which may put sellers off the increased visibility) as resulting lower sales and lower values realised result in lower final value fee income.
Genious or silly billy?
Make up your own mind…
I don’t mind listing on eBay Germany and France as I do offer items that have Europewide appeal but what about the language issues?
I do appreciate that there are companies that will translate your listings for you.
Is the trial limited to sale items that are translated into French and German using translation services?
Or are the basic listings in English?
Multiligual listings may require multilingual titles with say 3 title rows with each row in English, French and German. I don’t have an issue with this and it would make ebay Europe a truely cosmopolitan place to hang out.
Will eBay be offering those who wish to list in Europe additional title rows to accomodate this multi language style of listing?