A ‘New eBay’ View Item Page coming soon

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As I learnt in New York this week, at the “New eBay” press event, eBay is planning to launch a brand new View Item page in the not too distant future.

The redesigned View Item page will require greater input from sellers to be truly effective, and have a similar look and feel to the scrollable Feed.

The first thing that leaps out is the massive 500 pixel image (see the image below). This is a good thing. Too often I see items on eBay with relatively small images that don’t entice buyers or help them buy. Bad, small images of items for sale are just not going to cut it in the future. If you want to sell, you’ll need large pictures that benefit from the zoom function.

You’ll also notice the new eBay page header with the prominent search box. That will soon be a consistent feature across all eBay pages.

For buyers, all the critical information needed to make a purchase is now up top – price, size options and shipping details. And make sure you notice the item specifics. They’re front and centre and totally in a buyer’s face. If you’re not filling out all the Item Specifics, you’re going to need to start doing so now, if you want your items to sell.

This does, of course, open up a big question – how important are descriptions on eBay? And how many buyers will simply click to buy, based on the information at the top of the page? Don’t forget on a mobile device, it’s a second click to see the description, so it’s now ultra important for sellers to include key information in your title, your images or your item specifics.

Some of the Seller Information has been relegated to make space. eBay have moved it from the header, down in to its own section beneath the description.

You’ll also notice that the Top Rated Seller logos on the new eBay View Item page are very small indeed. And links to a seller’s eBay shop are also not where they used to be.

Top Rated Seller logos are now so small as to be unimportnat on the new View Item page and the link to your Shop/Store link is buried in the Seller Information box, below the description. The link to a Seller’s Other Items remains up top though.

Social media sharing buttons are present, as are eBay’s Like Want Own social favourites. Then there’s the Add to Watch list button, which is much more prominent than before and also now shows how many others are currently watching an item. That’s a good new addition.

Overall, eBay have far too many methods of listing, watching, liking and sharing an item and doubtless, they’ll be rationalising these in the near future.

As soon as you start scrolling down the page to the description, a new header pops up with links to Description, Shipping and payments, Seller Information and Q&A. By clicking on any of the links, you’ll jump to the relevant section of the page.

It’s not really important whether you like or loathe the new eBay View Item page. It’s coming. What is important is that there’s time, if you need it, to make changes to make sure it works for you.

It’s time to improve your images and tighten up your Item Specific before the new design rolls out in the UK.

I’d definitely advise rethinking image borders and watermarks, because not only are the images larger but the zoom feature increases the size yet more.

What do you think fo the new eBay View Item page?

Have eBay done a good job, a bad job, have room for improvement or got it just about perfect?

It’s a big change. Is it for the better?

22 Responses

  1. “Top Rated Seller logos are not going to be displayed on the new View Item page”

    But I can see the “Top rated seller” logo in your pic?

  2. I’ll correct that to: “Top Rated Seller Logos will be very weeny indeed and almost invisible to the naked eye.”

    Small prize on it’s way to you Elvis, for being so clever.

  3. Item specifics are important so why every time I revise my listings have they removed them ?,

    This has been happening for 6 months now, on almost every revision, I click continue and they disappear again, I then have to click back to re fill them in, it drives me insane,

    Anyone would think they are doing it on purpose to stop you revising an item,

    I do hope they resolve this issue in this new version.

  4. The USA have free picture hosting.

    eBay UK do not.

    What is the impact of all this on those who self host their images?

    This new set up may be fine for brand new stuff but for used flawed gear it is extremely questionable.

    There is also a sense that every single move that eBay are now making is designed for instant BIN gratification.

    How do these moves impact auctions?

  5. One of the things I noticed was the listing showed the number of watchers for an item. Is the going to be a feature that buyers can see how many others are watching an item?

  6. This is all well and good if I want to buy a new dress, as all I need is a good picture, size and colour but where the problems will arise is with secondhand stuff where a description is paramount.

    A percentage of buyers do not read the description, maybe they can’t if they’re buying using a mobile phone, never done it myself. I’ve certainly noticed an increase in the number of questions I’m getting, for info which is actually already in the listing.

    I see problems ahead but what’s new.

  7. I’d have to question the timing of this, as usual with eBay. At a time when many sellers are really gearing up for peak trading, eBay introduce major changes that require time and attention.

    As for item specifics, they seem to be doubling up a lot on video games. Video games now have two options for the age rating ‘certificate’ then lower down ‘rating’, and two options for format ‘format'(PAL/NTSC etc) then lower down ‘region code’ with the same options as format.

    In fact it seems like there’s a new IS every few days, it’s hard to keep up.

  8. I like that they finally put the item number in a place where customers can actually find it.

    If only Amazon would resolve the clutter on their listing pages! What I don’t like about Amazon is that they show competitors products and sponsored links before you even get to the description!

  9. Good Moring Everyone
    I am a Half Blind e-bay seller and i do Have one good half working eye And I Like what i see Just Hope this Increases My sales Have a Graet day :)………Richard

  10. Where has the “Visit sellers store: open door icon” link gone?

    This is not the same thing as “View sellers other items”

    The seller shown in the image above does have a store.

  11. I mainly sell classic car items via ebay and item specifics are a waste of time as everyone I know searches via the item description for what they want. Why do Ebay have to make life more complicated for sellers? The simpler the better.We lost the classic car parts category a while back – why cannot ebay reintroduce it?

  12. Its nearly as nice as the Tamebay site refresh. Did they invite you to NYC to ask how to do a successful site refresh Chris? 😉

  13. chris, when you say …

    “It’s not really important whether you like or loathe the new eBay View Item page. It’s coming.
    […]
    What do you think fo [?] the new eBay View Item page?”

    Why ask us when you’ve just stated that as far as you – or Ebay perhaps – are concerned, our views are irrelevant.

  14. Chris, do you know what the new View Item page will show for multi-variation listings when a variation hasn’t yet been picked? Today’s View Item will show the sum of all variations or “More than 10 available” if that sum is more than 10. I always felt that didn’t make sense because no item had yet been selected.

  15. These changes are designed for the USA ebay fee model.

    They are useless for the UK ebay fee model and should not be rolled out here.

    Unless of course ebay UK are going to change the UK ebay fee model which inevitably means a fee rise.

    You heard it here first folks!

  16. Not bad looking, but it does have the drawbacks. Since we will need to be key on the description, I can already tell there will be more keyword spamming. As if this is not already a problem, I can see it being more of a problem. I can also see a sellers return rate going up as buyers will just rely on the pictures and not read the description.

    Like everything in life, there are changes, some for the good and some for the bad. I can see this being a wash, as it has good features and bad features. I personally would like my store link to stay at the top of the page!

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