We’ve written about some of the concerns surrounding eBay’s new Active Content Ban and what that means for the inclusion of videos in eBay listings. The Active Content ban is now in force but Frooition say they have a solution for including videos in listings nonetheless.
As they say: “Customers are 85% more likely to purchase after watching video. Frooition can now embed video into eBay listings without active content. This is an eBay certified product, and is completely unique.” You can find out more here.
But it’s more important, really, to consider the value and importance of including videos in your eBay listings. Video prodiuction can sometimes seem like an onerous task, but the benefits are considerable. The infographic from Frooition explores the pluses below. Not only does video showcase what you’re selling, engage browsers and aid conversion but it also seems to have a Google SEO divided too.
So why do few sellers use video on eBay (and elsewhere) to clinch deals? One reason is that the impending active content ban on eBay hasn’t helped sellers take the plunge because there was uncertainty that it was permitted and how they could stay on the right side of the rules.
But probably more important is that it can be time-consuming and a little daunting. We’ve been experimenting with videos at Tamebay in the past few months and there is a lot to learn. But it’s also quite fun and exciting as long as you are willing to experiment. You can produce videos yourself with the right technology (I make some of the Tamebay videos myself just with my laptop) or you can engage a professional.
The approach from an ecommerce seller’s perspective should be to have a go with a few videos for top performing lines and see what rewards it reaps. It might not work for you but nothing ventured, nothing gained.
10 Responses
For a graphic design company (frooition) i’m surprised some plonker decided to put white text on a yellow & cyan background for the infographic
Had a chat with them today via there website and found out you cant just buy the option to embed videos into your current eBay store / listings you HAVE to buy the whole eBay branding service from them…
Well that would be a HUGE NO from us, would have been more than happy to buy the facility to have videos in our listings, but I am NOT going to go down the road of paying for a store copy just so I can have this facility.
Think they have shot themselves in the foot by limiting this so much…
Yet more awesome rewards from ebay.
take away our ability to do something useful, sell the rights to do it to one company who’ll gouge us on price, if we want something we could do for free last week.
getting reeeeeeaaallly effing old now this stuff.
85% more likely to increase sales, of all the junk statistics fired our way (qualify for top rated to increase sales by up to 2%*), this is one i believe, i know video can increase sales a lot (when used correctly) so OBVIOUSLY ebay remove it and monetise it to their gain and our detriment.
– their short term gain. this platforms gonna be a ghost town soon, and then they make no money at all.
and their problem with using Youtube videos was…..active content…really?
I can’t believe they couldn’t parse what is Youtube video content from other content that isn’t Youtube video content. It’s a pretty straight forward thing to have inside most HTML parsers and easily identifiable.
Re: bandwidth, just show up a still from the video, y’know, like every website can do, then load the video upon user interaction. But nope, it’s gotta be an Ebay pay for service from another company instead? I mean, it’s still going to be active content, just from an approved source?
Didn’t they have the same policy with javascript a year or so ago?
We don’t use many videos through Youtube embeds, etc on our listings so it doesn’t affect us really, but it smells of something odd when Ebay don’t trust Youtube (essentially the only game in town when it comes to video hosting and streaming) to host videos and go with the relatively unknown Frooition instead?
TLDR: I hope Frooition have enough infrastructure to handle demand as reliably as Youtube do.
I’m awaiting a phone call from these jokers – can’t say I’m pleased with this development given Youtube was free back in the day.
Does anyone know of a way to embed videos “cleanly” for free?
I’ve tried using HTML5 but the videos only work on Apple devices….