Dane Laster

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=2000544349

“Brian and Griff will also answer any question or concern you might have about the recent policy change.” — Oh boy, are they gonna be swamped!

I have a question for you, On 3-24-08 on a popular IM forum you stated

"Classifieds ads on eBay are GREAT. They show up right along all the other listings and eBay has actually just given us OFFICIALLY the green light to put links to external websites inside classified ads. They didn't have a policy on this issue before. WOW – this is GREAT NEWS guys."

In the statement that says "eBay has actually just given us OFFICIALLY the green light to put links to external websites inside classified ads."

Is this statement still accurate? Although I have'nt seen the actual policy on linking to external websites thru classified ads, I have read many people saying that eBay will not allow you to link to external websites or even paypal thru classified ads.

I would just like a little clarification from you on that statement. And if you cant link to external websites, can we still use the method taught in Silent Sales Machine allowing you to link to external websites via my about me page?

Thanks for all your help!!

Sean

I thought I would come back and give you an update, as I promised I would.

I have now had 4 canned responses from eBay and they are still contradicting themselves.

The third reply came as a bit of a shock — they actually apologized for erroneously cancelling my classified ad. This was followed by a statement in the next paragraph that informed me I could relist my ad but if it did not comply with listing policies, etc it could be removed again. So as my listing was originally cancelled for "violating listing policies", you can imagine I was left quite confused. If they have erroneously cancelled my ad, that would imply that my ad did not violate listing policies, right? So I replied to the email requesting them to state definitively whether my ad had violated listing policies or not. You haven't fallen asleep yet, have you?

The fourth response took me back to square one. The rep that crafted this response duly informed me that my ad had been cancelled because it had violated listing policies!

On a different note, my revised ad is still running and has now been viewed over 100 times. Well, actually, it could be more as I believe the hit counter ignores repeat viewings from the same visitor. So I would say that is pretty good for 4.5 days. I can't wait to see how many viewings I get over the full 30 days and, more importantly, how many I have added to my list.

Something is definitely happening in the 'Everything Else > Information Products' category at eBay.com. This morning when I took a look, it was still Sunday as far as eBay.com local time was concerned. There were over 90,000 listings. As I write this, the official eBay time is Monday, March 31, 2008 08:19:25 PDT and there are fewer than 20,000 listings left! Get ready for a rapid fall in the number of listings left at the end of the day — I found this question on The Chatter:

Question: Should sellers end these listings themselves if they have listings that will run past March 31st? What about Stores sellers who have Good 'Til Cancelled listings for these items?

Answer: We will end these listings and credit their fees to these sellers.

See more questions here:

http://www.ebaychatter.com/the_chatter/2008/03/di…

Well, that's it for this update, folks. Hope I didn't bore you too much.

Regards,

Nick

Now the dust is beginning to settle perhaps there are other ways of overcoming ebay's short sighted approach.

What is there to stop listing any ebook/report etc on ebay in the normal way, however rather than be able to download the ebook as before direct from ebay the customer would automatically download a gift voucher or similar when paying for the item, which they could then go to the seller's own site and download the ebook as they would have done previously via ebay.

While it involves another process,Would this not overcome the costly business of providing hard copy on dvd etc and then having to ship the item.

Just a thought!

[[reply from Jim]] eBay is making it clear that they will not allow you to make a digital download offer in the ad, so you have to be prepared for those that say no to the download option after the sale. Another idea: offer a $15 credit toward the purchase of a related product if they opt out of getting the shipment. Still, you have to be prepared to actually ship the CD because many will want that option since it is what you sold them.

Did they?

Yes, I should have pointed that out. I am registered on ebay.co.uk and the links listing policy differs somewhat on the two sites. Check them out:

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/listing-lin…

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-links…

So, does the ebay.co.uk links policy apply because I am registered in the UK, or does the ebay.com policy apply because I listed my ad on the US site? Interesting, eh?

Also, when I am logged in at ebay.com and I attempt to reply to a message in My eBay, I get redirected to ebay.co.uk and have to log in again before I can continue. It's always been that way!

I know the next canned response is going to leave me even more frustrated than I am now. How can a multi-national company like eBay have such an appalling customer support system? And how do they get away with it year after year?

Regards,

Nick

Having been inspired by Nick in your posts above, I have just got my first proper eBay classified ad off the ground in preparation for the new eBay policy. (Link in the post header above)

I had actually already started to experiment with classified ads based on content in your newsletter about 2 weeks ago so I’ve simply adapted it for the new situation.

Anybody else runing classified ads? If so, how’s it going?

I’d love to hear your feedback on my ad and your experiences.

Regards

Dave Ovenden

Yes, I too thought that there were no links (or any other) policies for classified ads.

However, I just received a response from eBay this morning. It was the usual canned response I have come to expect from them. Once again, they insist that my classified ad violated the links policy found at:

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/listing-links.html

So, eBay is insisting that classified ads MUST conform to the links policy that applies to other types of listings. I agree with you that the help pages for classified ads do not mention that, and it is a very gray area indeed.

I have responded to eBay's email and I guess I will just wait for the next canned response.

In the meantime, I have revised my ad and removed the opt-in form. All that remains is a link to a page that further describes the product I am giving away and an email address, both of which are permitted as per the links policy referenced above.

So far, the revised ad has been running for around 38 hours, been viewed 55 times and I am still getting sign-ups from the new listing, despite the sign-up procedure being less straightforward, i.e. no opt-in form. That's quite encouraging but I would like to revert back to an opt-in form to simplify the list building process.

We'll see how it works out. I will keep you all posted. You never know, I might even use the info I am gathering from this experiment to create an info product!

Regards,

Nick

[[reply from Jim]]: Are they intentionally being as confusing as possible here? That policy they are pointing you to is on the ebay UK site….it's not even a policy that applies to the U.S. site (which is where your classified ad resides). That's a first brother! Wow – it's becoming quite evident that eBay policy makers have NO CLUE what they are doing. Here's a tip for eBay policy makers: if you find yourself in a hole the first step is to stop digging. I'm sure there are more changes coming though. It's going to be comical…