I run a couple of auto parts & accessories business's and ebay is one of our main channels for online sales. At present the ebay standard search does not show a sellers name unless selected as an option. Nor is there a brand field so it will appear in search. Given that auto parts in particular need quite a bit of descriptive text in the already limited space in the title as most customers (and we have surveyed them) really dont read the descritptions at all it is quite important that they can visually see
1. The product
2. The brand
3. The seller
These first three have by nearly all us parts and accessories sellers been incorporated into the images as the only method of visually displaying this.
4. The title itself needs to accurately describe what the item is and what it fits.
We have emebedded into every description a message with big (gif) moving eyes and the word "Look" asking the customer to verify their vehicles information so we can send the correct item. Less than 2% of them do and we then have to email or call them to confirm.(which we do and they like it)
Further when people are buying as is clearly demonstrated in traditional retail stores people like to see the big brand signs, a good display and obviously the price. Online retail is no different.
This policy effectively removes our ability to display a brand logo or our own logo as a trusted seller in the online space to the customer.
When i buy from ebay sellers i like to viusally see in search the brand I'm buying especially when I'm looking for a well known brand.
I think that ebay has got this totally wrong and that it will likley cause a significant sales drop in many categories as peopleare either too time poor or simply too lazy to read the bulk of the descriptions we put in. Ebay's biggest seller uses heavy text and branding in all their images. And rightly so as it shows professionalism and branding.
I am curious as to other thoughts about this. That last time ebay made such a radical change was several years ago when listing fees were too expensive for parts sellers to list all their inventory so we used the old store format instead. When they removed items in stores search from the main search our ebay business basically ended right there. When they changed a couple of years ago so BIN listings were free there was an immediate and huge increase in sales across the board in our category and ebay came alive for us again. Ebays own revenues in the category went up massively.
As of now if we suffered any more than a 30% drop in our sales I would be forced to lay off several staff and possibly even leave ebay altogether.
If ebay really want this policy they have to give us more title space, show our sellers id's at the very least in default search and either include extra but separate image fields for brand logos and store logos or at least a brand text field. Ebay have been trying hard to convince more big brands to come on board but by removing the ability to display their logos they will probably get lost among the fake items. Most big brands police the use of their logos carefully. We ensure we have written permission from all the brands we sell on or off ebay to use those logos for the purpose of selling genuine branded items.
If other sellers agree that this new policy will be very detrimental then we need to voice our opinions to ebay on mass as unless we do nothing will change. Ebay is a great channel but I am very very fearful these changes are going to cripple many actual business's who deal as we do in major brands and provide a high level of service. There will be no way for the buyers to deliniate a quality seller from some backyard hack trying to make a quick buck without providing the service and back up support that we and many many other high quality sellers out there do.
