Apparently putting a link to your web store on your AboutMe page is okay, but it will no longer be allowed on Item View pages.
Here's the annoucement, effective 5/31/01:
-------------------------------------------
***Links off eBay Policy Update***
The intent of the View Item page has always been to describe a specific item listed for sale. eBay has inconsistently enforced this policy over the past few years. This inconsistency has lead to confusion among our users regarding the purpose of the View Item page. And it has led to the mistaken impression for many users who close transactions outside of the eBay platform that they were still covered by our policies and trust and safety provisions.
In an effort to bring our policy and enforcement into alignment, beginning May 31, 2001 we will:
1. Clarify and consistently enforce the View Item page links policy;
2. Permit only links to eBay or Half.com listings and links to third party credits from the View Item page;
3. Modify the policy and allow users to link off their About Me page to their homepage or storefront.
These changes apply to all items listed on eBay including our International sites, eBay Motors and eBay Premier.
For the text of the new policy, click here.
We recognize that these changes may directly impact some of our sellers. It is important to recall, however, that the intent of the View Item page is not to advertise other products or businesses, but to describe the specific item listed. By focussing on the item listed, the View Item page provides sellers a space to engage and inform buyers about that item. It also clearly denotes that the item is on eBay and that the buyer will have access to all the services eBay offers, such as feedback and insurance.
The place to inform the community about other aspects of a user’s business or interests is through the About Me page, the free space we provide all of our users. For information on how to create an About Me page go here.
By working together, eBay and our sellers have created a robust marketplace. Sellers that attempt to divert buyers off eBay potentially decrease the value of the marketplace to the entire community. We believe that by clarifying and enforcing this policy we will strengthen the marketplace for everyone.
More information is available here.
Regards,
eBay
[ edited by thedewey on May 10, 2001 12:54 PM ]
posted on May 10, 2001 12:57:48 PM new
"Sellers that attempt to divert buyers off eBay potentially decrease the value of the marketplace to the entire community"
Well, they certainly decrease the value of ebay to the market...stock market that is.
Frankly, I was shocked when they first allowed them.
posted on May 10, 2001 01:23:10 PM new
I dont know why they wont come out and say they dont care about the small sellers because it seems clear to me they dont. They must be paving the road for QVC to load the site with items. I got a spam about buying returned items from QVC to sell on eBay!! And do you see the money the USPS is getting for their items? A regular seller with no big name could not give the stuff away, or charge the huge shipping fee. The bigboys seem to do better.
posted on May 10, 2001 01:34:09 PM new
It appears, IF YOU READ the NEW rules, that you CAN link to your webpage as long as that page is to further describe or explain the item up for auction...On that page, you CAN have a link to a webpage(website) that sells items NOT related to the auction item...
I think it is back to the 2 click rule that NEVER really WAS a rule anyhow...
Below is the section of the rule...
-------------------------------------------Links from your item listing
eBay allows sellers to place the following types of links in your item's description:
One link to a page that further describes the item being sold in that listing. Learn more
Links to your eBay or Half.com listings. Learn more
One link to your About Me page (in addition to the About Me icon already provided by eBay). Learn more
Links that provide credits to third parties. Learn more
Linking to web sites that offer to trade, sell or purchase goods or services, or including links for any purpose other than those listed above is not allowed. Prohibited links include, but are not limited to:
Links to web pages that offer to trade, sell or purchase goods or services outside of eBay
Links to web sites or pages offering merchandise not permitted on eBay
Further explanation: When linking to a page that further describes the item you are selling, that page may contain links to other pages that offer items for sale outside of eBay. This is permitted, provided the intent of the link is to further describe your item and the link conforms to the policy above.
posted on May 10, 2001 02:07:56 PM new
Lots of huffing and puffing for a few days till the next crisis comes down the tubes. Nice timing to draw heat off the latest "banned" items issue.
posted on May 10, 2001 02:38:50 PM new
Sounds to me like all they did was put into writing the two-click rule. Now no one can say it is an unwritten rule.
posted on May 10, 2001 06:47:17 PM new
what happends if everything you have listed goes to a gallery of all the things you have listed on ebay and only ebay???
posted on May 10, 2001 07:07:07 PM new
Wal-Mart, ROFL~
I wonder what shipping would be on a lawn chair, ROFL!
Wal-Mart makes all that money because all they have to do is wheel a pallet of crap into the store, and people come and pick it off the pallet and put it in their basket and take it to the front and pay for it.
If Wal-Mart had to do all the email and bidder hand holding and packing and shipping and stuff that we do, they would go broke!
Wal-Mart, regardless of what anybody might say, does not have a place on the web. Why do you think Sears dropped their mail order? And JC Penny is going out of business... in part because of their mail order.
Specialty catalogs it can work, Wal-Mart cannot succeed online.
posted on May 10, 2001 07:36:25 PM new
Folks, I've said it before, you can work within the rules and still come out on top of this.
You have a wonderful opportunity with your EOA email. I include other items I have for sale on my EOA, and offer discounts if a second item is bought. Sixty percent of my eBay buyers purchase a second item from the EOA email of which eBay gets neither a listing fee or FVF, and eighty percent of eBay buyers have an email inquiry about the other items mentioned in the email.
You can also link your sales web page in your EOA email.
I'll remind everyone again, start a data base of your buyers, it won't be long until eBay makes it even more unwelcome for small sellers, and your data base will be a valuable tool.
posted on May 10, 2001 07:39:23 PM new
uhmmmm, toyranch --
http://www.walmart.com/
I've been shopping at walmart online
for months - they don't sell individual
fold-up lawn chairs, but they do sell
regular lawn chairs like you'd put
around an outside table -- and the
shipping on a pair of those is $120.
posted on May 10, 2001 08:30:15 PM new
My web site should be ready to go online next week and now I can't list it in my description??? Baa Hum Bug.
My personal opinion on this is that the original Ebay business was a collectible market.
Collectors like to know who they are dealing with. Ebay is currently doing everything they can to hinder that. The people I know who refuse to buy on ebay, will not buy because they do not want to buy from a stranger. To me, Ebay will start to hurt their core business.
Are people really going to pay the high shipping costs and browse online for items they can buy at Walmart, Target Etc. They are going to pay shipping for each item?? Rather than go fill a cart at sale prices and no shipping?
Two trends come to mind. The last article I read on internet traffic stated that the average amount of time spent on line is decreasing. That coupled with another article which stated that an audit revealed that IRS employees spend 50% of their day on line for personal business, shopping etc..
At some point corporations have to realize how much time employees spend shopping on line. If that is ever addressed it will be interesting to see what happens to online retail.
The only time I am willing to pay shipping is on an item that I can not find anywhere else. Maybe because I live in a large city where stores are close, but why should I pay shipping on an electronic item if I can buy it for the same price from a store, and have the ability to return it to the store if there is a problem.
Sorry for the rambling thoughts. Frustrated at the rate at which everything changes. Oh well tomorrow is a new day.
posted on May 10, 2001 11:54:57 PM new
Any guesstimates on ebay's cut of sales in their storefronts? I pay 2% to Auctionworks for a Storefront Sale. Very reasonable. I sincerely doubt ebay will be that 'kind.'
Any bets on when ebay incorporates our EOA's into one of their 'features' and take control of what we can say?
posted on May 11, 2001 12:24:23 AM new
tuition44- yikes! That's a scary thought.
I think Toyranch has a valid point. I know I won't be paying shipping on anything from Walmart or Target anytime soon. Especially not since there's another rate hike coming.
I also agree with mildreds. I'm NOT going to buy it online unless I can't find it anywhere else, or unless I get a screaming good deal on it. Mildred's also makes a good point, that people don't like to buy from strangers. (Maybe that is why the USPS auctions do so well? I have been stumped by that too, and can't come up with any other really good reasons.)
I don't think this new policy of ebay's is unreasonable, but I fear that the unreasonable part is yet to come- like when Ebay rolls out the storefronts. So everyone, enjoy this while it lasts...
posted on May 11, 2001 04:32:55 AM new
Toyranch, re: Walmart
Maybe there'll be enough benefit to letting customers do online searches of their inventory and normal prices that Walmart will gain overall from those buyers going directly to their B&M locations to do the pickup?
Perhaps rather than MORE true online shopping with shipping of the item to the buyer, the few chains with inventories "everywhere" will drive buyers back to their storefronts, trying to pick up more impulse sales in the process of the visits?
Hell, *I* might come to welcome being able to do a few clicks and find out there's definitely a pallet-full of 50-lb bags of dirt-cheap dog food waiting for me to pick up a few miles down the road.
Maybe a couple more online clicks pay for it via Pay Pal and have a clerk move a bag to a special pickup counter, too?
If Wal-Mart has to pay someone to take a 50lb bag of dog food to a special pickup counter, take your order off the web, do all the order and paperwork processing, etc. etc...
That bag of dog food will have higher costs associated with the handling of it, and it will either cost more, or it will cause the prices in the rest of the store to rise.
Also, by you going to a 'special pickup counter' instead of actually walking into their store, they lose any potential impulse sales they might make to you. No pack of gum, no "oh yeah, I need some toothpaste", nothing.
Distribution of commodity goods is excellent in most of the industrialized world. eBay's success was founded on creating distribution of unique goods, and on bargain-based person-to-person trading of commodity goods (ie flea market/yardsale).
They *might* be able to make some inroads in the commodity closeout market, as that is bargain based, and specialty catalog retailing seems suited to eBay also (or even moreso to Half.com), but Wal-Mart cannot make a profit handling goods as you suggest.
