This month there are some major changes in the following categories:

• Sports Memorabilia
• Home & Lifestyle
• Mobile Phones

These changes are currently scheduled to go live early in the week beginning September 12th, 2006.

We strongly encourage members to pay careful attention to which categories have changed and to update Turbo Lister accordingly.

If you are currently using Turbo Lister you can now upgrade to the NEW Turbo Lister 2. The new version contains many enhancements and is completely FREE. To download, please click here.

We are always keen to receive your suggestions on category structure. To submit your category suggestion, please click here.

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This workshop will be held on Wednesday 6th September at 7.00pm AEST on the Workshop Board.

Please join Sophie and other eBay staff members as they provide information on how to find eBay Stores and explain the benefits of purchasing items from Store owners.

The workshop will aim to answer your questions about where to find Stores, the differences between store items and core listings, how to save information so you can return and purchase from your favourite stores owners again and how you can find out the latest offers from Store owners. Plus, we will point you in the right direction for more information.

Workshops are events presented by eBay staff, special guests and expert members on a wide range of eBay-related subjects. Workshops combine informative material with interactive discussion. They are a great way to learn, interact with eBay staff and chat with the experts on a wide variety of interesting subjects. If you have ideas on future Workshop topics, let us know.

We look forward to seeing you there!

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In addition, Google and eBay will work together to deliver "click-to-call" advertising functionality on eBay and Google sites in the United States and around the world. "Click-to-call" functionality enables online consumers to initiate an Internet voice call to merchants or advertisers directly.

The companies will start testing initiatives of the agreement beginning in early 2007, after the 2006 holiday shopping period.

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Over the coming days, members may start to notice a new type of listing in eBay Motors Vehicles categories (Cars, Bikes, Boats & Other Vehicles). These listings are the new Classified Ad format. Instead of bidding or buying online you will need to contact the seller to inspect the vehicle and negotiate in person.

Look out for a more formal announcement very soon regarding the official launch of Classified Ads in eBay Motors. In the meantime, learn more at our page on Classified Ads.

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The eBay system will be undergoing general maintenance from approximately 16:00 AEST to 18:00 AEST on Friday, August 25th. During this maintenance period, certain eBay site features may be intermittently unavailable or slow.

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eBay has made changes to how we define excessive postage and handling.

The changes outline what we believe to be reasonable charges, which a seller may pass on to a buyer for postage and handling.

We have made these changes based on Community feedback and our own research which confirms that excessive postage and handling prices drive buyers away, which ultimately impacts sellers.

Over the coming months, eBay we will be taking increased steps to monitor listings that are in violation of our policy. These efforts will also include following up on member reports of excessive postage and handling. Sellers who violate the policy will be educated in the first instance and repeat offenders may face suspension.

We believe that an increased emphasis on enforcing this policy will benefit the vast majority of honest sellers.

If you would like more information about the policy, please visit the Excessive Postage Charges Policy page.

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Each time you pay for your eBay item using PayPal between 15 August and 30 September 2006, you’ll be automatically entered into a draw to win $5,000 or one of 400 prizes of $50. So, the more you shop on eBay, the more chances you have to win.

Start shopping now and you could be flinging your way into Spring with a PayPal account bursting with prize money.

PayPal is the safe, fast, and easy way to purchase on eBay anytime of year.

For more information, see eBay’s Promotion Page.

The PayPal service is provided by PayPal Australia Pty Limited ABN 93 111 195 389 (PPA) under an arrangement with PayPal, Inc ARBN 111 900 906 (AFSL No. 283443). You should consider the Product Disclosure Statement (available at www.paypal.com.au) and whether the product is appropriate for you before deciding to use it.

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Fee changes for Selected Features and Store Inventory Format listings outlined by eBay on 20 July will go into effect at 23:59:59pm AEST on Monday 21 August 2006.

Details about the new fee structure are available here.

Please note the 20 July announcement stated that the insertion fee tier for a multiple item listing using the Store Inventory Format was to be determined by multiplying the asking price by quantity of your items.

Upon further analysis we have decided to reverse this decision and in a few months Insertion Fees for Multiple Item Listings will again cover any quantity of items within a single listing in Store Inventory Format. We regret any inconvenience and will be issuing credits for the difference within billing in the interim. Any applicable refund will appear in your regular statement.

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To help sellers maximise the success of their Stores and Store Inventory Format listings we have launched new onsite education on Stores. The interactive tutorial looks at the functionality offered by a Store and is essential reading for eBay sellers.

Also look out for two online workshops in September regarding Stores. The first workshop will explore how sellers can optimise their Stores and use them more effectively. The second workshop will educate buyers on the benefits of purchasing from sellers with a Store.

Don’t forget Store sellers can also use eBay Marketplace Research Basic for free until 27 September 2006 to help them compare formats and determine how to best price their inventory.

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Gallery Plus is a new listing upgrade designed to help you better showcase your items.

When you use Gallery Plus, an Enlarge icon will display right below your regular Gallery image on the search results pages. When the user clicks or hovers over the Enlarge icon with their mouse, a larger version of the picture will appear.

This is useful for items where detailed photographs improve the likelihood of a bid or sale such as cars, antiques or clothing.

Gallery Plus costs $2.49 including the regular gallery image fee.

Sellers will be able to add the new Gallery Plus upgrade from the Sell Your Item form or any of eBay’s selling tools such as Turbo Lister.

To include Gallery Plus on your existing listings just revise your item and select the new feature.

Please note that Gallery Plus is only available for images hosted through eBay Picture Services.

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Every month changes are made to the category structure on eBay.com.au to make it easier for members browsing eBay to find what they are looking for. These changes are based on feedback from the eBay community and from experts in the affected fields, so a big thanks to those members who wrote in!

This month there are some major changes in the following categories:

• Jewellery, Gems and Watches

There are also some minor changes to other categories not mentioned here.

These changes are currently scheduled to go live early in the week beginning August 15th, 2006.

We strongly encourage members to pay careful attention to which categories have changed and to update Turbo Lister accordingly. Existing listings may be moved as categories are split, moved, or renamed.

To those members who would like to download the FREE Turbo Lister tool please click here.

We are always keen to receive suggestions on category structure. To submit a category suggestion, please send us an email.

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eBay Australia is pleased to announce a PayPal FREE Gallery Promotion. You will receive a free Gallery when you choose to accept PayPal as a payment option, on Wednesday 9th August, 2006. All items listed on eBay.com.au between the hours of 12:00:01am AEST, Wednesday 9th August, 2006 and 11:59:59pm AEST, Wednesday 9th August, 2006 with PayPal as an accepted payment method will be eligible for free Gallery.

Adding your item’s photo to the gallery enables potential buyers to preview your item instantly in the search and browse view. Use a gallery photo to help attract more buyers and a higher price. On average, listings using Gallery attract 72% more bids than listings that use no listing upgrades.*

If you're not already a member of PayPal it's quick and easy to sign up.

Currently there are two versions of the Sell Your Item (SYI) form operating on eBay.com.au. If you list using the new SYI you will see reference to the discounted Gallery as you prepare your listing. If you list with the original Sell Your Item form, you won't see the discount applied within the SYI form. However, you once you submit the listing you will be able to see the discount rate within your eBay account. You can access this under My eBay, click on under My Account click on Seller Account. Within this page, you can click on Account Status and view all recent fees. You can access the new Sell Your Item form here.

Find out more about the promotion.

Have fun trading on eBay!

*This represents an average based on data from June 2004 transactions on eBay.com.au. No representation is made that a seller's final price, number of bids or conversion rate of a specific item will increase by the average percentages noted above.

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The eBay system will be undergoing general maintenance from approximately 16:00 AEST to 18:00 AEST on Friday, August 4th. During this maintenance period, certain eBay site features may be intermittently unavailable or slow.

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LiveWorld will be doing maintenance on their systems from approximately 16:00 AEST to 18:00 AEST on Friday, August 4th. This means that eBay's Community forums (Australia Cafe, Answer Centre, and Discussion boards) may be unavailable or slow during this time.

If you are unfamiliar with these areas, we invite you to visit them by clicking "Community" from the eBay navigation bar at the top of any eBay page.

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As announced on 20 July, from today eBay will be reducing the number of Store Inventory Format listings which are shown in core search results on the Australian site. We will be returning the display of search results on eBay.com.au to the way it was in November 2005. The change commences today and will take several more days to complete.

Starting today, when less than 10 core listings appear in a search result we will now only show up to 10 relevant Store Inventory Format listings in that search result. If 10 or more core listings appear, we will not be showing any Store Inventory Format listings. Buyers who wish to search for Store Inventory Format listings will be able to do so by clicking the Buy it Now tab located at the top of any search result.

Later this month and in September we will be providing information and hosting online workshops to educate sellers on how to optimise their Stores and use them more effectively. We will also educate buyers on the benefits of purchasing from sellers with a Store.

More information about the change can be found on the Announcement Board.

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