October 15, 2008 | 04:05PM PST/PT

| Dinesh Lathi |
Hello everyone...This is Dinesh Lathi, VP of Selling Experience. As we head into the busy holiday shopping season, I’d like to let you know about a few important changes we’ve made to help sellers be successful this season:
New Look for eBay’s Product Pages
In the next few days, we’re making some important design updates to eBay’s product pages (i.e. the pages you see when you click on "Matching Products" in search results.) You’ll see two different versions of this page—one style is for Books, Music, Movies & DVDs, and Video Games and one is for products in other categories. Sellers’ items will appear on these pages when they list with pre-filled item information.
Both new pages make it faster and easier for buyers to find just what they’re looking for from sellers they trust. Get a closer look at the new pages, along with tips for getting the best position for your listings.
Special Offer Starts: FREE Subtitle for Media Listings
From now through the end of the year you’ll get a FREE Subtitle upgrade when you list books, music, movies, DVDs and video games with pre-filled item information. Subtitles show up on the new product pages, so take advantage of this offer to help your listings stand out.
Introducing Featured First, a New Listing Upgrade
We’re also introducing a new listing upgrade called Featured First. Add Featured First to your listings for an opportunity to appear in the featured area at the top of the first page of search results. A limited number of Featured First listings are randomly selected to be rotated into the featured area, so there’s no guarantee yours will appear. But this upgrade is still a great way to significantly boost your chances of being displayed on the first page for increased visibility and increased likelihood of a sale. It’s also a great way to jump start "recent sales" for a new Fixed Price listing.
Featured First takes the place of Gallery Featured and is offered for the same price: $24.95 for up to 10 days, and $74.95 for up to 30 days. This upgrade is available only to sellers who have not been demoted in Best Match search results (see your seller dashboard for your status). Also note Featured First is not available for any Motors categories. Gallery Featured is still available for Motors sellers.
Relist Credits Ending for Fixed Price Listings October 22
As you know, we recently reduced Insertion Fees for Fixed Price listings to just 35 cents for a full 30 days, and just 15 cents in Books, Music, Movies & DVDs, and Video Games. As a result, starting October 22 we will no longer be offering Insertion Fees credits when Fixed Price items are relisted. Credits will still be issued for unpaid items and are now being extended to single quantity Store Inventory Format listings if there is an unpaid item. Note that relist credits for Auction-style listings will continue.
Best Match for Store Inventory Format Listings in Search Expansion Box
As you know, when search results surface a limited number of items, the search results page expands to show matching Store Inventory Format listings available from eBay Stores sellers. Best Match is now used as the sort order for these Store items, using the same factors that apply for Fixed Price listings. These include recent sales, competitive pricing—including shipping—and seller track record. Also, you may have noticed that we’ve increased the threshold for when Stores items appear from 30 listings or fewer to about 50 to show even more of your Store Inventory listings.
These changes create a more consistent experience and ensure that buyers find the most relevant inventory from sellers they trust. See details on how Best Match works, and how to make it work for you.
Thanks for taking the time to read about these updates, and we thank you for your support.
Sincerely,
Dinesh Lathi
Vice President, Seller Experience
This was reposted to add a link to the Featured First help page above.
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