The changes are necessary to accommodate the continuing growth of eBay.co.uk and to help buyers and sellers trade more effectively and efficiently. There will be changes made to a number of categories, including:

New Top Level Category: Art

Renamed Top Level Categories:
Antiques & Art renamed to Antiques
PC & Video Gaming renamed to Video Games

Baby
New Level 2 category:
- Christening & Gifts

Clothes, Shoes & Accessories
- Boys’ Clothing sub-categories removed*
- Girls’ Clothing sub-categories removed*
- Men’s Shoes sub-categories removed*
- Women’s Bags sub-categories removed*

Computing
- Printers sub-categories removed*

Consumer Electronics
- GPS categories expanded
- MP3 Players sub-categories removed*

Home & Garden
- Garden & Plants categories significantly expanded

Jewellery & Watches
- Body Jewellery categories expanded

Photography
New Level 2 category - Camera Lenses Digital Camera Lenses and Film Camera Lenses categories combined

Sporting Goods
- Golf Clubs sub-categories removed* - Swimming categories expanded

Toys & Games
- Radio Controlled categories expanded

Video Games
Category significantly reorganized, including:
New Level 2 categories:
- Accessories
- Consoles/ Systems
- Games

*Existing Item Specifics replace the detailed sub-categories. For sellers this change reduces duplication and saves time when listing. In addition buyers can refine their searches as before and search across multiple characteristics at the same time.

For more information about Item Specifics, please refer to our FAQs:

Item Specifics FAQ
Item Specifics
Item Specifics Product Finder
Item Specifics View Item Page Example

By 18th August you will be able to see the new and changed category IDs on the All Categories Page.

We would like to thank all the members who took the time to contribute the thousands of ideas and suggestions that have helped to shape these changes.

Regards,
The eBay.co.uk and eBay.ie Team

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Baby> Car Seats
Baby> Nursery Decoration & Furniture> Cots & Cribs
Cars, Parts & Vehicles> In-Car Entertainment & GPS> Amplifiers
Computing> Desktop PC Components> Power Supplies
Crafts> Sewing> Machines
Home & Garden> Heating/ Cooling/ Air> Heaters
Home & Garden> Major Appliances> Washing Machines & Dryers
Photography> Binoculars & Telescopes> Binoculars
Photography> Camcorder Accessories
Photography> Digital Camera Accessories> Flash Units

Pre-Filled Item Information is a feature for sellers to easily add product information such as brand, model, storage capacity, and colour to their listings. The information is presented to buyers with standardised formatting in the item description. The added information and its clear and structured layout help make buying decisions.

Pre-filled item information is already available in DVDs and CDs. To learn more about Pre-Filled Item Information, please see our information page.

Regards,
The eBay.co.uk Team

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Both companies are very excited about the ad, which demonstrates how eBay.ie is now available through i-mode phones – enabling you to bid, buy or view “My eBay” wherever you are and whenever you want.

Over the next month the ad will have a consistent presence across Ireland’s TV channels, with highlights including the final episode of Lost, Big Brother and I’m A Celebrity, plus family favourites such as Fair City, Eastenders, Coronation Street and the Simpsons.

Find out more about the TV ad or view it now!

Regards,
The eBay.ie Team

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Tens of thousands of sellers should already have received a pack in the post explaining how they can get involved with eBay Express. We’ll be providing lots more information over the next few months so keep an eye out for updates. If you haven’t received a pack and want to request one, or just fancy a quick look, you can check out this page: www.ebayexpress.co.uk.

Motors Classifieds
On Tuesday Clare, Head of eBayMotors.co.uk, announced a new development for buyers and sellers: a classified ad format for eBaymotors.co.uk. You can find the announcement here.

For those of you who might not have thought about buying or selling a car in eBay I can personally attest that it’s easy and effective: I sold my own car very successfully on eBay Motors! I’m confident that this new format will make eBay Motors an even better place to trade vehicles and give buyers and sellers more choice. This new service will be of particular interest to Motors dealers who can take a look at www.ebaymotorspro.co.uk.

Trust and Safety Updates
We’ve been working hard on Trust and Safety and we’ve made some good progress further improving the safety of the site. I know it’s a topic of huge importance to most of you and it’s a key priority for us at eBay too.

I’m pleased to let you know about some changes we’re making to how we enforce the Excessive Shipping Policy.

Excessive Shipping
Excessive shipping has become a serious issue: it sets up unfair competition through fee avoidance and search manipulation. It is also eroding buyer trust in the eBay marketplace and reflects badly on decent, honest sellers who are abiding by the rules.

We’ve been very reluctant about telling our sellers what they can charge for shipping and handling, not least because eBay sellers despatch everything from Jukeboxes to beads. But it is also obvious that some sellers are clearly taking advantage of the system. You know the listings I mean: £1 Buy it Now items that charge £25.00 (or more) to post when we all know the actual cost of postage, packaging and handling is nowhere near that.

As always we’ll be grateful for your reports and help but in addition we are going to proactively target the worst offenders. We’ve already made a start on this, and we’ll be ramping up our efforts over the next month or so. Now please understand -- if you’re charging simply to cover your actual shipping/postage, packaging and overhead costs, you have no reason to be concerned. If you offer special postal services that are more expensive, just say so in your listings.

Multiple Item Listings Policy
We’ll also be amending our Multiple Item listings policy in the near future. Currently sellers can list up to 10 identical items. We’re going to raise this to 15 and also further clarify the policy. Keep an eye out for more information from Garreth, our Head of Trust and Safety, soon.

Law Enforcement Relationships
We’ve also been doing a lot of work behind the scenes and one thing I’m particularly proud of is our good relationship with the police. In the past year we’ve been reaching out to police forces and officers from all over the country to make sure they understand what eBay is and ensure that if they need to contact us, they can. Over 1,000 police officers have been trained over the past year either here at the eBay offices or at police venues. Work such as this largely pre-emptive but hugely worthwhile, as I’m sure you’ll agree.

Report This Item
Many of you will also want to know what’s happened about the ‘Report this Item’ button on every listing that we promised earlier in the year. We haven’t forgotten but it’s taking longer than expected to implement, and we expect to be able to give your more information later in the year.

Thanks
It’s a privilege to work for eBay and serve such an inventive and hardworking community. All the members of the eBay.co.uk team and I are grateful that so many of you choose to sell and buy on eBay every day. You are all valued customers and I speak on behalf of everyone here at eBay.co.uk, and in our Customer Support centre in Dublin, when I say that I hope you will continue to use and enjoy eBay for many years to come.

Regards,
Doug McCallum
On behalf of everyone at eBay.co.uk

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Since we launched the changes in February, we have been keeping a close eye on how it has affected the marketplace. We’ve monitored how it has affected sellers and your sales, as well as how it has affected buyers and their shopping experience. Over this time, we’ve also spoken to many buyers and sellers to understand how the changes have been received on an anecdotal level.

Although there is a huge spectrum of opinion from sellers of all kinds and differences across categories, it has become clear to us that the buyer experience has been impaired by the huge number of Shop listings that are made available to them when they Search or Browse. Many buyers have explained to us that they simply cannot find what they want to buy easily and quickly.

Changes to Shop Listings (SIF) Visibility
It’s vitally important – to your business and ours -- that we maintain a healthy balance between listing formats on the eBay marketplace. From the 2nd August 2006 we will be reducing the visibility of Shop Items in the main search results on eBay.co.uk. As it stands at the moment Shop items are displayed at the end of all Search and Browse results. After the change Shop Items will be still be displayed in results but only when the main site has returned only a small number of relevant items.

For more details, you can read our Information Page here.

Changes to Shop Fees
Aside from some category specific exceptions noted below, there will be no changes to non-Shop basic insertion fees, final value fees or Shop subscription fees. However, it is necessary to redress the balance between Shop items and ‘core’ listing formats. Auctions are the foundation of eBay: auctions and other core formats made eBay what it is today – and they’ll always be a vital part of eBay.co.uk.

To this end from 23:59:59 BST on 21st August 2006 we’ll be making the below changes to Shop Item fees.

New Shops Listings Insertion fees from 21st August 2006
Shops Listings Insertion Fees
Insertion price tranche	30 day listings	90 day listings	Good 'Til Cancelled listings
£0.01 - £4.99	£0.03	£0.09	£0.03/ 30 days
£5.00 - £9.99	£0.05	£0.15	£0.05/ 30 days
£10.00 - £49.99	£0.07	£0.21	£0.07/ 30 days
£50.00 - £499.99	£0.09	£0.27	£0.09/30 days
Over £500	£0.11	£0.33	£0.11/30 days

For more details, you can read our Information Page here.

Other Fee Amendments
We’re taking this opportunity to make some additional changes to other eBay fees.

We know that as a seller you have a choice of outlets through which to sell your products. We appreciate that you choose eBay.

Regards,
eBay International AG

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Since we launched the changes in February we have been keeping a close eye on how it has affected the marketplace. We’ve monitored how it has affected sellers and your sales as well as how it has affected buyers and their shopping experience. Over this time we’ve also spoken to many buyers and sellers to understand how the changes have been received on an anecdotal level.

Although there is a huge spectrum of opinion from sellers of all kinds and differences across categories it has become clear to us that the buyer experience has been impaired by the huge number of Shop listings that are made available to them when they Search or Browse. Many buyers have explained to us that they simply cannot find what they want to buy easily and quickly.

Changes to Shop Listings (SIF) Visibility
It’s vitally important – to your business and ours -- that we maintain a healthy balance between listing formats on the eBay marketplace. From the 2nd of August 2006 we will be reducing the visibility of Shop Items in the main search results on eBay.ie. As it stands at the moment Shop listings are displayed at the end of all Search and Browse results. After the change Shop listings will be still be displayed in results but only when the main site has returned only a small number of relevant items.

For more details, you can read our Information Page here.

Changes to Shop Fees
Aside from some category specific exceptions noted below, there will be no changes to non-Shop basic insertion fees or final value fees. Shop subscription fees will be reduced. However, it is necessary to redress the balance between Shop items and ‘core’ listing formats. Auctions are the foundation of eBay: auctions and other core formats made eBay what it is today – and they’ll always be a vital part of eBay.ie.

To this end from 23:59:59 BST on 21st Aug we’ll be making the below changes to Shop Item fees. N.B. Shop Subscription Changes applicable from 1st September 2006.

New Shops Listings Insertion fees from 21st August 2006
Insertion Fees
Insertion price tranche	30 day listings	90 day listings	Good 'Til Cancelled listings
€0.01 - €4.99	€0.05	€0.15	€0.05/ 30 days
€5.00 - €14.99	€0.07	€0.21	€0.07/ 30 days
€15.00 - €69.99	€0.10	€0.30	€0.10/ 30 days
€70.00 - €699.99	€0.12	€0.36	€0.12/30 days
Over €700	€0.15	€0.45	€0.15/30 days

Other Fee Amendments
We’re taking this opportunity to make some additional changes to other eBay fees.

Featured plus! listing fees from August 21st 2006
Auction and Buy It Now listing formats
Category name	Single item	Multiple items
Books, Comics and Magazines	€4.95	€13.95
DVD, Film and TV	€4.95	€13.95
Music	€4.95	€13.95
Business Office & Industrial	€27.95	€39.95
Home and Garden	€27.95	€39.95
Photography	€27.95	€39.95
Real Estate	€27.95	€39.95
Tickets	€27.95	€39.95
Vehicles	€27.95	€39.95

Thank you for your Business
We recognise that these changes will impact many of you and will mean that you’ll need to make changes to ensure that you can take advantage of these new circumstances. The changes we have announced today have not been entered into lightly; we have taken time and effort to ensure that we are making the right decisions to ensure the long term health and vibrancy of the eBay marketplace. We believe that these changes are vital to ensure that the thousands of sellers that rely on eBay for a living or a significant second income can continue to prosper.

We know that as a seller you have a choice of outlets through which to sell your products. We appreciate that you choose eBay.

Regards,
eBay International AG

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You should also be aware that some event tickets have terms printed on them that may limit your ability to re-sell them. Before listing your ticket, please review our full Contracts and Tickets policy.

Regards,
The eBay.co.uk team

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Information for Dealers
The new Classified Ad service has been designed and built with dealers in mind and offers you a new way to take advantage of the eBayMotors.co.uk audience to increase sales. The Classified Ads will appear on the site alongside regular Auction and Buy it Now listings.

We'll also be introducing a new bulk listing tool, eBay Motors Pro, to help dealers put their stock quickly and easily onto the site and in front of eBayMotors.co.uk's 3.7 million* potential buyers. Learn more about this on www.ebaymotorspro.co.uk.

Open to All
You don't have to be a dealer to get involved with Classified Ads on eBayMotors.co.uk, it's open to all eBay sellers.

The launch of Classified Ads on eBay Motors meets a surge in demand for cars on the site. A vehicle now sells every minute, a car every two minutes and a motorbike every four minutes. Over half a million vehicles and £1bn worth of vehicles, parts and accessories were bought and sold on the site in 2005, doubling figures from the previous year.

You'll be hearing more about this new eBayMotors.co.uk service in the next few weeks and you'll be able to start using it on site in late August. In the meantime don't forget to check out www.ebaymotorspro.co.uk.

Best regards,

Clare
eBayMotors.co.uk

*Nielsen//NetRatings May 2006

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Following this review, we've updated the policy to identify those payment methods that we've determined are not appropriate for the eBay marketplace. Please note that eBay's evaluation relates only to whether a particular service is appropriate for the eBay marketplace. These payment methods may, in fact, be useful services for consumers in other contexts.

The policy clarification also specifies the payment methods that are permitted on eBay.

If you would like to read more about the Accepted Payments Policy, please click here.

For the eBay.ie page, click here.

Regards,
The eBay.co.uk and eBay.ie Teams

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What is Skype?
Skype is a simple little programme that lets you chat with friends, family and colleagues anywhere in the world for FREE over the internet. You can find out all about Skype here.

Skype Buttons on Item Pages
The pilot programme will start this week (week beginning 3rd July 2006) and will be trialled in categories including art, antiques, stamps, coins, pottery & glass, sports memorabilia, real estate, baby products, musical instruments, and audio consumer electronics.

We’ve chosen a broad range of categories, which will help us measure the how Skype works best on the eBay marketplace. Adding Skype buttons is totally free and entirely optional.

How to add Skype
When you use the Sell Your Item form, Turbo Lister, Selling Manager Pro to list in one of the eligible categories, you'll be able to choose to add either a Chat or Voice button (or both) to your listings. Buyers just need to click on the buttons, register for Skype (if they haven't already), and then talk or chat. It's fast, it's easy, and it's free.

Sincerely,
The eBay.co.uk and eBay.ie Teams

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In the next few days, you'll be able to choose to display custom Frequently Asked Questions, as well as other important information, to your buyers when they click on "Ask Seller a Question" from any of your item pages. You can opt to show any or all of the following:

• Up to 15 Frequently Asked Questions that you’ve created.
For example, use them to answer questions such as "Do you take PayPal?" or "Will you combine shipping if I buy multiple items?"

• Any Item Specifics you used when listing the item.
We'll essentially show the same Item Specifics section seen on your listing on the Ask Seller a Question page.

• Any questions (and answers) that you've already posted on your listing.

To customize your Ask Seller a Question page, go to your Preferences in My eBay. In the Selling Preferences section, click on "Show" next to "Ask Seller a Question". From there, click simply click "Edit" and begin customizing.

Sincerely,
The eBay.co.uk and eBay.ie Team

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Where Item Specifics have been introduced, sellers see an increase in sales. Buyers can refine their searches quickly, and Item Descriptions are more detailed and clearly structured.

Sellers can choose whether to include Item Specifics in their listing, and buyers can choose whether or not to use them in search.

Further Details:

Baby > Shoes & Trainers
Includes Gender, Size, Type, Brand, Material, Colour

Computing > Printer Ink and Cartridges
Includes Type, Printer Brand, Printer Model, Colour, Page Output

Consumer Electronics > DVD & Home Cinema > Home Cinema Systems
Includes Brand, Channels, Surround Sound, Features, Playable Formats

Home & Garden > Bedding
Includes Type, Size, Material/ Filling, Colour, Pattern, Duvet Tog Rating

Home & Garden > Kitchen > Small Appliances > Coffee Machines/ Makers
Includes Type, Brand, Colour, Power, Pressure, Number of Cups, Water Supply, Features

Photography > Camcorders
Includes Format, Brand, Weight, Resolution, Screen Size, Bundled Items, Connections

Photography > Film Camera Lenses
Photography > Digital Camera Lenses
Includes Camera Type, Lens Brand, Max. Aperture Size, Type of Focus, To Fit, Lens Type

Sporting Goods > Cycling > Bikes
Includes Gender/ Age, Type, Brand, Wheel Size, Frame Size, Frame Material, Suspension, Number of Gears, Brake Type, Frame Colour

Sporting Goods > Fishing > Coarse Fishing > Reels
Sporting Goods > Fishing > Fly Fishing > Reels
Sporting Goods > Fishing > Sea Fishing > Reels
Sporting Goods > Fishing > Sea Fishing > Game Fishing >Game Fishing Reels
Includes Type, Brand, Right-/ Left-Handed, Gear Ratio/ Action, Max Line Weight, # Ball Bearings

Sporting Goods > Golf > Golf Shoes
Includes Size, Brand, Colour

Sporting Goods > Golf > Golf Clothing
Includes Type, Size, Colour

Toys & Games > Model Kits
Includes Type, Model, Scale, Brand

For more information about Item Specifics, please refer to our FAQs:

Item Specifics FAQ
Item Specifics
Item Specifics Product Finder
Item Specifics View Item Page Example

Regards,
The eBay.co.uk Team

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