An update from eBay, an article from Auctionbytes, and seller reaction:
eBay UK announcement:
Quote:***Testing different ways to display international items on eBay.co.uk***
As you may be aware, we have recently removed items that are listed on eBay.co.uk from default search results on eBay.com in the US.
Over the coming months, we will be testing different ways of displaying international listings on various eBay sites worldwide, with the aim of appropriately balancing the needs of domestic sellers in each market with those of exporting sellers from other countries.
The first of these tests, which will begin at the end of this week, will display items listed by US sellers on eBay.com by default in a few selected categories on eBay.co.uk. We have selected categories where imports from the US to the UK already represent a significant proportion of trade in the category. US listings will be displayed by default on eBay.co.uk in these categories if a seller offers PayPal, has at least 100 feedback with at least 98% positive, and has set a postage price to the UK. SIF listings will not be displayed.
The categories in which this test will run are:
* Business, Office & Industrial: Medical/ Lab Equipment
* Clothes, Shoes & Accessories: Womens Accessories
* Collectables: Clocks
* Collectables: Disneyana
* Collectables: Knives/ Swords
* Consumer Electronics: MP3 Players
* Jewellery & Watches: Watches
* Stamps: United States
* Toys & Games: Games
This test will run for around two months, during which time we will measure the impact on UK sellers, US sellers and the behaviour of UK buyers. We will be running similar tests in the future in which we show UK listings by default on other eBay sites, with the aim of giving them the most appropriate visibility worldwide.
Auctionbytes:
Quote:eBay users in the UK got more bad news on Thursday when eBay announced more details about its tests of the way listings appear on non-domestic sites. In February, eBay changed the way British listings appear on the US eBay.com website: previously, items listed on eBay.co.uk also appeared in the default search results on eBay.com, but now, they are no longer guaranteed to appear there. Yesterday, eBay announced that US listings would appear on the UK site in certain categories.
That means UK sellers are getting less exposure because their listings do not appear on the US site, but face added competition from US sellers whose items will appear on the UK site by default in some cases, if they specify worldwide shipping...
full article:
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y07/m03/i09/s01
UK seller reaction:
http://forums.ebay.co.uk/thread.jspa?thr...1200095850
While I feel badly for the affected UK sellers, this policy change by ebay is long overdue.
American sellers on ebay have never been included in search results on other ebay sites unless they maintained accounts and paid listing fees on those sites. The listings of sellers from other countries on the US site has long been seen by US sellers as unfair to them. And it was unfair, damn it!
Kudos to ebay for changing this policy.