We’re sure you’ll know by now – ebay have announced that you should abandon Active Content immediately and get your listings into shape following some best practice guidance they have issued. So, let’s have a look at ebay active content and how it will affect you.
It’s really serious for all sellers to take note of this and look to get their store whipped into shape as soon as possible – they are now also announcing that they are going to sunset storefront templates in the future too, and we expect that to happen late 2017 though no formal date has been set.
What is active content and what is affected?
The stuff in general that ebay wants to get rid of for a better overall performance is stuff like:
- Javascript and jQuery
- Widgets from companies like Widget Chimp and the stuff that we used to do at RedStar
- Image carousels (if you don’t do them correctly)
- Tabs in listing templates
- Dynamically added categories, buy it now buttons and dynamic pricing widgets
- Store search forms
Why they are doing this – and this isn’t the official line!
Mobile is really important and active content just doesn’t work too well on lots of stores so it is great that it’s being addressed. We’ve worked directly with ebay for over 5 years now and we always see them testing and tweaking functionality similar to Amazon.
This is another case of ebay looking at works well on Amazon and looking how they can implement it on ebay.
The implementation of barcodes, the acceptance of Amazon ASINs next year and the new design when searching for an item in Google looks very… well Amazon-ish doesn’t it!! it wouldn’t take much imagination to see that big blue “see details” button to become a “Buy It Now” button and away you go!
What do I need to do? Am I in violation of the ebay Active Content policy?
Firstly I’d say don’t worry – you have lots of time to get this sorted out – though if you are using Turbo Lister or a manual platform then it could take you a while to get all of this sorted out.
There is also a tool on the i-ways website to let you test your listings.
What we would say is give us a call and we can have a chat about it – no obligations, no hard sell – we will just give you an honest and reasonable run-through of the options.
There has to be something fantastically ironic about all this, right?
Of course there is!!! As ebay get all back to basics, plain and simple, Amazon are starting to head in the other direction!
They have announced that sellers will be able to use HTML to give advanced layouts and information on their products – have a look at a Kindle Fire HD and you’ll see what we mean.
We think this is going to give sellers a pretty good way of establishing a bit of brand and credibility if it’s done right. If you’d be interested in having a look at this why not pick up the phone and we can look at the options for you.
Are you in Manchester?
If you are why not come and join us at our free Online Seller UK Manchester Meetup and we’ll have a chat about it there.
