Tell me about the Gallery.

It's a whole new way to shop! Our patent pending Gallery is a new way of browsing items for sale at eBay. The Gallery presents miniature pictures, called thumbnails, for all of the items sellers have supplied pictures for in JPG format. The Gallery displays the same information as the regular listing pages — except now you can:

• Shop like you do when you look through your favourite catalogue — by looking at the pictures first!
• See items without clicking each title.
• Get a great feel for what is in each category. (Browsing categories becomes much more fun!)

Why is it significant that our Gallery is patent pending?

Our software designers created a way of shopping on the Web that is unique in the industry. We have worked hard to bring you the most up-to-date, most fun, most enjoyable way to shop. It's not just a new way to browse through items for sale — it's a new way of experiencing our site! We've applied for a patent for this new invention and hope you enjoy using it to its fullest extent.

As a seller, how can I best take advantage of the Gallery to sell my item?

If you would like an image of your item to be included in the Gallery, you must supply a JPG image when listing your item for sale, and click the check box indicating you want to be included in the Gallery. You can supply your JPG image in the Picture URL field in the Sell Your Item page, or you can supply a different image in the Gallery URL field (also in the Sell Your Item page).

You can also be Featured in the Gallery.

TIP: If you supply a different image in the Gallery URL field than you supply in the Picture URL field, you have more picture file formats available to you -- you can enter either a TIF, BMP, or JPG file.

Here are some things to keep in mind when adding your picture:

1. GIF images cannot currently appear in the Gallery.

2. Be sure that your Gallery picture appears when you preview your page when you review your item listing. If you do not see your Gallery picture, go back to the "Picture URL" field, or the Gallery URL field if you entered a different image, on the page where you entered your item information and make sure you typed the URL for your Gallery picture correctly.

3. Be sure you've selected the option to be part of the Gallery.

4. Our site is working hard to process the pictures you supply. Once you see your item appear in the item listing pages, you might have to be patient while the Gallery creates the thumbnail for your image. As long as you've followed steps 1, 2, and 3 above, your picture should appear in the Gallery automatically.

Click here for tips to make sure your images look great when they appear in the Gallery.

I received an email saying that my item was not added to the Gallery because of a problem with my image URL. What does that mean?

When you list your item in the Gallery, we retrieve your image from where you've posted it on the Internet, scale it down, and prepare to add it to the Gallery. We call this process "making a thumbnail" of your image because the resulting picture is a smaller, 96 pixels by 96 pixels representation of your image.

We are almost always successful in creating a thumbnail of the image you supply, but sometimes we run into trouble. This can happen if you have not supplied a jpg (we are not able to use gif image types, unfortunately!), or if the computer where your image is hosted is not running when we try to retrieve it.

If this happens, have no fear! Click the link that appears in your email message, enter your password, and supply the URL for your image so we can try to retrieve it again!

Why should I Browse and Buy in the Gallery?

The Gallery allows you to quickly scan for items you are interested in by looking at the item's thumbnail photo and the title. Also, don't forget to look at the items without pictures in the regular listing pages. Sometimes a seller may not be able to take a picture of an item and a description is all you need to know it's exactly what you want.

Keep in mind that pictures contain more information than text, so when you are in the Gallery, you are requesting more information than when you browse the text listings. This means the Gallery pages may take longer to appear in your browser than the text-only listing pages. But looking at pictures instead of pure text might be worth the wait -- give it a try for a while and see!

If you have a fast modem (28k baud or faster), the Gallery pages should appear quickly. However, if you have a slow connection or slow modem, you might find the download time will be too slow for your needs, and you may want to return to the regular text listings.

How much does it cost to appear in the Gallery listing pages?

It costs £0.15 to appear in the Gallery (in addition to the regular listing fees). This £0.15 flat charge for appearing in the Gallery is in addition to the £0.15 (to £2.00 excluding Vehicles and Real Estate) listing fee that currently is in place for listing an item. Whether or not you decide to appear in the Gallery, you will still appear in the regular listings and so will continue to be charged the listing fees you are used to. The Gallery is not an option you choose instead of the regular listings. It is an option you choose in addition to your regular listing. The Gallery is a higher-end catalogue that we think most sellers will want to appear in, because it helps buyers browse through the wealth of items in a more fun and intuitive fashion. User reaction and feedback has been extremely positive, and we believe this will be a very popular way to shop for items on eBay.

What does it mean to be featured in the Gallery?

For £15.95, you can be featured in the Gallery category that you list in. This means that in addition to appearing in the Gallery listing pages, your item will also *randomly* appear at the top of the Gallery listing pages in a larger size. If you're curious: the regular Gallery listing page image size is 96 pixels by 96 pixels. The featured Gallery listing image size is 140 pixels by 140 pixels.

Note that when and where you appear is completely random. How frequently you appear actually depends on how many other listings are Featured in a particular category.

Can I be added to the Gallery after the auction has started?

Currently, you cannot be added to the Gallery after you have listed your item. If you would like to be added, you might consider ending your auction early and relisting, and then choose to have your item included in the Gallery.

"Great, but I have some suggestions..."

We would love to hear from you! Drop us a line at gallery@ebay.com to let us know what you like or don't like about this feature. What information would you like to know about the Gallery? What are your questions or concerns? How can we make this work better for you? Let us know!