Item details page – new look, better features

The new design will roll-out in a phased manner, starting with a small percentage of users in August of 2008, and full launch is targeted for late this year or early next year.

For the moment, only a very small fraction of buyers will see the new design. However, all sellers will soon be able to see how their items will appear in the new design. As a seller, if you have an item listed, simply sign in and click the new preview link at the top of your listing to view the item as it would appear in the new design.

If you see the new page "live," we'd like your feedback! If you land on the redesigned page, you'll see a link at the top – "Send us your comments," where you can send us your feedback on the new experience.

If you are sending us feedback regarding the way the page looks on your browser, (and we encourage you to do so), please make sure you include the item number, your browser, your screen resolution, and if possible, screenshots.

The item number is now placed just below the main picture.

Research showed this information was less important to buyers making a purchase decision than information such as item condition, pictures, payment options, and the seller's return policy. Most of this information is still available, just a click away. High Bidder is available in the bid history page and Member Since is available in the user's My World or Feedback profile page.

In order to provide consistent and easy experience for all users, all links inside the item description will be opened in a new browser window. Please note that these are not the same as pop-ups and will not be blocked by pop-up blockers.

If you do see the new page, you might come across more of your merchandise in three locations: 1) in a separate merchandising tab; 2) in the Bid/BIN confirm layer; and 3) at the top of a completed sale items. We're displaying merchandise in these areas to give shoppers more relevant results and hence, help boost conversion and order size. If you offer postage discounts on multiple purchases, you'll give buyers added incentive to buy more from you.

User-generated item descriptions are now being loaded inside an iFrame. Using iFrame enables eBay to provide an extra layer of security to its users. The separation between eBay content and sellers' content will prevent users from submitting HTML that may interfere with how eBay works. In some cases seller's descriptions might require a small adjustment in order not to show the scroll bars. Please refer to Why isn't my iFrame content appearing properly? to see how to resolve this issue.

While using iFrame (see previous question), the listings contain both standard eBay content and user-generated descriptions, that are hosted in two separate locations. Occasionally, due to slow internet connections, the user-generated description may not load right away. Try clicking the 'refresh' button on your browser in order to reload the page.

Since user-generated item descriptions are now being loaded inside an iFrame, your scripts will only be allowed to modify and control your item description and the area it occupies. This will increase the overall security of the site.

eBay will make sure to serve a non-iFrame version of your listings to search bots (used by search engines such as Google) and all non-browser based requests. This way the search engines will be still 'exposed' to this content. The same non-iFrame version of your listings will be served to users with browsers that do not support JavaScript.

eBay has disabled certain JavaScript on our site. This includes the setInterval() and setTimeout() functions. eBay has banned these functions from the site because they can be used to interfere with how eBay works. These functions are uncommon and other functions can be used to produce the same result.

There are some steps you can take to make sure your content appears as expected inside an iFrame.

Content Dimensions

• All HTML content should have relative widths and heights
• Images and other fixed size objects should not exceed 700px in width
• Tables and other content blocks should not have a set height percentage

File Linking

• HTML and Flash links and form actions should target a _blank window and use full paths including the http:// prefix
• Externally hosted images and other content references should point to valid existing content and use full paths including the http:// prefix. In other words, there should be no broken links
• Externally hosted images and other content must have quick load speeds

Content Validity

• HTML content should be well formed; preferably comply with XHTML 1.0 standards
• Script and other rich content should not depend on any elements in the eBay Item Details page
• Scripts should properly execute without any runtime warnings or errors

This Item Page will be shown for any item from a Shop seller, regardless of listing format.

The vertical Listing Frame on the left side of the page is being replaced with a horizontal list of four categories in the Shop header itself. In addition to these four, another ten categories will be shown as a drop-down. These categories will be pre-determined now and configurable later on within Manage My Shop.

Yes, your logo will appear in the Shop header - no changes to your existing logo are necessary.

There are no changes to Cross Promotions in this test phase. In the future, managing Cross Promotions within Manage My Shop will change, and details of this will be announced shortly. Please do not expect any changes for the test phase though.

No. We did announce this during eBay Live, but we received some great feedback on how this impacts descriptions. We went back to the drawing board on this one and decided to revisit this change. Therefore, now the top section will be fixed width, but the lower description section will be flexible in width (as it is today) to accommodate the various types of listing templates our sellers use.

None, self-hosted pictures will continue to work normally.

Yes, this message is going to be displayed more prominently above the item itself.

The Shop "red door" icon is now displayed next to the item title, making it easy for buyers to see that you have an eBay Shop. Also, you'll be able to have a customisable marketing message to your buyers that will be displayed in the Shop header.