The eBay US Fashion Outlet Run Down – What Can You Do?
So the USA finally got the eBay Fashion outlet yesterday then. There are 12 retailers in total in the launch and an astonishing number of them are using Fooition shop designs & templates.
Where this article is going to be different, instead of focusing on why it exists (which in my mind an exceptionally positive event) and who is included, I’m going to break each of the stores down and explain where I believe they could do better in their presentation and implementation on eBay. Yes its just launched, but there is a lot to be learned from.
Scot Wingo from ChannelAdvisor has done a decent breakdown of what the extra perks are for them and who is included, he’s missed out the strike through pricing option that you’ll see in use on most of them and only hinted at the sheer amount of abuse that these retailers will gain in daily deals, exposure and PR from eBay. You only need to look at the eBay UK version of the fashion outlet to spot that it’s a heavily closed shopping experience to the outlet stores.
It should also be noted that Outlet stores have a different eBay shop structure to the normal eBay shops, that allows greater flexibility in what can be done. On the outside the implications are subtle, however, they are exceptionally more powerful and I’m sure in time the rest of the community will get these options.
What Can You Do?
I’ve put together this video that runs through all the fashion outlets on eBay US. The question is to you, what can you learn from them to improve your eBay activities?
Agreed, I doubt they’d have a blanket removal as there’d be a lot of unhappy Froo / custom store customers and they wouldn’t be able to justify one rule for them and another for general marketplace.
Hi Matt, Thanks for the reply. Please send me the gallery code, I’d like to take a look.
I’ve seen lots of different ways of working around the eBay script restrictions and I suspect, like you, they turn a blind eye if it’s not blatant abuse. It’s also difficult to police over and above the automatic checks they already have in place.
Ah, I did hear rumour of JS being removed/blocked completely from listings a while back, although its doubtful we’d see it happen any time soon.
Matt
BTW, I see a number of these outlet stores use Frooition for their templates. What annoys me is Frooition templates violate eBay’s JavaScript policy for loading remote scripts and includes. Have you ever come across any penalties or bans for script misuse?
Hmmm… you raise a good point because the JS include function is a banned function according to eBay’s policies (for a good reason, it can be abused), however what you tend to find is such companies are trusted not to abuse it, although tbh I don’t think they[eBay] care or even understand what its being done.
Its easily bypassed by breaking the “include” function into two such as “in”+ “clude” will skip the basic checker in both the SYI form and the API, also sometimes its hidden by basic attempts to encrypt it (using the decode function and byte shifting), but tools like FireBug quickly allow you to workout what the code is doing.
To answer the specific question: “Have you ever come across any penalties or bans for script misuse?”
No not yet. Although I have never seen it “abused” in a negative manner.
Matt
Hi Matt, Good review, with some real “actionable insight” as they say!
The lightboxes for most of the stores seem to use the same implementation so perhaps the common usage issues are due to some standardisation?
On the Brooks Brothers listings the flash image viewer (they don’t use a lightbox) doesn’t even load any images for me!
Is there a preferred script, css or flash you use for your eBay listings to show product images? One of the biggest annoyances is working within eBay’s JavaScript policy.
Howdy DP,
Yea, they all suffer from the same issue as they’re designed by the same company. You’re right on the Brooks Brothers image widget, it would not load under FF, but was OK in Chrome. One of the basic checks is to see if a function works in FF, Chrome & IE and if you have the chance, Safari also.
I do have some JS that you can use for an image gallery that works across browsers really well for image galleries, it needs a little alteration to make the main image “pop-up” but it works well. I can mail this to you.
Matt