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Frequently Asked Questions Update on store Inventory Listings in Search Results As noted in the March 28th Announcement Board post, the expansion of Store Inventory listings in search results will revert back to the way search worked in early February. Please read the below FAQs to learn more about this change.
Why is eBay making this change? In the few weeks since we launched this new feature, it has become clear to us that it has had some unintended consequences. Many buyers have found that their search results are returning too many items, and that search results are sometimes less relevant than they used to be. In addition, Auction-style and Fixed Price listings are harder to find for some buyers, so sellers of these items have unintentionally been put at a disadvantage. We strive to deliver the best experience to both buyers and sellers on the eBay marketplace, and we have concerns that this change is not providing optimal results across the majority of our users. As a seller, I've seen an increase in my sales. How could this change have negatively impacted the buying experience? We have heard and observed both positive and negative responses from both buyers and sellers. The widespread impact to the buying experience has not provided optimal results for the majority of our users and across the various listing formats. We believe we can achieve a better solution through further testing. As a buyer, I like including Store Inventory in my search results. Why are you removing this option? The option for including Store Inventory listings in search will still exist. In the next few weeks, we will add a Store Inventory check box to the Search Options box on all search and browse pages. Buyers who wish to broaden their search results with all Store Inventory listings will be able to do so by selecting this box. 
Why did eBay wait several weeks since the February rollout to make this change? As soon as we rolled this feature out, we started tracking various buyer, seller, and site metrics to evaluate the impact from this change. It took a few weeks for buyers and sellers to become familiar with the change. After reviewing a few weeks of results, we have concluded that we need to revert back to the way search worked in early February. On what date can we expect this change to happen? We plan to make this change starting on Thursday, April 6th. This change will take effect over the course of several days. How can we learn more about this change? There will be two Community events for you to ask questions or voice any suggestions about this decision: 1. Town Hall with Bill Cobb – Wednesday, 3/29 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time Bill Cobb, President of eBay North America, and his leadership team will answer your questions on this decision and any eBay-related topic. You can submit questions in advance here. 2. eBay Stores Brown Bag Lunch – Thursday, 3/30 at 11:30 a.m. Pacific Time The Stores team will host their monthly Brown Bag Lunch on the eBay Stores Discussion Board. What sites and countries will be impacted by this change? This change will only affect eBay.com, eBay Motors and eBay.ca. We have not seen the same unintended consequences on our international websites. What pages will be affected by this change? In the next few weeks, Store Inventory listings will no longer be integrated into the main eBay search and browse results by default. This includes all searches started from the main eBay search box at the top of all eBay pages, searches from the eBay Home Page at ebay.com, and from eBay category pages. Buyers who wish to broaden their search results with all Store Inventory listings will be able to do so by selecting the Store Inventory check box in the Search Options box on all search and browse pages. In limited cases where a buyers search results in 30 or fewer Auction-style or Fixed Price listings in the main eBay search and browse, eBay will include up to 30 Store Inventory listings in the "Additional Items Found in eBay Stores" box at the bottom of the search results. Store Inventory listings will also continue to be included in specialized searches including: "Search for Items in Stores" box at stores.ebay.com, all searches within a single Store, Seller's Other Items page, and any time the buyer chooses to search for Store Inventory listings only. How can buyers include Store Inventory listings in their main search results? We will add a Store Inventory check box to the Search Options box on all search and browse pages. Buyers who wish to broaden their search results with all Store Inventory listings will be able to do so by selecting this box. What is the cutoff for automatically showing Store Inventory listings in search results? 30 Store Inventory items will appear when there are 30 or fewer Auction-style and Fixed Price results. This is consistent with the way search worked in early February. How will this change impact the listing results count that is highlighted at the top of the search page? The listing counts at the top of search and browse results will always reflect only the listings returned in that search result. For the default eBay.com search and browse, this means that Store Inventory listings will not be included in the item listing count. If the buyer chooses to include Store Inventory listings or the search results naturally include Store Inventory results, then the count will change to include Store Inventory listings. Item counts on pages outside of the main eBay search or browse results will default to not include Store Inventory listings for ebay.com, ebay.ca, and ebaymotors.com. This includes listing counts on any category or keyword pages. Listing counts within a seller's Store and the Seller's Other Items page will always reflect the total count of listings the seller has available from all listing formats. Will any changes occur when a buyer searches within my eBay Store or on my Seller's Other Items page? No. Sellers' listings will continue to appear in their eBay Store and in their Seller's Other Item page regardless of listing format or site. No changes will be made to how sellers' listings appear or are sorted within these areas. Will this change bring back the "See Additional Buy It Now items from eBay Store sellers" link and the "Additional Items Found in eBay Stores" section at the bottom of the search results page? Yes. We will return search to how it worked in early February. These links will appear near the bottom of search results when there are more than 30 Auction-style and Fixed Price results. Similar to a search from stores.ebay.com, clicking either of these links will take buyers to the full set of Store Inventory items with listing upgrades, such as Gallery, if the listing upgrade has been purchased by the seller. Will this change impact how eBay Stores surface in the "Shop eBay Stores" box on the search results page? Yes. Qualification for the "Shop eBay Stores" box will be based on the matching listings returned from that specific search. If buyers choose not to include Store Inventory listings in their search results, then Store Inventory listings will not be included in qualifying for the "Shop eBay Stores" box nor will Store Inventory listings be included in the listing count next to the Store name. If buyers choose to include Store Inventory listings in their search, then Store Inventory listings will be used in the qualification and item counts for the "Shop eBay Stores" box. Will my listing upgrades show up in Store Inventory results? If purchased, listing upgrades will always appear on Store Inventory listings in the following cases:
What is the plan for reintroducing Store Inventory into eBay's main search and browse results? Over the coming months we will further test and refine how to best expose Store Inventory items in eBay's main search and browse results. We will provide timely communication to the Community as future decisions are made.
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