Ramp-up for Paper Payments Listing Block

We wanted to give your sellers a little more time to update their listings, while still keeping eBay a safe place to shop.

The deadline to remove paper payment methods was Jan 15. We've begun to block listings that are in violation, but we are ramping up the listing blocks slowly and carefully to make sure our filters are accurate and don't have any unintended consequences.

We're starting by blocking on descriptions where sellers are most likely to still have violating text, and where we are confident our filters have high accuracy.

For example, we're first going to start blocking listings with prohibited payment methods in "additional checkout instructions," because we still see a number of sellers with violating text in this listing field, and our filters have high accuracy in this field.

Then we'll continue to slowly ramp up those listing blocks, as we refine our filters and work with sellers to change their listing templates.

All sellers should remove any remaining paper payment methods from their item description. But if your sellers should happen to still have paper payment methods in the "additional checkout instructions" section, they should put a special priority on getting those listings updated.

Some sellers have expressed concern that we will block listings for ambiguous words like "check," where there is a legitimate way of using it in a listing. Don't worry. We will not block listings that say "check out my Store."

We're making the filters as smart as possible to take context into account. For example, we might block on the phrase "personal check" instead of "check" because it is more clearly a paper payment method.

While we are ramping up this automated way of blocking listings, we are also continuing with our efforts to manually remove listings that are in violation. If your seller's listing still has paper payment methods in the item description, and it is reported, it will be taken down.

API Best Match Now Equals Site Best Match

We are pleased to announce that as of 21 Jan, 2009 the Shopping and Trading APIs have been updated to improve their Best Match search results.

Now, when you use the BestMatch or BestMatchSort sort options when making a search call, you get results that look more like the search results you get on the eBay site. This is because we have been able to incorporate new ranking factors like Recent Sales into the API.

No code change is needed to benefit from this update. Your call input and output will remain exactly the same. However, the content of the result set will improve.

The following calls have been updated:

Shopping API

• FindItems
• FindItemsAdvanced

Trading API

• GetCategoryListings
• GetSearchResults

For more details on this change, see the Shopping API Release Notes and the Trading API Release Notes.

Now Able to Remove Enhancements from a Listing

Sellers are now allowed to remove a number of listing enhancements with ReviseItem. This applies to fixed-price listings with Good Til Cancelled (GTC) durations only.

Billing and Refunds

When the seller removes the listing feature, the listing will immediately lose the search benefits associated with the feature. Sellers do not get a full or partial refund (GTC renewal/billing is monthly). However, if the seller adds the feature back sometime after it was removed, but before the item renews for GTC, there is no additional charge.

If the listing does not have the feature on it when the GTC listing is renewed (moves into the next billing period), then the seller will not get charged for it at that time. If the seller decides to add the feature after the listing has renewed, then seller is billed at the price for that feature as it pertains to that 30 day listing period.

Bundled Enhancements

If the seller removes a feature that is part of a bundle, and the seller had currently opted for the bundle, the bundle option is removed. No refund is given for the bundle, but if the seller opts for the bundle again before GTC renewal, then they will not be charged for it a second time.

Featured First

For Featured First, note the differences due to the durations associated with the feature:

• If the seller opts for a 7-day gallery duration for Featured First, the feature applies for seven (7) consecutive days. The seller can opt out and back in during the seven days at no extra charge. If the seller opts in and the seven days will overlap with the GTC renewal for the listing, the feature is still good for the seven consecutive days. For example, the feature can run for the last 3 days in one listing billing period and the first 4 days in the next for a single charge (this is different from the Lifetime feature duration).
• If the seller opts for a Lifetime gallery duration for Featured First, the feature applies for the listing billing period. The seller can opt out of and back in to the feature within the billing period without extra charges. If the feature has been removed, the seller cannot downgrade to a shorter feature duration when they opt back in within the same billing period. Once the listing renews, the seller may opt to use a limited duration for the feature, or a the Lifetime option.