eBay is testing a new Item page that completely changes how seller information is displayed on the page. The Seller information box has undergone quite a bit of change over the years, but has always been on the right side of the listing page and has always been presented under a header called “Seller Information.” Based on what we’ve seen, that may be about to change.
Clicking on a hyperlink to “Try the new eBay,” EcommerceBytes saw the new View Item page layout on Thursday evening, though variations of the new design have surfaced in the past:
The bad news: the seller information appears to our eyes to be less prominent.
The good news: the advertisement is gone from the top of the fold.
The Current Design
The current design shows the top of the page in 3 sections – the item photo is on the left; the gray bid/buy box is in the middle including brief information about terms (shipping, payment and returns); and right section has social sharing buttons, the Seller information section and an ad spot.
The New Design
With the new design, the top of the page is divided into 2 sections rather than 3 – the item photo remains on the left, and the section on the right side is mostly taken up with what had appeared in the middle section of the old design: the bid/buy buttons and terms.
Seller Information
What was most striking about the new design was the seller information section – it was gone. Instead of the headline “Seller information” followed by 5 lines, the new page displayed all that information in two lines directly above the gray bid/buy box – with no “Seller information” headline to call attention to the seller.
In addition, the red door Store icon (which has become the blue eBay Store door on listing pages, but that’s another story), is missing from above the fold.
Caveat
Since eBay doesn’t discuss the tests it runs on the site, it’s always possible eBay never intended to display the new design. When we went back to the old view and clicked on “Try the new eBay,” the third panel was back with the Seller information included. And, as I noted above, variations of the new design have surfaced in the past.
New Green Callouts
eBay also added callouts to the page on Thursday. Directly underneath the gray bid/buy box is a strip that calls out certain attributes of a listing in green text and are personalized.
Examples of callouts (there seems to be a maximum of three per listing) include:
- Experienced Seller
- Limited quantity remaining
- Over x% sold
- Free Shipping
- 100% positive Feedback
- Hassle-Free returns
The new green callouts appear now on both the old and new design.
If you’ve seen any design changes or have opinions about the Listing page layout, let us know! You can leave a comment on last week’s blog post post about the new Store icon redesign.
