We have had a number of customers contact us asking if we are aware of any updates to the active content rules that eBay may limit in 2017 and is it worth waiting till the end of 2017 before proceeding with a design.
From working with eBay for over 10 years we have learnt to adapt to these changes once they are really going to be enforced, therefore from now till the end of 2017 is a long time to easily outweigh the benefits of not having a design and increase your sales (typically > 38%) before they may even limit the active content and if the changes are enforced then we already have a solution available.
We currently use active content on the listing to create dynamic category menus, similar products and other products in this category. Active content allows us to change sections such as showing a new category without revising the listings.
If eBay do decide to ban 100% of all active content, then we would make the necessary changes to make the active content ‘static’, this means if you added a new category to your shop, your listings would need to be revised via our listing tool Ad-lister in order for your customers to see the category changes, the design and layout would remain the same. This is how our listings previously worked a number of years ago prior to adapting to dynamic content within Ad-lister.
Having dynamic content is great and beneficial in managing your listings as it allows you to post an item to eBay and forget about it, but if certain sections are limited, then we already have a solution available. If you already use Ad-lister along with your eBay design, then there is really nothing to worry about if the new rules are enforced.
I personally believe that eBay will not limit the active content that we currently use (such as dynamic categories) as we and other systems would need to revise thousands of listings an hour and this would clearly be an issue for eBay’s system, I can see the need for introducing some new rules and ban certain active content such as payments or other actions diverting your listing off of eBay as these are subject to eBay losing sales and potential spoofing.
We previously explained in our other article what is Active Content and how the listings would be affected, http://www.justtemplateit.co.uk/ebay/is-active-content-really-that-dangerous/, we are also aware of a number of other companies building tools that will convert dynamic listings to static ones so no matter what the issue is, there is always a solution to the problem.
So our advice is not to panic!
We are certified by eBay and we offer a unique commitment to our customers for peace of mind, any designs built after October 2016 will be updated free of charge once we receive a clear understanding on the limitations, the worse case is we would need to revise to eBay on a regular basis to keep the listings ‘refreshed’ which could be automated via our listing tool Ad-Lister, your buyers wouldn’t see any difference to what we currently provide.
Posted by Darren Ardener, Company Director, Just Applications Ltd.
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