eBay will begin integrating its fixed-price Half.com site with the main U.S. eBay auction site this week. Under the new integration, announced by eBay last month, eBay users will have one account for both sites, and Half.com will adopt the eBay feedback system. eBay expects the feedback integration to appear gradually over the course of several days to a week.
Half.com feedback scores will be changed from a 1 to 5 point scale to a Positive, Neutral and Negative scale, and feedback comments pages will be set up like eBay's feedback system. A feedback rating of "1" on Half.com will become a negative feedback point; a rating of "2" or "3" on Half.com will become a neutral feedback point; and a rating of "4" or "5" on Half.com will become a positive feedback rating. In addition, Half.com feedback comments longer than 80 characters will be cut off to fit into the eBay format.
eBay also has plans to cross-promote items on each site. For example, a link to an eBay seller's related items on Half.com will appear on the eBay Seller Search page.
eBay had initially announced that it would rename Half.com to "eBay Express Buys," but in last month's announcement said that it had no plans to rename Half.com. It reiterated in yesterday's announcement that it will continue to segregate items from the two sites.
While Half.com will remain a separate site, changes to registration and feedback will make it easier to buy and sell on both Half.com and eBay. Users will have one User ID and one feedback rating that applies to both sites. By registering on one site, users are automatically registered on the other, and if users want to change email notification preferences, contact information or any other account information on one site, it's changed on both sites automatically.
Sellers will not be able to transfer items between the two sites, however, and will be charged separately by each site. Half.com is restricted to U.S. buyers and sellers.
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