eBay posted six new announcements on its Marketing Announcement board December 31 to inform members of new features, promotional news and policy updates.

One forthcoming change that will be most welcomed by sellers is extended title. Currently eBay sellers are limited to 45 characters of text in a listing title. The default search on eBay is Title-only searches, so sellers try to cram the most effective keywords into that one field.

eBay said it would expand the title capacity to 55 characters in mid-February on the U.S. site, and will roll out the feature to international sites a few weeks later. eBay had added a new field, "Subtitle," in 2003. While the field is visible when browsing, it is not searchable.

eBay also said it will replace "Feedback Profile" with "Member Profile," a new hub that provides buyers and sellers with a member’s reputation on eBay. Member Profile will include feedback scores and comments, the member’s registration location, and other items sold. The changes to the feedback display page will not include any policy changes and only affects design and layout. (Many users have called for changes in feedback policy and for a way to make it easier to locate negative feedback comments on a member's feedback profile.)

eBay said the new features of "Member Profile" include:
-New layout for feedback score and rating table numbers.
-New tabs for different types of feedback, enabling members to evaluate “Feedback from Buyers,” “Feedback from Sellers,” and “Feedback left for Others.”
-New positive, neutral and negative icons to make it easy for people to scan feedback.
-New pagination model that uses significantly less screen space.

More information about Member Profile is available at http://pages.ebay.com/services/forum/newfb.html

In addition, eBay said it would make all User ID links go to the Member Profile of the user. The Member Profile page will contain a "Contact Member" button that links to a sign-in page (to access the Contact eBay Member form), directly to the Contact eBay Member form, or to the Ask Seller a Question form. Currently the User ID links to different locations depending on context.

eBay is also making changes to the icons that can appear next to eBay User IDs. The changes will roll out in the next several days and will be consistent across all international eBay sites (words are removed from all icons). A preview of the new icons can be seen at: http://pages.ebay.com/icons-preview.html

eBay is extending its "Home Page Featured" promotion through January 31. Normally the optional feature costs $99.95; the sale price is $39.95 (see promo details at http://www.ebay.com/promo/hpfeaturedsale).

And finally, eBay said it has consolidated a number of policies relating to Keyword Spamming. The new Search Manipulation – Keyword Spamming policy can be found at: http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-keywords.html