eBay Italy is eliminating Store inventory format while keeping the eBay Stores ("Negozi eBay") concept. The site is introducing a new duration for Buy It Now (BIN) listings - 30 days in addition to 3, 5, 7 and 10 days - for all sellers. Store owners may list in the new BIN format, and all BIN listings will appear in core eBay search, unlike listings in the Store inventory format that is being eliminated.

Currently sellers who operate an eBay Store pay a monthly subscription fee and pay special listing and commission fees for Store fixed-price listings. eBay Italy will keep the monthly subscription fees for Stores, and owners will pay very different rates for BIN items - which attain greater exposure through their appearance on eBay Italy search results. It appears eBay Italy will keep the Stores search engine for buyers looking for Store listings only.

According to a page on the eBay Italy website translated (roughly) into English by Google's language tools:

The introduction of this new structure will allow Stores sellers to reduce the risk of listing can be sold large volumes of objects. Will be reduced or nearly disappeared (for the Premium level) charges listing for the format Buy It Now , While commissions on the value of the final will be particularly advantageous for owners of a shop and Premium Plus that will also have a dedicated tariff for sale in auction or fixed price of Hi-tech products.

eBay Italy has three levels of Stores - Base, Plus and Premium. Beginning June 3, insertion fees for Base Stores will range in price from 15 cents to $2.80 (EUR). Insertion fees for Plus Stores will be a flat rate of 25 cents, and insertion fees for Premium Stores will be 1 cent (free through August 31, 2008).

Commission fees (FVFs) for non-Store owners will have a base starting rate of 7.75%, the same as Base Stores. Commission fees for Plus and Premium Store owners will have a base starting rate of 6.75%. For Plus and Premium Store listings in the "Hi-Tech" category, the commission fee will start at 5.25%.

The monthly subscription fees for Stores remain the same for Base Stores ($9.95/month), increase from $24.95 to $29.95/month for Plus Stores, and increase from $69.95 to $99.95/month for Premium Stores.

In the FAQs section, eBay answered the question of why it was making the changes to Store inventory:

We believe that through these changes vendors will be encouraged, economically and through increased visibility of listings, to increase sales and turnover. Consequently will also improve the satisfaction of buyers who receive better service and a market with ever greater choice and convenience. In addition, buyers will be able to choose the best sellers and more easily find what they want.

An indication that eBay is considering doing the same in North America came in the form of a survey, as reported on the AuctionBytes Blog last week (http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl?/comments/2008/4/1209139707.html).

eBay Italy also introduced a new search algorithm similar to Best Match (http://pages.ebay.it/ebaysirinnova/ricerca.html) and made Gallery free.

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/it/200804241843182.html

Google's language tools can be found online at:
http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en

Comment on the AuctionBytes Blog:
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