In an effort to make its search results appear faster, eBay will remove two graphic elements from the search results page that it says are not widely used by buyers, but take extra time to load. Beginning November 9, it will remove the "Get More Results" module at the bottom of the page. However, the "See additional items from eBay Stores…" will remain a text link in the same location.

eBay will also remove the Matching eBay Stores module in the left navigation that displays individual eBay Stores. The "See all matching eBay Stores" will remain as a text link in the same location.

eBay said it has tested both of the changes and saw a significant increase in speed with very little impact on how buyers search. "It's one small change that can go a long way to keep holiday shoppers coming back."

eBay also said that it would hold off on making buyer email addresses anonymous in member-to-member emails. "This change created some issues with the internal email management systems for some of our sellers, so in September we reverted back to the way emails were handled previously. This means buyer email addresses are not being made anonymous, and the way members can reply to messages are not being enhanced at this time. We're working now on a new system to beta test in early 2010. If all goes well, we'll launch it shortly thereafter."