Like other providers of eBay selling tools, Seller Circle had to adapt to changes eBay made to its listing pages and affiliate program and will institute fees for its gallery as a result. Seller Circle said that because eBay has restyled and re-engineered listing pages, it is no longer able to float the gallery at the bottom of shoppers' web browsers.

Seller Circle cofounder Christian Williams said the original floating gallery was designed to be very small, because its placement made it highly visible. To adjust to eBay's changes, the new gallery is bigger. "The first gallery the I designed was at Andale in 2001 and there hasn't been a ton of design innovation since, which I think is a huge problem for everyone," he said. "After a while, the old gallery designs look like noise on a listing page instead of actually engaging buyers and encouraging them to explore a seller's other listings."

In addition, because of changes to eBay's Affiliate Program, Mr. Williams said the company is instituting a subscription fee of $2.99/month for the gallery. In a letter to customers, he wrote, "Mike and I REALLY wish that we could continue to make the best free tools for the eBay community, but we're just unable to any longer. I should point out that we don't have billing information or PayPal relationships set up with any of our users, so don't worry - we won't (and can't) automatically bill you unless you choose to use the new gallery."

The former gallery will continue to work as usual until the end of February.