Question
Possibly a stupid question? But I just noticed this:
(Click on the search I just did):
http://search.ebay.com/search/search...rclo=&saprchi=
Notice at the top of the page, there's one of those obvious pay-per-click eBay keyword program ad banners, from a seller. But to the right of that banner, there are two small colorful boxes (they were lime green and lemon yellow on my screen), touting a seller, their feedback number, and a one-liner about their products.
Is that part of the eBay keyword program? Or are those things from something else? How did those sellers get in there?
Answer
Yes, those are eBayer (Seller paid for) Keyword ads placed there as a result of one or more of the words you used in your search query.
Answer
I've noticed those too. They also have keyword ads at the left hand side of the search for me sometimes. These ads are much nicer. White background, bold print, and larger font. I guess it's all about how much you pay?
Answer
I guess it's all about how much you pay?
Sort of...
The sidebar ads are radomly generated, as well as the 1 large and 2 small banner ads at the top of the screen... with weight (or priority) given to the top keyword bidder for the large banner ad... sometimes...
HOWEVER... not all ebay sellers have access to the large banner ad, which, depending on the keyword, is heavily weighted in favor of ebay's corporate partners.
What I'm trying to say is that you can be top keyword bidder for every phrase you want, but you might only rarely get the large banner spot. This is one of the ways ebay has ruined the keyword program...
(For quite some time, it almost seemed that the large banner was virtually "off limits" to ebay sellers!)
So, if you do a search for "vintage fabric", you may get a fabric seller's banner... OR... you may get a Harry Potter banner or something else totally irrelevant.
</rant>
The one good thing that ebay has changed is it appears that they dumped doubleclick dot net for the keyword service. That's a step in the right direction.
Cheers
Answer
Thanks for filling me in Fiberguy, that's what I suspected. eBay favouring the huge/corporate sellers over the small guys. Oh well, I won't be buying that sort of space unless I am a corporate seller, so no worries for me I suppose. So much for a level playing field.