Good day, All. The savvy ones amongst you will have noticed that we have changed the home page “How to” to the vzaar “Top 5 tips”.

We did this because in these early days of video we noticed there were some obvious ways which many of you could improve your videos to really get the most out of your sales. The most obvious one of which was talking. Interestingly a lot of you are really shy about speaking on camera.

Also when it comes to selling things that can really benefit from video - things that you can show working, we found that some of you often didn’t. Pianos would be un-played, toys would be un-moved and engines would remain cold. We do think your videos show off all your items well, but given that a video is an opportunity to show how something moves, how it sounds, what it does, that it works - giving you a chance to really show it off - it seems that many people don’t consider making their video more “active”.

We hope you find our top tips really helpful. Dan and I really enjoyed making it and have grand plans to do lots more. (Secretly getting the chance to fulfill my dream of bursting onto the silver screen...)

Posted by Online Herald at 4:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

You might have noticed we've changed the home page a little (and by a little we really mean quite a lot).

Change is good and it's important to recognise when things aren't quite working right and improve them.

So what's new?

Well we have moved some of the content to the bottom of the page. These panels allow us to communicate with you, more clearly and easily without being distracting. On the original home page they didn't quite fit where they were and were a bit unstructured. This is a bit neater and better positioned and allows you to take them in when you want to and dive into the rest of the site when you don't.

We've also moved the main media player to the top right. We're very proud of our video player and how it is developed with eBay sellers in mind. So we have given it prime position. We also know the help and how to videos are probably less relevant to some of our regular users. Watch this spot. We're working on a super vzaar algorithm that changes the content for new and regular users differently. Hopefully this will make vzaar a bit more interesting for your repeat visits.

We're also doing some internal research and work on how vzaar is helping different people. We're going to highlight this more, as well as start letting you know how you can user video better and how different videos can help you in different ways. Look out for our top 5 tips video coming this week.

We've also changed the video thumbnails are shown. We felt the metadata (that's the information associated with each video like views and item titles) looked a bit messy the way it was presented before. So now you're just see 4 (hopefully interesting) thumbnails and when you mouse over them, we'll show you the metadata. Just click to view the main video.

Finally we've also put a new algorithm in for the thumbnails. We thought it would be interesting to see what people are watching right now. So whenever anyone plays a video, either on vzaar or on eBay we'll show you what's just been viewed. This is real live data of what buyers are actually looking at and watching. Of course the most popular videos will show up more often, but all videos get a shot. Keep an eye on here to see what kind of videos buyers are enjoying.

The most recent videos is as it was originally, just some of the videos uploaded recently. Although we have mixed it up a bit and are picking them randomly from the last 10. Also watch this spot. We're going to start putting some of our favourite videos in here too, when we've finished some of the new code.

Of course whilst change is good, we know we wont get it to everyone's like (I worked on the eBay UK home page change so I know how hard it is to meet everyone's needs). As always drop a comment or contact us with any thoughts you might have on the changes.

Posted by Chief Geek at 4:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Rather than us telling you how wonderful we think video is for your eBay listings we thought we’d let you know what YOU'VE been saying about us:


“There has been a marked improvement in sales”


“It [vzaar video] definitely did make me more interested in buying it [DVD] ... I wish other sellers would do the same as you and include a video in their listings”

“There were several other sellers with similar items [motorbike] for sale. My
auction attracted a higher bids early in the auction and sustained
this higher price throughout.”

“I think it is the future way of using eBay for both buyers and sellers. Now I've tried
it, I'll always use vzaar for my auctions.”

“It [vzaar] should enhance most peoples chances of a sell. Especially in the case with the listings I have done that are with sound... Photographs are brilliant to show what your item looks like, but a video shows the potential purchaser exactly what the item does.”

“Brilliant. Thumbs up from me... I will be recommending your site to my friends and family.”

“It [vzaar video] helps to check out the [books] condition.”

“I'm sure once everyone starts using it it could largely replace stills pics.”

“So far a great experience that allows me to project my honesty and integrity whilst promoting my item. Plus it’s a bit more fun.”

“More important is a reduction in ASQ when a video is used, suggesting the importance of video to enhance the description.”

 
“It just gave me a new lease on life for my ebay business.”

So there it is. Thank you for saying all these lovely things. It only inspires us to try harder and make vzaar a better and better service. Lots of you have also given us advice and suggestions on how to make the service better which we are hugely appreciative of.

If you do have any comments or suggestions we’d be keen to hear them. Contact us and we’ll do what we can to make it happen (unless your suggestion is completely mad...)

Posted by Online Herald at 9:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Heading into the winter season (for us poor souls in the Northern hemisphere) it’s important to have something to look forward to. And that’d why we’re having a party! Yes, that’s right - a party with our friends at Tamebay this November in Manchester after eBay University.

It’s Tamebay’s 1st birthday on this very day (Congratulations Tamebay!) and it’s vzaar’s...well...we just like parties. If you’re heading over the Manchester (UK) for eBay’s brilliant University on November 10th - we’d love it if you came to pay us a visit and joined in the fun.

There’ll be lots of drinks and food and there is even talk of an opportunity to win loads of stuff that, if you don’t, will probably sell exceptionally well on eBay with the aid of a video...

Posted by Online Herald at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Since vzaar launched last month we've been getting the word out about how great videos are and how they can help you sell on eBay. We thought you might like to have a look at some of the coverage we've received.

Check the out the video from Sky News Technofile and online coverage from Tamebay and Mashable.

Posted by Social Wizard at 9:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If you're looking for a good reason to list your first eBay items using vzaar, then Thursday's Half Price Listing Day on eBay.co.uk might be exactly what you've been waiting for.

With listing fees starting at 2p (there are a number of eligibility criteria so be sure to read the Ts and Cs) it's a good opportunity to experiment with some new lines or shift old stock.

On a cheap listing day lots of sellers will say that the increased number of listings means that their auctions and BINs get lost in the influx. So it's necessary to stand out from the crowd to get your share of the buying action. A video could be just what you're after: it helps buyers make that all important buying decision and gives them a better understanding of what you're selling.

Of course, vzaar is free every day so dust off the digital camera and sharting shooting those videos and prepare to list a bumper batch of items this Thursday.

Never listed with vzaar before? Why not check out our video that explains how easy vzaar is to use.

Posted by Social Wizard at 3:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)