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vintagemoonbeams



Posts: 1002

PostPosted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 10:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

YourRainyDayBookStore wrote:
Perhaps this email I received from the eCrater team, in response to my questions, will also be of help to you:


Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 8:55 AM

Thank you for your email regarding the 3.3 Content requirements.

**Boilerplate is any text that is or can be reused repeatedly without being changed much from the original text. A phrase or body of text repeated in different documents and on eCRATER in item descriptions.

If the same or almost the same text is being added to listings, then it would be considered boilerplate text. All text in the description should directly describe the product and not store policies or shipping.


I have another question. I often buy large collections of similar items and a lot of the description information is the same or very similar. I work very hard to make sure the titles and unique item information are shown to prevent any "duplicate item" violations. However, for example, I have several Goebel Berta Hummel figurines listed and I have a paragraph that tells the buyer a little about this series of figurines and all the wording is the same in every listing. This happens a lot also in my collector plates where I might have a series of 15 or 20 that have some unique information and other info. the same.

How are we to know what is considered "boilerplate"?

VintageMoonbeams
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Periwinkles



Posts: 2907

PostPosted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 10:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank God - I started a couple of months ago taking them out - or it was when the description got broken up. None of that information was in them so I just started taking it out. I am so happy I did that. I have 7 stores and did it gradually. I still have one store I have to take out shipping as I left it in for some reason. Oh well, guess I will get my you-know-what in gear. Laughing
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GoneFunky



Posts: 1331

PostPosted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 10:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

So I guess Google wants all our listings to be robotic...no personal touches or alluring thoughts about an item! LOL

How about Thanks for visiting is that too personal? Or...I am always happy to combine shipping on multiple items? Oh Gee... Rolling Eyes

Sounds more like they want catalog listing rather than what small sellers have offered shoppers for years. I enjoy the little extra info that sellers offer within their stores especially on handcrafted and vintage items.
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thelivesandlovesofmaggiethecat



Posts: 10158

PostPosted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 12:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Could this be why Dimitri installed the break in the description? The top part gets fed to Google and the bottom part is only available after you click on the item and get to ecrater?
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Comics-Emporium



Posts: 508

PostPosted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 1:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

theartsandlettersofmaggiethecat wrote:

If the line "I gladly combine shipping." is considered a boiler plate then I have about 4000 items to edit. And whether ecrater is just giving a warning or not, Google has already removed my items.


I also have a similar line saying that I combine purchases to save them on shipping and how much I charge for shipping. I guess that means I will have to change around 9,000 of my listings. It took me over a year to get up that many listings.

frillypad wrote:
Most sellers have some sort of C/P they put at the bottom of listings. We all know customers aren't going to take the time to go to your about me or terms pages.


Exactly
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ImajeNationFlatware



Posts: 62

PostPosted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 1:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

oh. my. god.

I sell vintage flatware, so every little "bunch" is different from every other, but -- yeah-- there's no way buyers are going to go in/out/around looking for terms, "About me" etc. The eCrater site is not very user friendly, really. So I chose to put all the pertinent info on the one page of the description, so buyers can get to it without a lot of hassle.

There's one particular listing that I used as a bellwether, because nobody in the entire world but me had this particular brand and pattern of flatware, so I would Google it and come up in the first page of the search results. Lately it's not been appearing, and I wondered why. Hmmm, you think?

Well, there goes the next month-- but I'm not gonna start editing until we know better what exactly to do or not to do...

Whoever suggested getting drunk; I'm on it!
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FoxAndFish



Posts: 1585

PostPosted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 2:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

vintagemoonbeams wrote:
I have another question. I often buy large collections of similar items and a lot of the description information is the same or very similar.


I'm in the same boat, VintageMoonbeams...not only with porcelain figurines from a certain collection but also titles from various book series.

Another problem related to this is, for example, clothing/accessories sellers who have one style of black sweater in 5 diff. sizes...or one style of Tshirt in 5 diff. colors...or one style of earrings with 5 diff. gemstones. Since there is no drop-down menu to select size, color, etc in eCrater, the process till now has been for sellers to list the item as many times as necessary to show all the colors, sizes, etc. Will that now be considered boilerplate?
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shebang



Posts: 180

PostPosted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 3:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

These new rules are a step backwards for me instead of new listings and promoting a lot of time will be wasted editing.I am not sure why google or ecrater do not want boiler plates? Do these boilerplates take up too much space ? I ad terms and shipping boilerplates to my listings because when I buy I like all the relevant information to be included in what I am looking at buying I like most people will not spend the time looking all over site for information.My last two listings I did not include boilerplates but guess I will hold off listing anything else until I see what happens.If google does not promote my items I will have to look into other ideas maybe even back to pay sites which I am hoping to get away from.
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vintagecornerstore



Posts: 151

PostPosted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 3:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

There is actually a real positive edge to this. If google is making everyone do this, it means eBay sellers will also need to do it in order to come up in searches (maybe, although this really only effects Base and not organic search).

Think about those templates that you see on eBay - massive amounts of boilerplate info. I can see many of the sellers there refusing (or not bothering) to conform to this rule.

Our listings here at eCrater are the simplest on the whole internet to change, bar none. So it may be a pain, but compared to other sites it is so easy. And ultimately, we may come out so spectacularly on search that the payoff will be huge!

I am still going to wait a few days to do it however, to see if anything else comes down the pike (i.e., Dimitri adding a second description box, etc.)
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zickit



Posts: 21857

PostPosted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 3:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

thelivesandlovesofmaggiethecat wrote:
Could this be why Dimitri installed the break in the description? The top part gets fed to Google and the bottom part is only available after you click on the item and get to ecrater?

nope nothing to do with each other
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PegsBUTTONS



Posts: 733

PostPosted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 4:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have combined shipping in ALL my listing... I don't use any of the shipping features here.
I am wondering how this will be "POLICED"..is it the word SHIPPING?
would you think " I will combine mailing" or something like "if you buy multiple items, BEFORE you pay, ask for a combined invoice"..what you think??
ALSO I know the owner must be very busy BUT why is it the moderators have to bring this to our attention?? not everyone that has a store reads the forums so how are those to know about the terms being updated UNLESS its put in the NEWS?
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zickit



Posts: 21857

PostPosted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 4:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
ALSO I know the owner must be very busy BUT why is it the moderators have to bring this to our attention?? not everyone that has a store reads the forums so how are those to know about the terms being updated UNLESS its put in the NEWS?

It's the responsiblity of every store owner to keep up with the terms.
Checking them for changes is a good idea on every site you do anything with.
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ImajeNationFlatware



Posts: 62

PostPosted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 4:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, I just realized that my lists were full of "boilerplate" - so I cut out all the bp from my first one- and in the process had to totally redo the "ABOUT" "TERMS" "CONTACT" and "FAQ" which I had formerly totally neglected cuz most of that was on every listing... so I have spent over an hour, and have one done.... 1333 left to go. Nice. Buyers will NEVER spend the time to click around hopscotching from page to page back and forth to find all this stuff. No way.
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maggiethehousecat



Posts: 2457

PostPosted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 6:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

FoxAndFish wrote:
vintagemoonbeams wrote:
I have another question. I often buy large collections of similar items and a lot of the description information is the same or very similar.


I'm in the same boat, VintageMoonbeams...not only with porcelain figurines from a certain collection but also titles from various book series.

Another problem related to this is, for example, clothing/accessories sellers who have one style of black sweater in 5 diff. sizes...or one style of Tshirt in 5 diff. colors...or one style of earrings with 5 diff. gemstones. Since there is no drop-down menu to select size, color, etc in eCrater, the process till now has been for sellers to list the item as many times as necessary to show all the colors, sizes, etc. Will that now be considered boilerplate?


The email I got from Google only calls information that does not describe the item as forbidden. Size and color differentiations are describing the items.
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AmericanEdge



Posts: 976

PostPosted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 7:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Google Merchant Center policy for Marketplaces and how it might affect eCrater
Marketplaces must use a multi-client account. Each individual seller should be in a separate sub-account.
All items must comply with our Program Policies and Terms of Service. Sub-accounts that are not compliant will be deactivated, and excessive deactivations will lead to deactivation of the parent account.

I take this to mean that this is the reason for eCrater's 3.3 Content Requirements change in the terms of service.
The eCrater Marketplace is the "Parent" account for data feeds and is responsible for Sub-account compliance with Google's Merchant Center TOS and Policies. Boiler plate titles and text is just one issue.
When eCrater submits data feeds for thousands of stores (sub-accounts) many will be rejected / disapproved. Ecrater will remove these stores from the data feeds or risk deactivation of the Parent account ( all eCrater data feeds ). How quickly Google enforces these Merchant Center policies is not known but these changes jeopardize everything that eCrater has worked for.

ralph
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