Auction website eBay has apologised for not giving sellers enough notice about changing the default settings for the "simple search" on ebay.com. Until recently, items put up for sale by eBay customers on the UK site automatically appeared in the search results on the bigger American ebay.com site. But since February, only items for sale by US sellers were displayed. It is still possible for American users to find items listed by UK sellers, but only by clicking on the "advanced search" option. This quickly caused an outcry from business owners who claimed their sales were majorly cut down.
Ebay says they"ve changed the policy to try and make the process more relevant for buyers. The company says the previous policy was a quirk of the system, as American sellers aren"t automatically listed on the UK site. UK sellers can continue to get their items listed automatically on the bigger site by registering separately and maintaining two eBay accounts. But putting items up for sale on both sites will now incur two listing fees.