Greetings and thanks for joining! I am Ryan - and I am joined by Wilson. Both of us are part of the marketing teams and involved with eBay's new Reviews & Guides section (Link). We look forward to introducing Reviews & Guides and taking questions!

What’s the difference between Reviews and Guides?

Reviews are product based and area available for certain categories such as: books, cell phones, coins, digital cameras, golf clubs, movies, music, PDAs, video games and more. Each review is attached to a particular product and includes both a rating (1-5) and a text-based reviews. For instance, the “Forrest Gump” DVD will, over time, have a collection of reviews attached it – each review will have its own product rating and the DVD will have an overall rating that is an average of each individual user review. Reviews are a great way to learn about particular products before buying or to share your opinions and comments.

Each review has a “Was This Helpful” button beneath it. That button is used to sort the helpfulness of the reviews – over time, the most helpful reviews will be classified as “Top Reviews” and appear atop the page.

Whereas reviews pertain to specific products, guides enable writing across any topic or category. Wherever your interest or expertise resides, you can write a guide on any subject such as:

* How to Plan the Perfect Vacation
* Building the Ultimate 80s Music Collection
* The Best Xbox games of 2004
* All About iPods and iPod Minis

Guides also give you the ability to be creative in your design and formatting: writers can insert pictures, special formatting, eBay links, and headings. Like reviews, guides can be voted on by readers.

For Sellers?

Reviews & Guides are great for sellers because it’s an opportunity to demonstrate your expertise and knowledge. Additionally, Reviews & Guides will always have author information, so writing top reviews and guides is an excellent way to attract visitors to your About Me page, store, listings, etc.

Why is Reviews & Guides in Beta? What features are forthcoming?

Reviews & Guides launched in Beta because there are many features and enhancements that are on the horizon. The two most exciting are:

*The Writer Profile Page
Each writer will have a profile page that collects his/her content – both reviews and guides. That profile page is accessible to readers and also contains profile information such as links to the author’s feedback, listings, store, About Me page, etc.

and

*Writer Rankings
Soon, writers will be ranked and top writers will receive distinct Reviews & Guides logos! Rankings will take into account all reviews and guides by each writer.


What are Top Reviews and Most Helpful Guides and how are they determined?

Top Reviews are determined by readers’ helpfulness voting (“Was this helpful?”). Top Reviews are determined by quality of voting and quantity of helpfulness votes. Top Reviews change frequently and every new review has an opportunity to earn this distinction. “Most Helpful” Guides are determined the same way that “Top Reviews” are. Each guide can be voted on by readers using the “Was this helpful?” button; the “Most Helpful” guides are determined by quality of voting and quantity of helpfulness votes.

Could the Guides be used to demonstrate Scrapbook ideas and how to info.

Would this allow me to link items used in the guide to my store listings?

Will the Reviews be used to review specific sellers?

I see the Reviews and Guides in SMPro. I'm assuming that all users have this new item in My eBay. How would a Guide to creating a Scrapbook be accessed by potential buyers or those interested in starting a Scrapbook? Sorry if I am duplicating questions.