Bonanza has added many new features in the nearly 2 1/2 years that I have been on the site. Some of those features were lauded as excellent, innovative ideas, and several of them were later discontinued due to lack of interest or lack of impact. For that reason, I will not worry about the star system until Bonanza makes it punitive, which I hope will never happen.
Bonanza has also implemented an auto-crop for photos (see above link). This was one of Bonanza's most requested features, and I had requested it myself. We can now upload photos, and the entire photo will display without us having to manually pull the slider to the left to show the entire photo. This is a nice time-saver.
As it stands currently, we must have experimental features turned on in order to have access to the new feature. Go to "Account Settings," then to "Other Options" to turn experimental features on. Next, go to "Sell," then to "Advanced Options" to turn the "Keep entire image in crop" on.
As most book sellers have heard by now, we must have the ISBN number in listings for books printed after 1970 for any items that will be sent to Google's product search. Furthermore, it is important that we use the correct ISBN. A different situation exists for eBay auctions.
Sellers who use an ISBN have greater visibility in eBay's Best Match search. Unfortunately, older books do not have ISBNs. However, the ISBN for the Nancy Drew matte picture cover of Old Clock could be used for a 1960s printing. This would raise the visibility of the book in eBay's Best Match.
Some eBay sellers have taken to using any ISBN for their vintage books in order to gain greater placement in eBay's Best Match search. Run an eBay search and then select "products and reviews." Next, click on some of the products. The results are rather enlightening.
I did some reading up on eBay policy, and I learned that it is against eBay policy to manipulate eBay's search in this manner. Really? Hasn't eBay forced sellers to use this type of tactic in order to be seen? Even though eBay states that it is against policy to do this sort of thing, I doubt that eBay cares. They have a lot of rules about search manipulation that are no longer enforced. Sellers are mainly punished through the DSRs and cases that buyers open against them.