As of 25 September 2008, eBay UK is eliminating the store inventory listings in favor of Buy It Now listings that will run for 30 days.  eBay UK will still offer "eBay Shops" subscriptions (called eBay Stores in the US), and the incentive is that Shop owners will receive lower insertions fees, and with the higher-priced subscriptions, phone support.

eBay UK also notes that they will permanently make the change to the Gallery Photo being free for eBay UK! 

You can view a table of fee changes here:

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/pricechange08/index.html

Here is the original announcement:

We’re making major improvements to the way Buy It Now and Shops work on eBay.co.uk. These changes will come into effect from September 24th 2008.

If you already own a Shop, list lots of Buy It Now items or want to grow your business, we strongly advise you find out more about these improvements and what you can do to make the most of them for your business.

Find out more about the changes: http://pages.ebay.co.uk/buyitnow08

What’s changing?

Buy It Now
Buy It Now listings will last up to 30 days, giving your listing more chance of selling by trebling the maximum exposure time from 10 days.

The insertion fee for Buy It Now listings will be the same fee, whatever the price of the item:

40p (20p in media category, different pricing applies to the Vehicles category)

Insertion fees as low as 1p will be available to Shop owners.

Shops
If you have lots of items you want to list using Buy It Now, open one of our improved Shops to get much lower insertion fees.

Our new Shops are designed to give sellers more opportunities to offer more stock on eBay, and to enjoy a lower upfront cost - as low as 1p depending on what level Shop subscription you choose.

All items listed through a Shop will appear in main search results. This means Shop Inventory Format will no longer be available as a listing format.

What do I do now?
If you list lots of Buy It Now items, own a Shop, want to grow your business or offer your entire inventory on eBay.co.uk at lower cost, follow our ‘four essential steps’ to understand how these improvements will affect you and how you can make the most of them.

Four essential steps to making the most of improved Buy It Now and Shops
  1. Sign up for the right Shop and get even lower insertion fees
  2. Take advantage of cheaper multiple-item and Good ‘Til Cancelled listings
  3. Get the best placement in search results with good products, great prices and Featured First
  4. Keep delivering great service to buyers

Read more about four essential steps to making the most of improved Buy It Now and Shops: http://pages.ebay.co.uk/buyitnow08

Why are we making these improvements?
Buyers and sellers have been telling us they want more choice in how they shop and how they sell. As well as the magic of auctions, many buyers increasingly want the convenience of being able to buy a great item, at a great cost, instantly. These improvements now mean sellers have the opportunity to meet this demand and grow their businesses.

Thanks for your continued support in making eBay such a vibrant marketplace to buy and sell.

Regards,

The eBay Team