eBay

happy_pigeon · ‎02-27-2018

Hi all,

As you’ve probably seen by now, the 2018 Spring Seller Update was released today. We’re sorry for the delay—we prefer to launch our pages as soon after the US pages as possible, but technical issues prevented us from launching the pages earlier.

Please use this thread for feedback and questions about this latest release. I have a good familiarity with the content (having diligently and painstakingly pecked the pages out with my beak), and should be able to either address any questions or clarifications as needed, or pass them on to the right person.

As always, feedback is welcome. I may not address your feedback directly, but I’ll be collecting the most salient points to pass along to the Seller Release team at large.

For my own purposes, I’d also love to hear back about how you find the structure of the update, from a Canadian perspective. Is it simple or challenging to differentiate between what’s available to Canada and what’s available to the US? Is the language plain and easily understandable? Is the information simple to navigate and digest? This type of feedback helps me make future Seller Updates better.

Here’s some supplemental reading to go with your morning coffee, for those interested. Some of it is linked from the Seller Update, but in case you missed it:

Structured Data: The types of structured data, how to use it, and how it interfaces with the eBay catalogue.
eBay catalogue: What the eBay catalogue is, when to use it, and detailed instructions on how to use it.
eBay Seller Protection Policy: A simplified view of how sellers are protected when they choose to offer free returns.

Sincerely,

Pigeon

dutchman48 · ‎02-27-2018

@momcqueenwrote:
@dutchman48 wrote:
@momcqueenwrote:
@hlmacdonwrote:
@momcqueenwrote:
Where can I learn more about the Shopify announcement? I need to know more about how it affects my current situation.
From the sounds of if they'll have an officially supported export function to move shopify store listings over to ebay. These are pretty much available for any ecommerce platform, just does a live syncing of your available inventory much the same way existing listing services use eBay's API. If that is being offered free of charge and supported that is a reasonable value add as they are typically paid addons with reoccurring subscriptions. I would just continue on as you are on the Shopify side and then you can decide how you want to sync things in the future. If you use unique internal skus on your listings you might want to keep those consistent on the shopify side to avoid duplicated listings if you decide to use their export functionality.
Okay, thanks. That answers most of my question. Without seeing for myself now what tool ebay will offer for listings export to Shopify, I cannot guess whether it's any more or less intuitive than what third-party listing tool I've found to use for now. And I don't want to wait six months to learn it's no better, and just as much work for me. Thanks.

You can do similar using inkFrog or Bonanza
InkFrog moves listings to ebay and between ebay stores, not from ebay stores to another site. I cannot speak for Bonanza.

Here is the inkFrog link. Most sites list from your website to Ebay, not the other way around as mot sellers have a lot more on the website than Ebay.

https://apps.shopify.com/inkfrog-open

momcqueen · ‎02-27-2018

@happy_pigeonwrote:
@momcqueenwrote:
@happy_pigeonwrote:
@momcqueenwrote:
What do EBay.ca sellers need to do to me included in eBay.com
grouped results on items that match an American UPC and product. Since the time this new search started, my sales performance has tanked. I’d like to be included instead of left out in the cold on eBay.com. Like I used to be.
Right now, you would need to list in the product lines outlined in the SR, and those won't be placed into grouped listings on .com until June.

I can promise you with almost complete certainty that the new product-based search results are not affecting your current search ranking.
But they are; I have run the tests. My items, even when the UPCS match exactly, are nowhere to be found on ebay.com when Grouped listings are shown. Nowhere. I'm not just pontificating about it.
My apologies. Can you give me an example of a listing (you can supply a .ca URL) that shows on .ca but not on .com?

Certainly, but it's not an URL problem, it's a search results problem. Go to ebay.com and do a search for Disney Cars Frank. If the results display like yesterday, they'll be grouped into a half-dozen cards that show the actual diecast I am selling complete with the correct American-bound UPC number. Grouped, my listing(s) for Frank, who is a specific character, is nowhere to be found among them. Not at all. Ungroup the results and he is right there, in two or three different versions that I carry, based on year of release and issue of card. And this is WITH the same UPC as the

Americans use to list. There is also the problem in that for many, many MANY toys, our Canadian and/or international UPC is different than the USA-based one. Then what will happen? If I can't even be grouped on ebay.com now with an item that matches 100 correctly, what hope do Canadian sellers have later with UPCS that don't even match the identical item that their American competitor is selling.

The same with Cars goes for LEGO. I rank nowhere with the Grouped listings. Not even item number 229 of 230 somewhere. I mean, nowhere. Not until the results are ungrouped and I'm back where I always was in the search results.

momcqueen · ‎02-27-2018

@dutchman48wrote:
@momcqueenwrote:
@dutchman48 wrote:
@momcqueenwrote:
@hlmacdonwrote:
@momcqueenwrote:
Where can I learn more about the Shopify announcement? I need to know more about how it affects my current situation.
From the sounds of if they'll have an officially supported export function to move shopify store listings over to ebay. These are pretty much available for any ecommerce platform, just does a live syncing of your available inventory much the same way existing listing services use eBay's API. If that is being offered free of charge and supported that is a reasonable value add as they are typically paid addons with reoccurring subscriptions. I would just continue on as you are on the Shopify side and then you can decide how you want to sync things in the future. If you use unique internal skus on your listings you might want to keep those consistent on the shopify side to avoid duplicated listings if you decide to use their export functionality.
Okay, thanks. That answers most of my question. Without seeing for myself now what tool ebay will offer for listings export to Shopify, I cannot guess whether it's any more or less intuitive than what third-party listing tool I've found to use for now. And I don't want to wait six months to learn it's no better, and just as much work for me. Thanks.

You can do similar using inkFrog or Bonanza
InkFrog moves listings to ebay and between ebay stores, not from ebay stores to another site. I cannot speak for Bonanza.
Here is the inkFrog link. Most sites list from your website to Ebay, not the other way around as mot sellers have a lot more on the website than Ebay.

https://apps.shopify.com/inkfrog-open

That is what I said: InkFrog doesn't move listings from ebay to another site. I went all through this with InkFrog in the fall. The announcement today with the ebay-Shopify partnership is that ebay will have or develop a tool to move ebay listings to Shopify and Shopify will let you manage them from there. In short, what I was looking for nearly six months ago.

momcqueen · ‎02-27-2018

Here is some more feedback:

I did the Managing Returns webinar last week and 60-day free returns featured prominently within that. During the webinars, participants are allowed to pose questions so I explained the Canadian postal cost reality, and asked if there might be a way to specify free domestic returns only, and the answer I got was 'maybe in the future thanks for raising that.'

So, we will see.

I'd consider offering free domestic-only returns if I could. Or if ebay helped to subsidize that.

I think you'll find that sellers want to do what ebay asks them to do to recruit and retain buyers but it's comparing apples to oranges between the USA and Canada for many things and cost of postage is top among them. If ebay wants Canadian sellers to offer 60-day free returns, ebay would need to work to make that possible, not just say, 'Do it.'

momcqueen · ‎02-27-2018

@happy_pigeonwrote:
@hlmacdonwrote:
@momcqueenwrote:
Where can I learn more about the Shopify announcement? I need to know more about how it affects my current situation.
From the sounds of if they'll have an officially supported export function to move shopify store listings over to ebay. These are pretty much available for any ecommerce platform, just does a live syncing of your available inventory much the same way existing listing services use eBay's API. If that is being offered free of charge and supported that is a reasonable value add as they are typically paid addons with reoccurring subscriptions. I would just continue on as you are on the Shopify side and then you can decide how you want to sync things in the future. If you use unique internal skus on your listings you might want to keep those consistent on the shopify side to avoid duplicated listings if you decide to use their export functionality.
Sorry, I missed this one! I'm posting from my couch like a lazy so-and-so and jumping all over the place

Here's some stuff you can read about the Shopify partnership:
Shopify sign-up page
Shopify announcement
eBay announcement

Thank you. I can hardly believe now that while I was in the throes of anxiety over how to migrate my Canadian ebay listings to Shopify, our American counterparts had it handed to them on a silver platter. There are a metric tonne of third-party tools that move your listings to ebay, but few that work in reverse. Especially for Canuks.

momcqueen · ‎02-27-2018

@hlmacdonwrote:
@esclyonswrote:
Talk about clogging the pages with duplicate inventory..
Number of listings won't matter with the move to a product based search. The whole point in getting everyone to use UPC and MPN was to allow all listings to be grouped to one search result which ebay is hoping will increase conversion rates by forcing sellers to sacrifice margins. The OOAK side sounds like it is going to be a complete mess based on how they are handling it. It is now a complete race to the bottom.

This is, unfortunately, exactly how I see the future too.

mrdutch1001 · ‎02-27-2018

Bonanza has an importer tool for importing listings from Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Shopify or an Inventory file. The importer tool imports listings to your booth on Bonanza. Unfortunately the downfall to many of these import tools is the fact that each and every listing has to be edited or modified to meet the criteria for the venue to which it is being imported.

momcqueen · ‎02-27-2018

Good to know, if I should want to open a booth on Bonanza. Thanks.

katlover1952 · ‎02-28-2018

Am I to understand from your comments that .ca stores will not get any free listings on .com?

pjcdn2005 · ‎02-28-2018

@hlmacdonwrote:
To clarify, if a Canadian seller lists on .com. what requirements do they need to meet to receive a fee discount?

———

The way that I understand it, if you have global trs status you will still receive the discount regardless if you list on .com or .ca and whether or not you meet US trs requirements Perhaps @happy_pigeon could confirm that.

But the only way to get the trs plus badge on listings on .com is is you have US TRS and your listings meet the trs plus requirements such as free returns.

pjcdn2005 · ‎02-28-2018

@ypdc_denniswrote:

Current requirements:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/top-rated.html

Canadian sellers can qualify to be Top-rated in two separate programs. They can qualify for the Global program, which measures performance according to sales made to any buyer, and they can qualify for the US program, which measures performance only on sales made to buyers located in the United States. Qualifying for either Global or the USA makes you eligible for the 10% discount.

...

To become a US Top-rated seller you need to meet the following performance requirements:

Have an eBay account that's been active for at least 90 days
Have a positive Feedback rating of at least 98%
Have at least 100 transactions and $1,000 in sales with US buyers during the last 12 months
Upload tracking to your buyer's My eBay within your promised handling time for at least 90% of your transactions with US buyers in the last 3 months.

@happy_pigeon Shouldn’t the last item in the post above...upload tracking....be taken off that list? I didn’t think that Canadian sellers needed to meet that requirement to be a US trs.

Also,in your first post you provided some different .ca links including one for seller protection. That page describes the trs grace period but it refers to US trs instead of global trs. Plus, the title of your link suggests that the seller protection policy described in that link is just for sellers offering free returns but other than one small section, that policy applies to all sellers...correct?

momcqueen · ‎02-28-2018

“I didn’t think that Canadian sellers needed to meet that (tracking requirement) requirement to be a US trs.”

I believe Canadian sellers do; it’s the one thing that’s held me back from making TRS for USA sales at certain points: 90 per cent tracking.

happy_pigeon · ‎02-28-2018

Thank you for your reply. I searched for "disney cars frank" on .com and saw a number of individual listings; are you able to link me to an example of a grouped listing for this product?

I'm stumped, because while (A) It would not be out of the realm of possibility for two users to experience different search result experiences as a result of A/B testing by the search team (though it doesn't happen very often), (B) items of this nature are waaaaaaaay down the scope of the product-based shopping experience. We are first and foremost concerned with electronics.

Just to check my understanding, my interpretation of a "grouped" listing is what can be seen below:

https://www.ebay.com/p/Google-Home-Smart-Assistant-White-Slate/229592146?iid=232564375433&_trkparms=...

And you'll notice that this product is one of the products that appear on the list of select product lines first introduced to the product-based shopping experience.

Just want to make sure my understanding is the same as yours so that I can proceed! And if you can linked me to a grouped listing like the above for the Disney Cars Frank model, I'll have a look into it.

happy_pigeon · ‎02-28-2018

@momcqueen wrote:

@happy_pigeonwrote:

@hlmacdonwrote:

@momcqueenwrote:
Where can I learn more about the Shopify announcement? I need to know more about how it affects my current situation.

From the sounds of if they'll have an officially supported export function to move shopify store listings over to ebay. These are pretty much available for any ecommerce platform, just does a live syncing of your available inventory much the same way existing listing services use eBay's API. If that is being offered free of charge and supported that is a reasonable value add as they are typically paid addons with reoccurring subscriptions. I would just continue on as you are on the Shopify side and then you can decide how you want to sync things in the future. If you use unique internal skus on your listings you might want to keep those consistent on the shopify side to avoid duplicated listings if you decide to use their export functionality.

Sorry, I missed this one! I'm posting from my couch like a lazy so-and-so and jumping all over the place

Here's some stuff you can read about the Shopify partnership:

Shopify sign-up page

Shopify announcement

eBay announcement

Thank you. I can hardly believe now that while I was in the throes of anxiety over how to migrate my Canadian ebay listings to Shopify, our American counterparts had it handed to them on a silver platter. There are a metric tonne of third-party tools that move your listings to ebay, but few that work in reverse. Especially for Canuks.

There may still be tools for Canadians once the product is available from Shopify. I'm not party to any of that decision-making, but I am certain Shopify would want to make it as easy as possible!

happy_pigeon · ‎02-28-2018

@katlover1952 wrote:

Am I to understand from your comments that .ca stores will not get any free listings on .com?

I cannot confirm or deny this, because I truly don't know. Our Product Managers are still hammering out the details for the Canada-specific changes.

A couple of folks have asked this now, and I will be the one building the webpages for the product when it is ready, so I'll be sure that this is addressed in the materials as I see that it is a point of concern for many.

happy_pigeon · ‎02-28-2018

@pjcdn2005 wrote:

@ypdc_denniswrote:

Current requirements:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/top-rated.html

Canadian sellers can qualify to be Top-rated in two separate programs. They can qualify for the Global program, which measures performance according to sales made to any buyer, and they can qualify for the US program, which measures performance only on sales made to buyers located in the United States. Qualifying for either Global or the USA makes you eligible for the 10% discount.

...

To become a US Top-rated seller you need to meet the following performance requirements:

Have an eBay account that's been active for at least 90 days

Have a positive Feedback rating of at least 98%

Have at least 100 transactions and $1,000 in sales with US buyers during the last 12 months

Upload tracking to your buyer's My eBay within your promised handling time for at least 90% of your transactions with US buyers in the last 3 months.

@happy_pigeon Shouldn’t the last item in the post above...upload tracking....be taken off that list? I didn’t think that Canadian sellers needed to meet that requirement to be a US trs.

Also,in your first post you provided some different .ca links including one for seller protection. That page describes the trs grace period but it refers to US trs instead of global trs. Plus, the title of your link suggests that the seller protection policy described in that link is just for sellers offering free returns but other than one small section, that policy applies to all sellers...correct?

Yes, the material I posted referred to the US Top Rated program specifically. The Global Top Rated Program, as you've correctly pointed out, does not require tracking.

happy_pigeon · ‎02-28-2018

Just want to mention that a few folks have joined us upthread to offer feedback about Seller Update timing and the lack of mitigation for Top Rated Plus international users. I may not have replied to and addressed you specifically, but I did not miss your feedback, do appreciate it, and I will collect it for the team

edubb101 · ‎02-28-2018

Hello,

With my anchor store subscription expected to renew tomorrow on an annual basis (I use the 12 month term) am I too assume that the cost associated will be $299.95/per month as per the current store rates? Or will ebay possibly be changing my contract mid-term as per the following:

"There is no change to Premium and Anchor Store subscriptions on eBay.com, and no change for any Store subscription level on eBay.ca. When the new Store subscriptions are introduced on eBay.ca later in 2018, there may be an associated fee update at that time. We’ll share more information once details are finalized."

Thank you for your time

happy_pigeon · ‎02-28-2018

@edubb101 wrote:

Hello,

With my anchor store subscription expected to renew tomorrow on an annual basis (I use the 12 month term) am I too assume that the cost associated will be $299.95/per month as per the current store rates? Or will ebay possibly be changing my contract mid-term as per the following:

"There is no change to Premium and Anchor Store subscriptions on eBay.com, and no change for any Store subscription level on eBay.ca. When the new Store subscriptions are introduced on eBay.ca later in 2018, there may be an associated fee update at that time. We’ll share more information once details are finalized."

Thank you for your time

Several members have asked about this, so this morning I passed the question on to one of our lawyers, since I don't want to give an incorrect answer. I'll update when I hear back, though it might take a couple of days.

around_again_records · ‎02-28-2018

I would like clarification of the new duration defaults shown below specifically Fixed price listings defaulting to Good Til Cancelled.

Duration: Auction-style listings will now default to 7 days, and fixed price listings to Good 'Til Cancelled, with no added fees.

What exactly does this mean when applied to current listings, future new listings and items that I might relist (will I have to go back and change them all to 30 days, will I even be allowed to change them to 30 days or do I have to cancel them and relist?)

What I would like to know for absolutely sure is whether all my current listings at the time of the change are going to default to Good Til Cancelled?

Will I still have the 30 day choice?

When I do a bulk relist, are they all going to default to Good Til Cancelled, and I have to go through and check and change each one?

When I make new listings, will I still have the same options as before, and will be able to select 30 Days?

The reason I am concerned is of course because if listings are changed to Good Til Cancelled, without me knowing it could end up costing a LOT in extra fees.