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Hi, all. In case you missed it, the most recent Seller News article talks about how the product-based shopping experience categories will be expanding in the future, with details to be provided in the May 2018 Seller Update.
Please use this thread for any questions or comments you might have on this topic. We may have a special guest in store who can answer some of your questions 
@momcqueen wrote:
“While it's true that you can't find the product you're selling in the catalogue on eBay.ca and that the product does exist in the US catalogue, that doesn't have anything to do with why your item isn't showing up in compressed search. Your item isn't showing up because the listing isn't associated with the eBay catalogue.”
Okay.
So why is that? Can you please explain the reason there is no product match for that item available when I’m listing on eBay.ca when there is on eBay.com? Shouldn’t my American UPC find it’s eBay.com catalogue match despite my creating it on eBay.ca?
This is the reason I contrinue to assert the sites are incompatible.
That's because when you list on eBay.ca, the Canadian catalogue is the database that's available to you. It's the same thing as shipping services, when on eBay.ca you see the Canadian shipping options and when you're on eBay.com you see the US shipping options.
@momcqueen wrote:
“That's because when you list on eBay.ca, the Canadian catalogue is the database that's available to you. It's the same thing as shipping services, when on eBay.ca you see the Canadian shipping options and when you're on eBay.com you see the US shipping options.”
Right. So then fundamentally, if a Canadian seller is listing an American product with an American UPC on eBay.ca, it is ‘incompatible’ with the eBay.com Product Catalogue and won’t show in ebay.com Search Results. It can neither be found by the seller nor shown to the buyer. Incompatible.
It seems to me we are both describing the same facts and reality of the outcome yet you’re calling it ‘not incompatible’ when there is no match or placement in search. To me, that’s the definition of ‘incompatible’.
Please show me where I’m incorrect in this assessment, I don’t understand.
Hi Maureen,
The part that is really important to keep in mind is that the catalog for Toys on eBay.ca is far from optimal at this time, but it won't be by the time we get to enabling PBSE in that category. So yes, call it "incompatible" today (although I don't agree it's the correct word to describe this situation; it's not an issue of incompatibility, it's data that isn't there), but as I said this doesn't matter in the PBSE context because this problem will not exist anymore when we require for Toys li stings to adopt products from the catalogue.
If I can draw a parallel, testing the PBSE experience in the Toys category today is kind of like test driving a car that's still on the assembly line. Of course there are many things that won't work. Your key might even be "incompatible" with the lock that hasn't been installed yet. 😉
@fashionoutletdeal wrote:
Ha that mean in away that you ill limiting again the Canadian sellers .We will be in the back yard again .Like someone from ebay told me that ebay.ca its too small portion of eBay so who cares .
Sorry but you are limiting us for no reason and i do not agree with this action.The product is the same, the brand is the same ,the model is the same so why my listing will be not visible on ebay.com.
Canadian sellers are very competitive and eBay should take advantage of this .Plus for us USA market is the closest one on the shipping level.Maybe you should take an example of other platforms that if the brand ,model ext. is the same you cant create another listing .You need to look at this and help us .
My sales dropped since i list the Canadian UPC and i ship less to USA from eBay.ca
Hi fashionoutletdeal,
I feel like I'm missing a bit of context in order to really answer your post. If you're referring to momcqueen's observations, please see my responses to her. What is causing her listings to not show in compressed search will not be an issue once we get to the Toys category.
Hi rose-dee,
@rose-dee wrote:
raphael@ebay.com wrote:
That's because when you list on eBay.ca, the Canadian catalogue is the database that's available to you. It's the same thing as shipping services, when on eBay.ca you see the Canadian shipping options and when you're on eBay.com you see the US shipping options.
Would I be correct in assuming, from what you say above, that if a Canadian seller lists on eBay.com, the .com catalogue will be available to the seller to match up to his/her items, and there would currently be no separation in terms of search results? Or must the seller actually be registered on eBay.com?
You're correct, if you list on eBay.com, the eBay.com catalog (that's how catalogue is spelled in the US ) and its products will be available to you when you list. No, you don't have to be registered on eBay.com for that, it will work with your Canadian account.
@rose-dee wrote:
One last question. I'm probably unusual on eBay, as I'm actually the producer/manufacturer of my more important products (antique sewing patterns), and not a re-seller. These items are new (i.e. not used or vintage), but I haven't applied for, and really don't want to have to pay for, UPCs for every one of them.
Will eBay be obliging such sellers to purchase codes in order to comply with the "productization" concept? Or will we be expected to create "dummy" codes for them? Is there somehow going to be a product niche created by eBay for such items? Granted, I'm unusual in this respect, but there must be other manufacturer-sellers on eBay. Actually I know there are.
I'm feeling more and more that I really don't belong here. It seems that what eBay wants is a cookie-cutter world of shiny new factory-made, mass-produced products, all more or less alike, that one could find anywhere. I can only presume eBay knows this is what most of its current buyers want, so where do we "uniques" fit in this scheme? This really isn't a rhetorical question, I'd truly like to know if eBay has a core interest in continuing to support its traditional sellers, and if so, how eBay sees this "productization" push helping in that respect.
Great question. There is a place for you in the PBSE world and no, you don't have to purchase UPC codes for your patterns. You will be able to create entries in the eBay catalogue for your patterns, and you'll only be required to put in as much data as you have. At a minimum, I would recommend creating MPNs (Manufacturer Part Numbers) for your patterns. Since you're the manufacturer, you're at liberty to name your product anything you want and come up with your own MPNs. Even further, you can control how your items are described and who has the right to sell them.
We will announce more details on how this will all work shortly.
As I've pointed out before, there will always be a place for unique, OOAK inventory on eBay. It's in our DNA. So although I don't know exactly how these will fit in the PBSE world yet, I assure you they will, and so will you.
@fashionoutletdeal wrote:
I’m not in toys category . What I mean is that when I list an item without UPC it’s visible on .com . When is with Canadian UPS it’s recognized for different item .
In the next Seller Update we will introduce how PBSE will work for categories that aren't fully productized, such as Toys or Fashion. Note that we are unlikely to get to those in 2018, but the next announcement will include information on how we will handle items that may not have a UPC, or if you don't know the UPC number, or if the product is not in our catalogue database. Apologies if I can't share these details ahead of time.
@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
I think what some of us are trying to rationalize and understand is as a Canadian seller if we have an item WITHOUT a UPC or UPC that IS NOT found in the database are we going to have the same amount of traffic and/or are we going to have the same amount of visibility as someone with someone with a UPC that IS in the database? Are we going to get lost in the shuffle and end up playing a constant game of catch up with dot com?
-CM
PS. Similar to what happened with Sellers Hub on dot com and then it eventually arrived to dot ca missing parts?
Hi CM,
The good news here is that eBay.ca is and will continue to be fully aligned with eBay.com in terms of the deployment of PBSE. So no, you won't have to wait for us to catch you up like with Seller Hub.
Watch the upcoming Seller Update for more information on how items that aren't in the catalog will be handled. Once that's out, we can discuss this further.
@rose-dee wrote:
raphael@ebay.com wrote:
Since you're the manufacturer, you're at liberty to name your product anything you want and come up with your own MPNs. Even further, you can control how your items are described and who has the right to sell them.Can you elaborate on this last sentence please? Do you mean actual control over copyright (which I own), or over whether others can re-sell my products on eBay (I haven't spotted anyone doing this to date, but it's always a possibility)? How exactly will this control work?
Hi rose-dee,
The VeRO program, which grants rights owners the ability to tell eBay who can and canMt sell their intellectual property, is still going to be in effect under PBSE. Enforcement will happen not just at listing level as today, but at the product level.
@rose-dee wrote:
One other question please. I noticed this wording (with dismay) in the Summer Update:
"Starting mid-August 2018, on eBay.ca and eBay.com, we will provide you with the ability as you list to suggest edits in the catalogue to products that you feel are inaccurate or missing critical information. In addition, you can suggest a new product to be added to the eBay catalogue. "
Am I reading this correctly? Does this means anybody, but anybody, can change the information in the catalogue? How can it possibly work to have a standardized catalogue for products when there may be thousands of people putting their own "tweaks" on the descriptions? One person may think something is inaccurate that is actual correct and included. Another may believe certain information is critical that is just irrelevant. Who monitors all of this? And who will clean up the messes that result?
I really don't grasp how this is feasible in any rational way.
The most important part to consider is that we say you'll be able to suggest edits to products. eBay will remain the custodian of the information in our catalogue. We are putting measures in place, both software and human, to verify and curate what edits are allowed to go through. We will be able to tell when someone ought to create a new product in the catalogue if they're trying to edit a correct entry, and vice versa: we will be able to detect when someone attempts to create a product that already exists in the catalogue and prevent the creation of duplicates.
