eBay's August Update Brings A Whole Host of Changes

This autumn, eBay will be rolling out a new set of updates which will see a whole host of changes aimed at helping both buyers and eBay store sellers. 

Removal of Featured First


This is one of the big changes that have been made by eBay in this update. For some eBay sellers this will be a great update while others will find it very scary. No longer will you be able to pay to have your items placed higher in the best match search rankings. The idea behind this is that you will no longer be able to essentially pay to have your item promoted, the field has been levelled for all sellers and you must now work hard to promote your store in order to make it a success. If you are struggling for ideas on how to promote your eBay store items, check out our "Achieve Higher eBay List Rankings" post.

Report a Buyer that Exhibits Bad Behaviour


If you are having a number of problems with one specific buyer, you can now submit a report about the buyer, stating any problems that you have been having. There are five different options you can choose when making making a report:

• Buyer has made unreasonable demands
• Buyer has left inappropriate feedback
• Buyer abused the buyer protection
• Buyer misused returns
• Other problems

There is also an option to select if the buyer has not paid for the item. This will then send you through to the eBay resolution centre which will give you support and assistance in resolving the issue. 

Improved International Selling


Improving eBay's international selling is something that is going to be done over a number of updates, not just this one. The update that will be included in Autumn will allow sellers to input specific postage costs for each country.

Another part of the future International update will be the introduction of a monthly XXL subscription. This is a feature that allows you to post your products on all European eBay sites and eBay.com.au for the same cost as the anchor package, which is £349.99.

eBay Gallery Image Change

eBay will be altering the way you can view product images in the gallery. The thumbnail images will now be much bigger than they previously were, giving you a clearer view of the product.

Also, when you hover your cursor over the image, the information box below the image will expand to give you a clear view of the product name, price and how to purchase it. 

Item Swatch Examples

This is a new feature that allows buyers to see all of the different colour options that a store has available. This means that as soon as a buyer clicks on a product, the page will instantly show what colours you can get the item in, rather than having to select from a menu. 

You can also add images of these different coloured products, you allow a potential buyer to see how each would look in each colour.

Another great benefit of this is that the swatch colour also becomes part of the search parameters. For example, if you sell different colour t-shirts, previously if the main image of the product showed a red t-shirt, only the colour red would be related to the product in terms of its search parameters. Now, even if the main image is a red t-shirt, the shirt will still come up in searches for a blue t-shirt if blue is one of the alternative colours available for the t-shirt. This opens up your product to whole new search results.

As the alternative colour images could now be used as your main gallery image in some search results, you must take care to ensure that all of your images are of a high quality. 

Fast 'N' Easy Logo on Listings

In October, eBay will be releasing their Fast 'N' Easy listings. This simply means that for all items that have a delivery time of three days or less, a small logo will appear in the 'Delivery' section, letting buyers know they will receive it within this time frame. This tool is a simple addition to help buyers decide to purchase an item from your store. 

Unit Prices

Although this may be way behind high street stores and supermarkets, eBay have finally introduced a metric system into some of their items. This means that when you purchase an item, you will be able to see how much one kg of the product will cost. This has been added simply to comply with European Laws about how  the price of certain goods should be displayed.

Customised Condition Feature For Second Hand or Refurbished Items


If you are selling used or refurbished items, you can state in the item condition not only if the item is used or refurbished, but you can also add a description beneath it saying what condition the item is in. This allows you to put it at the top of the listing, with 1000 characters available for you to use.

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