eBay Australia February 2024 Seller Update
eBay Australia has released it's February 2024 Seller Update with changes to marketing tools, multi-user access, draft listings, item not received cases, third-party fulfillment policies and more!
Enhancing trust with our Third-party fulfilment policy
What’s the update?
Over the past year, we’ve improved our policy to provide a better shopping experience on eBay. This includes paying closer attention to sellers who use third-party fulfilment methods that don't meet our policy requirements.Why are we focusing on third-party fulfilment activity?
- To boost customer trust with a transparent shopping experience
- To avoid misleading or confusing buyers as to the origin of their purchase
- To protect our customers’ data from being used for purposes outside the fulfilment
What you need to do
We ask that sellers have pre-purchased or own the stock they sell on eBay. To avoid impacts to your listings or account restrictions, we recommend making sure all your inventory and listings follow the policy.
Interestingly, unlike on the US site, eBay Australia specifically calls out Fulfilled by Amazon as not being compliant with eBay policies.
While it appears that has been in the policy for several years, this update seems to be drawing extra attention to it - which could indicate eBay is planning to ratchet up enforcement of the existing policy for Australia soon.
In contrast, the US policy on drop shipping simply states "listing an item on eBay and then purchasing the item from another retailer or marketplace that ships directly to your customer is not allowed on eBay" but it stops short of preventing the use of FBA to ship orders to eBay buyers, which can be a common occurrence for larger sellers who use FBA services to handle their inventory sold across multiple websites or marketplaces.
Policies like this are often based on country-specific laws and regulations, particularly around consumer protection and privacy, so just because a policy may affect one country doesn't necessarily mean it will impact other countries as well.
That being said, it would be a massive shift for eBay to prevent the use of FBA for fulfilling orders in the US, so it's definitely something worth keeping an eye on as a possibility for where eBay policy could be headed in the future.
We also have to wonder if any possibly impending crackdown on FBA specifically might have anything to do with Amazon finally surpassing eBay to become the #1 ecommerce site in Australia.
Liz Morton
Seller It Faster Recommendations
What you need to know
We’re committed to simplifying how you sell. That’s why we’re bringing more selling tools and tips right to where you spend your time—your Seller Hub Active Listings tab.Sellers with a Store subscription can now seamlessly create markdown sale events directly from the Active Listings tab. Plus, all sellers will start seeing personalised recommendations on the Active Listings tab, with actionable tips to help you sell your items faster.
Create sale events straight from Active Listings
As an eBay Store subscriber, you already have access to a variety of promotional tools, including markdown sale events. Now, you’ll be able to create sale events and add items to existing sale events directly from the Seller Hub Active Listings tab. This update means you can easily and quickly identify items you want to include in a sale event and take action while you check on your active listings.This feature is already available on desktop.
New data-driven “Sell it faster” recommendations
All sellers will see new “Sell it faster” recommendations on the Seller Hub Active Listings tab when we identify specific listings that we think will benefit from certain actions.We’ve already started showing recommendations to send Offers to Buyers for eligible listings. Now, when you choose to act on these recommendations, you’ll see an updated experience that lets you set up automated offers based on considerations like category, price, and condition.
As part of our goal to simplify selling, we’re working toward giving you more data-driven “Sell it faster” recommendations to help you improve your listing quality and run more effective marketing campaigns.
Save time by automating your offers to buyers
eBay Store subscribers can now fully automate sending offers to buyers across the inventory you choose.Offers to Buyers is a powerful tool to boost sales. However, we know that manually initiating offers can be time-consuming, especially for sellers with a large amount of listings.
We’ve been working to simplify how you send offers, introducing bulk manual offers and automatic offers for single listings. Now, you have access to fully automatic offers across your inventory.
With this new feature, instead of manually initiating offers you can now select the criteria for what listings to include and set the offer terms. We’ll automatically send your offer to eligible buyers who show an interest in listings that fit your criteria—including any new listings you create. You can set how long your automatic offers will run, for a maximum of 150 days.
Here’s how to create and manage your automatic offers:
- Go to your Buyer Groups page on your Seller Hub Marketing tab
- Select "Set up Automatic Offers"
- Choose the inventory to include, set your price range, and name your buyer group
- You can create as many automatic offers as you want, giving you greater flexibility and control.
Vehicle ePID
Enhance your listings with Vehicle ePID
It’s now easier than ever to add fitment with Vehicle ePID, our latest innovation designed to simplify parts compatibility.
Vehicle ePID was originally announced for Australia in January, so this isn't exactly a new feature, but an important update for sellers who need to provide fitment data for motors parts and accessories listings.
Liz Morton
Bulky Item Fulilment with Shippit
Introducing Shippit
We’ve partnered with Shippit to help you save on shipping and freight costs, simplify order processing and provide exceptional customer experiences for your bulky items.Why Choose Shippit?
Seamlessly connect your eBay store to Shippit to begin automated fulfilment and gain access to exclusive rates.
eBay is offering 12 months of free Shippit platform access and exclusive rates to entice sellers to sign up.
Expanding Multi-user Account Access
What you need to know
We've enhanced multi-user account access (MUAA) to enable you to assign more tasks to your team members, and added authenticator apps as a method for 2-step verification. This provides a secure login experience across multiple devices and accounts, and adds an extra layer of protection to your eBay account.Delegate more tasks
Boost your productivity and run your business more efficiently by securely assigning a wider range of work, including:
- Messages: Authorise other users to manage your inbox and the messages you send, on your behalf.
- Advertising campaigns: Enable other users to create, modify, and manage advertising campaigns.
- Promotions: Give other users permission to manage promotions for your listings and associated buyer groups.
- Enhanced security with 2-step verification
We've added a new security feature to your eBay account called 2-step verification. This feature uses authenticator apps to verify your identity with one-time passcodes that are device-bound and time-based. This makes it harder for unauthorised users to access your account. Authenticator apps are more secure than traditional methods like SMS, voice, and email passcodes. With 2-step verification, you and other approved users can log in safely and easily.
Enhanced ‘Item not received’ Process
What’s new?
Rollout of the ‘Item not received’ process
Last year we announced that we’ll start to manage eligible ‘Item not received’ requests for you and cover refunds for the buyer, as long as the order met certain criteria. It is taking a little longer than anticipated but we’re continuing the rollout of the upgraded process and foresee all sellers being opted in to the experience by mid-2024. Check back at our announcement board for further updates.We’ve updated our protected Integrated Carrier list
We’re removing Bluecare Express as a protected carrier. We believe this will lead to better experiences for buyers and improved trust.On-time delivery and tracking
Make sure your deliveries are on time by uploading a tracking number from an integrated carrier for your orders on eBay. Today, to be eligible for the seller protections, there needs to be at least one carrier scan before the latest estimated delivery date (EDD). From 25 March, we will now require that the valid tracking number is uploaded to the applicable order on eBay before the EDD too.This will also help you stay on top of your shipments with proactive tracking, minimising the chances of post-purchase issues.
High value orders and signature confirmation
Remember that for orders with a total cost of $750 or more, you're required to purchase signature confirmation to be protected if a buyer reports an item not received or opens a payment dispute.Freight postage service reminder
Last year, we communicated that sellers using freight or bulky shipping carriers need to select the freight postage service in their listings. This will allow for more efficient management of Item not received requests due to some freight carriers not currently being an integrated carrier with eBay.
Drafts Retention
eBay Australia will now allow drafts to be saved for 75 days, bringing them in line with similar changes made in the US last year.
What you need to know
We’ve changed the way draft listings are saved. In the past, a draft would be saved for 75 days after its creation, even if you made changes to it. Now when you make an edit, you’ll have 75 days from that update before it’s no longer available.You can save up to 250 drafts through the quick listing tool on eBay and the mobile app, and up to 5,000 through the single and bulk business listing tools in Seller Hub.
Postage Rate Tables
What’s new?
- Improved region structure - We’ve improved postcode categorisation for metro areas, regional hubs and rural areas, so you can target your products to the right audience and location.
- Introduced more regions - We’ve added more regions for major regional hubs, with 115 regions now available, so you can better target your listings to specific areas. These align with Australia Post My Post Business and eParcel regions, improving your postage and delivery processes.
- International Rate Tables - You can now create international rate tables with express, standard, and economy services.
- New Rate Table Management Page - We’ve created a new page for convenient management of all your rate tables in one place.
- Clearing Inactive Rate Tables - Rate tables with no active listings attached or have not been edited for over 12 months, have been deleted. You can request additional deletions by providing a list of names to customer service.
- Limit Update - You now have an increased limit of 60 rate tables per store, up from 40, covering both domestic and international rate tables.
Discrepancy Detection For Handbag Authentication
We’re streamlining our handbag authentication process
We’re launching a new experience when a discrepancy is detected between the authenticated item and its listing information.
This appears to be the same program eBay introduced for handbags in the US in September and expanded to Streetwear in the US this month.
Liz Morton
And that's it for the February 2024 Australian Seller Update - stay tuned for coverage of US, UK, and Canada updates that are expected to drop tomorrow!
