eBay Australia October 2024 Seller Update
eBay Australia has released it's October 2024 Seller Update with changes to postage rate tables, fixing problem listings, Feedback policies, on demand payouts, Product Research and more!
Improvements to rate table calculations
From 31 October, we’re making new improvements to rate table calculations. Dimensional weight calculations within the ‘weight’ criteria will soon be available.
What does this mean
- Before the update, weight-based rate tables provide the postage cost to the buyer based on the total physical weight of a parcel. However, this can be different to its dimensional weight (calculated by multiplying length (L), width (W) and height (H), then dividing by 250), which carriers may use as part of determining delivery costs.
- With dimensional weight calculation enabled, the total postage cost provided to your buyers for each parcel will be calculated based on the greater between dimensional weight and physical weight.
Next steps
- For sellers who do not currently have weight-based rate tables:
- Any new rate tables based on weight created will already be set up with chargeable weight (the greater of dimensional and physical weight).
- For sellers who currently have a weight-based rate tables:
- You will need to ‘opt-in’ to allow the new calculations to work. We'll automatically apply dimensional weight calculations to your existing rate tables based on weight and work out the chargeable weight for all future parcels.
Resolution Hub is here
Our new Resolution Hub gives you a complete view of your policy violations, which you can find under Account Settings.
What you need to know
Resolution Hub is a new dashboard where you will have a complete view of your policy violations. Previously, you would have been alerted to policy violations via email and would need to contact Customer Service to appeal. Resolution Hub provides an extra layer of visibility, giving you a single place to identify problem listings, fix these listings and appeal via the ‘Start appeal’ button.What you need to do
Resolution Hub is available now in your Account Settings. Make sure you're regularly checking your Resolution Hub and emails for any policy violations.
New Summary and Discounts pages for Store subscribers
Easily manage your marketing with a simpler, streamlined experience
What you need to know
With an eBay Store subscription, you can unlock a suite of marketing and discount tools designed to accelerate your sales. Experience an updated look and feel of your Store pages that make it easier for you to stay on top of your campaigns and the success of your discounts.Faster to find what you need
The redesigned Marketing Tab features streamlined navigation and a clear overview of your active discounts. The simplified navigation bar provides easy access to your ‘Summary and Discounts’ pages, plus useful links to your buyer groups and social pages. We’ve also renamed “Promotions” as “Discounts” for more clarity.
Updates to Feedback Policy
With the latest policy updates, we’ll now remove negative or neutral feedback in more situations.
What you need to know
We’ve been working on updating our Feedback Policy to extend to more situations where removing feedback is warranted. We’ll now remove feedback that sellers may receive in situations that don’t follow the updated policy. For better clarity, we’ve also updated our Feedback Policy page to clearly list these instances.What’s changing
We’ll now remove negative or neutral feedback in the following cases:When a buyer asks to cancel an order after placing it and the seller denies their request. Our eBay policy states that sellers have the discretion to accept or deny a cancellation request.
For example: A buyer purchases a set of golf balls but then requests to cancel their order because they found a cheaper set elsewhere. The seller declines the request and the buyer responds by posting negative feedback. Since the seller is not obliged to accept cancellation requests, the feedback is removable.
When a buyer changes their mind about their purchase and references being charged for the cost of an eBay return label.
For example: A buyer purchases a bracelet and after receiving it, they decide it doesn't suit their style and want to return the bracelet. When they realise there will be a charge for the eBay return label, they leave negative feedback about it. Since there were no other issues with the transaction and the buyer's comment is only about having to pay for an eBay return shipping label, the feedback is removable.
These changes appear to mirror similar changes introduced on the US site in September.
Liz Morton
Your payouts on your schedule
We’ve launched payouts on demand, to give you even more flexibility and get money sent to your account whenever you want.
This one is a little confusing as eBay simply linked to a community post from August about On Demand payouts launching in Australia - indicating this is not really a new feature in that region.
Enhance your listing photos with AI
What you need to know
With eBay’s AI background enhancement tool, you can easily take your photos to the next level by placing them on high-quality professional AI-generated backgrounds.This free tool is available on the eBay app, and allows you to generate studio-quality photos to help attract more buyers. There are multiple backgrounds to choose from, including solid colours, outdoor scenes and more, to suit your product.
The AI image background enhancing feature was introduced to the US market earlier this year - see how it works:
Liz Morton
Price your items like a pro with Product Research
Our new sell-through rate metric allows you to see the demand for an item, making this tool more powerful than ever in determining the market value of your items to help you price and sell them.
What you need to know
A few months ago, we announced that the Product Research tool (formerly Terapeak) became available on mobile. To give you deeper insights, we’ve now added the brand new sell-through rate metric you’ve been asking for, so you can see the demand for an item. Read on to find out how the tool works, and what sellers are saying.How the tool works
Product Research is a free, powerful tool that gives you access to three years of eBay sales and pricing data to help you make more informed decisions about your listings. It shows trends, buyer demand and even sold listings from other sellers. This equips you with the insights you need to easily determine the popularity of your items, understand their market value and decide how to price them.With the new sell-through rate metric, you’ll be able to see the percentage of similar items sold during a specific period of time. This means you can estimate the speed at which these items are selling, allowing you to quickly price your own items and get them on the market.
We're making more listings eligible for eBay Plus
We listened to your feedback and are making more items eligible for eBay Plus. We will be increasing the eBay Plus Express shipping threshold from $15 to $20
We're doing more to support you
Our eBay Plus Express shipping threshold, which is our criteria for reasonably priced express shipping to metro areas, will increase from $15 to $20 from 9 November.
Making it easier to create sale events on mobile
We're launching ‘sale events’ on mobile, available on the eBay app
Again, this one linked to an eBay Australia community post from August, indicating it's not actually a new feature.
And that's it for the October 2024 Australian Seller Update - stay tuned for coverage of US, UK, and Canada updates that are expected to drop tomorrow!
