eBay Social Sharing Tool Adds YouTube Option To Promote Item Videos Offsite

eBay has added a new platform to their social media sharing tool, empowering sellers to share item videos directly to YouTube to draw more traffic to the site.

The eBay Social tool was launched in 2023, originally including capability to connect Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest accounts for easy sharing but the Twitter option was later removed once Elon Musk took over and made changes to the API that would have required eBay to pay much more for continued access.

Sellers can use the tool to create and schedule social media ready posts complete with links to specific items and AI generated captions, but up to this point the posts were limited to static image-based content.

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Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

Now with the new YouTube integration, sellers have the option to repurpose videos they have created for their listings or stores and (hopefully) drive traffic back to the site, resulting in more sales.

Here's how it works:

Link to YouTube

• From the Seller Hub, select marketing and click social from the drop down menu
• Under your social accounts, select link for YouTube
• From sign-in pop up, enter your YouTube login information
• Your account is now linked to YouTube!
  
  

Create a post in YouTube

• Go to the Social Page https://www.ebay.com/sh/social
• Click on the Create Social Media Post button
• When selecting your platform, select video post under Media
• Select YouTube in the Platform section
• Select a Link option, then click Next
• In the Your post section you can add in a post caption, title, category, and preferred share settings.
• You’re ready to post!

Sellers will need to make sure they've completed all ID verification requirements for YouTube and enabled advanced features on their YouTube account before linking it to eBay Social.

While it's nice to see eBay finally expanding and adding more channels to the Social tool, many sellers are left wondering what the incentive would be for them to use it, especially since eBay never followed through with the discounted final value fee social sharing incentive ex-VP Stores Tom Pinckney teased at eBay Open in 2021.

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Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

Tom said eBay would be adding a social media marketing incentive that would discount the final value fee to 2.5% + $0.30 per transaction when buyers buy from your social media posts, but after a brief test in Australia in 2022, the social sharing incentive was dropped with no further updates or timelines for implementation ever given.

Meanwhile, Etsy beat eBay to the punch, introducing their Share & Save program which offers a 4% discount on fees for qualifying sales made through links shared on social media and across the web - effectively making the commision fee 2.5%, just like eBay had promised and failed to deliver.

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Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

Have you tried the new YouTube option in the eBay Social tool and/or would you be more inclined to do so if eBay offering a fee discount incentive for social sharing? Let us know in the comments below!