eBay Spring 2024 Seller Check In Product Updates - Terapeak, Mobile Selling, AI Enhancements & More!

eBay hosted the Spring Seller Check In event on March 7th, revealing a shakeup in management with new US General Manager Dawn Block taking over from Adam Ireland and new product updates "coming soon" for Terapeak (now called Product Research), mobile selling, AI listing enhancements and more!

Background Enhancement

Senior Product Manager, Seller Experience, Morgan Chen shared information about the new background enhancement tool that will be rolling out in the "coming months" and will allow sellers not just to remove the background on images they take, but to replace it with an AI-generated background instead.

...powered by generative AI you now can add some colored backdrop or...you can also put your items in a scene, like here we put that pair of shoes on the road or on the hiking trail to demonstrate how or where your items can be used, all with a few clicks in app, no expensive equipments or setup needed.

Let's take a look at a real example of a listing photo. After removing the background, now you'll choose where you want to put your item. It can be in the studio, on the countertop, or some creative locations. AI gives you a few generated photos to choose from...if you don't find anything that you like, you can continue tweaking the prompt and generate more.

For years, sellers have been told white background were very important for search engine optimization because Google and other search engines might reject product listings that did not have a plain, white background.

But Chen says that's no longer true and the goal should be to pick a simple background that provides the best contrast to show the true color of an item.

Native App Sell Mode

Director of Product, Seller Experience, Kelly Fisher previewed Native App Sell Mode, a feature to bring more of the standard desktop selling experience to the app that eBay will be testing with a small group of sellers over the next quarter.

Looking at the current selling experience on our mobile apps, one of the things that stood out was how all of our tools for our sellers are accessed essentially from a single screen, which causes some issues for our sellers.

It's difficult to find the information when it's all stacked up on one screen and it would only get worse as we add more more features. Also, it can be difficult to multitask so if you you need to create a listing but then go
back and reference something else, you really have to back up and you can lose your place.

We wanted to experiment with more of a dedicated navigation for our Sellers and what we're calling Sell Mode. So, essentially, once you tap into sell on our native app, it would expose new navigation to make it easier to access key tools and information.

With this new navigation, we're aiming to create a lot more real estate so that we can incorporate more tools in our app, including product research and other tools to help you grow your business.

Preloved Partner Program - US Pilot

Head of US Apparel, Rebecca Elliott announced eBay will be piloting a Preloved Partner Program in the US, offering special badges and other benefits to fashion sellers who meet certain criteria and offer a positive, trusted experience for buyers.

To be eligible for the Preloved Partner Program, sellers must:

• Maintain eBay top rated seller status
• Not exceed 1% on item not received feedback
• Not exceed 5% on items significantly not as described feedback
• Maintain a minimum of 95% positive feedback
• Offer 30-day return eligibility

Benefits of being a Preloved Partner include:

• All inventory will be badged to denote trust
• All inventory will be featured on a dedicated landing page with exclusive marketing assets and events
• Program sellers will receive discounted ads opportunities
• Access to exclusive community roundtables andforums

The US pilot program will be opening up at the end of March by invite only and if you want to see what it might look like in action, check out the UK version of the program that was launched last year.

Terapeak - Now Product Research - Coming To Mobile

eBay's Terapeak tool will now just be known as Product Research and will finally be coming to the mobile experience after years of seller requests.

Sellers will now be able to use this helpful tool when out and about sourcing items, with access to 3 years of sales history, advanced sorting and filtering for results, and the ability to "sell one like this" right from Product Research.

Check out the full demo from Senior Product Manager Shelley Ball.

And the full main eBay Spring Seller Check In presentation here:

Let us know in the comments below what you think of these new tools and announcements!