eBay US Fall Seller Update October 2024
eBay US has released its Fall / October 2024 Seller Update with changes including Feedback policies, AI image enhancement, Product Research, Flexible Cash Advance, eBay International Shipping to Canada, Shipcover insurance and more!
Tools you can trust
Enhance your listing photos with AI
What you need to know
With eBay’s AI background enhancement tool, you can easily take your listing photos to the next level by placing them on high-quality professional 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 AI-generated backgrounds to choose from, including solid colors, outdoor scenes, and more, that’ll help your listings stand out.
This feature was first demoed at the Spring Seller Check-In in March before being rolled out in June, so it's not exactly a new release.
Liz Morton
New Summary and Discounts pages for Store subscribers
What you need to know
With an eBay Store subscription, you can unlock a powerful suite of marketing and discount tools designed to accelerate your sales. Now, you can experience an updated look and feel of your Store pages that make it easier for you to stay on top of your campaigns and monitor the success of your discounts.Faster to find what you need
Featuring streamlined navigation and a crystal clear overview of your active discounts, your redesigned seller Marketing Tab puts you in the driver’s seat. The simplified left-hand 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.See how your discounts are impacting your sales
Your redesigned Summary page gives you an overall snapshot of your promotional activity, and highlights areas where you might be able to improve your sales. Also, the new Discounts page uses fresh new graphics and performance metrics to give you a clearer view of how your offers are performing, and ensures that you have all the information you need to optimise your business.By offering different types of discounts, you can catch your buyers’ attention and encourage more sales.
This appears to be mostly a cosmetic change to the design and navigation, with no significant changes or updates to discount or promotion functionality.
Price your items like a pro with Product research
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.
Some of the other data you can see in the tool includes:
- Actual sold price (incl. the accepted price for Best Offer listings)
- Average sold price
- Sold price range
- Percentage sold with free shipping/average shipping and number of sellers who have sold the product
- A price trend graph
The tool also has tons of other features, like a time-saving “Sell one like this” option. It does all of the hard work for you by creating a new listing and pre-populating it with information from a previously sold one. All you have to do is modify the listing to describe your own item. You can also use advanced filters to refine your search settings and view a custom number of days, so you only ever see what matters to you.
Again, most of this was announced as "coming soon" as part of the Spring Seller Check-In with only a few additions like sell-through rate being truly new.
Grow your business
Introducing Flexible Cash Advance
What is Flexible Cash Advance?
eBay Seller Capital recently launched Flexible Cash Advance, a new financing option designed to help you easily get the funds you need for your business.Once approved, you’ll gain access to your financing portal that can potentially hold $5,000 to $2 million in available capital. You can take out multiple advances up to the maximum available capital as often as you need, without new applications or approvals for each advance.
This isn’t a loan and there is no interest. You’ll be charged a fixed fee every time you take out an advance from your available capital. Also, unlike a term loan that has fixed monthly payments, Flexible Cash Advance is paid on a pre-agreed percentage of your gross sales on eBay.
As you sell, you’ll be able to access more funds up to your approved limit. This makes it easier to buy inventory, manage cash flow, and invest in advertising to grow your business.
Flexible Cash Advance was announced last month at eBay Open 2024 as the latest funding option to come from eBay's partnership with Liberis.
Boost your sales in Canada with eBay International Shipping
What you need to know
If you sell items in Canada through the eBay International Shipping program, we’ve got great news. The item value limit (excluding taxes, duties, and shipping fees) on transactions to Canada will soon increase from $2,500 to $11,400.This is applicable to orders shipped individually or through combined shipping, so more of your eligible listings will soon be available to buyers in Canada.
How it works
The increased item value limit will automatically apply to your eligible listings, and there’s no action you need to take. When you make a sale, just ship your item to our shipping hub here in the US, and we’ll handle the rest.
New updates for enhanced protections
Updates to our Feedback Policy
What you need to know
We recently shared that we’ve been working to update our Feedback Policy to extend to more situations where removing feedback is warranted. We’re happy to let you know that we’ve revised our policy, and we’ll now remove feedback that sellers may receive in situations that don’t follow these updated policy guidelines. 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. Per eBay policy, 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 realize 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.
This appears to just clarify and add more detailed examples for feedback policy changes that were introduced in September.
Liz Morton
Insure items up to $5,000 with ShipCover
What you need to know
ShipCover is a cost-effective shipping insurance option that’s fully integrated with eBay Labels. It offers you substantial savings and ensures that your USPS shipments, whether domestic or international, are protected during transit. Now, protection options for your high-value items have increased from $1,000 to $5,000.More about ShipCover Insurance
Exclusively designed for eBay users, ShipCover. caters to both domestic and international USPS shipments, offering robust protection for items valued up to $5,000, subject to specific exclusions.The ShipCover claim process is user-friendly and efficient, minimizing disruptions to your business activities. The service prioritizes quick and smooth claim resolutions, so you can dedicate more time to growing your business and not have to worry about your shipments staying safe.
And that's it for the eBay US October/Fall 2024 Seller Update!
Surprisingly, there was no mention of other recent policy changes or new features like the item reporting policy update, "Shop More, Ship Together" to combine shipping for auctions with immediate payment required, or a new Q&A feature for listings.
Liz Morton
Maybe we'll see more about those topics in the Winter 2023 Seller Check-In on November 14th.
Liz Morton
In the meantime, catch up on October updates for Australia and the UK and let us know in the comments below what you think of Fall Update!
