Value Added Resource Week In Review 10-22-23

Liz Morton

Published: Oct 22 2023 Updated: Oct 22 2023

Welcome to the Value Added Resource ecommerce news week in review!

eBay News

As other marketplaces put holiday marketing plans into motion, eBay makes it clear many sellers will once again be on their own to drive seasonal sales at ever increasing costs for Promoted Listings ads and seller-funded discounts.

Another week, another 20% off promotion driving sales for the focus vertical strategy while aiding and abetting sketchy business practices and fake strikethrough pricing discounts - it's the eBay way!

eBay's AI enhancements had another rough week, with the AI description generator launched for desktop listing flow and then suddenly removed days later - is this magical tool not ready for prime time?

Sellers who use the eBay for Charity program to donate to charitable causes have been notified of a major change coming in November that could spell big trouble when it comes to refunds or returns.

eBay sellers who have never sold or bought watches on the site are being inundated with unsolicited spam messages trying to entice them to list in this important (to eBay) focus vertical category.

Sellers have noticed the "Sell Similar" or "Have One To Sell?" feature appears to have been removed from listings, specifically in the eBay Motors categories - is this a glitch or intentional change possibly due to Guaranteed Fit?

A Holiday Essentials module on the eBay home page aims to help buyers find seasonal decor and gifts, but a coding snafu is causing some of the category filters to show pages with zero eBay listings and nothing but 3rd party ads leading buyers off eBay!

eBay's ongoing testing for a new View Item page design may be causing problems with how photos are displayed in variation listings.

Sellers are frustrated with frequent maintenance and outages preventing them from using the instant payout to a debit card option for Managed Payments.

Digital logistics startup Navlungo has announced it's official partnership with eBay to boost exports from Turkey.

Other Ecommerce News

Poshmark announced they will be closing UK, Australia, and India marketplaces effective October 26 to focus on US and Canada operations, leaving impacted sellers in the lurch with very short notice.

Etsy is undertaking a multi-market expansion of Etsy Payments to Ukraine, India, Japan, Thailand, Argentina, Chile and Peru power by partnership with Payoneer.

Sellers usually dread Etsy testing, but a new test showing Shop icon added at the end of the list of images has been enthusiastically received by sellers.

Mercari has launched a beta test of their new quick listing feature, telling sellers "all you need is a pic, a price, a title… and that’s it – you’re done."

Check out our demo of this new feature that uses machine learning and image recognition to identify the item and suggest details.

Amazon is hosting an informational event about Seller Fulfilled Prime exclusively in the Amazon community forums on October 24.

USPS experienced a widespread outage this week, interfering with tracking scans and causing confusion and concern for online sellers.

UPDATES

It's official - Amazon's extended holiday return period will begin November 1st!

eBay staff have advised they have ended the reduced item specifics test and will be considering all of the feedback sellers left on this topic.

Get the latest on holiday shipping deadlines for USPS, UPS and Fedex!

Stay up to date with the latest marketplace and shipping carrier disruptions due to the ongoing conflict in Israel.

And finally, Q3 2023 earnings calls are just around the corner.

Track important ecommerce marketplace earnings dates for Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Meta/Facebook, PayPal, Shopify, BigCommerce, and more!

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Week In Review

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Liz Morton is a seasoned ecommerce pro with 17 years of online marketplace sales experience, providing commentary, analysis & news about eBay, Etsy, Amazon, Shopify & more at Value Added Resource!