Spring has sprung and so has the changes at eBay! Many of you know the drill. For those that don’t, every few seasons eBay rolls out a few changes. Sometimes they’re small changes and other times they’re HUGE.

Sellers across the USA wait for the news. Many get nervous while others like myself, I embrace change! In my opinion change helps us grow into becoming bigger and better eBay sellers.

I’ve always believed “eBay has my back” when it comes to selling on the platform. WHY? Why do I think like this? Because I’ve seen it year after year. I’ve also been blessed to view some of the “behind the scene” activities at eBay’s headquarters in San Jose Ca.

I’ve had the opportunity to tour the facility and meet the staff. Everyone I’ve ever met at eBay does want to do their part to make the world a better place. And to do that, they are making the “eBay world” a better marketplace for all involved.

Everyone at eBay and involved with eBay is part of a community. Sellers and buyers unite on the platform and on local levels.

Seller Protection

Seller protections is generally a main focus at eBay. They do study the platform and seek out ways to protect the sellers. Personally as a seasoned seller I’ve had a few buyers that have tried to take advantage of the platform.

I’m happy to announce that eBay is “stepping up” and doing their part to remove the abusive buyers.

Abusive Buyer Policy

Ebay is rolling out this new policy to help protect sellers. This policy will educate buyers to what is appropriate and what is not appropriate behavior as a buyer on the site.

Next it will help sellers understand exactly what is abusive and what is not abusive behavior. Read more on eBay: “Buyers abuse policy”

The best part of all of this is, eBay will take action! Now they’ve made it fast and easy to “Report a Buyer.”

Negative or neutral feedback will be removed by eBay. They will also adjust your ratings on any defects if they’ve been effected as well.

Good News!

Ebay will be providing us with “more” options to choose from when reporting buyers. SIDE NOTE: I tested it out today and LOVE IT! I found the drop-down selections wider and they made it much easier to report those “annoying” buyers trying to manipulate the system for partial refunds.

Drop Shipping sellers dropped

If you’ve ever been to any of my workshops, I always give a mention that I’m NOT a fan of drop-shipping. Now it seems, eBay is NOT a fan of drop-shipping either.

WHY? Because it creates an unfavorable buying experience. I know first hand how annoying it is to wait and wait for an item. Then when the item shows up, it arrived from a well known department store.

Ebay prefers sellers own their inventory and ship direct. Personally I cannot agree more!

How will this effect drop-shippers?

They will receive lower placement in search. OUCH! So, those of you thinking about getting into drop-shipping, now is a good time to back away from the idea.

Learn more by reading the new “drop-shipping policy” at eBay. To be clear, its OKAY to drop-ship BUT you may not gain as much exposure on the site.

Heads up – Track Records Matter

Ebay let us know they WILL be announcing another enhancement for sellers this summer. The “hint” they shared is about our “track records.” So, with that in mind fellow sellers, stay alert and on top of HOW you treat your customers.

Bottom line – Provide Good Customer Service 24/7!

Managed Payments added PayPal

Personally I’ve been using managed payments since September 2018. I will admit, it started off “scary” and I may of missed a few sales with it being so new on the site.

But, I can remember when PayPal rolled out and everyone was upset. Buyers wanted to continue to mail in those checks, money orders and cash. It seems so ridiculous to think about now. Never know, PayPal may one day be ridiculous too. Ya think?

Never heard of “Managed Payments” before? Watch the video below that explains. or skip it to read the rest of the details.

Now I can say, I am 100% happy with it because of the ease, fee reduction and convenience of it. My sales have increased and I’m happy I took the journey as a “beta tester” when it was rolled out.

Managed payments allows buyers to pay for items using:

• Credit cards
• Debit cards
• Gift cards
• Apple pay

PayPal Added

Spring seller release announced they are now adding PayPal back into the formula with managed payments. This will include PayPal credit options as well.

The goal is to make it easier for shoppers to pay online the way they are accustomed too and most comfortable paying. Personally I like shopping with my American Express card so I can earn Delta sky miles. That is my preferred payment. Which I have stored on eBay and use it often.

However, other shoppers prefer to use PayPal and that’s okay too. It will be nice to have options.

Learn more about “Managed Payments” @ eBay.

Can I take your order?

Yes, it sounds like the drive through window right? Actually eBay is re-vamping the numbering system for orders. They will be assigning NEW numbers to our orders. This new system will make it easier for everyone: buyers and sellers.

How much easier?

Everyone involved with the transaction will be able to follow along from start to finish. We will all have an “order detailed” section added to the seller hub. Aka “eBay dashboard.”

Partial Refunds Supported

This summer we will be able to offer “partial refunds” vs. full refunds. I know it’s been challenging for me as part of the managed payments to not be able to offer a partial refund when needed.

The good news is I’ve not had many refunds but there was one that I had to go through the pain to log into PayPal and provide an “off eBay” transaction with a partial refund. NOT GOOD. Now I have no record of that on eBay.

Partial refunds will be a welcomed addition to the managed payments system.

Want to get on board with managed payments before it rolls out across all of eBay? Take a survey and get on the list at: CONNECT.EBAY

Meanwhile, watch for the new LOGOS to be added on each check-out page while shopping.

• Visa
• Master card
• American Express
• Discover
• Apple Pay
• Google Pay
• PayPal
• PayPal Credit

Promoted Listings

All sellers can now take advantage of promoting their listings. Before this rolled out it was only available to eBay store owners, now all sellers can enjoy the benefits of it.

Personally, I remember when promoted listings first rolled out and I thought “Why spend more money to list?” So, I never used it. THEN one day I had an item on for too many months. (those that know me know, I hate inventory and having items listed for too long)

SO, I promoted it and it sold within 2 weeks of running that promotion! Was it worth it? YES YES absolutely! Now, I use it on a regular basis. Learn more about the “Promoted Listing Trends” around the world and give it a try!

NOTE: When you’re logged into your eBay account you can use this direct link (it will not work if you are not logged in) : EBAY.COM/GETPROMOTEDLISTINGS

Learn more “Read the Guide on Getting Started” with promoted listings.

Best Offer in Bulk

Best offer has been my best friend as an eBay seller. Personally I love setting up the auto-accept/auto-decline as well. Now eBay will allow us to manage all of this in bulk when needed.

WHEW!

This will make it much easier for sellers like my husband, “The Irish Shamrock Company” that have not been using best offer to get the job done in a hurry! Note to Jimmy: “Get er Done!”

Learn more about “Adding Best Offers” to your ebay listings.

Offers to Buyers

I’ve actually noticed this available on my smartphone as well. What a great concept! Now we can send out offers to those that are “watching” our items.

Do keep in mind, not everyone opts into receiving notifications so you may have a lot of buyers but only able to send offers to a few. If you notice this, now you will understand the reason why. They have simply adjusted their setting notifications via eBay.

Learn more via eBay “Make offer / Offers to Buyers “

Volume Pricing

Great opportunity to sell more and offer a discounted price option. To find this option, simply visit your “Seller Hub” notice the “Marketing Tab” and click on it. Now you will see “Promotions“.

Next select “Volume Pricing” from the blue “Create a promotion” drop-down.

Learn more via eBay “New Volume Pricing”

Changes in Categories

Category clean-ups have become a bit of a tradition at eBay. It makes sense that “some” categories need to be adjusted and changed over time. Life changes for us all and so do the “categories” of our own priorities in our personal life. So you should be able to relate.

The goal eBay makes every time they adjust categories is simply to gain more buying power. Which means more sales for all of us sellers. It’s a win-win in the end.

The categories are adjusted based on “Buyer Behavior” monitored by eBay. Then they simply “clean-up” that categories that are aligned to that behavior.

The following categories will be impacted:

• Books
• Business & Industrial
• Cell Phones & Accessories
• Collectibles
• Computers/Tablets & Networking
• Consumer Electronics
• Everything Else
• Home & Garden
• Pet Supplies
• Sporting Goods
• Video Games & Consoles

The Book Category

The book category “OTHER” will be the most impacted. If you have books listed in this area, I highly recommend you MOVE THEM to either “Fiction or Nonfiction” ASAP or eBay will be moving them for you.

Check back on your book listings around June 10th to make sure they are indeed placed in the category with the best fit for a sale.

This will help buyers find the books they’re looking for and will help eBay sellers gain more visibility.

View the list via eBay “Categories”

Item Specific Updates

If you’ve ever attended any of my eBay workshops I cannot stress enough how important it is to take advantage of “item specifics” when listing on eBay.

The more specifics you include in your listing, the more chances buyers will find your items. And as I like to say: “Do everything you can to increase the odds for an eBay sale.”

Watch Griff

Griff talks about “Product Identifiers” also called “Item Specifics”.

Categories that will be showing more item specific options are:

• Antiques
• Coins & Paper Money
• Collectibles
• Sporting Goods
• Toys & Hobbies 

View the breakdown of each of these via eBay “Item Specific Categories”

Start now forming good habits. Include item specifics in ALL listings as much as possible. This will help everyone using the site.

Good Till Cancelled

Fixed priced listings auto-renew every 30 days from the date you listed it starting on July 1st.

The previous system was confusing for many eBay sellers. This new system will make it easier to understand. So if you list your item on the 5th of the month, it will renew the 5th of the next month and so on.

No matter how many days are in the month, your item will renew the same day EVERY month. Now, if you list your item on the 31st and the next month only has 30 days, your item will renew on the 30th.

If the following month has 31 days, it will auto-renew on the 31st just as it was originally listed.

Learn more via eBay “Good till Cancelled Listings“

Relisting Canceled and Remorse Listings

All this means is that eBay has made it easier for us to relist items that buyers have cancelled. And also for buyers that file a return for remorseful reasons.

Now we can relist that item faster to make a sale.

SIDE NOTE: When I have this happen to me, I enjoy the challenge to list it and sell it for more money than what I sold it for the 1st time

I turn it into a challenge. Lord knows, I love a good challenge!

However, this offer will NOT apply if you cancelled an item because it’s no longer in stock. It will also NOT apply if they returned an item because it was broken or damaged.

And, you can always “de-select” if you decide not to relist the item for any reason. It’s not mandatory that you relist. BUT if you do not un-check the box, it will be auto-relisted.

This is just another PERK to make life easier. Which makes me happy!

Learn more via eBay “Easily Relist“

Sales Tax Update

If you are exempt from paying sales tax, you can now easily upload your exception certificate. (Nonprofits and Re-sellers) If you are logged into eBay you can SUBMIT HERE. If you are not logged into eBay, just log in and use the link

Read more via eBay “Sales tax Exception“

Order Numbers

This one will mainly effect those involved with API’s. Like developers. It will actually make life easier for them and will not effect most of us in anyway. If interested, you can read more on eBay “Easier order managements“.

eBay Fees

The fee cap will be adjusted for “Premium and Anchor” stores from $250.00 to $350.00.

Higher fee rates will be given to those sellers with higher defects of “Items not as described”. Learn more via eBay “Selling Fees.”

Not bad!

What are your thoughts about these seller updates? Any concerns or anything I missed? Love to hear from you!

Connect with fellow eBay sellers in your community. Join an eBay meetup. “search the directory” for one in your area.