that with immediate effect the choice policy is to be scrapped. This means sellers will be able to offer a choice of size, colour and configuration on a single listing.
This should result in significant cost savings for sellers who up until now have had to use multiple listings to offer choices to their buyers. It should be noted that if a choice is offered failure to supply will be considered a violation of the Seller Non-Performance Policy.
Also in June the multiple items listing policy will be relaxed to allow sellers to list an unlimited quantity of identical items, previously the limit was 15 identical items.
Although a seller can list larger numbers of identical listings eBay’s new Finding will limit the number of listings presented to buyers from a single seller. No more than 10 identical listings from a single seller will appear on a search page, however this is sure to please sellers who routinely list multiple listings so that their product always appears in Ending Soonest sort.
It’s not known when these two changes will become official UK policy so sellers this side of the pond should wait for an official announcement to avoid listing infringements. As Best Match hasn’t fully rolled out in the UK it may be some time before the policies are introduced.
In the same announcement Mystery Auctions are banned, a new Search & Browse Manipulation Policy is announced, and a new Links Policy is to come into force in July.
Finally the new expanded Seller Dashboard is to go live in the US next week and sellers with 4.7 and above on all 4 DSRs over the last 30 days will start to be advantaged in search. This will be tested in a few categories before being rolled out across the site.
10 Responses
“Whilst Buy.com have a special pricing deal, they’ll be limited to one listing per product”
So, does this mean that the large retail sellers currently being courted by Ebay (Buy.com) will be able to swamp the site now.
Scenario – Ebay ” Yes we’ll give you reduced fees for your mega inventory but to be fair to other sellers you’ll have to limit your listings”
Megaseller ” We’ll have another think about this. This product comes in 20 colours and 15 sizes, It would take us ages to shift our inventory”
Ebay ” Ok, we’ll alter our policy, just this once, mind you 😉 “
Just read the links policy on .Com.
New Links Policy
17. What is the new Links Policy?
The new Links Policy prohibits sellers from linking to any site that offers a product or service for sale off eBay. This includes listings, eBay Store pages, About Me pages, eBay Blogs, Reviews and Guides, and forums.
The policy is aimed at protecting eBay buyers from fraud or other bad experiences off eBay which are not covered by buyer protection programs.
The Links Policy also requires sellers to include all information relevant to the item or service being sold within the item description. Links to pages that further describe the item or include additional terms and conditions for the sale are not permitted. This is intended to protect buyers from making uninformed decisions based on information not provided in the listing.
18. What types of links are allowed?
Sellers are permitted to include the following links:
Links to any eBay property page as long as no more than five links are included in any single listing or community post. This includes links to the following eBay properties: PayPal, Half.com, and StubHub.
Links to photos of the item for sale, as long as the page displaying the photos doesn’t offer, or link to a site that offers, a product or service for sale off eBay.
Links to videos embedded within a listing, as long as the video content and format comply with all eBay policies. You must also be the owner of the underlying rights to the video, including intellectual property rights, or be authorized to distribute the video by the rights owner.
Links or credits to third party solutions and services directly related to the particular listing.
I wonder if the new policies will roll out today on UK(20th).
UK sellers now pay to be seen on .Com so you would think they could/should be able to offer multi-choice listings at the same time as .Com registered sellers. Level playing field and all that.
Keith,
If I am reading correctly this means that about me pages will no longer be able to link to ‘own website’?
HI John.
That’s how I read it. I bet email contact links in listings will be going too
John & Keith – you’re correct. Just writing a seperate blog post now.
The links policy
Allowed Links to photos of the item for sale, as long as the page displaying the photos doesn’t offer, or link to a site that offers, a product or service for sale off eBay
Will they be looking for html links?. For instance if I host my photo’s on my website’s server and link to them.
Keith: so embedding the photos in your listing is okay.
Linking to the image file is okay (e.g. click here to see a bigger piccie -> link to jpeg file)
Linking to a page which “frames” your image file is okay, so long as it’s not a page that sells the item off eBay.
eBay’s links policy generally makes sense if you remember that its objective is to keep eBay sales on eBay. 😆
A seller pointed this out on the business forum regarding choice.
If you sell computers, you can offer a specific brand and model laptop with a choice in components such as hard-drive size, processor speed, etc. If you sell Apple iPods, you can offer a a choice of memory size and/or color.
Now I presume they will refine this to make sure that the advertised price will cover different configurations. Otherwise the seller will be free to charge extra for higher specifications etc.
Unless PC World or Dell are going to be listing items
You hit the nail on the head with the one advertised price. Variations in price will still be fee avoidance.
What we may see eventually is additional fees to be able to do add-on options on a listing. e.g. you can list a hard drive upgrade in your shop but it can only be purchased as an extra if you buy this base model PC. When that happens, eBay will have really hit C21st ecommerce. 🙄 😆