Category Changes
On the 12 October 2015, eBay are re-jigging some categories and item specifics to align them better across different country sites. They say that they’ll automatically update any affected listings on 13 October 2015 or you can modify them yourself before that date.
Affected categories are Baby; Cars, Motorcycles & Vehicles; Collectables; Crafts; Garden & Patio; Health & Beauty; Home, Furniture & DIY; Jewellery & Watches; Musical Instruments; Sporting Goods; Sports Memorabilia; Stamps; and Vehicle Parts & Accessories.
There are two things that might bite you here – third party management tools should be aware of the changes but you’ll need to double check when they’ll roll out a support update. Also inevitably a category change means you’ll probably need to update item specifics on some or all of your affected listings – not what you want to be doing just two months before Christmas!
Product Identifiers
More of a heads up than an announcement… eBay will be expanding the categories in which (brand, Manufacturer Part Number (MPN) and Global Trade Item Number (GTIN – EAN/UPC/ISBN) are required. However they’ve not announced which categories will be affected and will give at least 90 day’s notice, so that means next year!
Don’t forget eBay have already delayed introduction of required Product Identifiers for variation listings until early 2016.
Vehicle parts compatibility
eBay are rolling out to the mobile app as well as expanding the feature to include motorcycle parts.
The timeline is that in winter 2015, sellers of motorcycle parts can start assigning compatible vehicle models to their listings and then from spring 2016, buyers will be able to shop for motorcycle parts using their vehicle information.
