eBay Australia has contacted sellers down under with news that their long-trialled introduction of Product Identifiers will be delayed from February 2017 until the autumn. We’ve written about this before.
The new rules would have made it compulsory for sellers to include a product identifier in every listing, with a few exceptions. The email reads:
“In our last Seller Release, we announced the next phase of our product identifier mandate. These updates:
– Can give your unbranded and private label inventory more visibility in search, on and off eBay.
– Link your listings with our new product pages, product reviews and marketing.
These updates were scheduled for February 2017. However, we heard that you needed more time to get prepared. We listened to you so we’re relaxing our timelines on the following points:
– Our new catalogue portal will be available from autumn 2017. You’ll be able to upload your entire catalogue of private-label and unbranded products quickly and easily with eBay- generated product identifiers.
– New options, including Google, Amazon, and self-created product identifiers will be available from winter 2017.
– We’ve postponed our next product identifier mandate (additional categories of new and Good ‘Til Cancelled listings for manufacturer refurbished items) to next year, along with the removal of the “Does not apply” listing option.
There’s nothing additional required from you at this stage. We’ll provide specific dates soon, and we’ll make sure to give you plenty of time to get ready.”
It’s interesting that eBay Australia has delayed this implementation of a mission critical initiative. There’s no sign that this development will be seen in other eBay markets, and Australia in eBay terms does often do things differently, but that it seems to be driven by a lack of compliance by sellers stands out.
Are you ready for Product Identifiers on eBay UK (or elsewhere) or would you welcome a delay along the lines that eBay Australia has announced.
2 Responses
Clearly not delayed quick enough, 2 of our listings were ended because they lacked an EAN
We’ve had over 80 listings ended by ebay for not having an EAN when they all did have an EAN & MPN. Ebay UK have confirmed this is a glitch and we are fine to re-list, but of course we have now lost our ranking and sales history on those listings!