eBay have published their Seller Release for US merchants and whilst many of the announcements match those in the UK there are a couple of interesting wrinkles specific to eBay.com.
eBay.com Seller Release: Things that are the same (or similar) to the UK
- Markdown Manager is now part of Promotions Manager
- List bundles and lots for greater visibility
- Remove contact info and links that take buyers off eBay
- Secure your listings with HTTPS
- Expanded requirement for product identifiers
- Image policy changes (Remove watermarks)
- Matching new listings to the eBay catalog
- Automatic acceptance of returns
eBay.com Seller Release: Things that are the unique to the US
eBay Guaranteed Delivery available to all sellers in early 2018
The eBay Guaranteed Delivery feature will be available to all eBay sellers by early 2018 and for those who already have the feature, eBay Guaranteed Delivery listings will be searchable for all buyers this fall (Autumn). There are two eBay Guaranteed Delivery options and both will display shipping times on eBay.com listings as guaranteed
- Handling time—Sellers guarantee same-day or one-day handling and use eBay labels, and eBay determines and guarantees the delivery date
- Door-to-door—Sellers have full control over their guaranteed delivery dates, based on their ability to deliver to various regions and their knowledge of their carriers’ service level by region
Questions & Answers
In August 2017, eBay.com introduced a new Questions & Answers (Q&A) feature on product pages. Q&A enables eBay shoppers to ask sellers and recent buyers questions about products that interest them.
In October 2017, Q&A will be added to View Item pages. After it’s added, you may receive an email request to answer a buyer’s question about a product you list. Your answer will be ranked at the top of all responses on your View Item page. Other buyers can view the answers, too. What this means is that if you are notified of a question you want to answer it quickly – you want your answer to be the one that’s displayed and your answers will be at the top of your listings. Let someone else answer and they’ll be the one who’s answer is displayed.
Buyers who have questions about other aspects of your listing, such as shipping options and returns, will still be able to use the “Ask a Seller” function.
Free Returns highlighted in search and restocking fees banned
eBay.com will be giving buyers options to search for and filter by free returns policies, highlighting free returns policies when buyers visit listings and featuring listings with free returns policies in eBay marketing campaigns.
Restocking fee will no longer permitted with free returns – free means free with no additional charges. Sellers on eBay.com who do not offer free returns will still have discretion to charge a 10%, 15%, or 20% restocking fee. However, starting in 2018, the buyer will only see a restocking fee of “up to 20%” in the listing.
