eBay's Summer Update 2018 is out

At first glance, the Summer Update appears pretty ho hum. Then, if you dig a little deeper, you find there are some things to be on guard about. I'm here to spell it out for you. Tips To Guard Your Business eBay Summer Update 2018 equips you to protect the success of your business.

Use these tips to make the wisest decisions for your business. Know what impacts YOU and how. There are some important changes that will impact your listings in search and your sales. Make selections now that will guard your business and your cash flow. With my tips, you’ll know how to take advantage of the changes coming.

1. Inventory Optimization

2. eBay Stores

3. Selling Metrics & Shipping

4. Returns

eBay's Summer Update 2018 Covers Four Categories:

For several years now eBay's CEO Devin Wenig has spoken to eBay's strategic data initiative. HERE is a link to Devin speaking of strategic data and using artificial intelligence on eBay. Many of the changes sellers see on eBay are related to this. Seller's listings are being quantified so they can be indexed for search. Strategic data includes bots, artificial intelligence and machine learning.

eBay is using product pages more and more. They are expanding. Yes, they look very much like Amazon listings.

Inventory Optimization

They are cardio equipment, cell phones and smartphones, computers/tablets, networking tablets & ebook readers, humidifiers, Internet & media streamers, major appliances, portable fans, programmable thermostats, small kitchen appliances, space heaters, tv video & home audio: Internet & media streamers,TV's, voice enabled home assistants.

Right now only certain categories are required to list according to eBay's catalog.

First, it makes sense for these categories to be on product pages. They are electronic and electric with model numbers and barcodes. Imagine browsing these without a catalog page. You'd have thousands of listings to wade through to try and find what you want. Sellers lose sales. eBay loses sales. Product and catalog pages make it easy for shoppers to browse and buy.

For the above listed categories starting sometime in Mid August sellers will have more input to the content of the product pages.

Sellers will be able to add new products to eBay’s catalog.

In addition, sellers will also be able to suggest revisions to existing product pages.

Information on this is HERE.

Now, good news for sellers.

Starting July 31st - the following categories have mandatory item specifics1. Coins2. Comics3. Pottery & Glass4. Tires

If you have good til canceled listings in these categories, you'll find in September 2018 these listings must be aligned with catalog pages or the listings will lose out in search. There is more information about how this works HERE.

Now Some Bad News

For sellers with a lot of listings in the impacted categories, group similar items together in eBay’s free tool Bulk Edit and edit your item specifics.

If you use listers like Joe Lister, Crazy Lister, Auctiva, Inkfrog, or Six Bit contact them and ask for their suggestions to bulk edit item specifics.

joelister

If you have hundreds or thousands of items in any of these categories, this is going to take time. Consider hiring a virtual assistant to help. Here is my affiliate link to the virtual assistant site FREEEUP.

With product page listings expanding on eBay regardless of what you sell, pay close attention to your titles, pictures and item specifics. They matter. eBay’s strategic data bots are pulling crucial data from your listings. If you don’t revise older listings eBay states, “your listings may have minimal or no visibility to buyers.”

If you have a lot of listings in an impacted category,You have quite a bit of revising to do.

Key Points

As announced in the Spring Seller Update 2018 eBay store home pages are now being migrated to https pages. This is to comply with the chrome security update.

With going to https, your eBay store has a new look to the fonts. If you had a store header, it’s still there. It looks fine. There is no need to resize the graphic. In addition your store categories maintain their same function.

I explain a few aspects of the new https look for eBay stores at the beginning of my Youtube New Search Benefits Of eBay.

eBay Stores

The migration to https is for non custom stores only. Custom stores can look for changes in the future.

There is more good news for sellers. Any social media done with http links will automatically redirect to the new https. Thank you eBay.

eBay is making one important change to Markdown Manager Promotion Sale Event function. As of June 25 an item must be listed for 14 calendar days before a seller can mark it down in a sale event. The item can be included in Promoted Listings and Promotions Manager. Only the Sale Event (Markdown Manager) has the 14 day listing rule.

Starting in June 2018 store owners will have access to merchandising opportunities.

Https store owners stores will have enhanced mobile shopping for customers.

eBay has already rolled out Interests on its eBay app.

Starting in June 2018 store owners will have access to merchandising opportunities. Https store owners stores will have enhanced mobile shopping for customers. eBay has already rolled out Interests on its eBay app.

I explain this exciting update in this YouTube New Search Benefits on eBay.

The https upgrade to stores give stores a new fresh look. It includes additional mobile optimization.

Also, no longer can sellers put newly listed items into a sale.

If you have a custom store keep an eye on your impressions, click and sales. Watch if your store landing page being non https hurts you.

More details on the changes to eBay Stores are HERE.

Key Points

It continues to be important to ship within your stated handling time. You also want to keep an eye on prompt uploading of acceptance scans by the USPS. As previously announced, all qualifying listing are automatically integrated into the Guaranteed Delivery program. Listings that meet program requirements will be shown to shoppers through the Guaranteed Delivery toggle and filters.

There is no downside to eBay’s Guaranteed Delivery. Qualifying sellers listings show in more search filters. What’s not to love about appearing in more searches? Until the end of 2018 eBay is guaranteeing the delivery date. eBay states after 2018 it will continue to make things good as long as sellers ship within their handling time.

Seller Metrics

Zip code will be mandated in listings. As of June 25 2018 sellers must list with item location zip code. The exemptions to this policy are HERE.

Starting in July, eBay is adding more Seller Metrics. In Seller Hub we will see how you rank on key points compared to other sellers. We’ll see data on returns, reasons for returns and more. It is promised sellers will be compared to similar sellers. I look to more details on this. Categories like clothing are very broad. Are sellers selling used items compared to sellers selling new? Is eBay comparing sellers of modest priced clothing with similar sellers? Let’s keep an eye on this”helpful” data to see what it is.

Key Point: List with your item location zip code. Watch for new Seller Metrics

eBay announces that if you have not selected one of it’s five return policies as of August 2018 - eBay WILL ASSIGN A RETURN POLICY TO YOUR LISTING.From the Spring Seller Update the five return policies are No Returns, 30 day buyer pays return shipping, 60 days buyer pays return shipping, 30 days seller pays return shipping, 60 days seller pays return shipping. 14 day returns are allowed for some categories. Details are HERE.As of late May sellers can create a separate return policy for non US sales.eBay will assign a return policy for domestic US if you don’t select one of the five acceptable choices. HERE is how it will be assigned. eBay is also streamlining the returns process.

Key Point: Pick one of the approved return policies, or it will be done for you.

Returns

With Product pages expanding, sellers in all categories need to continue to be diligent with optimized titles and item specifics. eBay's strategic data is looking for juicy data. Give it to them.

Your Keyword choices matter. Use my hit guide Keyword Domination To Explode eBay Sales to leverage the changes on eBay to your advantage,

Bad news for sellers that are in Coins, Comics, Pottery & Glass and Tires. There are mandatory item specifics added. If you have bunch of listings in these categories, you have a lot of work to do.

In Closing there is some bad news for some sellers:

With the https update for eBay store owners, eBay stores have a new look. Sellers with https store pages enjoy enhanced mobile shopping capabilities. The bad news is sellers with custom pages that are not https don't enjoy this.

Sellers pay attention to your returns policies. If you haven't selected one of the five new returns policies, it will be done for you in August. Look at how eBay assigns the return policies. You may like it, and it will save you time revising your listings. Additionally, if you offer free returns and international shipping, you may have a lot of revising to do late May.

eBay's Summer Update 2018 is about making eBay easier to shop. This includes using structured data to personalize customers shopping experience.

It's all about the data. eBay's focus is on attracting shoppers and getting sales.

Know the changes. Study how they impact you. The sellers hit the hardest by the update are those in the four categories with new required item specifics. Also eBay store owners with custom pages need to keep an eye on the impact of not having an https home page. Lookout for new Seller Metrics on Returns. Look to see if the data is “helpful”.

Within each category of the update, look to how to use these new mandates to attract customers to YOU. Compliance means better search results.

Cha ching!

Kathy Terrill is a New York-based professional actress who has more than 25 years of experience in brick-and-mortar retail and over 6 years as an on-air product presenter for QVC, the shopping channel.

Kathy started her eBay selling in small way. Kathy sold items from her Manhattan NYC apartment while caring for sick family members. Kathy’s eBay business has grown and she is now a shooting star,Top Rated seller.

About the Author

You'll find Kathy regularly on Facebook as the founder for the seller group eBay Stores Nothing but eBay Stores which has over 3500 global members, eBay Selling Basics Nothing But Selling Basics, and Online Selling Nothing but Online Selling.

eBay selected Kathy from over 600,000 sellers to win their Small Business Advocate Award for 2017. She is an in demand speaker and private sales coach. She loves to share her expertise at eBay and ecommerce events all across the US.

There are hit classes, a memebrship site and great tips to increase sales for online sellers available on her ecommerce blog I Love To Be Selling.

Kathy loves to help sellers of all levels crush it on eBay with practical tips she gleans from her extensive retail experience.

"The author is not an employee of eBay Inc. or any of its affiliated companies. Views expressed in this book are the author's own, and do not reflect the views of eBay Inc., its employees, affiliates, or indeed anyone else."