Taking stock

eBay Open Online kicked off with the keynote speech from CEO Jamie Lannone with a reflection on the previous year’s success at eBay and the stellar growth/demand for e-commerce solutions in the pandemic market globally. We also heard from Jamie regarding his belief that technology should be at the core of eBay’s future strategy and offering to sellers.

As we mentioned in one of our previous blog, eBay has identified that there were over 100,000 new ‘pandemic startups’ formed in 2020 during the height of UK lockdown. These businesses have sold over 72 million items across listings to the 29 million eBay shoppers who use the platform every day, so eBay Open Online has some interesting changes in the pipeline for eBay sellers worldwide.

The headlines

During the event, a number of new developments were announced. While the headlines below focus on changes coming to eBay in the United States now, it is likely that once rolled out in the US that it will then be rolled out globally.

eBay video and social media

One highly sought after feature coming to the platform is video for eBay Stores. This will allow sellers to upload video to their listings highlighting key product features and present the product to the buyer in a new way for eBay.

As it catches up with other marketplaces, and in a bid to draw more shoppers, eBay will also introduce reduced fees for Store sellers who send traffic to eBay from social networking platforms. While the finer detail is still to be confirmed, eBay have stated that sellers will receive a substantial fee reduction on sales that have been driven from a linked social media account. This is an important development that further highlights the importance of having those social media channels running effectively.

Changes to eBay best offer features

eBay have also announced that there will be some positive changes for sellers using the eBay Best Offer feature, primarily around payment collection. The change means that when a buyer submits a ‘Best Offer’ they will be required to input a payment method. If you then accept, the transaction will be concluded. This will put ‘Best Offers’ on a similar stance as ‘Buy It Now’ where a buyer can’t commit to buy without paying.

Cost per click (CPC) ads coming to eBay

In a drive to further monetize the platform more, eBay will be rolling out Promoted Listings Advanced which essentially operates on a CPC basis. Sellers will have the opportunity to bid on keywords to increase visibility of listings to the top of the search results. While this is not a mandatory initiative to sign up to, it does give sellers the choice if they wish to do so.

Seller centre changes coming

At Optiseller, we believe (and you will know if a regular reader) that listing quality is crucial to eBay success. eBay want to re-design the view item page for buyers so that they have a modern and fresh shopping experience. This will include changes to the way the listing is presented to the buyer such as the placement of item specifics being further up the listing itself.

Another new piece of technology arriving to the seller centre will be the ability to remove background from images directly in the item listing. eBay listing images are another critical part to get right in your listing so having the ability to meet image guidelines via this new tool will be a useful addition to the seller centre.

The importance of listing optimisation 

For those trading on marketplaces in the current economic climate, eBay open has shown that paying attention to detail is more important than ever. Buyers expect not only quality listings, but also an ever-evolving platform to buy from. eBay Open UK is just around the corner at the end of September – so mark your diaries, we will of course update you on the event as it happens.

Take the time to carry out that important check-up on your listings. Populating as many item specifics as possible will keep your store listed and not filtered out of relevant searches. If you need a hand with this, our plans can help you do that. 

We have several plans available to help you make a start on these changes, designed with the size of your business and the number of listings you have in mind. Find out more and start your free trial here.