8 Things You Should Know About The eBay Spring 2016 Seller Update
It’s that time of year for eBay spring 2016 seller update. Here’s a quick summary of how the eBay spring 2016 seller update impacts your store and some suggestions for navigating through it.
- The move to standardise item descriptions will help get the search volume for your item. In order to stand out from the competition, use the long description to include details about the item. Ensure it includes SEO keywords. If you haven’t been doing this already, this helps with SEO search ranking. Set it up now so your store has the history of SEO on this item. This way you’ll be prepared to take advantage of the sheer volume that will be coming your way.
- Removing active content. eBay will limit the use of Javascript, Flash, plugins and form actions to occur in 2017. The reason is this “noise” gets in the way of optimizing a mobile shopper’s experience in being able get through your eBay store to purchase quickly. As a certified eBay partner we are working with eBay to find the ideal controls or best workarounds for the many different cases where active content is used. We’ll keep our customers updated on when these changes take place as eBay will provide more updates on this. We want to help keep your branding and shopper experience that your customers love.
- Fee changes. These new fees will begin May 6: Anchor Store will pay an additional $360 per quarter, Basic Store will pay an additional $12 per quarter and Premium Store will pay an addition $30 per quarter. On May 1 the monthly listing allotments in nearly all categories will increase that will allow you to list more. Click here to read the breakdown. On July 1, Anchor stores will have access to dedicated Customer Support that includes webinars and coaching as well as access to the most experienced agents. If you list items over $150 you will want to review if you will continue to use the optional listing upgrades that are an additional fee – Subtitle, Gallery Plus, Bold, Value Pack and Listing Designer.
- eBay is launching a seller hub. This will work for eBay only sellers who are trying to automate processes and deal directly with the fees. As a seller, you want to explore implementing a multi-channel strategy. Your item can be more competitive if you sell it from your own online store and that sale can come directly to you. But having a multi-channel strategy also increases your exposure in other popular marketplaces such as Amazon and Newegg. Online shoppers compare a few sites before they make their purchase. You can be one of those sites.
- The following categories will have changes made in May: Antiques, Business & Industrial, Clothing, Shoes & Accessories, Health & Beauty, Motors, Musical Instruments & Gear, Toys & Hobbies, Video Games & Consoles. This will align more globally and also align with how customers search. For more information on this changes for each category that impacts you read this.
- Jewelry Category Changes. Changed the list of fine and fashion metals, gemstones and material that are listed in these categories. Review the summary to help clarify how to list treated, enhanced, lab-created and simulated items.
- Product Reviews are a great feature that will help support your item for sale. Consumers trust what other buyers have experienced. In fact, 61% of customers read online reviews before making a purchase decision.
- Updated User Agreement takes place today, April 5th for new users and May 19, 2016 for all other users.
We’ll keep you posted of the adjustments we’ll be making as a result of the eBay Spring 2016 Seller Update to help your listings win when these changes are implemented. As an eBay certified partner, we’ll be working alongside eBay and making the changes needed for your eBay store to be optimized for the way online shoppers search.
April 5, 2016