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eBay’s product-based experience and what you need to know!

eBay’s Product-Based Experience

And What You Need To Know For Phase 1

eBay is moving towards a product-based shopping experience so that buyers can find the right product faster and easier than ever before––but this may mean more work for sellers.

In their latest Seller Update announcement, eBay explained this product-based shopping experience initiative will benefit both buyers and sellers, but sellers may need to do additional work to ensure their listings stay visible in search.

WHAT Does eBay’s Product-Based Experience Mean To Me As A Seller?

With each “phase” of eBay’s product-based experience, certain categories and product lines will require sellers to list with eBay’s catalog data. This simply means, if you’re listing a product in one of the Phase 1 product lines, you’ll need to include the product GTIN like UPCs, EANs, and ISBNs in your listings. Then eBay will automatically add their catalog’s structured data to your listing in order to help buyers find your product with ease.

You may notice that eBay search results also look different.  Since one of their main focuses is to get buyers to come and shop on eBay first, they need to provide a retail-standard buyer experience. This means search results may begin grouping listings of the same product together so that buyers only see results of different products––but don’t worry, buyers will still have the ability to view all listings!

Whether the listing is new, used, manufacturer refurbished, has free shipping or doesn’t, eBay will still show your listings to buyers as long as you’ve adopted the catalog item.  The only difference is that buyers may need to first click on the product they want and then below the top product slot all other listings are displayed! Check out this example to see what the new shopping experience looks like.

WHO Is Affected By Phase 1 Of eBay’s Product Based Experience?

The Phase 1 brands and product lines that will be required to adopt eBay’s catalog data before May 2018 are outlined below.

eBay will slowly expand the catalog and brands that require product adoption in phases so be sure to keep your eyes open for the next Seller Update.

If you have listings in any of the product lines mentioned above, you will need to adopt the catalog data by April 2018 to ensure they continue being displayed in search results. This includes all types of listings, whether they are “new” or “used”, as well as all variation items.

WHEN Does The Product-Based Shopping Experience Go Into Effect?

  • All phase 1 product lines are currently available in eBay’s catalog so you can start creating new listings and updating your existing listings today, either directly through eBay or through your 3rd party provider.

  • By the end of April 2018, all listings that relate to the product lines above need to be associated to an eBay catalog item to ensure they stay visible in search.

  • Starting in May 2018, when you try to create a new listing, edit a listing or relist a listing that is a required phase 1 product, you’ll be forced to associate it to a product catalog item or it will be blocked.

WHERE Can I Get Help & Ask Questions?

For GTIN and listing revision help:
Auctiva.com has been a trusted eBay 3rd-party listing solutions provider for over 18 years. In order to help eBay sellers add item specifics to their listings like the UPC, EAN, ISBN as well as attributes like brand, color, material, etc… they recently released the Search Engine Optimizer which is a tool designed to review active listings and automatically generate suggestions for the item specifics that the listing is currently lacking. Plus, the Search Engine Optimizer will automatically update the active listing(s) with the suggested SEO data after the seller clicks the “update” button.

For questions and help from eBay:
You can read the details about eBay’s product-based shopping experience here, as well as contact their support team if you have additional questions.

WHY Is This Important?

Although this change may seem like an inconvenience to some sellers, in the end it’s really going to pay off.  eBay’s main goal and message they’re conveying in their Spring 2018 Seller Update is that they’re focused on making eBay the marketplace where buyers come to shop first.

Using eBay’s catalog data ensures listings have structured data, which gives eBay the ability to design a retail-standard shopping experience that today’s modern consumer expects. Again, the whole idea of this new product-based shopping experience is to help drive more shoppers to eBay and ultimately more sales to you.


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