eBay UK Seller Release Spring 2018

Spring 2018’s eBay UK Seller Release brings changes to Shop subscriptions, updates for eBay Premium Service, and extended returns policies in a number of categories. We take a look at all of the upcoming changes that have been announced in the eBay UK Seller Release Spring 2018, and exactly how they will impact you as an eBay Business seller.

Pricing and subscription changes

• From 1 April there will be changes to subscriptions and final value fees for some categories.
  
• If your seller standard is Below Standard, 4% will be added to your final value fees.
  
• Sellers without a shop subscription will no longer qualify for Final Value Fee caps. 
  
• Monthly subscription for an Anchor Shop will increase from £269 to £399. 

Changes for all eBay business sellers

• Final value fee in Vaporizers (183494) and E Cigarettes, Vapes & Accs (183497) categories will be 11%.
  
• Final value fee for Video Games & Consoles (1249) category will be 8%, except Video Games Consoles (139971) category which will remain at 5% with a £20 maximum.
  
• Items listed in two categories will be charged the higher of the two final value fees. 
  
• For sellers whose level is Below Standard, 4% will be added to the standard final value fees at the time that the item sellers - for example, a final value fee of 6% would be increased to 10%. 

Changes for business sellers without an eBay Shop subscription

• Sellers without a subscription will no longer qualify for the final value fee cap, so they will be charged a percent of the full price of an item. 
  
• From 1 June 2018, you won’t have access to Selling Manager Pro without a Shop subscription. 

Changes for eBay Anchor Shop subscription:

• Monthly subscription charge will increase to £399 from £269
  
• Subscribers will have access to eBay’s Concierge Service, which is an enhanced level of customer service, with minimal waiting times and tailored support. 

• Keep your seller standards up so that you don’t have to pay higher final value fees. 
  
• Sign up for a Shop subscription if you want to benefit from Final Value Fee caps, and/or use Selling Manager Pro.

Find out more about pricing and subscription changes in eBay’s Spring 2018 Seller Release here. 

Delivery and returns

• To qualify for eBay Premium Service you will need to upload valid tracking information for items over £20, within the dispatch time. 
  
• From May 2018, the 14-day returns option won’t be available for new listings in a number of categories, including: Fashion, Healthy & Beauty, Home & Garden, Media. 
  
• The Additional returns policy details field will be removed. 
  

Changes to eBay Premium Service criteria

• Sellers will be required to upload valid tracking information for all items over £20, within their dispatch times, to qualify for eBay Premium Service delivery.
  
• You also need to be an eBay Top-rated seller, have your registered address in the UK or Ireland, and offer a 30 days returns policy or better. You need to offer domestic delivery within 3 working days, and offer delivery within 2 working days for £10 maximum.
  
• Letter and Large Letter items worth more than £20 sent with Royal Mail 2nd Class, 48, 1st Class, 24, will not qualify for the eBay Premium Service. Royal Mail 2D barcodes are not a fully tracked service and therefore don’t meet these requirements.
  

Learn more about eBay Premium Service criteria here.

Extended returns

• From May 2018, 14-day returns won’t be an option for new listings (including used and refurbished condition) in:
  - Fashion
  - Health & Beauty
  - Home & Garden
  - Sports, Hobbies & Leisure
  - Media
  - Vehicle Parts & Accessories

• The four returns policy options available for buyers within these categories will be:
  - 30-day buyer pays return postage
  - 30-day free returns
  - 60-day buyer pays return postage
  - 60-day free returns

• Listings that have returns policies that don’t meet the new standard will be migrated later in 2018.
  
• The Additional return policy details field that some sellers use to include details of their returns policies, will be removed.
  

Find out more about extended returns on eBay here. 

What you need to do:

• Ensure that you meet the new requirements if you want to qualify for eBay Premium Service - using tracked services for all orders over £20.
  
• Update your returns policy if you sell in the affected categories. If your returns policy isn’t consistent across your item specifics and in your listing, eBay will use the policy outlined in your item specifics if they need to resolve an issue.

Marketing & metrics

• Codeless Coupons will be replaced by Seller Coupons
  
• Item recommendations and Sales Reports will be available in 'Promote your listings'
  
• From June 2018, new insights about after-sales requests will be available in Seller Hub.

Marketing and Promotion tools

• Codeless Coupons are going to be replaced with Seller Coupons.
  
• Item recommendations will be available in 'Promote your listings', based on marketplace trends.
  
• From March 2018, Sales Reports will also be available in 'Promote your listings', with insights into which items sold as a result of being promoted.
  
• In March the Marketing API will be updated to support Sale event and markdown promotions. If you use a third party provider or a direct integration with eBay, contact your support team to learn about this new functionality.
  

Find out more about updates to eBay’s marketing tools here. 

Insights in Seller Hub

• From June 2018 there will be new insights and metrics about after-sales requests from buyers within Seller Hub
  
• You’ll be able to see details about transactions when buyers contact you about items they didn’t receive, and ‘item not as described’ return requests. The new metrics and benchmarks won’t affect your seller performance standards evaluation.
  

Learn more about the new Seller Hub insights here 

Shopping experience: catalogue and shopfronts

Updates to eBay’s catalogue

• eBay is going to be testing a ‘product-based’ shopping experience, where similar listings are grouped and displayed together.
  
• Starting in May, for a small number of products, listing using the eBay catalogue will be required, so that products can be grouped. These items will include: Amazon Fire Stick, Amazon Echo, Apple TV, iPhones and iPads. This requirement applies to all item conditions (e.g. new, used, refurbished) as well as customised items, bundles and lots.
  
• On a product page, when multiple listings of the same item have been associated with products from product lines in the eBay catalogue, your items will compete with other sellers’ listings for the chance to be featured in the top pick or the primary position on the product page. You must be at the Above Standard selling level, ensure your items remain in stock, and offer competitive shipping and pricing to improve your chances of winning the top pick.
  

You can learn more about eBay catalogue requirements here.

Improvements to eBay Shopfronts

• Shopfronts are being made more secure, more mobile friendly and better optimised for search engines from May 2018.
  
• For sellers with non-custom eBay Shopfronts, these changes will be automatic and no action is needed. Your Shop URL will remain the same with the addition of HTTPS.
  
• Sellers with custom eBay Shopfronts should opt-in to the changes, and remove active content to ensure that they’re HTTPS-ready.
  
• After May 2018, it will no longer be possible set up a custom eBay Shopfront and it will not be possible to convert back to the old experience.

HTTPS security

• From March 2018, eBay listings with HTTP content will feature a button reading "See full item description", putting the complete description one click away, as shown below.
  
• If you're still using non-secure, HTTP content in your listings, Google Chrome will mark the page as “Not Secure”, and buyers might not see your full content.
  
• Item descriptions that are HTTPS-compliant will continue to display the full description as normal.

What you need to do:

• To show your complete item description automatically, simply add HTTPS protocol to any non-secure content.
  
• You can do this for 500 listings with eBay’s bulk edit tool. Once all your content is on a secure server, select Edit listings in bulk, then use find and replace to replace “HTTP” with “HTTPS”. You can check and update your listings within Seller Hub.

Learn more about HTTPS updates here.

Changes on eBay.com and other international sites 

Find out how Zenstores can help you manage your eBay orders, and speed up your shipping process.