Autumn 2020 eBay UK business seller update - what you need to know.

2020 has been a challenging year for many eBay sellers, which makes the last quarter more important than ever. With the holiday season fast approaching eBay business sellers should be looking to boost sales during this peak trading period. The latest eBay update is vital reading for all eBay sellers to keep on top of the latest promotions, tools and platform changes to maximize sales in the holiday season.

Here's a summary of the main autumn update announcements that all sellers need to know:

50% Off Final Value Fees – time limited!
This is a time-limited offer so eBay sellers will want to act by 23rd September. The company is offering 50% off Final Value Fees on promotions to all Above Standard and Top-Rated eBay business sellers. Sellers need to manually opt in here. You will need to create a new campaign using Multi-buy, Order Discount, add new listings to existing campaigns or use Send Offers to Buyers. Once you’ve opted in, you’ll get the final value fees discount until 9th October and your savings will be returned to you as a credit within 60 days of the end of the promotional period.

Sign up for Managed Payments.
eBay is expanding Managed Payments globally to enhance the buying and selling experience. The aim is to provide sellers with one place to sell and be paid, whilst also offering buyers more ways to pay. eBay sellers who have been identified to be using eBay features and tools that are compatible with Managed Payments will continued to be notified to join in phases. It’s a simple process and you will need to add a current account for payouts which match the details on your eBay account. eBay UK expects to manage payments for most of its business sellers by the end of 2020.

Promoted Listings.
Over the last few months eBay have introduced several changes to how sellers manage their Promoted Listings campaigns. Item recommendations and campaign creation functionality have been improved. For example, sellers can now apply ad rate strategies across all their listings or to listings individually. An enhanced Promoted Listings dashboard also makes it easier to check marketing performance – a vital tool to boost sales for peak trading during the holiday season. Another new announcement is that below-standard sellers will no longer have access to Promoted Listings. This means eBay sellers who fail to provide an adequate service won’t be able to buy their way to the top of search results.

Performance Tab.
eBay has improved the Performance tab experience in Seller Hub to give eBay sellers easy access to additional data. This will give you additional insight to help you better optimise your business. Improvements include the ability to generate sales reports based on a range of time frames with the option for month to month or year to year comparisons. Sellers will also be able to see a breakdown of sales by item price and postage paid by the buyer. Several new features have also been added to the Terapeak Research tool and you can now delegate access rights to other eBay member accounts to conduct research on your behalf too.

Item Specifics Tools.
In line with its focus on improving the quality of its listings on the marketplace, eBay is adding new tools to help sellers optimise their listings and add missing item specifics. This is particularly useful as some categories have new, mandatory item specifics requirements. A ‘Required Soon’ feature in the Seller Hub will alert sellers to those specifics that will shortly become compulsory.

Time Away Tool.
eBay’s ‘Holiday Settings’ is being replaced by a new Time Away tool to help eBay sellers schedule when they are open for business. The tool will hide and resurface your listings when you want to schedule a break from selling. eBay business sellers can also use it during the holiday season as an emergency measure as Time Away can be activated almost in real-time. Estimated delivery dates and dispatch due times will be adjusted automatically.

Email Privacy.
As part of its ongoing commitment to protect privacy, eBay sellers will no longer be able to see their buyers’ email addresses and similarly buyers will no longer see sellers email addresses. Instead, the platform will use alias email addresses for all communications. However, as an eBay business seller your email address will still be visible in your seller information.

Signature Threshold.
In October the threshold for signature confirmation for eBay Money Back Guarantee will be changing. A signature confirmation will be needed for orders of more than £450 and will no longer be calculated on item value. The order total includes taxes and postage costs. The result is that items previously not protected will now enjoy the same cover as the higher-value items in an order.

Read the full eBay Autumn update here.

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