New item specifics requirements & tools

We’re adding new tools to help you identify and add missing item specifics and optimise your listings.

New item specifics tools

As you know, ensuring your listings have completed item specifics (required and recommended) is essential to improve your ranking in search results both on eBay and external search engines. That’s because the more data you give us about what you’re selling, the better we can match your item to what a buyer is looking for. To help you do this, we’re launching some new features and tools that will help you optimise your listings and comply with our item specifics requirements. 

“Required Soon” feature

This feature, available in Seller Hub and in the listing flow, will provide information about upcoming item specifics requirements, including the dates those requirements will become compulsory for your current listings.

Bulk editing item specifics

You can quickly update item specifics across multiple listings simultaneously using a bulk listings option in Seller Hub Active Listings. Simply select the listings you’d like to update, and add the relevant item specifics to multiple listings at once.

Quick Filter Search for required item specifics

Available in Seller Hub, filters are available to help you easily find which listings have missing required item specifics. 

Item specifics Download / Upload

This feature, available in the Seller Hub Active Listings page, will allow you to download a file of your listings containing item specifics information. You can make changes to the file offline by selecting available values, as well as see which item specifics are required, recommended and optional, and then upload the file to update your listings.

Note: Sellers using a third-party provider should first check with the company they use to learn how to best utilise this feature through their tool.

Task Reminders on Seller Hub 

These reminders on the Seller Hub Overview tab will notify you when your listings are missing required item specifics.

Item specifics rankings

These rankings appear in the listing flow and give you guidance on the item specifics your buyers are searching for. The rankings will help you to identify and prioritise the non-required item specifics relevant to your potential buyers. The rankings are based on using buyer demand data which is compiled from searches on the site over the past 30 days. Within each item specifics section, you’ll see the most important item specifics at the top. Providing these item specifics will help to increase your product’s visibility, especially when buyers use the left-hand navigation filters.

Optiseller Aspect Finder+ free until the end of the year

You can now use Optiseller Aspect Finder+ free of charge and courtesy of eBay* to automatically review your listings until at least 31 December 2020.** The review will automatically identify missing and required Item specifics, and find recommended values. You or your listing service provider can then easily update the missing item specifics.

*Sellers using a third-party provider should first check with their listing provider to see how to best utilise the Optiseller tool via the tool itself or the downloadable file option.

**No commitment is required from sellers beyond this date, no payment details are required to redeem this offer, and sellers who redeem the offer will not be charged for use of the tool during the offer period.

A reminder of item specifics requirements

Recently, we announced that we will be requiring you to complete certain item specifics in the below categories on 9 September 2020. After this date, you won’t be able to publish new, relisted or revised listings in the below categories without the required item specifics.

Home & Garden

Electronics

Watches

Business & Industrial

Sporting Goods

To see which of your listings you need to update, go to Seller Hub now. Read about the item specifics already required in certain categories.

New item specifics

We’re adding new item specifics in the below categories at the beginning of October. Although these aren’t required today, they will be marked as Required Soon with a launch date before they become required. We also recommend you add the soon to be required item specifics to the relevant listings as soon as possible. The more data you give us about what you’re selling, the better we can match your item to what buyers are looking for. The more item specifics you add, including recommended item specifics, the more likely it is to appear frequently in search results. Item specifics are now ranked according to buyer demand data which is compiled from searches on the site over the past 30 days. The rankings will help you to identify and prioritise required and non-required item specifics relevant to your potential buyers.

Business & Industrial

Home & Garden

Sporting Goods

Health & Beauty

Clothes, Shoes & Accessories

Music Instruments

Next steps

When you see that new item specifics requirements appear in a category you sell in, start to add them to your existing listings to improve search visibility. You’ll be prompted to add these new required item specifics when you create new listings in those categories as well.