We're making made the changes to Shops and how Buy It Now listings work because visitors to eBay increasingly want the convenience of shopping for great value, often new, items at a fixed price alongside auctions.
We want to give all our sellers the opportunity to meet that demand by choosing a business model that best suits their items, whether that is through fixed-price sales or auction-format sales.
An important improvement to Shops is that from 24th September, items selling through a Shop will be visible in main search results.
Shops will also enable you to access lower insertion fees and in the case of Featured and Anchor shops , telephone support , as well as other marketing tools.
We're making made major improvements to Shops that mean although prices have gone up, they'll offer greater benefits than before.
The change to visibility of Shop listings alone means that these are more likely to sell. Different Shop levels also give you reduced upfront costs in the insertion fees.
We can’t say that every single current Shop owner will benefit from the changes we’ve made, but there are other things to bear in mind:
The monthly subscription is just one element of the cost of a Shop, and should be considered alongside the reduced insertion fees available, free Gallery, and other changes.
The monthly fee for Featured and Anchor shops gets you access to other great benefits, such as access to marketing tools, even further reduced insertion fees and telephone support.
The changes to visibility of Shop items means you’re more likely to sell your stuff.
Yes. The qualification criteria are:
Basic Shop: minimum positive Feedback of 10 and/or PayPal verified
Featured Shop: minimum DSR scores of 4.4, based on a 12-month average
Anchor Shop: minimum DSR scores of 4.6, based on a 12-month average
To move to the new equivalent tier Shop (shop tier names remain the same), you do not have to do anything. You will be automatically moved onto the new equivalent Shop on 24th September. From this time, the new Shop subscription fees, insertion fees and final value fees will apply.
We're also changing the qualification criteria for Shops. These will apply to new Shops from 24th September. As a current Shop owner, these will apply to you from October.
The qualification criteria are:
Basic Shop: minimum positive Feedback of 10 and/or PayPal verified
Featured Shop: minimum DSR scores of 4.4, based on a 12-month average
Anchor Shop: minimum DSR scores of 4.6, based on a 12-month average
When upgrading your Shop to a higher tier, the new subscription level is effective immediately and the higher subscription fee will apply from the day you sign up.
For example:
- 1st October: you are a Basic Shop subscriber.
- 1st October invoice: you are billed for the full month ahead (October) at basic level.
- 24th October: you upgrade to a Featured Shop.
- 1st November invoice: you will be billed for the full month ahead (November) at Featured level, credited back Basic Shop fees and charged at Featured level for the period 24th-30th October.
Please note that if you are within the 30-day minimum subscription period for a shop, you will not receive a credit for the unused period.
Shops subscriptions are for a minimum 30-day period. If you downgrade within this period, you will be billed for the entire 30 days. If you downgrade after 30 days, the subscription that you pay in respect of the post-30 day period will be pro-rated, and any overpayment will be reflected in a later invoice.
For example:
- 1st September: you are a Featured Shop subscriber.
- 1st September invoice: you are billed for the full month ahead (September) at Featured level.
- 24th September: you change down to a Basic Shop.
- 1st October invoice: you are billed for the full month ahead (October) at Basic level, and credited back the fees charged at Featured level for the period 24th-30th September. (You would not be credited back the fees charged at Featured level for the period 24th-30th September if you that time period fell within the minimum 30-day period for subscriptions)
As a seller, it's easier and cheaper for you to sell and manage multiple quantities of an identical product by using a single Buy It Now listing. From now on, using multiple-item listings means you pay just one insertion fee for all items in that listing, and reduces listing administration, compared to managing several single-item listings.
Also, from 24th September, recent sales from a single listings will be included as one of the factors in sorting search results for Buy It Now items, so you'll get more prominence in search results if you use multiple-item listings correctly.
Finally, it's easier for buyers to find the item that they want without searching from several duplicate listings.
SIF listings will be phased out on 24th September. If a seller sets up SIF listings before that date, and they are due to end after 24th September, they will appear as BIN listings in main search results.
30-day duration fixed-price listings, Good ‘Til Cancelled (GTC) and the subscription-based reduced insertion fees won’t be available for listings in the Vehicles category, but will be available for Parts & Accessories.
That means 30 day/GTC and subscription based pricing is not available for Vehicles. However Featured First is available in Vehicles.
After 24th September, all Buy It Now listings will appear in main search results, even if they are listed through a Shop. That means that Shop Inventory Format will end.
Yes. The order of Buy It Now items in search results will be partly based on recent sales from that listing, which is why multiple-item listings are so important if you have lots of one item to sell.
These listings will be mixed with Auction-format listings in search results, where Time Ending Soonest will continue to be an important factor.
Alongside this, we will continue to monitor how search is working in each category to ensure that:
Buyers can continue to find the items they want and from sellers they can trust.
Sellers get fair visibility, with great sellers enjoying an advantage over sellers who don’t provide the service buyers expect.
Recent sales, defined by how well a relevant listing is selling over the past 7 days, is one of several factors we'll take into account when a buyer searches for an item. Recent sales is a factor relevant only to Buy It Now listings.
DSR ratings and other factors, such as relevance, are still important, and the 'Best Match' sort ranking for Buy It Now items is based on all factors, not just recent sales.
Yes. Buy It Now items will now have a strong Best Match element based on recent sales. That is why listing identical items in multi-quantities on one listing will be the best way to get high placement in search results.
Simply – the more items you sell from one listing, the higher that listing is likely to appear in search results.
Time Ending Soonest will continue to be an important factor in how auction-format listings are ordered in search results, but not Buy It Now items.
Recent sales is relevant to your listing’s position in search results only if it is a Buy It Now listing.
If you are simply relisting an item without changing any details, the listing's recent sales information will be the same, as long as you relist within 7 days of the listing closing.
If you make any of the changes listed below, recent sales from your listing will be reset to zero. As recent sales is one of several factors in how we rank listings in search, your revised listing's appearance in search may be affected.
Featured First is an upgrade that you can buy for your listing that puts your listing at the top of the first page of relevant search results. There are two Featured First placements at the top of search results, and the listings appearing in the slots will be picked randomly from all those that have bought the upgrade.
The cost of Featured First depends on the format, duration and category of your listing.
For the media category, these fees apply:
7 days (Fixed Price only) - £11.95 (€14.99 on eBay.ie)
30 days (Fixed Price only) - £35.95 (€44.99 on eBay.ie)
Up to 10 days (Auction only) - £11.95 (€14.99 on eBay.ie)
For all other categories, these fees apply:
7 days (Fixed Price only) - £44.95 (€56.99 on eBay.ie)
30 days (Fixed Price only) - £134.95 (€169.99 on eBay.ie)
Up to 10 days (Auction only) - £44.95 (€56.99 on eBay.ie)
You can buy Featured First for any number of listings, and buy it more than once for the same listing. For example, you could buy two seven-day slots in the course of a 30-day listing.
You can add Featured First to a fixed price listing after it's started, if you'd like to promote your listing. If you choose to do this, you'll only be able to choose the 7-day option.
7 days (Fixed Price only) - £11.95 (€14.99 on eBay.ie)
30 days (Fixed Price only) - £35.95 (€44.99 on eBay.ie)
Up to 10 days (Auction only) - £11.95 (€14.99 on eBay.ie)
For all other categories, these fees apply:
7 days (Fixed Price only) - £44.95 (€56.99 on eBay.ie)
30 days (Fixed Price only) - £134.95 (€169.99 on eBay.ie)
Up to 10 days (Auction only) - £44.95 (€56.99 on eBay.ie)
Featured First doesn't appear after the first page.
Featured Plus listings will feature on the page where the listing normally would have appeared. For example, if a listing without Featured Plus would have appeared on page 2 of search results, adding Featured Plus would make the listing appear at the top of page 2.
You can add Featured First to a Buy It Now listing after it's started, if you'd like to promote your listing. If you choose to do this, you'll only be able to choose the 7-day option.
No, there will be no changes to the qualification criteria or level of discounts. Sellers can continue to get discounts of up to 40% on their final value fees dependant on the volume of items they sell and their service standards.
To open or keep a Shop requires minimum DSR scores. We’ll review the status of shop owners on a regular basis and will downgrade/remove those falling below the necessary criteria, after a 60 day notice period as part of the Seller Non Performance policy.
Whilst the majority of sellers will see their overall fees go down or stay the same on September 24th, we appreciate that some sellers will see their fees go up.
This year we’re reducing the up-front cost and risk of listing on eBay.co.uk and eBay.ie, so that the majority of fees are paid only when you successfully sell an item. That means our success as a company is even more closely tied to your selling success.
We did this in February for sellers who use auction-format and Buy It Now listings.
We are continuing with this policy by making the Gallery feature free to everyone, and by also enabling sellers who have lots of fixed-price items to be able to list them with reduced risk.
eBay.co.uk and eBay.ie remains the cheapest way to reach millions of buyers on the internet.
We are committed to lowering Insertion Fees for all sellers on the site and reducing up front risk when selling so that the majority of fees are success based.
Earlier this year we reduced insertion fees for auction-style and Buy It Now listings. We are also making the Gallery feature free, creating an up front saving of 15p on every listing.
The price changes announced today are designed to help sellers take better advantage of the demand for fixed price items on the site, alongside auction sales.
No. The changes to search on eBay.co.uk and eBay.ie that we’re making and have recently made mean that buyers will see search results that are relevant, that feature a mix of Buy It Now and Auction-format listings and for Buy It Now items, they will also see listings that are popular with other buyers.
Sellers who provide good service reflected in high detailed seller ratings will continue to enjoy an advantage over sellers with poor service records (as reflected in low DSR ratings), whose listings will be demoted in search results.
Auction-format listings will appear in search results alongside Buy It Now listings, ordered by Best Match.
For Auction-format listings, ‘time ending soonest’ will remain one of the dominant Best Match factors in determining what order items appear in search results
For Buy It Now listings, recent sales will be an important factor in Best Match results.
Auction-format and Buy It Now listings from sellers with a Detailed Seller Rating score under 4.4 (based on a 30-day average) will be demoted in the search results, as has been the case since early 2008.
If your items are unique, you’re unlikely to be competing directly against listings containing multiple quantities of identical, high-selling items.
If you only have one item to sell, and your item is something that is common and available from sellers who can sell in multi-quantities, then we’d suggest:
1. Use the auction format, since we’ve ensured that auctions get good visibility alongside Buy It Nows.
2. Pay for the ‘featured first’ upgrade.
Also make sure you price competitively and use item specifics as they will help once users refine their search and get to your item.
Starting in October, eBay.co.uk buyers will receive protection for the full value of their purchases (including postage) if something goes wrong. PayPal will remove the limit for buyer protection claims (currently at £500 for trusted sellers, £150 for all other listings).
eBay.co.uk sellers will continue to be protected against fraudulent payments and item not received claims, with the following improvements:
No more confirmed address. Sellers can post to whichever address the buyer provides them for the eBay sale through PayPal, whether it is confirmed or not.
No more coverage limit. The coverage payout limit under the Seller Protection Policy is £3,250 per year. We are removing this limit to cover all eligible claims.
Coverage in more places around the world. Coverage is now extended to the 190 countries supported by PayPal, so sellers can post to customers wherever they are and feel safe.
Must use Buy It Now and PayPal.
