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Seller News May 2011

Get ready for the new eBay shopping basket

The new shopping basket is arriving this summer. It's the most convenient way to shop online, helping you get more orders, faster payments and fewer unpaid items. Make sure you're ready to optimise your listings and offer better P&P deals with new product bundles.


Shopping basket means faster, easier shopping

  • Faster and easier shopping – gives a clearer display of total cost. Makes it easier for buyers to compare items, pay several sellers at once and save items for later
  • Better value – new placements and cross selling opportunities drive more sales through combined P&P discounts and new product bundles
  • Fewer fixed price unpaid items – buyers have to check out and pay before they can buy a fixed price item
  • Make payment simpler – buyers will be able to pay for multiple items from different sellers with one single payment with, for example, PayPal
  • Bigger orders – buyers are more likely to order more from the same seller and add their purchases together

We're replacing the blue Buy it now button with this Add To Basket button.

For fixed price items, a buyer can simply add them to the shopping basket. Auction-style items will appear in a buyer's basket after his first bid.

The shopping basket makes it simpler to understand the full cost of buying an item with P&P and associated discounts. It gives buyers a better chance to compare items and makes shopping easier.

Optimise your listings

  1. Offer combined P&P to attract multiple purchases

    You can offer free or discounted combined P&P and simplify checkout to encourage shoppers to buy multiple items from you. Postage discounts will be highlighted in the shopping basket and linked to your other items. Get your discounts to show in the shopping basket with the eBay postage discount tool.

    Combined P&P discounts are easy to understand and will be an incentive for the buyers to have a look at your other items.

    To set up your postage discounts, go to Postage and Discount Preferences in the Site Preferences section in My eBay.

  2. Offer multi-quantity and longer duration on your fixed price listing

    The longer you list an item and the higher the quantity of the item you want to sell, the longer it will be available in your buyer's shopping basket. Use multi-quantity and long duration listings to a give buyers more time to purchase.

  3. Offer more than one postage method and specify the cost including international delivery

    Buyers are more likely to buy from you when the total amount including postage is clearly specified in the shopping basket. Specify costs on every postage method you offer including costs for international delivery.

Use new product bundles on your item page

Take advantage of new product bundles to advertise different products you're selling on your item page. You can offer discounts to buyers paying for multiple items together.

Product bundles will help you sell different items and offer discounts across your range. Buyers see more of your items on the site, which will help encourage them to make more purchases.

Add your accessories and related items with the seller tool and eBay will display them on your item page and on the shopping basket page.

Items that relate to your buyer's selection will display on your item page.

It's easy to set up your product bundles with the new tool, which you can use through a link in My eBay. You can start and stop at any time. If items in a related listing sell out, then the cross-selling activity will end for this item.

This new feature is being tested now and will be available to more sellers in the spring, completely free.

Find out more about how the eBay shopping basket works.

Follow these tips to help drive more sales

  • Optimise your listings by making your postage costs clear and simple
  • Use multi-quantity and long duration listings to help sell more products
  • Offer free or combined P&P discounts to help drive multiple sales
  • Items paid offline should be marked as paid in my eBay, so that the item doesn't show as unpaid in your buyer's basket
  • Start thinking about what you can include in product bundles on your view item page
Take action
By May 2011 Take action
Now Get ready to optimise your listing with combined P&P discounts
Now Use multi-quantity and long duration listings
Now If you want to revise, update or relist multiple listings in one go, you can do it easily in My eBay or in Selling Manager and Selling Manager Pro. Learn more about how to revise multiple listings or templates on eBay
May Start thinking about new product bundles

Frequently asked questions

Shopping basket FAQs

  1. How does the eBay shopping basket work?

    The eBay shopping basket works the same as on any other website. It means simpler, faster shopping as buyers can pay different sellers for many items at the same time.

    While a fixed price item is in the shopping basket, it's still available to other buyers until it's paid for so it's not reserved in your inventory. Buyers only commit to buying a fixed price item when they check out and pay.

    Auction-style items appear in the shopping basket as soon as the buyer hase bid on it. It makes it easier to track all bidding activity.

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  3. Can I take a look at the shopping basket now?

    Yes, see a beta version.

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  5. How does the shopping basket affect third party shops?

    Buyers will go through to the checkout and go straight through to the third party shop to pay.

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  7. What happens if I don't specify my P&P costs clearly?

    If the item doesn't specify free postage, or doesn't reflect discounts for combined P&P of multiple items, buyers may contact you for more information or find another seller.

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  9. What happens if a related item shows up as 'not available'?

    Buyers may see related items that appear as 'not available'. This could be because:

    • It was bought by someone else and now the quantity is zero
    • The listing has ended
    • The auction-style listing hasn't ended

    Other buyers can still buy items while they're in the shopping basket.

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Product bundle FAQs

  1. Can I offer free P&P with product bundles?

    You can offer free P&P on any items in your range that relate to your buyer's selection at checkout.

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  3. When will product bundles be available?

    We are testing new product bundles with a few selected sellers now. They'll be available across all categories to more sellers in the spring.

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  5. What are related items and how do I specify them?

    Related items are other items you want to cross-sell with your main items. For example, your main item might be a camera and the related items may be a camera case, tripod, lens, etc.

    Items to be cross-sold as a related item must:

    • Be clearly related to the main item
    • Have PayPal as an accepted payment method
    • Share at least one P&P service with the main item
    • Be listed in new condition
    • Be priced at a lower price than the main item
    • Offer free P&P
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  7. What if I run out of the main or related items?

    If all the main items are sold, these item listings will no longer be active and any associated product bundles will also stop. If a related item is sold out or ended, these items will no longer be cross-sold with the main item. The listing for the main item will stay active until it's sold or ended.

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