Listing & promoting
Elevate your listings visibility and drive your business velocity with category changes, item specifics updates, new coded coupons, and a new Promoted Listings experience.
What you need to know
- Category changes to help buyers find your items
- New item specifics updates and requirements
- Promoted Listings expansion and rebrand
New category changes to help buyers find your items
We continue to make category changes to create more intuitive buying, selling, and search experiences. The changes bring eBay into closer alignment with industry-standard classifications, enhance search engine optimization, and make it easier for domestic and international buyers to find your items.
Starting in October 2021, if you listed an item in an affected category and your listing is impacted by the changes, eBay will automatically move your listing to the most relevant category. As a result of the changes to the category structure, if your listing is moved to a different category, you may experience a change in the fees (either an increase or decrease). See new category changes.
In Canada, we will be launching two new categories later this Fall under Everything Else: eBay Special Offers > Gifts that Give Back.
Item specifics updates and reminders
Adding item specifics when you list your items is an important way to make sure buyers can find them. These descriptive keywords tell a buyer about your item, and help your listings show up in buyers’ search results on both eBay and external search engines.
When you add more item specifics, your listings have a better chance of matching what buyers are searching for.
New soon-to-be-required item specifics will be available on October 12
We’re adding new item specifics in the below categories. The new item specifics will be required in early 2022, and will be available for you to add as you edit or create new listings starting October 12.
- Collectibles & Art
- Jewelry
- Musical Instruments
- Parts & Accessories
- Sporting Goods
You’ll see these item specifics tagged as Required Soon, to let you know that you’ll soon be required to add them to affected listings. You’ll receive additional updates as these item specifics become available, including the dates they will be required. We strongly recommend adding new Required Soon item specifics to your listings as soon as they’re available.
Changes to category and item specifics names
As we introduce new item specifics in certain categories, you’ll also see updates to the structures and item specifics names in those categories. These updates are based on input from industry experts to make listings in these categories easier for buyers to find.
In the week following our October 12 release of new item specifics, you may see changes to the structures and item specifics names in the categories listed above. We’ll automatically adjust your affected listings to reflect these changes. Learn more about category changes.
Tools to help you find and update missing item specifics
A number of tools and features are available to help you find and update missing item specifics.
- Download/Upload file. Available in the Seller Hub Active Listings page, this tool allows you to download an Excel file of your listings, identify and update missing item specifics in bulk, and re-upload the file to apply the changes.
- Task reminders in Seller Hub and My eBay. If you have listings missing Required, Required Soon, or Recommended item specifics, you’ll see corresponding tasks in Seller Hub, or corresponding modules in My eBay Selling Overview.
- Quick filters. If you have listings missing Required, Required Soon, or Recommended item specifics, you’ll see quick filters on your Seller Hub Active Listings page. These quick filters show you all listings missing those particular item specifics.
- Required Soon feature. When you create a new listing or revise an existing one, you’ll see indicators above item specifics that will be required soon. These will include the date the item specifics will become required.
- Edit item specifics in bulk. When you add item specifics on the Seller Hub Active Listings page, you can select multiple listings and click the “Add item specifics” button. This will load all of your selected listings into a pop-up window where you can add any missing item specifics.
Promoted Listings expansion and rebrand
With billions of listings across eBay, it’s important to make sure your items are visible to the right buyers. As we recently announced, Promoted Listings Advanced (BETA), our new cost-per-click campaign type, will let you bid and gain preferred access to the top spot in search results, and help deliver the high visibility you want when buyers are actively searching for items like yours. This feature is coming soon to Canada.
As part of the expansion of our Promoted Listings portfolio, Promoted Listings will be rebranded to Promoted Listings Standard. It will still remain a cost-per-sale model so you’ll only pay when you sell.
In addition, the way your sales are attributed has switched from what’s called “first-click attribution” to “last-click attribution” for both Promoted Listings Standard and Advanced. This means:
- If you participate in both types of campaigns, a sale will be attributed only to the campaign that the listing was in when the last paid click occurred.
For example:
- If your listing is clicked in a Promoted Listings Standard ad and then clicked and purchased through an Advanced ad, the sale will be attributed to the Advanced ad. This means you will only pay for the click on the Advanced ad.
- If a buyer clicks on an Advanced ad, and then later purchases your item through a Standard ad, the sale will be attributed to the Standard ad, and you will pay the Standard ad fee. Please note: you will still be charged for every click on an Advanced ad.
- If you only run a Standard campaign, you will be charged the ad rate that is in effect at the time of the buyer’s last click.
For example:
- If a buyer clicks on your Promoted Listings Standard ad when the ad rate is 5%, then later clicks the ad again when you’ve changed the ad rate to 4%, and then makes a purchase within the 30-day attribution window, you will pay the 4% ad rate in effect at the time of that last click.
How Promoted Listings Advanced (BETA) works
Promoted Listings Advanced (BETA) is based on a cost-per-click model. You start by deciding how much each keyword and click is worth to you. Next, you bid to target placements at the top of eBay search results. Top placements show your listings to buyers right when they’re looking for your items across all experiences on eBay, including desktop, mobile, and the eBay app.
With this new type of campaign, you’ll be able to:
- Bid for the top slot in search using keyword and budget controls, and pay per click.
- Select the keywords that matter to you.
- Set a daily budget for additional control.
Top tips
- Use features like suggested keywords and bids to help you set up effective campaigns.
- Include high-quality listings in your campaign with complete and accurate item specifics and great photos for the best chance of gaining high visibility. In addition to your bid, factors including keyword relevancy, listing quality, competition, and daily budget determine whether your ad will appear in the number one position.
- Use the daily budget feature to manage your ad spend.
You can also use both Promoted Listings Standard and Advanced together to help achieve maximum visibility for your ad placements across the eBay network, and utilize both budget approaches for your ad spend.
Coming soon to Canada—Promoted Listings Advanced (BETA)
When it launches in Canada, Promoted Listings Advanced (BETA) will be available to all eligible Promoted Listings sellers. If you’re eligible, you’ll be able to opt in to Promoted Listings Advanced (BETA) to start bidding for the highly coveted top spot in the search results, as soon as it’s accessible.
All existing Promoted Listings campaigns will automatically be renamed Promoted Listings Standard campaigns, without you having to do anything. The only changes will be to the name and attribution logic.