What eBay sellers must know: listing rules, price adjustments and the impact of hot search terms

As a world-renowned cross-border e-commerce platform, eBay has attracted a large number of sellers and buyers. Therefore, understanding eBay’s store opening rules, listing requirements and market dynamics is crucial to improving store performance. This article will integrate relevant regulations for eBay sellers, including listing titles, the impact of price adjustments, review standards for repeated listings, and popular search terms to help sellers better operate their stores.

1. Notes on product listing titles

When listing an article, writing the title is crucial. The eBay platform allows up to 80 characters to be used to describe items, so it is recommended that sellers make full use of these characters to increase keyword search rates. Sellers need to follow the following principles:

  • No extraneous symbols, website addresses, emails or phone numbers are allowed.
  • Avoid profanity or obscene language and make sure the title words are spelled correctly.
  • When publishing branded items, they must be regular and legal items produced by brand manufacturers, and must not involve infringing keywords.

In item descriptions, untrue statements and misleading content should be avoided to ensure that buyers receive accurate information.

2. Series operations and impacts of price adjustments

Price setting and adjustment are crucial to sales strategy. Merchants should consider market rules and review time when modifying prices. For example, product prices are usually subject to irregular review after changes, so sellers need to estimate the review time in advance. It is recommended to make slight adjustments (within 5%) to reduce negative impacts. Frequent price changes may be recognized by the platform as unstable operations.

If you use price reduction to attract traffic, sellers should choose to make adjustments during the lowest traffic period to avoid traffic loss during popular time periods. In addition, you should also remain vigilant about price increases to avoid sudden and large price increases that attract the attention of the platform.

3. Review standards and penalty mechanism for duplicate listings

Sellers should avoid duplicate listings on eBay as this will result in severe penalties. Duplicate listings determined by the eBay platform include:

  • Multiple pricing listings are online at the same time, and the same item is listed in different categories.
  • Use different accounts to publish the same item.
  • Identical items may differ in title, description, or starting price.

After being determined to be duplicated, it may lead to the removal of the listing, the termination of account trading permissions, and the reduction of search rankings.

4. Overview of store opening rules

Before opening an eBay store, sellers need to complete the following preparations:

  • Register an eBay account: Register on the official website and create a seller account, and choose the individual or commercial seller type.
  • Improve store information: Include name, brand logo and contact information to ensure the information is accurate and consistent with the brand image.
  • Comply with sales policies: including prohibited items and intellectual property protection.

At the same time, providing accurate product descriptions and pictures, ensuring inventory and logistics capabilities, can improve buyers’ purchasing experience, thereby maintaining a good seller’s reputation.

5. Application of popular search terms

Tracking market hot words helps sellers optimize product selection and sales strategies. For example, in the first quarter of 2021, the hot search terms for the home and garden category on eBay UK site include:

  • Desk
  • curtains
  • sideboard
  • Armchair

This reflects consumers’ preferences for home improvement needs, and sellers can adjust and optimize their product mix based on these keywords.

Conclusion

It is important for sellers to understand eBay’s rules and operating practices. Following listing and pricing strategies, avoiding duplicate listings, and keeping up with popular search terms can help sellers more effectively improve sales performance on the eBay platform. By actively participating in and optimizing operational strategies, sellers can gain a greater competitive advantage in the global e-commerce market.