With eBay’s renewed focus on sellers, more retailers are considering adding their products to the marketplace. You can benefit from reaching the site’s 171 million active users. Additionally, your items will potentially appear in Google Shopping results -- with no additional cost to you. And your product listings on eBay may be more likely to show up on search engines than your own website, since you'll benefit from eBay's already high search rank.
Like every shopping channel, eBay has its own specific requirements and best practices. Here is a list of seven things your eBay feed needs – which should serve as a good starting point for newbies and a refresher for sellers already experienced on the marketplace.
Title
This is an important part of your feed. You want to use a succinct name for your product that tells people immediately whether or not it’s what they’re seeking.
You should use the following order:
Main brand + Subbrand, family or product name + Up to 3 key attributes + Generic product type
The recommended length is 90 characters.
Description
You can send simple text for your listing description, but your listing will look like dense text and be harder to read. Instead, make use of HTML to better organize the information, draw attention to key information, and make the text more web-friendly.
For GoDataFeed, you can provide data in a field named “htmlDescription.” For text that you would like to retain HTML tags, wrap it with <noscrub> tags. Our team can also handle this for you for a one-time fee.
Variants (If Applicable)
For products, such as apparel, that may have multiple sizes and colors, you can set up variants that allow all the options to be listed. This is a good practice because it is a more streamlined process for shoppers and allows them to see all of your offerings more easily.
To set this up, you need to include four fields in your feed:
- Parentage: List either Parent or Child. Leave this field empty for single, stand-alone items with no variations.
- Parent SKU: In this field, list the parent product code for all child items.
- Size: If applicable
- Color: If applicable
Specific Attributes
This includes size, color, and model, as well as other details about the product. The type of information to provide depends on the type of product.
Ideally, you want to work with a feed management solution that will be able to tell you the types of information recommended for each category. This information is important, because shoppers can often filter out based on certain variables. If you don’t list any information in a field, your item won’t appear for the search – even if it meets shoppers’ needs.
The more information you provide, the greater visibility your products will have.
Images
You should provide self-hosted image URLs in your feed. The effectiveness of your images plays a huge role in the effectiveness of your eBay listing. Since shoppers cannot see the item in person, they rely on images to make up the difference.
Use several professional, high-quality images. Provide multiple angles. Show the product in use. Display the product in a way that makes its size clear.
Shipping
You can provide multiple shipping options for shoppers to select from. Free shipping is one of the most valuable promotions you can offer, so it’s valuable to crunch the numbers and see if you can offer it by raising your prices or absorbing it into your product margins.
It’s important to note that you cannot use FedEx for Calculated Shipping, because eBay is not currently integrated with them. Also, items that are Freight (over 150 lb) cannot be listed unless you provide free shipping.
A Way to Track Performance
It’s hard to tell how to increase your profit if you cannot figure out where you are making or losing the most money. A feed management tool provides analytics, alerts, and automatic suppression of products based on performance, so you can stay on top of your eBay listings.
Additionally, a feed management tool can help you optimize your existing product data for eBay quickly and effectively. You’ll save time, reduce errors, and gain access to features that help you improve your bottom line.
