Item Specifics
Item Specifics tell buyers what you’re selling and are crucial to your search visibility and sales. The more data you give us about your listings, the better we can match you with buyers in search.
What are Item Specifics?
Item Specifics such as brand, make, model, size, colour and style are key to helping shoppers find your items on eBay. They match with the filters that buyers use to refine their search results so we can match you with the right buyers, at the right time. The more data you give us about what you’re selling, the better we can match your item with buyers in search.
To get the best results from your listings, add as many Item Specifics as you can and be aware of those that are required in your categories.
eBay’s listing forms show you which fields are the most important to fill in and how complete your listing is. Simply enter a keyword-rich title when creating your listing and we’ll populate many of the Item Specifics fields for you. The lightning bolt meter lets you know how each additional aspect you add will improve your search performance.
Item Specifics Requirements
To help you sell, we’re continuing to expand Item Specifics requirements in certain categories. You will only be able to publish your new or revised listings in these categories, once you’ve filled out the required information. We recommend using our selling tools to review and update your existing listings (read more below). We'll continue to notify sellers in affected categories when new requirements are introduced.
Required vs Recommended Item Specifics
“Required” Item Specifics are considered essential information for buyers shopping for these products. You won't be able to create or revise listings without entering these details.
“Recommended” Item Specifics are based on frequently searched terms. Including recommended Item Specifics will help buyers to find your listings more easily and understand exactly what you're selling.
Why Item Specifics Matter
Adding Item Specifics to your listings is crucial to your visibility and competitive ranking in search results, both on and off eBay. By adding required and recommended item specifics, you’ll benefit from:
- Increased Search Visibility: Your listing will only appear in buyers’ filtered search results if you’ve added the matching Item Specifics information to your listing
- Improved Search Ranking: Item Specifics move your listings higher in search results, both on eBay and the other search engines we work with like Google Shopping
- Connecting with the Right Buyers: When you provide Item Specifics, we can better connect you with buyers searching for your products
- Inclusion in New Buyer Experiences: By listing with Item Specifics, your listings are included in new buyer experiences on the platform, so we can showcase similar items together, cross-sell and suggest relevant inventory to buyers
Tools to Help you Update Your Item Specifics
Keeping your item specifics up to date is crucial to your listings’ visibility. We offer a number of resources to make it easier to find and add missing item specifics:
- Optiseller Aspect Finder+. You can now use Optiseller free of charge*, courtesy of eBay, until at least June 30, 2021. This tool helps you identify and update missing Required and Required Soon item specifics Use of the Optiseller Aspect Finder is subject to Optiseller's terms and conditions.
- Download/Upload file. This tool is available in the Seller Hub Active Listings page. It 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
- Edit item specifics in bulk. When you add item specifics from 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 cycle through each listing one at a time and add any missing item specifics
- 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 in your listing flow above item specifics that will be required soon. These will include the date the item specifics will become required
- 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
- Item specifics rankings. These rankings appear in the listing flow and provide guidance on which non-required item specifics your buyers are searching for
Optiseller Tool to Update Item Specifics
We’ve partnered with Optiseller to assist you to cover Item Specifics across all your eBay listings in all categories. Optiseller’s Aspect Finder+ tool is free* to use for all your eBay listings until 30 June 2021. You can use the AspectFinder+ tool to:
- Automatically review your listings
- Identify missing and required Item Specifics
- Find recommended values
- Easily update your listings (either directly on eBay or through another listing tool)
*This eBay offer includes access to the Optiseller Aspect Finder+ tool for sellers until June 30th, 2021. No commitment is required from sellers beyond this date, no payment details are required to redeem this offer, and sellers who redeem the offer will not be charged for the use of the tool during the offer period. To take advantage of this offer, sellers must sign up using the link provided (or if already an existing Optiseller user, by logging in by using the link provided). Optiseller does offer other paid-for tools, services and plans which can be purchased separately. These are not included in the free offer.
Note: Sellers using a third-party provider should first check with their listing provider to see how to best utilise the Optiseller tool via the tool itself or the downloadable file option.
MerchantSpring’s Aussie Item Specific Editor & Multi-store Dashboard
We’ve partnered with MerchantSpring to bring you an eBay Item Specific Editor and offer tailored just for Australian eBay & multi-store sellers.
MerchantSpring’s Item Specific Editor lets you:
- Quickly score all listings for one or many stores
- Make easy updates within a grid editor
- Get recommended and required values
- Sync updates to eBay, or export them
MerchantSpring’s Exclusive Aussie eBay Sellers Offer :
- Get MerchantSpring’s eBay Item Specific Editor
- 30+ eBay seller tools & reports (JK: should the ‘+’ be there or is it just 30 tools)
- Multi-marketplace dashboard
- Top Aussie marketplaces connectors
- 75% off standard plan for 6 months.
Pay only US$9.75 per month. Standard plan fees (US$39 per month) apply after the promotional period.
Listings With Multiple Variations
Adding variations to your listings lets you use item specifics to group closely related items under a single listing.
For example, if you’re selling shoes, you can create a single listing with multiple variations for different sizes.
Items grouped under a single listing need to be closely related, and you can select from a list of variation details (such as size, color, or width) to describe how they are related.
Changes to variation details
Starting 22 February 2021, as part of our item specifics updates, certain variation details will no longer be valid. This change helps clarify what variations work best as a single listing, and what items are more likely to get noticed as separate listings.
Listings impacted by this change will display the following error message when you edit them: “This attribute is not valid for this variation. Add a valid attribute.”
If you see this message, first try to update your listing. Look for an existing variation detail that more accurately describes how the items are related. For example, a listing for a kitchen faucet may have previously used “Type” to describe the variations “Stainless steel”, “Rubbed Bronze”, and “Chrome. This could be updated to “Finish.”
If you can’t find a relevant existing variation detail, you’ll need to create separate listings. For example, a listing for tools may have used “Type” to describe variations for “Hammer,” “Wrench,” and “Screwdriver.” In this case, the items are not closely related enough to fall under a single listing. The variation “Type” will need to be removed and the items re-listed separately.
Making these changes helps your listings with multiple variations show up in the right searches, and helps buyers feel confident in their purchase.