New Item Specifics Requirement 2019
New Item Specifics Requirements 2019
- From 30 September 2019:
- We’re expanding item specifics requirements for listings in certain Home & Garden, Food & Drinks and Fashion categories.
- You won’t be able to create new listings, relist or make revisions to existing listings without the required information in these categories.
Download the full list of required item specifics -->
What are Item Specifics?
We want to help maximise your conversion and improve the buying experience. So, we’re focusing on item specifics to help identify the products you’re selling. Item specifics include brand and physical details about the item you’re selling, such as the make, model, size, colour, and style. Adding item specifics to your listings helps increase visibility in search and better connect you with the right buyers.
Adding item specifics on your listing have important benefits, including:
- Greater visibility on eBay: Buyers use item specifics to filter their search results. Your item will only appear in those filtered search results if you have added the matching item specific information to your listing.
- Improved search rankings: Item specifics make your listings more likely to appear in Google Shopping results.
- Enhanced shopping experience: Providing item specifics and more accurate product information help make it simpler, easier, and faster for the buyer to find exactly what they’re looking for.
In the future, we’ll be able to use item specifics to identify products and showcase similar items together in many of the new buyer experiences on our platform.
Did You Know?
- Listings in the Dresses category that included the “Style” and “Dress length” item specifics sold 81% better on average than those without.*
- Listings in the Dresses category that included the “Dress length” item specific sold 76% better than those without.*
*Measured over 8 months from December 2017 - July 2018, eBay UK data.
What You Need to Do
We’ve identified which item specifics buyers search for most when looking for products. We’ve aligned with the way they search, including changing the names of some item specifics to reflect this.
Home & Garden’s Item Specifics requirements
From June, if you sell in the Home & Garden category, you'll need to add item specifics to your listings. We'll be recommending key item specifics per category throughout this year. Later this year, you'll be able to see these for your category within My eBay and the Seller Hub.
It's strongly encouraged to add these item specifics to all new and revised listings in affected categories. We also advise you to add these item specifics to existing listings where possible, so you don’t miss out on views and potential sales. This can significantly increase your listing visibility and attract more buyers.
Review the key item specifics for the Home & Garden and Fashion categories.
A reminder on earlier item specifics requirements
Earlier this year, we announced the first set of categories that requires the item specifics below. Please ensure you add these to your listings if you sell in the mentioned categories:
- PC Laptops & Netbooks (177):
- RAM size
- Processor
- Screen Size
- Graphics Processing Type
- Type
- Tablets & eBook Readers (171485)
- Storage Capacity
- Model
- Screen Size
- Graphics/Video Cards (27386)
- Memory Size
- Chipset/GPU Model
- Dishwashers (116023)
- Type
- Width
- Installation
- String Lights (116022)
- ColourLED String/Strip Type
- Type
- Video Games (139973)
- Game Name
- Platform
Please be aware that some item specifics may have new names now that we’re aligning more which what buyers search for.
We’ll continue to monitor which elements that matter most to buyers and over time, we’ll require you to include key item specifics when you list.
We’ll be updating this page regularly, so please bookmark this page and keep an eye on your inbox to be kept in the loop.
How to Add or Update Item Specifics
There are a number of methods in which you can add or update item specifics. Please see below for an option that suits you best.
Step 1
Within Seller Hub, under the Listings tab, please click the ‘Active’ under the listings tab.
Step 2.
From here you can revise your listings one by one. To edit in bulk, use the filters to narrow your search to a relevant category and select those items.
Click ‘Edit’, then ‘Edit selected’. This takes you to the bulk edit page.
Step 3.
On the bulk edit page, select the listings you wish to edit and click ‘Edit fields’ then ‘Edit Item Specifics’.
When you’ve made your edits, make sure you click ‘Save and close’, then ‘Submit changes’.
