EcommerceBytes-NewsFlash, Number 3186 - October 31, 2013     2 of 4

eBay Warns Sellers to Add Condition Description in Listings

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eBay sent out emails to sellers on Wednesday warning them to provide more information about their items' condition in order to increase exposure to their listings. The email, titled, "Increase the chances of selling your items on eBay," linked to listings that eBay said needed improvement.

The item "condition description" field is different than the "item condition" field in eBay's system. eBay explains in its help pages, "As a seller, you can use the condition description field to help buyers learn more about the condition, age, and history of your item. This is where you should enter any details about the item's condition."

The help page then lists specific examples of how sellers could populate the condition description field, including the following:

  • Does the item have any flaws or defects?
  • Is the item in its original packaging as found in a retail store or was the item packaged by the manufacturer in non-retail packaging?
  • Has the packaging ever been opened?
  • Does the item ship with all manuals, accessories, and additional documents?
  • If refurbished, was the product inspected, cleaned, and repaired to meet manufacturer specifications?

A reader who received the email told EcommerceBytes the email simply repeated the information he'd seen in his Selling Manager Pro "Listing improvement recommendations" box. However, he said that all of the items "detected" by eBay already had a condition description. "It seems only eBay doesn't know that the information there."

In addition to recommending that he add condition description on a dozen of his listings, the email also advised him to add item specifics on two listings and add product identifiers, such as UPC/EAN/ISBN to one of his listings.

Other sellers who received the email discussed it on the eBay boards. One said they were not inclined to go into 150 listings and add "used" in the condition description field when they had already said the items were used in the item condition field.

Another seller wrote, "eBay is now demanding that I fill in a flaw in the description box where there is no flaw!! I have been seeing a notice on My Summary page and I've been ignoring it simply because there was nothing wrong with my item. Today now I get an email in my email box making a big deal out of this same thing! That box was meant for flaws and defects of the item. What am I supposed to put in there if there's nothing wrong with it?? They need to stop doing this. It's very annoying and I'm not going to make something up just to satisfy their software!! Just plain stupid!!"

The reader who emailed EcommerceBytes about the eBay warnings said he believed the letter was evidence that eBay was using item specifics to manipulate search. (eBay has openly said item specifics helps listings get found in search results, and has stated, "Adding item specifics typically results in an increase in bids per listing and an increase in sales per listing.")

The reader was also concerned that eBay had misidentified some of his listings as needing additional details in item specific fields. "Has anyone else received emails listing "bogus" missing item specifics," he asked.

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Update 11/1/13: eBay spokesperson Ryan Moore provided a comment in response to our inquiry on Friday: "eBay is always looking to improve the quality of our listings. There are hundreds of thousands of listings per day that have benefited from the recommendations that we provide to our sellers around best practices. These recommendations are strictly to provide guidance only."

About the author:

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com.

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