At its annual seller event, eBay Open, eBay today launched two significant new tools that will enable sellers to better manage and grow their business, and announced a series of robust seller protections. This is part of the company’s ongoing commitment to create the world’s most powerful selling platform.
New and Updated Tools
The new tools enable sellers to better manage their business by giving employees secure and limited access to their eBay Seller Hub, and improved inventory pricing insights through the Terapeak integration.
- Multi-User Account Access - Starting today, all sellers* will be able to grant access to their Seller Hub in a more private and secure way. Sellers can now add employees or delegates to perform seller activities on their behalf without giving full access to their eBay account. Listings will be the first capability to roll out. Sellers will be able to delegate editing, drafting and publishing access for their listings to their employees. This provides both users — the seller and the employee — added security and privacy for their eBay account. Later this year, we will enable more permissions including shipping support for sellers to delegate. eBay is among the first ecommerce companies to enable this feature at scale, beginning with this roll out in the U.S.
- Terapeak Integration - Starting today, all sellers** will have access to Terapeak's pricing insights in a new Research tab within Seller Hub. Terapeak provides demand and pricing data to help ecommerce sellers know what your product is worth, what you should source if you are looking to expand and how to competitively price your listing. Terapeak also provides sellers with up to one year of pricing data. This is just the beginning of the integration, more insights will be added into the tool by the end of 2019. Terapeak was acquired by eBay in December 2017.
New Seller Protections
eBay announced considerable new actions they are taking with regard to seller protections.
“Our sellers have told us that we need to do more to have their backs when they do everything right but something still goes wrong.” said Wendy Jones, Senior Vice President, Global Operations. “We’re committed to making significant investments in protecting our sellers and I’m delighted that today we’re announcing these new protections.”
For top-rated sellers located in the U.S. and who offer 30-day returns, eBay is introducing two new financial protections. First, eBay will issue a seller invoice credit to cover return label cost if a buyer makes a false “item not as described” claim. Second, eBay will now allow these sellers to issue partial refunds for all items that are returned damaged. These protections will be live in the U.S. on October 1, 2019.
The Company is also making it easier for all sellers to report buyers who violate eBay policies and has created a simple, clear set of consequences if something does go wrong. These protections are rolling out in the U.S. now.
Managed Delivery
Today, eBay also announced Managed Delivery, a cost-effective fulfillment service to launch next year, beginning in the U.S., that will provide shoppers faster and more reliable delivery on millions of popular products. The initiative will enable sellers with high-volume inventory to meet rising consumer expectations while reducing cost and complexity. Managed Delivery will provide sellers the ability to store, pack and ship their products through expert logistics partners managed by eBay. The new service allows sellers to store inventory closer to buyers in strategically located warehouses across the country, resulting in faster delivery time and lower shipping costs.
eBay Open
Each year eBay brings together more than 1,500 sellers to learn about the newest updates to eBay and breakout sessions focused on managing, growing and converting their business. Today, eBay kicks-off it’s fourth annual eBay Open “seller-bration” in Las Vegas.
eBay By the Numbers
- eBay has 1.3 billion plus listings
- eBay has 182 million active buyers worldwide
- 71% of items ship for free in U.S., UK and DE
- 2/3 of eBay packages in the U.S. are delivered within three business days or less
- 80% of all merchandise sold on eBay is new, and our wide selection keeps growing
- 90% of items sold on eBay are Buy It Now – no bidding necessary
- 63% of the eBay platform involves a mobile touchpoint
- 476 million downloads of eBay Inc. apps across the globe
*Multi-User Account Access is rolling out to all U.S. sellers that are opt-ed into Seller Hub.
**Terapeak Product Research is rolling out to all U.S. sellers that have a Basic, Premium, Anchor and Enterprise eBay Store Subscription.