Ebay Announces March Changes On Ebay Australia

The following is a news release from eBay

Over the coming weeks and months ebay will be introducing changes to how you search for, buy and sell on ebay.com.au.

List your 99c auctions for free!

We're excited to announce that we are changing the costs associated with 99c auctions so that eligible sellers only pay when they sell their item!

From early April 2011, eligible sellers listing auctions starting at 99c will get insertion fees free for up to 15 items per month. With no up-front fees to list, that means if you don't sell, you don't pay. We're also capping the final value fee for this option, making it easy to work out ahead of time what you'll pay:

# Free to list -- up to 15 items per month
# One easy final value fee -- 7.9% capped at a maximum of $49.95 (when item is over $665)
# Free gallery -- save 59c per listing
# Eligible sellers--not available to Store subscribers, accounts registered outside Australia, PowerSellers and business registered sellers.

Optimisation of search functionality

Best Match, ebay's default sort order for search results, is being optimised in March 2011. These optimisations will help buyers find the most relevant listings from sellers who offer the best service, value and products:

# Beginning early March 2011 and ramping throughout the month, you may see some differences in how your listings are ranked in search results due to the optimisation.
# We're also launching a new, more powerful Listing Analytics tool at the end of March. The tool will make it easier for you to understand your search ranking.

The key success factors for Best Match remain the same - sellers should consistently provide great service, value and products.

New mandatory inclusions for handling time and returns

From May 2011, all sellers on ebay.com.au must include the following information in their listings:

# Specifying a handling time
# Specifying a returns policy (including if there is no returns policy)

Handling time and returns policies are not always clearly stated in listings. This can create confusion for buyers and lead to disputes or negative feedback. By making these inclusions mandatory, it will help to better manage buyers' expectations and decrease the amount of time you spend answering questions. Listings including Good ‘Til Cancelled (GTC) listings will end if these attributes are not included in the listing by May 2011. You should update your listings including GTC listings as soon as possible to ensure they don't expire so that you're well prepared by the time these inclusions become mandatory.

Old Bulk Edit and Re-list flow to discontinue

Following positive feedback from sellers on improvements to the Bulk Edit and Relist tool, ebay's old Bulk Edit and Re-list tool will be turned off on 8 March 2011.

The new bulk editing tool, which was introduced on ebay.com.au in June last year, is located in My ebay. If you previously opted out of the new functionality, you can now opt back in by clicking on the Opt in to the new functionality link at the top of the Bulk Editing process page.

New Store fees for Media Categories

Following the success of our Basic Store media fee changes for Books and Music listings in July 2010 we're extending these pricing changes to the Movies, TV Shows and Games categories as well as to all Store levels.

From 5 April 2011, all Basic, Featured and Anchored Store owners who list in fixed price in any media category (Books, Music, Movies, TV Shows or Games) will get lower up-front costs with:

# Lower insertion fee -- 5 cents (save up to 35 cents per listing)
# Free gallery - (All Stores receive free gallery and save up to 35c. Your item image will then be displayed in search results)
# 9.9% flat final value fee --while slightly higher than the existing final value fees you only pay if your item sells