eBay sellers have until Oct. 1 to update their listings to remove any links or e-mail addresses that won't help customers complete their transactions.
Listings that don't comply with this new eBay policy—which was first announced as part of eBay's Fall Seller Update—will not post or relist. The Oct. 1 effective date applies to new listings and re-lists. Good 'Til Cancelled listings have until early next year to comply, eBay notes.
Sellers should note the policy applies to both clickable and noncliackable links, so sellers should review their listings, eBay advises. The policy is meant to protect buyers and keep them on the marketplace.
"Too often, buyers are being directed off eBay to make purchases that are not protected by eBay Buyer Protection," eBay notes in its Fall Seller Update. "Most everything buyers need to know about an item should be included right in the listing without leaving eBay."
Auctiva Product Analyst Rebecca Miller agrees. She says merchants should always strive to include all the pertinent information about their items in their listings. Links to sites outside of eBay and e-mail addresses are unnecessary.
As an eBay seller of more than 11 years, Miller says she has rarely put her e-mail address in any of her listings. Doing so usually resulted in a lot of messages from less-than-serious buyers.
Though editing your listings might sound overwhelming, it can be relatively quick
A simple solution from Auctiva
Still, she acknowledges that some sellers include their e-mail addresses or links to their Web pages to give customers a means to contact them with questions. And some Auctiva sellers may have added this information in their Seller Details profiles.
Luckily, they can easily update these, she continues.
"Making changes in your Seller Details will update all your saved listings that use those Seller Details," she explains. "Though editing your listings might sound overwhelming, it can be relatively quick."
Sellers who have e-mail addresses or links in their descriptions can also use Auctiva's Find & Replace feature within their Auctiva accounts to update their saved listings. Those who don't subscribe to a paid Auctiva.com plan can use Auctiva's free Find & Replace by Auctiva, which can be found in eBay's App Center. With this feature, sellers can update hundreds of listings at once in just a few steps, she adds.
"We hope folks started reviewing their listings in July, when eBay announced this policy, but if they haven't yet, now is the time to start," Miller notes. "You don't want to until the last minute. If you do, your listings might pay for it."
Auctiva staff writers constantly monitor trends and best practices of those selling on eBay and elsewhere online. They attend relevant training seminars and trade shows and regularly discuss the market with PowerSellers and other market experts.
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