Two weeks to go...
There are just two weeks until the latest eBay mandate deadline. All Item Specifics changes should be made by the 22nd of February, or you run the risk of dropping from search. Not only this, but you will be unable to re-list your current listings or even create a new listing without the newly required Item Specifics.
What are the eBay mandates?
eBay mandate changes a few times a year based on an increase in customers filtering for certain Item Specifics. So, if you are impacted by this mandate, it is actually good news for your listings! It means that there is an increase in buyers looking for products like yours. If you follow the new regulations, you will benefit from these changes as you will rank higher for these Item Specifics and avoid dropping from search results.
How the changes could impact Sporting Goods Sellers:
Hiking, Camping and Hunting appear to be the categories affected in this round of mandates for the UK:
| Category |
Product |
| Range & Shooting Equipment |
Safety Glasses |
| Outdoor Sleeping Equipment |
Sleeping Bags |
| Waterbottles & Hydration |
Chemical Water Treatment |
| Camping Cooking Supplies |
Life-long Foods |
What are Item Specifics?
Item Specifics are essentially little meta tags that allow your listings to be found by buyers. They help you to describe your listings accurately and provide as much information to the buyer as possible without clogging your title with keywords. Commonly used Item Specifics include Brand, type, size and colour. The good news is, this should all be information you have to hand. The bad news is it can be time-consuming to enter this information manually.
Here is a full list of the Item Specifics you may be required to populate for UK listings:
- Aspect Name
- Ammunition Type
- Animal Type
- Assembly Required
- Body Area
- Brand
- Colour
- For Gun Type
- Item Height
- Item Length
- Item Width
- Load Capacity
- MPN
- Maximum Magnification
- Size
- Sport/Activity
- Type
- Volume
Please note that sellers across all regions should be affected in a similar way, so these examples can help you make changes in every region your store sells in.
We have the tools to make this process easier!
Our Aspect Finder+ tool generates a detailed report of which of your listings have Required, Required Soon, Recommended or Optional Item Specifics. The process is then made easier by dropdowns where you can select the relevant eBay approved aspect. Rest assured that these Item Specifics will generate traffic to your listings.
There are further benefits to using Aspect Finder+. Bulk Updates is a feature that will save you time and resources. The feature was designed to tackle a common issue for sellers. Sellers with a large inventory often find themselves having to populate the same Item Specific for hundreds if not thousands of listings. Bulk updates do what they say on the tin, they let you update multiple listings in one go. It speeds up what used to be a lengthy process of entering the same Item Specific one by one. Make use of this feature as the deadline edges closer.
Aspect Finder+, helps you to see the status of every Item Specific for all of your store’s listings. When reviewing the status of your listings’ Item Specifics, sellers often feel intimidated and frustrated by the changes ahead of them. The Filter Builder Feature of AF+ allows you to filter through your Item Specifics to prioritise what needs to be done first. For example, by applying an eBay mandates filter, you can drill down to this area to ensure these are all done before the mandate deadline. You can return to tackle the rest at a later date. Use this filter to ensure you populate the Item Specifics with the highest impact and tackle the changes that will be most beneficial to your listings.
Our Category Lookup tool is an essential tool in many of our customers’ kits. It gives the insight to understand how frequently searched and filtered certain Item Specifics are in your chosen category. You will be given a 1 to 5-star rating to indicate how frequently buyers are filtering using these Item Specifics. eBay monitors and updates this data every 30 days, so you’ll always be kept in the loop with the most accurate data.
As you can see from the image above, Type is the most used Item Specific used for Sleeping Bags right now- with a 5-star rating. This is one of the mandated Item Specifics which will be required on February 22nd. It is far more popular than Brand which is already required but currently only has a 1-star rating. So, it is beneficial to keep an eye on these ratings. Make the most of the soon to be required Item Specifics and see the benefit before the deadline!
We hope you found this guide useful and you feel ready to tackle the changes ahead.
Interested in any of the tools mentioned? They are all available in our Starter, Essential and Ultimate plans. Find the plan of your choice and sign up for a 7-day free trial!
For more information on the mandates in general, check out our mandate overview.
Check out these blog posts if you also sell in the following categories:
Collectables & Art
Jewellery
Parts & Accessories
Stay tuned for more information on the mandates as we edge closer to the deadline.
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