Updating eBay Listings

eBay gives you full control over the information and settings on your listings. They also allow you to update your listings any time you want. This article will show you how to do just that.

What we will not cover here is revising a Solid Commerce eBay Listing Template and then updating your live listings. If you need to use the apply ebay template column in a spreadsheet or the apply listing template option in the UI, please check out Revising an eBay Listing Template and Updating Live Listings.

What we'll cover in this article:

1. Rule One — Update!
2. Where Do I Find the Information I Want to Change?
3. Images With the Same URL
4. Imported Item Specifics
5. Imported eBay Descriptions
6. Related Articles

Rule One — Update!

Just like with any other marketplace, almost any change you make in an eBay listing needs a "final step." After you change the information in Solid Commerce, you also need to go to the Market List page in the UI, select the listings, and click the Update Listings button.

• Do this after changing any kind of Market information. Examples include: the eBay Title, Item Specifics, flat shipping fees, or really anything you set within the eBay Listing Details in the UI (the gear icon), or an eBay column in spreadsheet.
• You will also click the Update Listings button after changing any Product information that will affect the listings. Examples are: product images, your eBay Description, or Product Attributes used in Item Specifics or variations.
• It is always best practice to update only the listings you really want to update.

Where Do I Find the Information I Want to Change?

Different parts of your eBay listings are controlled by settings found in different parts of your Solid Commerce account. Here's how to find them:

• Images are Product information. You can revise them by clicking on the pencil icon, or product name, from most pages in the UI. You can also use a spreadsheet with the image file and alternate image file 1 (2,3,4,...) columns.

• NOTE:

  If you're replacing an image, but it uses the same URL as the existing image, see the Images With the Same URL section directly below.

• Item Specifics are controlled by Product information, often a custom Product Attribute like color. You can revise these through both the UI and spreadsheets too.

• The mapping that controls which eBay Item Specifics is Marketplace information. You can access the mapping by clicking opening the eBay Listing Details pop up window for any specific product (gear icon). You can change the mapping in bulk through your eBay Listing Templates, but be sure to see our article Revising an eBay Listing Template and Updating Live Listings if you do.
• See Imported Item Specifics below for one caution about the Item Specifics on imported listings.
• eBay Description is also in the Product pop up. It's in a tab in the middle of the window. You can also upload a spreadsheet with the ebay description column. You guessed it, the ebay description is a product level field.
• See Imported eBay Descriptions if you want to change the description you created on an imported listing.

• Price, Rule, and Quantity: your Buy It Now price, Bid Start price, Auto Rule, Qty, and Listing Qty Exp can be changed in the UI, or uploaded with spreadsheets.
• To change settings in a pricing rule, go to the Marketplaces menu -> eBay Listing Rules.
• To apply the change in the UI, select the listings, choose the new Listing Rule and click "Apply Listing Rules".  You an also change in bulk through the Excel add on in your spreadsheet.

• eBay Title, eBay Category, and most other eBay-specific fields: Click the gear icon to open the eBay Listing Details pop up. Remember to click the Save Changes before closing it. Or, you can upload a spreadsheet with your Marketplace columns.

And of course, after you change anything other than the Price, Rule, or Quantity, remember Rule One — Update!.

Images With the Same URL

There is a trick to updating your images on eBay.

Because of the way eBay manages images, only image URLs that are new to Solid Commerce are sent to eBay during an update. That means that if you save a new image on top of the old image on your FTP site, your image on eBay will not update because the URL did not change.

EXAMPLE: Let's assume you have an image named "Image1." Its location on your FTP site is "http://images.com/Image1.jpg." You find out this image is of the wrong product! You get the correct image and overwrite the original image using the same name, "Image1." Your FTP URL is still "http://images.com/Image1.jpg." So your new image will not update on eBay because the URL has not changed.

Fear not! There are two ways to update new images on eBay:

1) Use a different file name for the new image. When you save a new URL in Solid Commerce, your image can be updated on eBay.

• Using the User interface:
• If you start this process in your eBay Market List, it's easy to update your listing when you are finished.
• Open the product details Add / Modify Product pop up window.
• Save your primary URL in the Main Image field, and click the Save button at the bottom of the window.
• Save any additional image URLs by clicking on the small rectangular icon to the right of the Main Image field to open the Manage Product Images pop up.
• You can't modify alternate images, so you will need to delete the old ones first.
• Add your new Image URLs one at a time. Make sure to assign the images a priority as you add them — start with 0 as the highest priority.
• Follow Rule One — Update! above.
• Using a Spreadsheet:
• Use the image file column for the Main Image, and the alternate image file 1 (2,3,4,...) columns for additional images.
• You can use a streamlined spreadsheet with only your image fields, SKUs, and the Results column.
• Image URLs are product level data, so you will upload your spreadsheet with a "Product" only update.
• Follow the steps in the Rule One — Update! section above.

2) If you can't use a different file name, the new image will end up with the same URL as the older image.

To get your new image over to eBay, you will need to first clear the URL field in Solid Commerce. After it's cleared, you can add the old URL back to the system and update your listings.

• User Interface:
• Do this procedure in your eBay Market List to make it easy to update your listing when you are finished.
• Clear the Main Image field by cutting the URL and clicking the Save button. Paste the URL back and click the Save button again.
• To fix your Alternate Images, open the Manage Product Images pop up.
• Copy your existing URLs and paste them in a Notepad file, or somewhere else that's safe.
• Delete all of your Alternate Images.
• Copy and paste your alternate Image URLs back into the Manage Product Images pop up one at a time. Make sure to assign the images a priority as you add them — start with 0 as the highest priority.
• Spreadsheet:
• You can clear the Main Image URLs by leaving the image file field blank and uploading with a "Product" only update.
• You can clear your Alternate Images by putting a random letter (or other bit of text) in the alternate image file1 (2,3,4,...) fields.
• Be sure to have your original URLs handy so you can do a second "Product" only update with the URLs added back to the image file and alternate image file 1 (2,3,4,...) fields.
• Follow the steps in the Rule One — Update! section above.

Imported Item Specifics

When you import the listing for any eBay product that didn't already exist in Solid Commerce, we create custom Product Attributes for any Item Specifics you were using on your listings. This gets your listings set up in the simplest and fastest way, but you may find these automatic Product Attributes aren't the fields you want to use for your Item Specifics going forward.

• EXAMPLE: You use eBay's Brand Item Specific. When we imported your listings, we created a custom Product Attribute named Brand in Solid Commerce. We put all the brand names into this custom field for your imported products.
• However, when you create new products, you use our stock Manufacturer field for your brand names.
• There are two ways to fix this:
• Put your revised brand names in the Brand custom Product Attribute field and the stock Manufacturer field. That your listings will update correctly on eBay whether you keep your original imported settings, or apply a Solid Commerce eBay Listing Template. If you want to apply an eBay Listing Template, be sure to check out Revising an eBay Listing Template and Updating Live Listings.
• If you only want to use the Manufacturer field so that all your listings are consistent, you can click each on the gear icon for each listing that needs updating, and change the Pre-Fill Details so that the Item Specific is mapped to Solid Commerce's Manufacturer field.
• To make this adjustment in bulk, you could apply an eBay Listing Template with the Pre-Fill Details mapped to Solid Commerce's stock Manufacturer field. Once again, be sure to follow Revising an eBay Listing Template and Updating Live Listings.

Whatever changes you make, remember Rule One — Update!

Imported eBay Descriptions

A second issue about listings imported from eBay is that when your listings imported, we saved your entire HTML eBay description in our eBay Description field.

For creating new listings, most people put HTML tags into their larger HTML template. The tags allow us to automatically populate their HTML template with information when we launch new listings.

• For example, they may automatically insert their eBay Title, a brief description, MSRP, images, and other information into their HTML template.

However, the HTML eBay description that imported with your listings is static. It does not contain HTML tags, so it can't update dynamically. When you update imported listings, the description on eBay will not change.

• EXAMPLE: You update your eBay Title in Solid Commerce. We send the new title to eBay. Everything looks sweet, except your eBay description on eBay still has the old title.
• If you want to update your description on eBay, you will need to apply a Solid Commerce eBay Listing Template to your imported listings. Revising an eBay Listing Template and Updating Live Listings will walk you through the process.

Related Articles

• Revising an eBay Listing Template and Updating Live Listings
• Creating and Using Custom Product Attributes
• Deleting or Tagging Batches of Products Using Product Attributes
• Some of the other eBay articles go into more detail about listing and uploading products

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