New UI - Creating an eBay Listing Template

Josh Smith

April 05, 2023 15:22

In this article, we'll show you how to create eBay Listing Templates through our New UI and apply them to items.

What we'll cover:

Accessing the New UI
Basic Info About the New UI
Changes to the eBay Listing Template
Creating an eBay Listing Template
Applying Your eBay Listing Templates
Opting Out of the Beta Program
Descriptions of the Fields in the eBay Listing Template
Related Articles

Basic Info About the New UI

We are interested in hearing your feedback about not only the eBay Listing Templates, but also your experience using the new interface.

We thought it would help you rate the UI if we gave you an idea of what it will look like when more pages are added.

On top of improving speed, one of our primary goals is to simplify the interface. We are adding as much consistency as possible to each page to make using your account easier.

You will notice that the menu bar has less options.

The light grey bar directly below the menu bar is the action bar. It is always visible. All available options for each page can be found in the action bar.

Below the action bar are breadcrumbs for easy navigation.

There will be search bars on all the pages. You can filter the templates if you have a lot of them. You can also type into all the drop-downs and combo boxes to search the available options.

Changes to the eBay Listing Template

We didn't just change the way the eBay Listing Templates look, we changed the way they function too. Here are the main differences:

When creating a new template, you can pick and choose which fields you want to include.

EXAMPLE: You only accept PayPal payments. You can select PayPal Email as the only field you want to use from the Payment Options.

Because you select which fields to include in your templates, you can create templates for specific purposes.

EXAMPLE: Your basic listing information is always the same on every listing. So are your international shipping options. However, you use one of three different sets of domestic shipping options depending on the product. Now you can create one template with your basic information and international shipping options, and three templates containing only the domestic shipping options. You could even divide the basic information and international shipping options into two templates.

You can apply multiple templates with one Excel upload.

EXAMPLE: Let's assume you have one basic information template and three domestic shipping templates. You need to apply the basic information template and one of the domestic shipping templates to every item. You can accomplish this through one Excel upload, as explained in the Applying Your eBay Listing Templates section below.

We have added an HTML WYSIWYG editor to the HTML Template field.

As you create your templates in the new UI, one approach would be to recreate your existing templates exactly as you have them. However, we're interested in seeing how you'll make use of the new capabilities offered by our redesign. This is an opportunity to rethink how you organize and use your templates.

If you would like to view your existing templates, login to your account at the standard URL: https://channelsmanager.com/.

Creating an eBay Listing Template

1) In the new UI, click on INVENTORY in the menu bar.

2) Click the NEW TEMPLATE button in the action bar.

3) Enter a Name. Keep eBay as the Marketplace. Select a locale from the Select Locale drop-down. If you sell auto or powersport parts, you must select eBay Motors site as the locale. Select a Measurement System. Click the Next button.

Your template saves automatically and you are advanced to SETTING VALUES in the tab menu.

4) You will be viewing all of the available template fields.

You can begin checking the fields you want to use or you can select a section from the drop-down at the top of the SELECT FIELDS pane.

5) As you check fields, they will instantly appear on the right in the SET VALUES pane. The fields are organized by section.

6) Expand sections in the SET VALUES pane to enter values in the fields you've selected.

7) If you are creating a template that contains Basic Listing Information, you may want to select Category 1. The Condition field is dependent on the category. You cannot specify a condition without first choosing a category.

To select a category, you can use the drop-down. You can also type a word or category number in the category combo box.
Clicking on a category with an arrow on the right-hand side expands that category's subcategories. eBay requires you to select a leaf category (without subcategories), so you won't be able to select a category until you reach a leaf category.
If you plan to provide your category numbers on an item-by-item basis through Excel, it is best to uncheck Category 1 in the SELECT FIELDS pane. The Condition you chose will still remain selected. You will also avoid accidentally overwriting the category saved to your items in your Solid Commerce account if you apply this template to existing items in the future.

8) To populate your item specifics, select the eBay Pre-Fill Type field. Select Pre-Fill Optional or Pre-Fill Required.

You select which item specifics you wat to use on the EBAY ITEM SPECIFICS MAPPING tab.
We have a separate article that explains the pre-fill options and shows you how to select the item specifics, Adding eBay Item Specifics to Listings Using the Pre-Fill Settings.

9) Populate all of the fields you've selected.

10) Click the SAVE button in the action bar.

IMPORTANT!

Selecting a field and leaving it blank in the SET VALUES pane can cause you to nullify values saved in your account. To avoid this, uncheck fields you don't need or provide values for the fields in your Excel upload.

EXAMPLE: You select the Store Category 1 field in your template, but do not provide a category number in the SET VALUES pane. You plan to apply the template to some existing items. The items already have a Store Category 1 in Solid Commerce, so you leave that column off your Excel file. When you upload your file, we apply the empty Store Category 1 field from the template to your items— clearing the saved Store Category 1 values from Solid Commerce.

Applying Your eBay Listing Templates

Applying Your eBay Listing Templates Through Excel

We have made a change to your account so that any files you upload will apply your new templates to items instead of your old templates.

To apply templates:

1) Populate the apply ebay template field with the name of your eBay Listing Template.

To apply more than one template, separate each name with the pipe character (|).

2) Upload the file with a Marketplace Update.

Applying Your eBay Listing Templates Through the User Interface

Now that you have the ability to pick and choose which fields you want to include in your eBay Listing Templates, applying them through the user interface is more practical.

EXAMPLE: You want to offer free shipping on some items that you used to charge shipping for. You create a template named Domestic Free with your shipping settings. You can safely apply this to items through the UI without erasing your prices or overwriting your categories like you would have done in the past when applying an entire template.

IMPORTANT!

If you apply a listing template in the Market List of the beta version of your Solid Commerce account, you will apply the new template. If you access the old site through the normal URL (channelsmanager.com), you will apply your old templates.

To apply a template through the UI:

1) Select the item you want to apply a template to in an eBay Market List.

2) Select the template you want to apply in the Listing Template drop-down.

3) Click the Apply Listing Template button.

Descriptions of the Fields in the eBay Listing Template

The fields in the new template are pretty much the same as before. If you would like descriptions of any of the fields, see our existing documentation: