September 2019 Release Notes: Shipping Improvements for the Order Manager Ship Now Panel and ShipWorks + 10 Tips to Optimize Your eBay Business

Here are some FAQs about some of the shipping related updates we are releasing tonight.

When Is the Release?

Thursday morning (9/19/19) 12:00 AM - 2:00 AM (Pacific Time)

What Improvements Are You Making to the Order Manager Ship Now Panel?

1) The Estimated Ship Cost only populates when an action triggers us to retrieve the estimate from the carrier. We are adding a wider range of triggers so that the estimates will populate easier for you.

• EXAMPLE: If the weight, dimensions, and shipping method are automatically populated when you select an order, the estimate should appear without you needing to make any manual changes to trigger the estimate.

2) After you print one or more shipping labels, the History tab automatically loads so that you can view the confirmations. When you select another order to print, the Shipping tab now automatically displays again without you having to manually select it.

• This doesn't only work with the History tab. The Shipping tab automatically displays when you select a new order no matter what tab you were viewing before selecting the order.
• This improvement is already live. It isn't part of tonight's release. We just wanted to make sure everyone was aware.

What Updates Are You Making to Your ShipWorks Integration?

1) For eBay Guaranteed Delivery orders, we'll begin adding "Order is part of the eBay Guaranteed Delivery program" as a note in ShipWorks.

• Why the note field?
  The fields that we can interact with on ShipWorks are limited. There isn't a dedicated flag for eBay Guaranteed Delivery. We felt that adding a note was the best way to differentiate the eGDP orders.
• You can view the Guaranteed Delivery note in the Notes pane in ShipWorks. Notes are also searchable through ShipWorks' advanced search functionality. Custom searches can be saved for later use.

2) We will be able to exclude orders with specified custom statuses from importing into ShipWorks.

• EXAMPLE: In Solid Commerce, you will be able to move orders to a custom status such as "Dropshipped Order" or "Backordered" before importing your orders into ShipWorks. That way, only the orders that you want to ship will import.
• If you want to exclude custom statuses from importing into ShipWorks, please send the list of custom statuses to exclude to your Growth Advisor or a member of our support team.

3) The marketplace order ID populates the "website" field associated with the ship to address. The name of the marketplace populates the "website" field associated with the billing address. The marketplace name and order ID also continue to be added as notes, just like before.

• Why the website fields?
  With the limited ShipWorks fields available to us, we wanted to select fields that are searchable and can be added to your order grid view in ShipWorks. The website fields are also fields that we don't have data for, so we won't encounter data conflicts.
• This improvement is already live. It isn't part of tonight's release. We just wanted to make sure that we announced this change.

How Can I Optimize My eBay Business?

eBay provided us with 10 tips to help you prepare your eBay business for the upcoming holiday season. In creating the list, eBay focused on the areas that will maximize your sales so that you can get the biggest return on your effort.

We posted the tips on our blog, Optimize your eBay business for Holiday Shoppers.