Coming Soon to eBay: Mandatory Item Condition Attributes

[eBayNews]

eBay is working to refine the attributes that tell buyers whether a product is new, used or refurbished, and will make the Item Condition attribute mandatory in certain categories; eBay will also begin displaying Item Condition in search results, sources have told AuctionBytes. And that may not be the only change to search results - eBay is conducting a survey that asks shoppers what they think of a Place Bid button in search results.

Mandatory Item Condition
Currently, eBay offers sellers pull-down menus to describe the item condition in certain categories. For example, in the "Clothing, Shoes & Accessories > Women's Handbags & Bags > Handbags & Purses" category, sellers can currently choose from New: With Tags, New: Without Tags, or Pre-Owned. In the Electronics category, the choices are New, Refurbished, or Used; and in Computers, "New, Sealed in Box," Refurbished or Used. In categories such as Collectibles, eBay allows sellers to describe the condition in the description field rather than offering item specifics for condition.

Sellers who were briefed on the changes 3 weeks ago said the new Item Condition attributes would vary depending on the product category, and would be mandatory only in some categories.


Clothing, Shoes & Accessories (Existing) Clothing, Shoes & Accessories (Proposed) Electronics
(Existing) Electronics (Proposed) Jewelry & Watches (Existing) Jewelry & Watches (Proposed) New: With tagsNew: Without tags


Preowned New: With tags/boxNew: Without tags/box

Preowned: Excellent

Preowned: Good

Preowned: Fair


Damaged NewRefurbished


Used New: Retail PackagingNew: Non-Retail Packaging

Factory Refurbished

Used: Excellent

Used: Good

Used: Fair


Damaged: For parts/as is New
Used New: Retail PackagingNew Non-retail Packaging

Used: Excellent

Used: Good

Used: Fair

Damaged/ For Parts

The above chart shows the existing and proposed Item Conditions for several categories. Sellers' main concerns appeared to be the marketing implications and how shoppers would perceive the specific Item Condition attributes eBay defined for each category.

Bidding on Search Results Pages?
An AuctionBytes reader sent a copy of a survey they received from eBay this week. It asks respondents how useful they find - or would find - various pieces of information in search results, including the following:

Shipping Cost: The cost to the buyer to ship the item.

Location of Seller: The geographical location of the seller.

Top Rated Seller: A badge that identifies a seller who provides an excellent customer experience.

Number of results per page: Number of results shown on each page.

Item Photo (thumbnail): A "thumbnail" is a smaller version of the items larger photo.

Item Title: A listing title created by the seller to identify and describe the item for sale.

Price: The current price of the item.

Number of total results: Total number of items found for your search terms.

Condition: Condition of the item, for instance, new or used.

PayPal Accepted: Indicates PayPal is accepted for payment of the item.

Payment: Payment information, including payment methods accepted by the seller.

Item number: The unique eBay-assigned identifying number for the item.

Time left: The time remaining on the auction/ Buy It Now item

Seller User ID: A unique name used to identify each seller.

Place Bid Button: Click this button to begin the process to place your bid.

Item specifics: eBay or Seller-provided information about the item.

Number of Bids: Total number of bids currently placed on the item.

Seller's Description: The seller-created description of the item for sale.

The survey then presented various screens and asked respondents which of four criteria would be most useful on search results pages and which one would be least useful. In addition to criteria such as Item Condition, Price and Seller ID, eBay included a "Place Bid Button."

What's Ahead?
While it appears likely the planned changes to Item Condition will go forward, eBay has not widely announced them. It's unlikely eBay would require sellers to start using the required attribute in eligible categories until at least after the holiday shopping season. eBay told sellers earlier this year that it would give them 60 days advance notice of any major changes to the marketplace.

At the Shop.org meeting of retailers last week, eBay CEO John Donahoe told attendees that one of eBay's challenges is its unstructured data - only 10 to 12 percent is catalog. It would appear standardization is a priority for current management, something that eBay began working toward as far back as 2004, when it learned the hazards of imposing structure on in categories such as pottery.

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