Ebay traditionally presents important innovations and changes to the marketplace in the seller news in spring and autumn. One of the most important points this year are the changed sales tax requirements for German sellers. Other news also relate to ads, voucher codes and additional tools in Seller Cockpit Pro.
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Changed regulations for sales tax from summer
One of the most important points of the Ebay spring update comes from a change in the law. From July 1, 2021, all retailers who have to register for sales tax in Germany must present a corresponding sales tax identification number (USt-IdNr.) and also enter this in the eBay account. Sellers should adapt to this change in good time and provide all the necessary data, since retailers who do not comply with this obligation will be blocked from the marketplace from July 1, 2021. It is best for retailers to check immediately whether their business needs to register for VAT in Germany. If this is the case, you should immediately register with the responsible tax office and apply for the VAT ID number.
In addition, all data (such as name, address, VAT ID number) stored in the eBay account must match the data from the decision of the Federal Central Tax Office. Again, traders should check this closely to avoid risking account suspension. Ebay provides detailed information in the seller portal.
Also from July 1st there will be new regulations for sales tax when importing into the EU. The current sales tax exemption for the import of products into the EU up to a goods value of 22 euros will no longer exist from this point in time. Ebay will then collect the sales tax for certain imports into the European Union and deliveries within the EU from all sellers who are not based in the EU and pay it to the tax authorities.
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Coupon codes, ads and more mandatory item specifics
In addition to this big news about sales tax, Ebay is also providing its retailers with a range of new functions on the marketplace. From April 2021, all sellers will be able to create free voucher codes. These codes are designed in Seller Cockpit Pro and are completely individual. We provide more detailed information about the new functions in this article.
Ebay has also worked on the ads for even more visibility and will be making the service for automated ad campaigns for offers available from mid-March. Instead of maintaining all campaigns manually, retailers can use the new function to automatically add selected offers to existing campaigns or remove them from them again. Ad tariffs, categories or prices can also be automatically adjusted using filters. The marketplace wants to make administration a whole lot easier for its dealers.
In early May there will also be new item specifics in the categories of clothing, shoes and accessories, collectibles, media, musical instruments, vehicle parts and accessories and sporting goods. These are currently not mandatory, but will be highlighted as "soon required" from May when creating new offers.
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New tools in Seller Cockpit Pro
A few innovations will also be made here and there in the Seller Cockpit Pro – the central point of contact for all retailers in the marketplace. There is the new tool Terapeak-Insights, which sellers can use to procure goods and identify categories that are particularly in demand or the best-selling products. In addition, the new traffic report can be used to find out various key figures, such as the percentage of impressions that come from the top 20 search results or the percentage change in impressions.
Commercial sellers can already test the new listing tool in Seller Cockpit Pro. It will be made available to all merchants on the marketplace in the coming months.
Ebay has also compiled all the new features in detail in the seller portal and in the current Ebay podcast:
