Guide: Listing Criteria for eBay Express

Important: As of September 2008, US eBay Express was shut down. UK and Germany eBay Express were shutdown in April 2008. All eBay Express-specific API calls (e.g., GetSearchResultsExpress and GetCart) were deprecated as of release 579. Please refer to the API Release Notes for more information.

eBay Express has various criteria for listings. In addition to the information from the API, you can view information about these criteria by using the eBay Express Eligibility tool on the eBay site.

eBay will include a seller's fixed-price, Store Inventory, and (for the US) auction with Buy It Now listings on eBay Express under these conditions:

The seller is eligible for eBay Express (see Seller Criteria for eBay Express).

The seller's listing includes the necessary fields and values (in addition to the usual required fields for all fixed-price listings), as described in the sections below.

Note: In most cases, a seller's listings are included on eBay Express automatically as long as both the seller and the listing are qualified. However, there could be rare cases when this does not occur automatically, or there could be an unexplained delay in the process.

In the API, you can use the following input field to determine if an item qualifies for eBay Express: VerifyAddItem.IncludeExpressRequirements. If you use this input field, VerifyAddItem returns boolean values (as children of an ExpressItemRequirements container) with detailed information about whether an item qualifies for listing on Express. Taken together, the boolean values provide detailed information about the Express criteria for an item that are satisfied and not satisfied.

VerifyAddItem also returns an ExpressListing field indicating whether the item would be listed on Express. For information about the input and output values of VerifyAddItem, see VerifyAddItem.

Additionally, GetItem returns a ListingDetails.ExpressItemRequirements container with boolean values relating to whether an existing item on eBay qualifies for listing on For information about the input and output values of GetItem, see GetItem.

Fixed Price, Auction BIN, and Store Inventory Criteria for Express

When you list a basic fixed-price or Store Inventory item on Express US, Germany, or UK (or auction with Buy It Now on eBay US or UK), it will also be listed on the corresponding Express site as long as the seller is eligible and the listing meets the other eligibility requirements described in this document. Set ListingType to StoresFixedPrice, FixedPriceItem, or Chinese as you would for any listing.

Some Half.com items can also be included on Express, as long as the seller and item meet the Express eligibility requirements and any additional requirements that may be determined by Half.com. (This documentation does not cover additional Half.com requirements for Express.) Set ListingType to Half as you would for any other Half.com listing. Most of this eBay Express documentation also applies to Half.com listings. However, some of the input fields for listing Half.com items are different. See Half.com for additional details.

Items listed on Express US do not appear on Express Germany or UK, and vice versa.

To opt out an individual listing without modifying the seller's user preferences, set Item.ExpressOptOut to true in the listing request. If a seller is qualified or Express, all eligible items are opted in unless the seller specifically chooses to opt out of Express on an item-by-item basis.

Ad formats and competitive bidding auction formats (e.g., ListingType=Chinese without Buy It Now) are not eligible for Express.

These sections describe the qualifications for basic fixed-price and Store Inventory format listings.

Express Germany and UK also support an exclusive Express-only listing format. See Express Format Criteria for differences to consider when you use this format.

List in a Category That Is Eligible for Express and eBay

As usual, use PrimaryCategory to specify the item's categories. If you list in two categories (by adding SecondaryCategory), the primary category needs to be eligible for eBay Express.

While the top-level categories on eBay Express look similar to those on eBay, the search and browse experience is different. In fact, the search and browse experience is intended to help buyers find products (like a particular style of shoes) as quickly as possible, and to reduce the need for sellers to try to guess where buyers will search. The Express search and browse interface is a product-oriented shopping interface, similar to a department store with departments, aisles, and product types (not to be confused with catalog products). If a user enters a keyword, Express will search across all eBay categories and then present relevant results by department, aisle, or product. Express uses a combination of information like the item title, Item Specifics, Pre-filled Item Information, and other details to organize the products for the buyer. A buyer can select a product type and then view relevant listings.

This means you cannot precisely control the low-level categories where your listings will appear on eBay Express. Therefore, it may be most practical to choose categories where you want people to find your items on eBay, and then just make sure those categories are also enabled for eBay Express.

Note: Half.com items are listed in a different way, without specifying PrimaryCategory. See Half.com.

GetCategoryFeatures returns an ExpressEnabled flag to indicate which categories are enabled for eBay Express. Use this information in combination with the ListingDuration rules to determine which categories support eBay Express for basic fixed-price and Store Inventory listings. See GetCategoryFeatures Sample with eBay Express Data.

Here is a summary of some common reasons categories are not included in Express:

Note: If a category that was not previously enabled becomes enabled, items listed in that category will automatically be included on Express US within 7 days of the category change (as long as all other seller and item eligibility requirements are met).

Categories that are not covered by PayPal Buyer Protection (e.g. Motors vehicles) are excluded from eBay Express. See Offering PayPal Buyer Protection. Also see the eBay Express online help:

Certain categories that do not support Item Condition are not included in Express (see Specify the Item Condition for Express and eBay). However, some categories waive the Item Condition requirement.

See eBay Express – Supported Categories for more information.

In addition, the following features that are available in certain categories may also cause a listing to be excluded from eBay Express:

Digital listings (i.e., digital downloads) are excluded from eBay Express. For information about digital listings, see Digital (Downloadable File) Listings.

Listings with pre-approved bidders are excluded from eBay Express. For information about pre-approved bidders, see the eBay online help:

Specify a Title, Description, and Item Specifics for Express and eBay

An item description is required, unless you list with Pre-filled Item Information. Use Item.Description.

Most eBay categories that support Express allow Item Specifics and/or Pre-filled Item Information. Except for the Item Condition, these features are optional in most categories. However, buyers may find your item more easily if you use these features. See Specify the Item Condition for Express and eBay and Working with Attribute-Based Features. Use Item.AttributeSetArray and/or Item.ProductListingDetails to include these features.


Note: In Express search results, products may display aspects like "Brand". Search aspects like Brand are not Item Specifics, and they are not stored as part of a listing's data. This means you can't directly list items with these aspects, and you can't directly control how or when aspects like "Brand" will appear in Express search results. The Express search engine matches items to product aspects like "Brand" based on a combination of the listing's category, Item Specifics, title, and buyer/seller behavior. Express also matches items based on synonyms and abbreviations (e.g., "AK" in the title may map to Brand = Ann Klein). If the search engine doesn't recognize a word as a brand name, the search engine treats the word like any other word. For example, if you list an item with a title like "Audobon item" in a Home Decor category, the search engine will recognize "Audobon" as a brand. But if you list an item with a title like "Audobon item" in a Paper category, the search engine will treat "Audobon" like any other word in the title. If you want to help buyers find your item by its brand name, you should follow standard eBay listing best practices: Include the brand name in the title, choose a category that best fits your item, set the appropriate Item Specifics (if applicable), and include Pre-filled Item Information (if applicable). The same basic logic applies to other product search aspects that may appear in Express search results. If you see a value that looks like Item Specifics in Express product search results on the Web site, but the value isn't returned in a meta-data call like GetAttributesCS or GetProductSellingPages, you can assume it is probably an Express product search aspect (not Item Specifics). Some search aspects may happen to have the same names as some Item Specifics, but that does not guarantee any relationship between them.

Specify the Item Condition for Express and eBay

When shoppers visit Express US and search for products of interest, the search results will return new items as the default view, with used items one click away. This means all Express US listings need to specify the Item Condition (such as new, used, or refurbished).

Express Germany and UK only supports items listed in new condition. You cannot list used or refurbished items on Express Germany or UK.

Use AttributeSetArray to specify the item condition. See Specifying an Item's Condition and AddItem Samples. If you list with a catalog product ID in media categories, you can use LookupAttributeArray instead for the item condition.

Some categories waive the Express condition requirements for fixed-price and Store Inventory listings. That is, listings in these categories can be included on Express even if no condition is specified. For example, people rarely buy used tickets after an event—unless the ticket is also a collectible item. Therefore, listings in the tickets category will be included on Express US even though no condition is specified.

See Item Condition Details on the eBay site for additional information about this requirement.

Except for the Item Condition, you are not required to fully support Item Specifics in order to list items on eBay Express. However, eBay Express uses Item Specifics to help buyers find your listing more easily. See Working with Attribute-Based Features for information on Item Specifics.

Specify a Picture for Express and eBay

With a few exceptions, all fixed price and Store Inventory listings need to include at least one picture in order to be eligible for Express. The first picture is free.

In some categories, such as Tickets, sellers frequently do not include a picture. eBay Express will include listings in these categories even if they do not specify pictures. GetCategoryFeatures returns an ExpressPicturesRequired flag that indicates whether a category waives the picture requirement. See GetCategoryFeatures Sample with eBay Express Data.

As usual for any eBay listing, use PictureDetails and specify PictureURL and/or GalleryURL (with GalleryType) in your listing request. If no gallery option is selected, the first picture will also be shown in search results on the Express Web site.

If you list with Pre-filled Item Information (by using an eBay catalog product ID), you can use ProductListingDetails and set IncludeStockPhotoURL to true instead to include a picture (assuming the product has a picture).

If you want the Express Item page to only show pictures in the item description, you can specify a clear image in PictureURL (see Including Pictures in the Description and Using a Camera Icon), but you also need to specify a valid picture in GalleryURL (with GalleryType). For categories that require a picture, Express does not support items that only include the clear image and no other pictures.

In general, you should choose the combination of picture and gallery fields that will make the most sense when the item is listed on eBay, because you might not be able to precisely control how pictures appear on eBay Express:

eBay Express shows an image in search results for every listing, even if you don't specify a gallery option or a gallery URL. (This has no effect on whether a picture is shown in search results on eBay.)

eBay Express always shows a picture on the Item page too (unless you use the clear image described above), even if you only specify GalleryURL without PictureURL. (This has no effect on whether a picture is shown in the View Item page on eBay.)

The gallery featured and home page featured options are not applicable to Express, but you can specify these options for fixed-price listings that will also be viewed on eBay.

If you specify multiple pictures by using PictureURL, the additional pictures may be made available via a pop-up slide show instead of appearing in the body of the Express Item page. However, for fixed-price and Store Inventory listings, pictures will still appear within the body of the View Item page on eBay in the usual manner.

Specify a Fixed Price for Express and eBay

For listings on eBay Express US, specify a value no greater than $10,000.00 (USD 10,000) in Item.StartPrice for fixed-price and Store Inventory listings, or in BuyItNowPrice for Chinese auction listings with Buy It Now.

Chinese auction listings with Buy It Now can appear on Express US as long as the item has no bids on eBay.com and it ends in more than 12 hours. With GetItem, use BuyItNowPrice to determine whether an item was originally listed with Buy It Now, and use Item.SellingStatus.BidCount to determine whether the auction has bids or not.

GetSearchResultsExpress shows the auction's Buy It Now price in CurrentPrice. That is, it shows the fixed price that appears on Express, not the current bid that appears on eBay.

Important: Please check our System Announcements for updates on current issues with GetSearchResultsExpress.

GetItem and GetSearchResults show the auction's Buy It Now price in BuyItNowPrice, and they show the start price in CurrentPrice (until a bid is placed).

Once a Chinese auction listing has bids on eBay.com or it ends within 12 hours, buyers won't find it on Express and GetSearchResultsExpress won't return it.

Note: If the auction item with Buy It Now has no bids, GetItem may continue to return ExpressListing=`true` even when the listing ends within 12 hours. That is, while the item will not be accessible to buyers on the eBay Express site, it is still marked as qualified at the listing level.

For Express Germany, specify a value no greater than €5.000 (EUR 5000) in Item.StartPrice. (Currently Express Germany doesn't show auction listings with Buy It Now.)

As applicable, use Item.VATDetails to specify the VAT rate and other details.

Additional price limits may be imposed by the seller's PayPal account or the payment method used.

For fixed price listings, the insertion fee is based on the fixed item price multiplied by the quantity of items you offer, or the maximum insertion fee (whichever is lowest), just as it is on eBay.

Accept PayPal as a Payment Method for Express and eBay

All Express US and UK shopping cart payments (including credit card payments) are processed through PayPal and deposited into the seller's PayPal account. The seller receives a single payment for each order. (PayPal's Website Payments Pro functionality makes credit card payments transparent to the seller.)

For fixed-price, auction with Buy It Now, and Store Inventory listings on the US site, you need to specify PayPal as one of the listing's PaymentMethods values in order for it to be included on Express. Of course, you can offer additional payment methods for buyers who purchase the item through eBay.


Note: If you accept PayPal, this does not necessarily mean that the buyer is required to use a PayPal account to pay for the item. It just means that PayPal's Website Payments Pro functionality will process the Express shopping cart order. Because PayPal processes all Express shopping cart payments, the Express Item page and shopping cart in the Express Web UI only display payment methods that are offered by PayPal. Other payment methods that you specify in AddItem (or that you see in GetItem) apply to purchases on eBay, not to Express shopping cart purchases. For example, if you offer `CashOnPickup` as a payment method in addition to PayPal, it won't appear on Express. Conversely, GetItem doesn't list all the payment methods offered by PayPal and that are shown on the Express Item page. In transaction calls, use TransactionPlatform if you need to determine whether a purchase was made on eBay or on Express. Also note that every once in a while, it is possible that the buyer might make shipping selections that won't allow eBay to combine a seller's items into a single order. In this case, multiple orders might be created.

If a Half.com item is purchased on Express, PayPal will process the transaction like any other sale on Express (even if the seller doesn't accept PayPal on Half.com).

Use PayPalEmailAddress to specify an email address that is associated with the seller's PayPal Premier or PayPal business account. (Some sellers may have more than one PayPal account, and they may be accustomed to specifying email addresses for different accounts for some listings.)

Sellers who list on Express Germany sign an agreement to accept only three payment methods for purchases: PayPal, credit card, and direct debit (referred to as Elektronisches Lastschriftverfahren (ELV)). PayPal is optional for fixed-price and Store Inventory listingss. However, if you don't specify PayPal in your listing and you don't specify PayPalEmailAddress, the seller needs to set a default PayPal account in their Express preferences. Use ExpressPreferences.DefaultPayPalAccount in SetUserPreferences.

Specify Domestic Shipping Costs for Express and eBay

As stated earlier, eBay Express supports a multi-seller shopping cart that works like most online shopping carts. For example, buyers can add multiple items from multiple sellers to a cart, and buyers pay once for all the items in their shopping cart—including shipping—in a single, secure payment.

For eBay to calculate the payment total for the buyer, all items in the cart must include domestic shipping services and costs. Use ShippingDetails to specify domestic shipping services and flat shipping costs (or, optionally, calculated shipping for the US) or free shipping. See Shipping and AddItem Samples.

The item location (and postal code) must be in the country associated with the listing site (US, Germany, or UK), and the item must ship from and to that country.

If you only use ShippingTermsInDescription without using shipping cost fields, the listing won't be eligible for eBay Express because eBay cannot parse this information to determine the correct shipping costs.

Optionally, you can include additional payment instructions in ShippingDetails.PaymentInstructions, and you can offer shipping discounts.

In general, if you specify shipping details that are not applicable to Express, they will be ignored during the Express checkout process, but they will not disqualify the listing. For fixed-price, auction with Buy It Now, and Store Inventory listings, these additional shipping details will be applicable if the item is purchased on eBay.

Specify Sales Tax for Express and eBay

You are not required to charge sales tax to be qualified for eBay Express. However, if you do want to charge sales tax for a transaction, you should use an eBay tax table in the listing. As eBay Express payments are handled via a shopping cart, you will not be able to calculate and add sales tax during your own checkout flow.

If you want to create a tax table, use the SetTaxTable and GetTaxTable calls (or the eBay Web site). See Enabling Multi-jurisdiction Sales Tax. Then, when you list an item, set UseTaxTable to true. Optionally, you can add the SalesTaxPercent, SalesTaxState, and ShippingIncludedInTax fields, as described in Enabling Multi-jurisdiction Sales Tax. This feature works the same way on Express as it does on eBay.

If the seller prefers to use their own checkout flow to calculate sales tax, they can choose to opt out of eBay Express. To opt out a listing from Express, pass ExpressOptOut in the listing request. To opt all listings out of Express, use the SetUserPreferences call.

Specify Return Policy Details for Express and eBay

For Express Germany and UK, all Express sellers are business sellers, so return policy details must be specified, including the number of days (i.e., "Item must be returned within" values).

Integrate Your Third-Party Checkout Process with Express

If you normally specify ThirdPartyCheckout (with a value of true) for your eBay listings, you also need to set ThirdPartyCheckoutIntegration to true. This tells eBay that you consent to use the Checkout notification (or calls like GetSellerTransactions and GetItemTransactions) to obtain data about your eBay Express sales, and you understand that buyers will use the shopping cart for checkout processing without being redirected to your site. In other words, you need to use this flag to configure your Third-Party Checkout listings to allow for two possible flows:

When a sale from this listing occurs on the main eBay site, eBay will redirect the buyer to your third-party site for checkout processing (as usual).

When a sale from this listing occurs on eBay Express, the buyer will use the eBay Express shopping cart (with no redirect).

You can use the ThirdPartyCheckoutIntegration field for any listing, even if the listing or seller is not eligible for eBay Express.

If you are authorized and configured to support Third-Party Checkout and you use Platform Notifications, you can use SetNotificationPreferences to subscribe to a Checkout notification that will send you transaction and order information. To do this, set the value of EventType to Checkout. The Checkout notification is sent for transactions that were created for any listing that includes the ThirdPartyCheckoutIntegration flag (regardless of whether the transaction was created during the eBay or eBay Express checkout flow). As buyers will not be redirected to your site, this notification can help you integrate eBay Express checkout data with your Third-Party Checkout data in a timely manner.

Include Optional Listing Features for Express and eBay

You can use Listing Designer templates for listings that will appear on Express. Use Item.ListingDesigner.

You can specify basic description details, such as Item.Quantity and Item.LotSize.

You can use eBay's scheduled listing feature for Express Germany (by using Item.ScheduleTime). If a German Selling Manager Pro Subscriber lists an item on the Express Germany site by using scheduling, they get the scheduling feature for free.

Aside from specific features that are required for Express and the features that make a listing ineligible for Express, all other listing features that are not relevant to Express may be ignored by Express. That is, irrelevant features will not appear in or apply to a listing on Express, but they will still appear in or apply to the listing when buyers view it on eBay. For example:

The Express search and browse experience doesn't support listing enhancements (Item.ListingEnhancement) like a bold title. However, the eBay search and browse experience does support these enhancements. So, if you specify a bold title for a listing, the title will be bold in search and browse pages on eBay and it won't be bold on Express.

Express doesn't support Best Offer. If you enable Best Offer for a listing (by using Item.BestOfferDetails.BestOfferEnabled), only users who view the item on eBay will be able to send you a Best Offer. The option won't be available when the item is viewed on Express.

Hit counters don't appear on Express. If you include a counter (Item.HitCounter) in your listing, the counter will appear on eBay but not on eBay Express.

Charity details don't appear on Express. If you indicate that you want to donate a percentage of the sale to a charity (by using Item.Charity), the charity details will appear on eBay but not on eBay Express.

Express Format Criteria

Express Germany and UK support an additional Express listing format, in addition to the basic fixed-price and Store Inventory formats.

When you list in the Express format, the listing only appears on Express. It is not visible to buyers who browse or search the eBay site, the seller's eBay store, or any other eBay site (including other Express sites). To use this format, set ListingType to Express in the listing.

Express format listings support 30-day and GTC durations. Use GetCategoryFeatures to verify the supported durations for this format and which categories support this format. See GetCategoryFeatures Sample with eBay Express Data.

For Express format listings on Express Germany and UK, there is no additional fee to list in two categories.

The Item Condition (specified as new) is always required Express format listings, even if the category waives this requirement for other formats.

The following picture features are applicable to Express format listings.

SuperSize

SiteHostedPictureShow

VendorHostedPictureShow

SuperSizePictureShow

PicturePack

Additional fees may be charged for these features. There may be additional picture features offered for the Express format only. More information will be provided in a future release.

When you revise an Express format listing, you cannot change the price.

For Express format listings, the insertion fee will be based on the item price only, and not on the total of all items of a listing. For example, suppose a multi-item Express format listing contains 10 items (DVDs). Each DVD has a price of €10. In this case, the insertion fee will be based on the €10 item price, not on €100 (10 items x €10).

You can only specify PayPal as the payment method for Express format listings, and the listing must include a valid PayPal email address.

You cannot specify international shipping options and costs for Express format items.

eBay Express does not expose or support all the same fields that are normally applicable to listings on eBay. If a seller chooses the Express format, it may be helpful to hide options that will never appear on eBay Express so that the seller does not bother to specify them. See the AddItem documentation for information about fields that are ignored when Item.ListingType is set to Express. (You should still specify these fields for basic fixed-price, auction with Buy It Now, and Store Inventory listings that appear both on eBay and Express, because they will be applicable when the item is searched or viewed on eBay.)


Specialty and International Sites > eBay Express > Listing Criteria for eBay Express
http://developer.ebay.com/DevZone/XML/docs/WebHelp/eBayExpress-Listing_Criteria_for_eBay_Express.html
© 2004–2009 eBay Inc. All rights reserved.	Version 611

Listing Criteria for eBay Express