Your eBay item number explained: What is it and how can you find it?

A trend-setter in the eCommerce space, eBay continues to draw in buyers and sellers from across the globe. With an active user base of just over 130 million, having a presence on eBay remains important for many online stores. Even in an increasingly crowded space, it’s worth considering eBay when choosing a suitable marketplace for your products.

However, achieving the highest possible eBay revenue depends on more than simply listing your products on the platform. It requires sellers to have a clear understanding of online shopping habits, product listings, pricing, delivery, and more. Success on eBay is about more than simply making use of the platform.

One of the factors that is fundamental to driving decent revenue figures on eBay - and yet, which remains poorly understood in some quarters - is the eBay item number. This number is part of eBay’s own unique classification system and is surprisingly simple to understand and easy to find. Below, we’ll explain exactly what an eBay item number is, where you can find it, and why it’s important for your marketing and selling strategies.

The eBay item number explained

An eBay item number is a unique 12-digit code assigned to each product listing. This concerns both “buy-now” items (still responsible for 88% of listings) and products out up for auction. Every eBay item is given its own number. This means it’s an essential tool for finding any particular listing.

Given that there are 2 billion live listings on the platform at any one time, it is essential that buyers can find your products - that’s why a unique identifier like the eBay item number is key. It’s not the only factor in enabling customers to find your product, of course. That’s why improving your product categorization in the eBay marketplace remains important, but it’s still pretty important.

Each eBay item number is automatically created by the platform every time a new listing is made. This means that the item number is not dependent on the product - multiple versions of the same product are still given a unique eBay number as long as they are listed separately.

As soon as a listing is live, shoppers (or sellers) become able to view an item’s eBay number. Because of the unique nature of the number, it provides a useful way of searching for a listing. This could be helpful if you need support regarding a particular item listed on the platform, you want to track a package, or you want to find more information about a particular item.

Whatever your specific need, an eBay item number is a hugely useful tool if you’re searching for a particular listing.

The importance of your eBay item number

Aside from simply aiding the product search process, understanding everything about eBay item numbers is crucial to communication following an eBay purchase. After a transaction has been completed, eBay sellers can use an item number to track the sales they’ve made, find an archived listing, or monitor the shipping process.

As a unique product identifier, the eBay item number is also hugely useful for buyers and sellers who want to make life as easy as possible for the other party. Sellers, for example, may want to include a breakdown of various details, including the item number. The item number is also helpful if buyers want to find the item again at a later date for a subsequent purchase or locate the seller in question. Fundamentally, an eBay item number is a great way of strengthening the relationship between buyer and seller.

Where to find your eBay item number

The way to find the eBay item number varies slightly depending on whether you are visiting the eBay website or using a mobile app - but, fortunately, is pretty straightforward in either case.

If you’re using the website, there are two different ways to locate the eBay item number. The first is by visiting the individual listing itself. Here, if you look at the lower-right corner of the header area, you’ll see a label marked “eBay item number” followed by a colon and the 12-digit identifier you’re looking for.

Alternatively, visitors to the eBay website can locate the eBay item number through the “My eBay” area. This is the part of a user’s profile where they can track their eBay buying and selling activity, send messages to other eBay members, and update their account details. It’s located in the top-right corner of most eBay webpages. If you’ve decided to take the My eBay route to find an eBay item number, click “My eBay” followed by “Watch”, “Active”, “Purchase History”, “Sold”, or “Unsold” - depending on which category the listing in question falls under. Then users will see the item number they’re looking for just to the left of the listing title.

If you’re a mobile eBay user, finding the item number is somewhat different but no less easy. First, open the app and make your way to the listing you want to find the number for. Then click on “About this item” and scroll to the bottom where you’ll see the item number listed in blue text among other details, such as the item category and features. Finding the eBay item number via mobile could be extremely useful regarding your listings too - around 46% of eBay users in the US, for example, prefer using their mobile device to visit the site.

The eBay item number as part of your digital marketing strategy

If selling on eBay is a core part of your eCommerce strategy, then it’s crucial to understand what an eBay item number is and where it can be found. And this is the case for a surprisingly large number of businesses.

In fact, 94% of sellers on the platform admit they rely on eBay for success and nearly a third said their businesses would not exist without eBay. Even so, an eBay item number is not the only important factor for delivering an effective digital marketing strategy within the eBay ecosystem. There are several marketplace dynamics to master in order to achieve eCommerce success on eBay.

For instance, other unique eBay identifiers are also important, including the brand name of your product, the manufacturer partner number (Mpn), the Global Trade Identification Number (GTIN), and the Universal Product Code (UPC). Of course, not all the aforementioned identifiers may be relevant to your specific listing, but the eBay item number certainly will be - one is assigned to every listing regardless of the product.

If you’re selling via eBay, it’s essential that you provide the platform with every necessary detail. Of course, you could create a checklist each time you list an item for sale on eBay, but that would create a lot of additional manual work - especially when there are third-party tools that can automate the task of sending the right attributes to the eBay platform to streamline the selling process.

Tools like Channable offer seamless integration with eBay, highlighting the importance of understanding each and every attribute relevant to your listing. Channable combines structure with flexibility when you're building your eBay listing - structure to ensure you provide a buyer with all the information they need and flexibility to optimize your listing in a crowded market.

Although sellers can’t create eBay item numbers for their listings themselves - they are automatically generated by the platform as soon as any new listing is created - the number still has a clear role in fostering a seamless sales process. It is the only identifier that is unique to the eBay platform and provides a singular way for both buyers and sellers to locate a particular item - whether we’re talking about a potential sale, one that has already taken place, or one currently in progress.

As any eCommerce retailer knows, information is vital to the buyer journey. Understanding exactly what the eBay item number is and where to find it is crucial for both buyers and sellers. It removes one potential opportunity for miscommunication in any dialogue, allowing retailers to increase their efficiency around the listing, tracking, and management of sales.

If you want to find out more about how Channeble can supercharge your eBay sales by ensuring you and your buyers understand everything there is to know about your products’ attributes, why not sign up for a free and personalized online demo of Channable’s solutions? No strings attached!

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