eBay Social Sharing Tool Adds YouTube Option To Promote Item Videos Offsite

Liz Morton
Liz Morton


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eBay has added a new platform to their social media sharing tool, empowering sellers to share item videos directly to YouTube to draw more traffic to the site.

The eBay Social tool was launched in 2023, originally including capability to connect Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest accounts for easy sharing but the Twitter option was later removed once Elon Musk took over and made changes to the API that would have required eBay to pay much more for continued access.

Sellers can use the tool to create and schedule social media ready posts complete with links to specific items and AI generated captions, but up to this point the posts were limited to static image-based content.

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Now with the new YouTube integration, sellers have the option to repurpose videos they have created for their listings or stores and (hopefully) drive traffic back to the site, resulting in more sales.

Here's how it works:

Link to YouTube

  • From the Seller Hub, select marketing and click social from the drop down menu
  • Under your social accounts, select link for YouTube
  • From sign-in pop up, enter your YouTube login information
  • Your account is now linked to YouTube!

Create a post in YouTube

  • Go to the Social Page https://www.ebay.com/sh/social
  • Click on the Create Social Media Post button
  • When selecting your platform, select video post under Media
  • Select YouTube in the Platform section
  • Select a Link option, then click Next
  • In the Your post section you can add in a post caption, title, category, and preferred share settings.
  • You’re ready to post!

Sellers will need to make sure they've completed all ID verification requirements for YouTube and enabled advanced features on their YouTube account before linking it to eBay Social.

While it's nice to see eBay finally expanding and adding more channels to the Social tool, many sellers are left wondering what the incentive would be for them to use it, especially since eBay never followed through with the discounted final value fee social sharing incentive ex-VP Stores Tom Pinckney teased at eBay Open in 2021.

Would you post eBay listings to social media for reduced fees?
eBay’s 2.5% FVF social sharing incentive has no official release date, but sellers are already weighing pros & cons.

Tom said eBay would be adding a social media marketing incentive that would discount the final value fee to 2.5% + $0.30 per transaction when buyers buy from your social media posts, but after a brief test in Australia in 2022, the social sharing incentive was dropped with no further updates or timelines for implementation ever given.

Meanwhile, Etsy beat eBay to the punch, introducing their Share & Save program which offers a 4% discount on fees for qualifying sales made through links shared on social media and across the web - effectively making the commision fee 2.5%, just like eBay had promised and failed to deliver.

Etsy Introduces Share & Save Marketing Incentive For Sellers
Etsy discount incentive entices sellers to share items on social media - but watch out if you use Off Site Ads!

Have you tried the new YouTube option in the eBay Social tool and/or would you be more inclined to do so if eBay offering a fee discount incentive for social sharing? Let us know in the comments below!

eBaySeller Updates

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Liz Morton is a seasoned ecommerce pro with 17 years of online marketplace sales experience, providing commentary, analysis & news about eBay, Etsy, Amazon, Shopify & more at Value Added Resource!

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Recent Comments
Avatar PlaceholdereBay Daily Buyer2 hours ago
eBay is doing this to make more money for themselves and sellers on lower priced items. But its going to back fire because buyers will not bid as much now and the eBay standard shipping is unreliable and misused by many sellers shipping multiple cards as long as its below $20 and charging $5 and shipping for $1.25 or less. I'm deleting 100's of watched items now and my daily purchases will drop significantly.
Avatar Placeholdersmallseller16 hours ago
I am in Canada. 90% of my goods are made in China. And then to have the other 10% tariffed will kill my business. 90% of my sales are to the US. Buyers will not be willing to pay an extra 54% as in the case with China goods. And I am not selling items from Temu and Shein. I am mostly selling vintage toys. I will have to move all of my items to sell only in Canada and lose all my US customers. I started reselling about 5 years ago and this was supposed to continue into my retirement. Goods that are retired can not be manufactured again. There is no plant that can be opened to make something that was built in the early 2000s. I would be shocked if Mattel would move their plant to the US.
Avatar PlaceholderEbay Bidder20 hours ago
So, ebay is doing an "intentional test" AT THE BUYER'S EXPENSE, with no indication this is happening until a bid is made. Seems like fraudulent behavior to me. What's the recourse for buyers?