Variation listings allow you to provide all of the similar items in a single eBay listing to make it easier for the buyer to find the size, color, or other option that they would like to purchase.  Without variation listings, each of the options must be submitted independently, creating a much more complicated landscape for the buyer to navigate when searching for an item.  With variation listings, the buyer finds the product and then has the complete selection of all available options for that item.  They can select the item directly instead of requiring additional searches and navigation to find the specific item they desire.

Only specific categories are enabled for variation listings at eBay, and the current eBay functionality will only support categories under Clothing, Shoes & Accessories and certain categories in Home & Garden.  The enabled Home & Garden categores are all EXCEPT those under:

• Inside the Home > Housekeeping & Organization
• Inside the Home > Kitchen, Dining & Bar
• Inside the Home > Major Appliances
• Tools & Home Improvement > Electrical & Solar
• Tools & Home Improvement > Heating, Cooling & Air
• Tools & Home Improvement > Plumbing & Fixtures
• Tools & Home Improvement > Tools
• Yard, Garden & Outdoor Living > Lawnmowers
• Yard, Garden & Outdoor Living > Outdoor Cooking & Eating
• Yard, Garden & Outdoor Living > Outdoor Power Equipment
• Yard, Garden & Outdoor Living > Pools & Spas

If you post to a Home & Garden category outside of these parts of the category tree, you can submit items as variation listings.  Additional categories are planned for support in 2010.  See eBay for the details on these additional categories.

If the category you use for a listing is not enabled for variation listings, then the items will be submitted individually in their own listings.  If your items in ChannelAdvisor are already configured to support variations, and eBay enables the category for variation listings, your information will automatically start processing as variation-style listings for any new items that are submitted.  The Frequently Asked Questions will answer many of the questions that you may have about variation listings and how they function.  Additional information is detailed in the sections below:

• Configuring Products for Variation Listings
• Listing Process for Variation Listings
• Variation Listings in Open Listings
• Available Functionality for Variation Listings
• Known Limitations on Variation Listings Functionality
• Frequently Asked Questions

Configuring Products for Variation Listings

---

When creating new products, they should be created with a parent/child relationship.  This explains how the items relate to each other in both the similar and different ways.  This information is used when submitting the variation listings to eBay to know which items should be displayed together in a single listing and how each of the different options vary from each other (by size, color, etc).  Creating your ChannelAdvisor inventory with variations in mind will enable you to provide much more valuable information to the buyer, and makes support of variation style listings on eBay and other marketplaces much easier.  For the relationship, you will need to define how the child items are different from each other, such as size and color.  This allows each child item to be uniquely identified by the buyer when selecting it on eBay, Amazon, or in your ChannelAdvisor Store.

Once your product information has been created, the next step is to create the posting templates and ads for these items.  The standard procedure to create posting templates and ads is used without any additional actions or requirements to support variation listings.  In order to have the best support for your items, make sure that the item specifics information is properly configured.  You may already have the posting template configured to support item specifics, but in order to have the best experience you should submit all of the information possible, such as shown here:


You can see that the size, color and brand elements are populated by the information from the inventory item using template tags, and other values are configured to be the same for all items using this posting template.  It is important to configure the child variation options to be populated from the item information.  Submitting variation listings requires that all child items used for the variation listing have the same posting template, and that cannot be accomplished if different posting templates are used for different size values.  Even if not using variation listings, submitting as much information about your item as possible will result in the best possible experience for your buyers as well as the best reach for your items in the search results.

Listing Process for Variation Listings

---

Because a variation listing includes information from multiple inventory items, it is important to know how the listing process will collect and use that information.  The information submitted in a variation listing will come from the individual child items, except for the title of the listing.  The title will be extracted automatically from the parent inventory item and used for the variation listing.  The description HTML will come from one of the child listings, which for variation-based listings should generally be the same.  If you have been putting child-specific information in your description, you may want to either edit your Ad Template or create a new one to use for variation-based listings that focuses on the main product instead of the child-specific information.

All information for the rest of the listing will come from the posting template.  Because the same posting template is applied to all of the children, the information is consistent from one item to the next.  The only information that is collected individually for each child is:

• price
• quantity
• variation information

eBay uses the values submitted with Item Specifics to define the variation information and know the differences between the various child options.  For example, the item specifics above may be configured by eBay to vary on Size and Color for that category.  If either size, color, or both are submitted, then those will be used to define the different variations in the main listing at eBay.  Not all fields may be used for variations, but that information will be included for the buyer in the standard item specifics section in the description.  If different values are submitted for item specifics that are not supported for variations at eBay, one of the configured values will be sent with the listing and the other values configured on other children will be ignored.  With the release on 15 August, if a field enabled for variations has the same value among all of the children, it will not be submitted as a variation option but instead will be submitted as a standard item specific and shown in the item specifics section of the page at eBay.  This prevents the buyer from the extra work to select an option when there is only one valid value to select and improves the buyer's experience purchasing items.

When the variations are submitted to eBay, the options appear to the buyer in a specific order.  That order is defined when the items are submitted, and is automatically handled by the posting system.  The items will be submitted in the following ways:

• if all of the values are numbers, they will be sorted in ascending numeric order
• if all of the values are sizes (XS, S, M, L, XL, etc.) then they will be sorted in size order
• otherwise, they will be sorted in alphabetic order

If a new child item is added after the original posting has been submitted, its value will be added to the end of the list in the variations selection.  When the listing closes and a new listing is created including this new child, it will be properly sorted into the list as part of the new listing.

eBay has limited the number of images that can be submitted for variations to only allow different images on one of the variation options.  In order to support this properly, images are submitted based on the item specific value representing "color", with one image submitted for each different value submitted for the color item specific.  The picture submitted is the image configured in the Picture URL field on the posting template for the first child element encountered using that color value.  Thus, if you submitted an item with black, grey, and green options, there would be three images submitted -- one for black, one for grey, and one for green.  This image is used for all of the children that represent that value, so a Large Green item would have the same image as a Small Green item.  If there is only one color on the product or no value is configured for the "color" item specific field, then one product image will be submitted as configured in the Picture URL field which will apply to all of the child items.  When a buyer is selecting their child product, the images automatically update to associate with the color they have selected.  The buyer may also select the images manually using the options eBay provides to see all of the images.

Child items may have different values for price, so that if one variation has a higher price than others (such as an XXL shirt or size 15 shoe) then that can be submitted with the items.  The price for each child item will be based on the Sale Price configured on the posting template.  When showing the buyer the item page for the first time, eBay will show them the lowest price for any of the options that are currently available.  When the buyer selects their exact child item, the price for that child item will be shown.

The scheduling system will also work automatically with variation listings.  The system is designed to allow you to continue configuring data as you do today.  When the scheduler determines that it is time to submit the first child in a variation listing, that will cause the processing to collect all of the other eligible children and submit all of them together.  While you can accomplish the variation listings using Post Now, it is recommended to use a schedule.  To be submitted together, the children must:

• Be a child of the same parent item.
• Have available quantity to be used in the listing.
• Have an ad using the same posting template and any schedule.

If any of these are not true, then the children will not be included in the variation listing.  If an error is encountered in the listing process, errors will be logged in the Errored Listings view.  For more help with resolving these error messages, see the Understanding Common eBay Variations Listing Error Messages page.

Variation Listings in Open Listings

---

Each of the child items will have the same listing ID value for the eBay listing and will all link to the same eBay listing.  If you want to withdraw a child from being part of the listing, select it and use the Withdraw Listings functionality just as you would with any other item.  The only difference for child listings is that the eBay listing will remain open with the other children available for purchase.  (In the rare case than an error happens when trying to remove the single child from the open listing at eBay, the entire variation listing will be ended to ensure that the quantity is closed and restocked for that child item.)

Detection of a sale and processing of that transaction to create an order will happen the same way as all other listings in your account.  If the price or quantity change on an individual child item, that will be detected and updated in the Open Listings view and the new information included for any further transactions that occur.
 

Available Functionality for Variation Listings

---

The development of the variations functionality has attempted to fit with the existing eBay functionality with as little disruption to your processes as possible.  We have worked to enable as many features and functions as possible within the variations system to work in effectively the same way as they do today.  Functionality available for variation listings includes:

• Posting of a new listing
• Detection of a sale within a variation listing
• Creation of invoice for an individual child sale
• Adding quantity automatically for a child that has sold out but has available inventory quantity
• Adding a new child to an existing variation listing
• Invoice consolidation for multiple purchases from the same buyer
• Checkout Redirect
• Checkout Lookup when an invoice exists
• Revising information about Open Listings
• Withdrawing specific children from an Open Listing
• Appending HTML to an Open Listing
• Leaving feedback for the buyer
• Submitting Tracking Number to eBay after shipment
• Submitting an Unpaid Item request

For the function limitations, please see that section.

Known Limitations on Variation Listings Functionality

---

Certain functions will not work or are limited in functionality at this time.  Those are:

• eBay Fee Information
  
  • eBay has no way to report the fees on a per-child basis, so there is no way to accurately calculate that information for fee purposes.  Fee information will still be imported at the parent item level and used for reporting and graphs, but calculations and comparisons on a per-child basis are not available.
• Checkout Lookup when no invoice currently exists
  • When an invoice does not currently exist, we have no way to quickly discern the child item that the buyer may have purchased (or even if they are an actual buyer).  If they return to eBay and go through Checkout Redirect or wait up to an hour for the sale to be automatically detected and processed, they will be able to find their transaction and complete the checkout process.

Frequently Asked Questions

---

Should I use variation listings for my items?
If you are a seller in a category that supports variations, you may want to consider it for your items.  There are a number of benefits, including lower listing fees and easier use for buyers to find the option they want.  There are potential risks involved as well as this is a new system without a proven track record.  It may be more complicated for buyers to find your item or to understand how to make the purchase, or technical issues related to the complexity of the changes involved may not function as expected.  eBay has recommended that users not convert all of their items to variation based listings immediately upon launch in case there are any unexpected negative effects.  Once some time has passed and the initial issues identified and resolved, then it is likely in your best interest to use variation listings because of the benefits previously mentioned.

How do I enable variation listings for my items?
You can enable and disable the option directly within your account by selecting the variations option on the eBay Settings - Listings page.  if you would prefer to only enable variations for specific posting templates, you can leave the account-level setting disabled and enable only the specific posting templates that you want to use for variation listings.

Can I submit some of my items as variation listings and others as independent items?
Yes.  You can choose the posting templates you want to use for variation listings individually if the account-level setting is disabled.  To do this, disable the account-level setting on the eBay Settings - Listings page and then individually enable the functionality on each posting template that should support variation listings.

What are the requirements for an item to be submitted as a variation listing?
In order for an item to be submitted as a variation listing, all of the following must be true:

• The account is enabled for variation listings or the posting template used has variations enabled.
• The eBay category supports variation listings.
• The submission is for a fixed price or store inventory format listing.
• The inventory item is configured as a child in a parent/child relationship.
• There are two or more children that qualify to be submitted in the listing.

In order for other child items to be considered as qualified as a sibling in the same variation listing, they must:

• Be a child of the same parent item.
• Have available quantity to be used in the listing.
• Have an ad using the same posting template and any schedule.

If all of these are true, then all of the items will be submitted together in a single variation listing.  If any are false, then the items will be submitted independently.

Why was my item not submitted as a variation listing?
One of the situations in the previous list was not true.  Validate your account information against the checklist to determine those items that are not properly configured to support variation listings.

What does this error message mean?
See the Understanding Common eBay Variations Listing Error Messages page for more details on common error messages and how to resolve them.

What happens if I change the information in the product after a listing has been submitted?
Once a listing has been submitted, it is the same as all other eBay listings.  No changes will be applied to an open listing when inventory information is changed.  In order to apply those changes to a live eBay listing, you will either need to use the revise functionality to change the current listing or end the current listing and submit a new listing based on the new inventory information.

Should I use Post Now or a Schedule?
Either option will work, though Schedules are generally better to submit your items.  If you choose to use Post Now, you only need to select a single one of the children to submit the entire variation listing information to eBay.  In the event multiple child items of the same parent are submitted at the same time, duplicates will be blocked and logged in the Errored Listings view.

How is Sales History calculated for the Best Match algorithm at eBay?
When search results are generated by eBay, the Best Match algorithm uses the sales history of the individual children that would have been the items selected for the search results and selects the highest Sales History score of those child items.  For more infomation, please see the Multi-Variation Listings and Recent Sales post from TameBay and the Optimizing for eBay Best Match page.  With the eBay SR2 release in late September 2009, eBay changed to use the sum of all sales from all of the children in the variation listing, effectively giving variation style listings a benefit above individual listings.

Do variation listings work with Oversell Avoidance?
Yes.  The individual child will be removed from the variation listing and the remaining children will be available for sale.

What happens if I get a new child product after the listing has been submitted?
The child will be added to the existing open variation listing.

How do I prevent duplicate variation listings?
The processing logic will automatically detect and prevent duplicate variation listings.  Because of the scoring for Best Match in the eBay search results, it is always to your benefit to list all of the children together in a single variation listing and accrue the Recent Sales across all of the individual child items to that single variation listing to improve its position in the Best Match search results.

What quantity should I submit for new listings?
If you have multiple quantity on individual child items, it would be best to submit listings with multiple quantity for each child.  This allows the Recent Sales to accrue faster if the item is popular and has less opportunity to have a sold out condition.  While the system will automatically restock quantity into the listing for any child that sells out at eBay and still has additional quantity, you will have better availability and more customer purchases if the inventory is always available to buyers.

Do variation listings work with Immediate Payment?
Yes.

Do variation listings work with Best Offer?
No.  This is an eBay limitation and no plan has been announced to add Best Offer functionality for variation listings.