Setting up eBay business policies

First, where it isn't

Not in Seller Hub

This is where everyone looks, and it's a reasonable guess — Seller Hub is where the rest of your selling lives. But look at the tabs: Overview, Orders, Listings, Marketing, Advertising, Store, Performance, Payments, Research, Reports. There's no Account tab.

Plenty of guides, including one I wrote before checking, will tell you to go to "Seller Hub → Account". That tab doesn't exist. If you've been looking here, you weren't missing it.

Step 1

Find the page

Sign in to eBay on a computer and go to ebay.com/bp/manage. You'll land on "Manage your business policies", with Business Policies highlighted in the left-hand menu under Selling.

Step 2

Opt in, if eBay asks

eBay leaves business policies switched off until a seller asks for them, so plenty of accounts have never had them. If you see an opt-in button, press it. It takes effect straight away and there's nothing to undo later.

If you go straight to the page above and see a list of policies, you're already opted in and can skip this.

Step 3

Make one of each

Press Create policy at the top right and you'll get a choice of Payment, Return or Shipping. You need one of all three before eBay will publish anything.

Step 4

Shipping — the fiddly one

This is the one that stops people, because it asks for a service and a cost rather than just a name.

• Policy name. Anything. "Standard shipping" is fine.
• Shipping method. Standard shipping suits most second-hand goods.
• Cost type. Flat: same cost to all buyers is the simplest — the buyer pays a fixed amount you set.
• Handling time. How long before you post it. Be honest; late dispatch hurts your seller rating more than a longer stated time does.

Think before choosing free shipping. It's tempting because eBay's search favours it, but it comes out of your margin on every single sale. If you're not sure, start with the buyer paying and change it later.

Step 5

Payment and returns

Payment is the quickest of the three. eBay handles the money itself now, so there's little to set beyond wanting to be paid when someone buys.

Returns takes a moment's thought. Thirty days with the buyer paying return postage is the common starting point. Accepting returns at all helps you in eBay's search, and refusing them entirely puts some buyers off.

Step 6

Come back and pick them

That's eBay done. In Resale Inventory, open Menu → eBay and your three policies will be in the lists. Pick one of each and save.

You'll also be asked for the address you post from. There's no page on eBay to add one, so the app creates it for you — put it in and press save. Buyers don't see it.