Shopify and eBay Integration: Steps + Challenges + Best Practices

Integrating your Shopify store with eBay provides access to a vast user base and is a shortcut to building a global presence. 

Case in point: eBay has 133 million active buyers worldwide and is open to adding new sellers, making it an attractive marketplace for Shopify brands.

While you are excited about adding this new sales channel, you cannot discount the fact that managing multiple sales channels can be overwhelming. There are high chances of encountering technical glitches like:

• Inventory discrepancies between platforms.
• Mismatched product information between both channels.
• Accounting nightmare with data from multiple channels.

In this post, we will discuss easy and efficient ways to connect Shopify with eBay to save time, reduce technical glitches, improve inventory management, and centralize the accounting part.

Why should you integrate Shopify with eBay?

Adding eBay sales channel helps you reach a wider and global audience. However, integrating eBay with Shopify rather than managing it as an independent channel has its own advantages. Integration mainly helps in:

• Listing products in bulk to eBay for quickly going live.
• Managing all product listings and pricing updates for consistency.
• Syncing inventory levels to avoid overselling.
• Centralizing order fulfillment for easy tracking.

How to integrate Shopify with eBay?

You can use Shopify's first-party integration tool or third-party apps to connect Shopify to eBay. Follow these steps to implement the app:

3 Best Shopify eBay integration apps

Check this list of both Shopify first-party and third-party apps with detailed features, prices, and benefits to make eBay Shopify integration easier:

1. Shopify Marketplace Connect: First-party app for multiple marketplace integration

Shopify Marketplace Connect integrates Shopify with top marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart, eBay, Etsy, and more, syncing product listings, orders, fulfillment, and inventory. 

Key features:

• Centralize order management and fulfillment of online marketplaces
• Use bulk listing features, such as creating new listings or linking existing ones

Pricing: Free with Shopify plan for up to 50 orders per month, then a 1% transaction fee per order up to $99/month

Pros: Easy setup and reliable customer support.

Cons: High prices.

Users found switching from costly third-party apps to Shopify Marketplace Connect helpful 

2. CedCommerce eBay Integration: Third-party eBay integration

CedCommerce is an ecommerce solution that supports integrations for Shopify with eBay, Walmart, Amazon, and more. Beyond the basic features like product listing and order management, this third-party integration app provides advanced features such as bulk uploads, multi-account support, and dedicated account management.

Key features:

• Manage multiple eBay accounts from a centralized dashboard.
• Create product category templates to map Shopify category and attributes to that of eBay for faster upload.
• Upload multiple products at once.
• Sync inventory level and product pricing in near real-time.
• Set threshold inventory levels to get updates whenever a product is about to go out of stock.
• Streamlines all order management and processing in one centralized dashboard.

Pricing: Free up to 50 orders per month. Paid plans start at $29 per month.

Pros: Excellent customer support.

Cons: Poor user interface.

Users appreciate excellent customer support | CedCommerce eBay Integration review

3. Sellbrite: Third-party multiple marketplace integration

Sellbrite is another third-party app that enables Shopify brands to sell products on multiple marketplaces (Amazon, eBay, Walmart, and Etsy). With Sellbrite, orders from all integrated marketplaces are pulled into Shopify, making fulfillment centralized. What stands out about Sellbrite is it supports international shipping, helping businesses to get global quickly. 

Key features:

• Connect multiple  eBay accounts to a single Sellbrite account.
• Create listing templates to fasten uploads.
• List products in bulk on multiple marketplaces.
• Monitor, revise, and relist products from one centralized dashboard.
• Syncs inventory levels across all marketplaces.
• Supports international shipping all around the world.
• Generate sales and inventory reports to enable data-driven decision-making.

Pricing: Free up to 30 orders per month; Paid plans start at $19 per month

Pros: The interface is simple, and order centralization makes fulfillment easier. 

Cons: Support is available only for a limited timezone. 

Sellbrite supports all popular sales channels | User review

4 Common objections when connecting Shopify and eBay (+ solutions)

Ecommerce managers usually have the following objections when connecting a new marketplace with Shopify: 

Objection 1: Will the integration break my store?

This is a valid concern—adding an integration can feel risky. What if something goes wrong? What if your product listings suddenly disappear or your inventory sync fails, leading to overselling or customer complaints?

Integrations involve connecting two systems, and while they’re designed to make your life easier, there’s always that lingering worry about potential disruptions to your store’s operations. For example, you might fear that syncing products and inventory could override existing data or that order updates won’t work seamlessly, leaving customers in the dark.

Solution: To avoid such issues, thoroughly test any integration app before implementing it live. Even after having an app for synchronizing product listings and inventory information, you can still implement a regular backup of your store data as an added layer of security. There are apps also available like Rewind for automated backups.  

Objection 2: How do I know if I can trust this app/service?

Ecommerce managers are skeptical about whether the integration tool will work reliably and is worth the investment. Is there accuracy in syncing product and order data? What if there is any downtime? How reliable is the customer support?

Solution: Choose an integration app with strong reviews for accuracy and 24/7 support to quickly resolve issues and avoid downtime.

Objection 3: How will I really know the ROI of the connector apps?

You are wondering if connecting the platforms will truly make a significant impact on their business and sales numbers. How will I know if there is any significant return on investment (ROI)?

Solution: You can track sales reports to check the impact on revenue after adding a new channel. Apart from the direct revenue impact from sales, integration software also saves operational costs. eCommerce automation software's ROI is also cost savings from automating manual data management and saving losses due to inventory management issues. 

Objection 4: How to choose between custom app development and using a third-party app?

Ecommerce managers are also confused about whether they can build a custom app in-house that is specially tailored to their needs.  The choice between a custom app and a third-party app depends on your requirements, budget, timeline, and long-term goals.

Solution:  Custom app development is expensive and time-consuming. If you need a unique set of workflows/features/data-processing needs, have a higher budget, and can wait the time required to build a custom solution, custom app development is right for you. However, a third-party app is the better choice if you need a faster and more cost-effective solution.

5 Best practices for a smooth Shopify eBay integration

To ensure a smooth and successful Shopify eBay integration, you can follow these best practices:

1. Choose the right and reliable integration app

Use this checklist to choose an integration app:

• Creates templates to standardize listing.
• Support bulk upload to fasten listing.
• Syncs inventory levels and order status.
• Centralizes order management and fulfillment of online marketplaces.
• Creates combined reports for insights.
• Provides 24*7 customer support.
• Has ample reviews highlighting high accuracy and reliability.

2. Optimize product listings

Customize your listings (titles, descriptions, and tags ) to match eBay's guidelines to avoid listing errors. For instance, photos should be at least 500 pixels wide on the longest side, and titles should be up to 80 characters. Using high-quality images and adding required keywords in titles/descriptions also increases the visibility of your products on the platform. Further, ensure that you are following eBay's rules regarding sales tax, as these can vary based on your location and the location of your buyers.

3. Automate pricing and rules

Regularly check competitor prices on eBay to ensure your pricing is competitive. There are third-party apps available, like InformedRepricer, which can track competitor prices and adjust yours automatically.

3. Centralize accounting

Adding one more sales channel also brings the additional accounting overhead. Use an eCommerce accounting automation software like Webgility that regularly syncs data from all your marketing channels to accounting software to optimize bookkeeping. 

4. Use multichannel reporting and analytics

Use third-party tools that offer centralized dashboards to draw better insights. These tools help compare channel performance side-by-side and gather key insights for forecasting and cost-benefit analysis. For instance, Webgility reporting module provides combined reports on revenue, expenses, margins, cash flow, and more.

Also read: 9 Mistakes to avoid when adding new sales channel

Need to integrate your accounting software to your marketplaces, POS, and platforms? Use Webgility

Webgility is an ecommerce accounting solution for multichannel businesses looking to streamline their accounting process. It connects with all popular marketplaces like Shopify, eBay, Amazon, Etsy, and Walmart and syncs orders, fees, and transaction data into accounting software (QuickBooks or NetSuite).

Using different sales channels brings different types of financial data to address: sales tax collection in the platform, marketplace fees, shipping costs, and more. Webgility brings all these data into accounting software for better financial audits, profit-loss analysis, and tax reporting.

Our customer support team also helps you with smooth implementation along the way. Look at our transparent and affordable pricing plans (Starting as low as $49) built for every size and complexity of the business.

Take a quick demo to see how to optimize the accounting side of multichannel commerce. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. How much does Shopify charge for eBay integration?

Shopify Marketplace Connect (formerly Codisto) integration is free for up to 50 orders per month, then a 1% transaction fee per order up to $99/month

2. How to move eBay listings to Shopify?

Use apps like eBay Importer by Infoshore from the Shopify App Store to bulk import eBay orders and listings into your Shopify store.

3. Can I integrate my website with eBay?

Yes, you can integrate your website or Shopify store with eBay using Shopify native integration apps or third-party apps.