EBay, which decided to limit major announcements to twice-yearly, has been quiet up until this week when it announced its spring policy and site changes for buyers and sellers.

Last year eBay slugged through harsh policy changes that kept many sellers in an uproar for most of 2008, such as DSR restrictions and opening the site to larger catalog merchants.

This year, the announced changes are pretty low-key but, while we don’t anticipate the onslaught of seller boycotts that eBay provoked last year, sellers do need to be aware of the policy changes. Most of the following Policy changes will go into effect the week of June 15, 2009.

eBay, Not PayPal to Manage Dispute Resolution

One of the biggest changes that will impact sellers is eBay’s plan to move dispute resolution from PayPal to eBay.

While the move isn't expected to happen until the second quarter of 2009, this really should come as no surprise. With more payment processors to choose from than just PayPal (like Pro Pay and individual merchant accounts) eBay really does need to bring seller dispute resolution in-house and away from the PayPal Resolution Center.

EBay will continue to advise buyers to work directly with sellers over disputes, but with the new process, buyers and sellers will also have an option to call eBay.

Summing up this announcement, eBay stated, "We are gradually transitioning the dispute process, and anticipate that the change will be complete before the holiday 2009 selling season. Once complete, the new on-eBay resolution process, backed by eBay customer support, will serve as the primary entry point for buyers who are unable to resolve disputes directly with eBay sellers."

New Seller-Helpers and Tools

One small change that eBay is making is called the "Smart FAQ". The purpose is to take details from your listing to provide potential buyers with the answers to 20 questions before buyers contact you via "Ask a Question."  This is a free add-on service that eBay says has been tested and proven to cut time spent answering buyer questions in half—without any negative impact on sales.

EBay is also offering package tracking that should help sellers who have customers e-mailing "Where's my item?"

 According to eBay, starting in mid-June, when sellers upload tracking information, buyers will be able to access it in a pop-up window right from their own My eBay without having to go to the Order Details page.

If you pay shipping and print labels on eBay, your tracking information will be uploaded automatically. Sellers will also be able to upload shipment tracking numbers or delivery confirmation. You may have noticed we said “print labels on eBay”. This is also a new, recently announced feature.

At launch, you will only be able to print USPS labels via eBay's label printing solution—if you want to print UPS labels, you need to continue to use PayPal's label printing for the time being.

 Soon, sellers will also have more options for Custom Item Specifics.  EBay provides suggested Item Specifics in drop-down boxes, but if these suggestions don't work for your item, you can create your own value for an item.  Custom Item Specifics will be available in more categories, starting in April.

Multi-variation Fixed-price Items and a New Item Page

EBay’s big spring announcement had further details on the redesigned Item pages, which the company expects to rollout by mid-June.  The new pages will offer buyers bigger pictures with photo zoom and a real-time countdown timer for Auction-style listings. The new format will also provide the key information upfront and new cross-promotion options where sellers can choose to have their items show up on each other's item.

Lastly, in the big seller news, eBay will be introducing a new Multi-variation Fixed Price listing that will let sellers consolidate variations of a product in one low-cost listing. This would be a good listing format, if, for example you had fifty dresses in different sizes. The new listing format will let you charge $29.99 for regular sizes and a different price for plus sizes. 

Multi-variation Fixed Price listings are scheduled to be available in Men's and Women's Shoes the week of June 15, and in other applicable Clothing, Shoes and Accessories and in Home & Garden categories in mid-July.

Vangie Beal is a veteran online seller and frequent contributor to ECommerce-Guide.com. She is also managing editor of Webopedia.com. You can tweet with her online @AuroraGG.