Set up your eBay business policies

Create your shipping, return and payment policies on eBay, then choose them per marketplace in GridX Connect — the terms every listing publishes with.

What business policies are

eBay business policies are named sets of terms you keep in your eBay seller account — one for shipping, one for returns and one for payment. Every listing publishes with all three.

The split of responsibility is what matters here: eBay owns what each policy says; GridX Connect owns which one applies. GridX Connect never creates or edits a policy. It reads the list from your connected eBay account and lets you pick one of each, per marketplace — nothing more. You build and change the terms themselves in eBay. For what each of the three policies actually governs, see Connect your eBay account.

Before you start

  • You are a company admin. Staff can view saved policies but can't change them — the Change and Save Policies controls are admin-only. (A staff member who opens the setup form on a marketplace that has no policies sees Only admins can modify where Save Policies would be.)
  • Your eBay account is connected. If not, start with Connect your eBay account.
  • You have created shipping, return and payment policies in eBay. If you have none yet, GridX Connect will point you to create them on eBay first.
  • You know which marketplaces you sell on. Policies are set per marketplace, so if you sell on both eBay US and eBay UK you need a set for each.

Create your policies on eBay

Because GridX Connect can only point to policies that already exist in your eBay account, make them on eBay before selecting them here.

If you have none, the Business policies panel on the Channels page reads:

> No eBay business policies yet > Create your shipping, return, and payment policies in eBay, then come back and refresh.

It also shows a Create policies on eBay link that opens eBay in a new tab. Create one shipping, one return and one payment policy there, return to GridX Connect, and click Refresh — the new policies appear in the dropdowns.

> [!NOTE] > GridX Connect stores *which* policy you picked, not its contents. To change what a policy actually says, edit it in eBay, then — once you already have policies configured — click Change in GridX Connect to re-read your list and re-select. The Refresh button appears only in this empty state, when you have no eBay policies yet.

Select them in GridX Connect

The Business policies panel is scoped to whichever marketplace is selected — a small eBay badge next to the panel shows US or GB.

Steps

  1. On the Channels page, find the Business policies panel for the marketplace shown in the badge.
  2. Click Configure policies (or Change, if a set is already saved).
  3. Pick a policy from each dropdown — Shipping Policy, Return Policy and Payment Policy. The options are the policies from your eBay account.
  4. Click Save Policies. You'll see Business policies saved successfully!

For the full setup pass — choosing policies, your seller location and HTML Listing Policies in one go — see Connect your eBay account.

US and UK keep separate policies

Each marketplace carries its own independent set of three policies, selected and saved separately.

  • Selecting a marketplace card under Marketplaces switches the Business policies panel to that marketplace and shows the policies saved for it. The badge reads US or GB.
  • Any configured marketplace displays its saved policies read-only, with a Change button to edit them — primary or secondary, it behaves the same.
  • Your primary marketplace — chosen when you connect — is special in a different way: it drives your onboarding, sets your default currency and shows first.
  • To add a second marketplace, create a matching set of shipping, return and payment policies for it in eBay, then select them for that marketplace here. Each marketplace's dropdowns list only the policies that exist for it.

Business policies vs HTML Listing Policies

These sit near each other on the Channels page and sound alike, but they are unrelated.

| | Business policies | HTML Listing Policies | |---|---|---| | What they are | The three eBay policies that govern the sale | Free-text notes shown inside the listing description | | Where you set them | Per marketplace, from dropdowns | Under Account defaults, in five text boxes | | Fields | Shipping, Return, Payment | Payment, Shipping, Returns, Handling Time, International Shipping Policy | | Scope | Per marketplace (US, GB) | Account-wide — "Apply to every eBay marketplace on your account." | | Effect | Govern shipping cost, returns and payment on the transaction | Appear in the description only — "(Displayed in listing descriptions)" | | Saved message | Business policies saved successfully! | HTML policies updated successfully! |

> [!NOTE] > HTML Listing Policies are free-text notes that appear only inside the listing description — they do not replace or change your eBay business policies. You can leave the boxes blank, but this is still one of the setup steps you must save before any listing can go live. The panel only appears once your business policies and seller location are both set.

Change or refresh policies later

  • Swap a marketplace's policy: click Change, choose a different policy from the dropdown, then Save Policies.
  • Pick up new or renamed eBay policies: after you add or rename a policy in eBay, click Change — that re-reads your current eBay list — then re-select and Save Policies. (The Refresh button only appears when you have no eBay policies yet.)
  • Per-item override: an individual part can override the Shipping Policy only. The field defaults to Channel Default and carries a Custom or Default badge, and on a non-US marketplace the override saves independently of US. Returns and payment always come from your account policies, and bulk edit never overrides a policy.

If something goes wrong

| On-screen text | Why it appears | What to do | |---|---|---| | No business policies set for eBay US (or GB) | This marketplace has no policies selected in GridX Connect yet | Click Configure policies, pick all three, then Save Policies | | No eBay business policies yet | You have not created any policies in eBay | Click Create policies on eBay, make them in eBay, then Refresh | | Please select all three policies | You tried to save without choosing shipping, return and payment | Choose all three dropdowns, then Save Policies | | You have no business policies for this marketplace yet. | You tried to enable a marketplace that has no policies | Create that marketplace's policies in eBay, then try again | | Set all three business policies on that marketplace first, then make it primary. | You tried to make a marketplace primary before its policies were complete | Select all three for that marketplace, then set it primary | | Only admins can modify | You are not a company admin | Ask a company admin to set the policies | | Complete Setup Required | Onboarding is incomplete when you create a job or upload | Click Go to Setup and finish every step, including business policies |

Business policies are one of the setup steps that must all be complete before any listing can go live — alongside your eBay connection, seller location, HTML Listing Policies and your SKU prefix.

If eBay's own message names a shipping, returns or payment policy that is missing or invalid, the fix is here on the Channels page: click Change to re-read your eBay policies, then re-pick and Save Policies. If eBay instead says the item breaks a listing or product policy, that is an eBay account matter — see Fix a Publish failed or Revise failed item.

Once all three policies are saved for a marketplace, you're ready to publish — see Publish an item to eBay.