Marketplace
A marketplace is a website such as eBay or Amazon where many sellers list products side by side and buyers pay through the marketplace’s own checkout.
- Online marketplace
What it means
On a marketplace you sell on someone else’s site, under their rules. Buyers search one catalogue that holds every seller’s listings, and they pay through the marketplace itself. Shopify’s developer documentation draws the line the same way, describing “marketplaces like Amazon that have their own checkout”.1
Each marketplace sets its own rules for product data. eBay UK asks for item specifics by category, and a new or revised listing without a Required one “will be blocked”.2 Amazon UK limits product titles in all categories except media to 75 characters, including spaces, from 27 July 2026.3
One product therefore needs a version of its data for each marketplace, each built from the same clean values.
Think of it like this
Selling on a marketplace is like running a concession inside a department store. Your goods sit on someone else’s floor, laid out to the store’s rules, and the customer pays at the store’s tills.
For example
A shop’s eBay UK title for a kettle, “Brackmore cordless kettle, 1.7 litre, brushed steel, 3000 W, rapid boil, filter”, uses 79 of the 80 characters eBay allows.4 Amazon UK allows 75, so the Amazon title drops the last detail: “Brackmore cordless kettle, 1.7 litre, brushed steel, 3000 W, rapid boil”, 71 characters.3
Why it matters
Not to be confused with
A marketplace differs from Google Shopping. On eBay or Amazon the buyer pays through the marketplace, whereas on Google Shopping, shoppers are “directed to your online site to complete the purchase flow”.5
Sources
- Shopify.dev. Apps as sales channels.
- eBay UK Seller Centre. Item specifics.
- Amazon Seller Central UK. Updates to improve your product titles begin on July 27.
- eBay UK Seller Centre. Create great listings.
- Google Merchant Center Help. Free listings for products.