Cross-promotion connections enable more buyers to discover your items because they will be promoted through other sellers' listings as well as your own. You can arrange with other sellers to cross-promote each others' items by making a "cross-promotion connection."

How a connection works

How items are displayed

When a buyer bids on or wins one of your items, your cross-promoted items will be displayed first, followed by items from connected sellers.

Setting up and managing connections

To set up and manage your cross-promotion connections:

On this page you can do the following activities:

• Request a connection with another seller. Under "Pending Connections: Requests I've Sent," click the Request New Connection button. You'll be asked to enter the User ID of the seller or the name of their eBay Shop. eBay will then send a standard message to the seller notifying them of your request. If you want to send a separate, customised note to the seller, click the seller's User ID, and then click the "Contact Member" link on their Feedback Profile page.

• Accept or decline a request from another seller. Under "Pending Connections: Requests I've Received," you can view the list of sellers who have requested a connection with you. Find the seller's User ID or Shop name in the list and click the “Accept” or “Decline” link in the Action column. When a seller requests a connection with you, you'll receive an email as well as a message in your My Messages inbox.

• End an active connection. Under "Active Connections," find the seller's User ID or Shop name in the list and click the “End connection” link in the Action column.

• Change your selection preferences. You can control which items from other sellers are selected for cross-promotions when a buyer bids on or wins one of your items. Under "Preferences," click the "Edit" link. On the Preferences page, you'll be able to choose from various options. For example, you can specify that items from the same category as your item are excluded.

• Change your participation preference. If you don't want to have any cross-promotion connections with other sellers, you can simply avoid making or accepting requests. However, you can also turn off the ability for other sellers to request connections with you. Under "Preferences," click the "Edit" link. On the Preferences page, select the option "Do not participate in cross-promotion connections". You will not be able to make or receive requests, and any pending or active connections you have will end.

You can have up to 10 (active and pending) connections at one time. Decline pending connections if you don't want them to count against your limit.

Finding sellers to make connections with

Make connections with sellers who sell items that are complementary to yours. For example, if you sell paintings, you might look for someone who sells frames.

If you haven't communicated with a seller before, you might want to contact the seller directly first to ask if they would be interested in making a connection. Click the seller's User ID, and then click the "Contact Member" link on their Feedback Profile page.