eBay

musicyouneed · ‎01-02-2017

I'm trying to list a Kingston Trio CD on .com. I researched and another seller has one listed under the same correct UPC on .com, but when I enter the UPC on .com it tells me there is no match. WT.. This has happened numerous times and even times where I listed one with a correct UPC and then it dropped off the face of the earth. Has this happened to you and what can I do about it, other than entering all the info manually?

femmefan1946 · ‎01-02-2017

This happens to me often with earlier books, even when they have the ISBN. And the catalogue does not accept most non-US ISBNs, even Penguin ones, although Penguin now owns most of the US publishing companies.

Can you see Not Applicable on the dropdown where the UPC is demanded?

And , since the information is apparently in the catalog although you can't access it, can you cut and paste from the other seller's listing? (This may not be quite eBay legal.)

Often when this happens the form later (but before uploading) asks for the ISBN number. It's not often enough for me to remember when and how this happens, but it does from time to time.

I'm not listing as much as you so this may be too timeconsuming for your purposes.

tobyshitzu · ‎01-02-2017

click on sell now from the listing that has it

musicyouneed · ‎01-02-2017

Hi Fem, I usually do a cut and paste when this happens. But I want to get this corrected as it is driving me crazy. Many years ago, we could report discrepancies to ebay and since ebay is going to be not allowing "not applicable" in the future, I would like to bring this to ebay's attention. I might report it on the .com Wed chat.

And even when they have the UPC listed the info is wrong. I just listed this one. Look at the track listing. Quite a few of mine are like that. I leave it as I think the buyer will be able to figure it out, but, jeez.

musicyouneed · ‎01-02-2017

Hi Toby, I thought that was a good idea so tried it. Looks like they dropped the UPC from their inventory.

Anonymous · ‎01-02-2017

It is absurd that eBay requires UPC when in fact not everyone would type UPC to find the certain items!! So eBay please "retire" silly things like UPC, Item Specifics, etc!!

rose-dee · ‎01-03-2017

Hi -- this problem of UPCs was reported and discussed quite a lot on the Wed. Board Hour sessions, but I don't think Raphael ever provided a satisfactory solution. You could do a search on that Board under "UPC" to see the issues and see if there are any answers that might work, but I don't recall the problem being finally resolved.

I think the only thing you can do for the time being is use "Not Applicable" (it should be available in a drop-down selection under the UPC box on the SYI form). Sooner or later that will be phased out too (a stupid decision on eBay's part if you ask me), but at that point you'll be able to enter your own "custom" UPC number, so at least there will be something in the box to satisfy the eBay bots.

This whole business of UPCs, catalogues, and disappearing numbers has been a mess ever since it was introduced. EBay needs to drop the whole system until they can make it actually workable.*

*If that is even possible. It gets worse with older or semi-vintage items.

reallynicestamps · ‎01-03-2017

I'm not sure, but I don't think the UPC/ISBN number has anything to do with Searches by human beings or customers.

I think it has to do with searches by Google and the like. So if someone is looking for a Kingston Trio CD the copies with UPCs are found by the search engine.

And now I have Tom Dooley stuck in my head....

rose-dee · ‎01-03-2017

@reallynicestamps wrote:
I'm not sure, but I don't think the UPC/ISBN number has anything to do with Searches by human beings or customers.
I think it has to do with searches by Google and the like. So if someone is looking for a Kingston Trio CD the copies with UPCs are found by the search engine.

And now I have Tom Dooley stuck in my head....

Oh yes, now I recall, I think you're right about Google. But I do remember someone saying at some point that eBay bots monitor/check those UPC numbers -- or perhaps it was just that they check the lack of a number for a product that should have one?

At any rate, my own concern with this system has been just the opposite of the OP's -- my line of antique sewing patterns has no UPCs, and I see no logic in having to make up a unique fake number for every item once eBay removes the "not applicable" option. Which is what eBay is suggesting. I'm sure this issue will apply to a lot of vintage/antique sellers. Just more silly "busy-work".

Really, did you have to mention "Tom Dooley"? That was just plain mean. EARWORM!! It's now stuck in my head too, yecchhh. Get out of my head, get out of my head!! (quote from Dune).