eBay

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎09-07-2018

Is anyone familiar with the process to update a listing to match eBay's catalog entries? Have 6 listings that do not "conform" properly. When I attempt to update get a message saying that there are no results for your search. Can you modify or do you have to create an entirely new listing? Any assistance in resolving this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

-CM

PS. Really unsure of the usefulness of all listings for the same item using the exact same wording for a search.

Quote of the day: Conform by trying to be different!!!

ricarmic · ‎09-07-2018

I suspect the master plan is that the only way to differentiate is by price, theoretically to be the lowest...best for the customer not so best for seller....

momcqueen · ‎09-07-2018

I identified massive issues with the Product Catalogue from Day One and after reporting to then-helper Raphael, I allowed the products with errors to moulder without my intervention as it would have taken hours to explain what the problem was with the Hot Wheels line and the way ebay was categorizing it. Eventually, some of those products fixed themselves. Others are still FUBAR. I am unwilling at this point to wrestle with a catalogue (for financial gain to ebay and all the other sellers of the product in question) so I wish you best of luck. Let us know how it works out for you.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎09-07-2018

Thanks. That is pretty much what I suspected. Displayed on the Seller Hub a while back as being an issue and now a formal email from eBay to fix pretty much asap or sooner. All items do not have upc's so I have idea how to conform to their magical mystery catalog. Will let 'em ride and see what develops and report back if I hear anything. Thanks for your feedback.

-CM

ss2wang · ‎09-11-2018

You can try clicking the "Create a new product" button at the bottom, if there are no results when you search for a catalog item. This lets you add products and UPCs/MPNs to the catalog.

Hope this helps!

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎09-11-2018

It appears the reason it is impossible to add the items in question to the eBay catalog is due to the fact the items were manufactured by companies that NEVER assigned an MPN/UPC to their particular products. On one item the only variation is the color. Technically these products should be considered a ONE OF's similar to a painting where only one was ever painted.

-CM

femmefan1946 · ‎09-11-2018

The book catalogue which has been around much longer is pretty bad too.

No book before ~1970, when ISBNs were introduced is there.

Books with non-US ISBNs are missing. (What do they think the I in International Standard Book Number stands for?)

It's not unusual for a publisher to use the same ISBN for books with variant covers or for later editions. (What do they think the S in International Standard Book Number stands for?)

Fortunately, sellers can click under the catalogue information on the Advanced SYI form and remove the incorrect information.

And used books usually don't have a stock picture of the book pop up , but if they do they can be deleted.

For a customer who just wants to read the book, this is fine, but it leaves the collector who has been searching for that particular edition dangling.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎09-11-2018

I believe "Happy" may need to be tagged on this? At this time I don't see a solution around these particular problem scenarios.

-CM

hlmacdon · ‎09-11-2018

The catalog is terrible which is why any responsible ecommerce site/marketplace either hires a team of people with actual product knowledge of the items being sold to curate a catalog or pays content aggregators who specialize in category/market specific databases of products. You would likely be familiar with those as they power most of the online commerce sites. They do not ask for volunteers. Ebay is unfortunately the Uber of the ecommerce world.

As to the usefulness of compacting listings to one sku? Simple, it forces every seller to drive prices down and slash their margins. It is for eBay's benefit, not yours.

femmefan1946 · ‎09-12-2018

@hlmacdon

any responsible ecommerce site/marketplace either hires a team of people with actual product knowledge of the items being sold to curate a catalog

And the dotCOM site is asking for volunteers to do this.

Yeah, this is gonna go great. -Zoe Alleyne Washburne

forces every seller to drive prices down ... for eBay's benefit, not yours.

I don't see how it benefits eBay either.

Not only does it reduce their income from fees, but it emphasizes the 'flea market' reputation.

It would be nice to go for at least a 'shopping mall', even if the anchor stores are WalMart and Giant Tiger.

hlmacdon · ‎09-12-2018

@femmefan1946 wrote:

I don't see how it benefits eBay either.
Not only does it reduce their income from fees, but it emphasizes the 'flea market' reputation.
It would be nice to go for at least a 'shopping mall', even if the anchor stores are WalMart and Giant Tiger.

Rule 1 of every ecommerce hack exec: if revenue growth targets aren't hit, discount, discount, discount because you'll just make it up in volume. You are absolutely right it is detrimental as things rarely play out like that as diminishing returns kick in quickly unless you grow your inventory base substantially, something that is going to be hard to do given their new model completely disincentives the seller.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎09-20-2018

For anyone having the same issues with their listings, In following up with eBay customer service for over 1 hour this evening about "catalog error messages" they still don't have a fix for items that do not own a UPC code or physical part number. They tried to update one of my items from their end by creating a UPC code???? (their solution not mine) and that added a non-related stock photo for an entirely different item which at this time they were unable to remove and displays as soon as you opens my actual listing. In a search using my item title, it shows the correct item photo. They've added this occurrence to a ticket previously in progress. Lots of apologies but no solutions at this time. Will advise if and when I get any followup from eBay.

-CM

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎09-20-2018

In researching to see if there were any other similar items available on eBay, we were able to find 1 seller across the pond selling the same item, using my details exactly(specs & photos) at a higher price. Only difference we could find between the 2 listings was their item did not include box. That seller is showing 4 Negative & 7 Neutral feedbacks since Mar 2018 with almost 2000 active listings.

-CM

retroman_studios · ‎09-21-2018

I know it sounds, umm, odd, but the catalogue is worse since the changes!

Back in the day, eBay did have a catalogue of items and it worked good.

I listed some items the other day and you would think for Apple products the catalogue would be good.....nope. Only one product listed and the wrong color. You also can't edit or change certian elements.

For example when listing an item they ask you to select an item from a list that is similar to what you are selling. It's like they know the catalogue is bad.

So many bugs. Plus they haven't fixed bugs from years ago!

momcqueen · ‎09-21-2018

It's incredibly discouraging, isn't it? I agree that, in principle, a Catalogue is probably necessary and useful but ours is a mess and I dislike the manner in which it is intended to be used so that the buyer will get only a sample shown of what is available to them.

And the Product Catalogue was SUCH a big deal at first that they were going to disallow sellers watermarking their own images in order to co-opt those images and make everyone's stuff homogenous. Plus, all the Item Specifics are messed up, still messed up. Or at least the ones supplied by ebay are messed up, mine are fine. Just the way I like them.

Didn't the guy(s) in charge quit half a year ago? I thought I read that.

Nothing irks me more than a job left incomplete. Incomplete works are invariable worse off than what they were supposed to replace.

cumos55 · ‎09-21-2018

For books it is the ISBN the International Standard Book Number .

This number has been around since about 1967...

One can do a search on eBay using this number.

Some books have two numbers, an ISBN-10 and an ISBN-13. Publishers have almost "run out " of ISBN-10 numbers, so now we have the ISBN-13 number....

Sometimes the ISBN is not correct.... Publishers error..

For books there is an option.... "Does not apply"

There are still books being published where there is no ISBN... and that is where one uses .... Does Not Apply. This Does Not Apply option is also there for books published before the age of ISBN numbers.

ISBN numbers will eventually be required for books. However the "Does Not Apply " option will always be there...

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎09-21-2018

From almost Day they've wanted individual sellers not to have identical listing entries. Now they've created a system where all titles could end up being identical and for the buyer to have confirm what the differences there are between each listing that comes up in their particular search. Best price is NOT always the best item!!! Somehow, to me, that doesn't seem right.

-CM

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎09-25-2018

Now, after checking the previous listings in question, eBay has made random incorrect modifications to those listings. Their updates do not match the product I originally described. Currently on the call back loop in an attempt to resolve in the least painful way. It's not looking good. Their new catalog has made creating listings even more time-consuming and causing a new set of problems. Definitely should not be described as a value-added improvement.

-CM