Bugged Listings? Not Searchable on .com

[teenytrinkets]

This is a first! I have a handful of listings that are not showing up on .com. They had very low view counts, so I knew something was off.

I have ~200 listings. They all have the same shipping services listed (small packet air & tracked). They are all searchable on .com except for the ones listed below. I'm searching by item number. You can still see them on .com as "international" items, but the flat US shipping I've set up isn't showing up (so it's like I didn't set up US shipping, which I did...I can show you screenshots).

I've tried revising the listings, changing shipping, categories etc, but this isn't working.

The only thing i think it could be is a bugged listing(s) that I then used as "sell similar item" for the others that are bugged. All my listings are done on the app.

Here's the listings:

184444720491
184444724546
184444714057
184444709857
184444701951
184444675259
184444610556
184440628795
184440464121
184440825946

Any ideas?

P.S. Ending and relisting means i need to pay listing fees, since I've hit my max for this month - so I'm hoping I can try something else!

[kawartha-ephemera]

I notice all of those use the word "mask" in the title. Is it possible ebay reads that and thinks you're selling covid masks? I'm out of the loop regarding current policy on selling that sort of thing.

Below is how 184444610556 is displayed on .com.

[teenytrinkets]

Hmmm... that's an interesting theory about the word "mask"...

This is how the 10 appear on a .com search - being "not found " and then listed internationally.

All others show up in direct search

[reallynicestamps]

I was trying to think of synonyms for Mask and the best I could come up with was Domino, which isn't a very common term.  Maybe Screen?

[teenytrinkets]

I think that maybe one of my listings with the word "Cannabis" was flagged and excluded from US listings and I used that listing to "sell similar " masks.

Removal of any potential problem words doesn't fix -but I can re-list all and it solves the problem.

Interesting.

Will cost me $3.40 to relist all. Annoying...

[ricarmic]

Cannabis shouldn't block, I sell the revenue stamps attached to the cannabis boxes (people collect them too!) and my listing with cannabis in it shows in .COM searches (and it is a .CA item).

I wondered if it would be a problem whilst listing but so far no probs....

Item 383612320738

[teenytrinkets]

Well, you're right - it's not the word cannabis. It's still definitely the word "mask".

I've been troubleshooting the issue since yesterday and so far it appears to allow creating a listing with the word "mask" for US buyers, but then hours later - the listing is filtered out for US buyers again.

When I've ended a few of these problem listings, and re-listed after removing the word "mask", it remains searchable to US buyers without issue (like this one I did last night - I can still search it, like I can my other listings 184452492797).

I've tried to remove the word "mask" from a few listings (without relisting) to see if they will re-appear in direct US search... they do not.

I'm hoping tyler@ebay can provide some clues as to why Canadians can't sell any "masks" to Americans on ebay?

Surely ebay knows there are all sorts of masks (like my cosmetic sheet masks, peels and eye masks). And isn't there a bunch of Halloween masks Canadians are likely wanting to sell to Americans?

*Edit: I do see some Canadian listings with the word "mask" but they appear to have been listed on .com

[kawartha-ephemera]

If for some mysterious reason "mask" is not available for use in titles, would "facial" in combination with "skin cream" or similar be terms shoppers might use to find such things? 

Sellers offering Halloween outfits will have difficulties this year if "mask" has been added to the no-go zone.

[teenytrinkets]

No... all buyers would use "mask" as a main search term.

I have some mixed lots that could sell with the omission of mask, but I have at least 5-6 that are just masks, and would only be arbitrarily viewed when searching different words (like manufacturer, line name or skin concern) or in category searches.

I really hope someone at ebay figures out a solution to this!

[ypdc_dennis]

---

@reallynicestamps wrote:

I was trying to think of synonyms for Mask and the best I could come up with was Domino, which isn't a very common term.  Maybe Screen?

---

masque, masuku, masc, maske, pale maka, imaski, kinyago ...

Google translate can be fun....

[msmaggie060]

Well I have the opposite problem. My masks listed on .com are not being shown on .ca. Tyler does know about this and evidently it is being looked at by a tech team. Possibly the same technical glitch. I don’t know if it’s going to be a quick fix though. Meantime, my mask items are not searchable on .ca, only on .com.

[teenytrinkets]

THANK YOU!!! I am so glad someone validated my issue and it's known. There's nothing worse then clueless customer support telling you there's nothing wrong!

Sorry to hear about your masks searching issue. I hope it's not affecting too many of your listings.

I can only imagine how this is hitting the Halloween sellers! As if they haven't been hit hard enough already!!!

Let's hope it's cleared up soon!

[teenytrinkets]

This was Ebay customer service's response to me, noted as a solution. But this appears to be what you did, only to have the same issue, but in reverse - correct?

"Upon reviewing your listings, we were able to see that since the items were listed in ebay.ca, the listing will only show up in the Canada site of eBay even if you have indicated to ship to US. To amend this, what you need to do is to list your items in ebay.com and make sure your item location is still in Canada.

In addition, when the item is listed in eBay.com, US sellers will be able to see your items and since your item location is in Canada, Canadian buyers will also be able to see and purchase your items."

[kawartha-ephemera]

That's some brilliant advice.

[teenytrinkets]

I knew I would get the runaround with Customer Service! Thank goodness Tyler is aware that it's a tech issue and we'll get straight up answers from him regarding an ETA for resolution.

[tyler@ebay]

@teenytrinkets - thanks for letting me know about this. To be honest, I'm stumped. I'll see if I can find out any more info!

[teenytrinkets]

Thanks tyler@ebay !

It's really frustrating because the listings with the word "mask" go up fine (no warning message), and Ebay takes my listing fee! We're not getting what we're paying for!!!

I think these listings are searchable on .com for several hours, then at some point they are completely blocked/ removed from .com. So they're likely been fed through a routine or some sort of bot that checks for words combined with other criteria.

The fact that it's happening for masks listed on .ca and .com (the problem is documented here to occur on both sites) tells me it's a common routine that's run to block international sales - with Covid-19 words likely been searched to block those listings.

Thanks again for your help! I really hope they can resolve it. I have so many listings with the word "mask"! Please keep us updated.

[reallynicestamps]

The problem with listing on dotCOM for Canadians is shipping.

As long as we ship to the USA we can list on dotCOM and then add other countries.

BUT we have to use Flat Rate Shipping, which is fine for items that can travel LetterRate (under 500 grams and under 2cm thick) since those have the same rates for anywhere in the destination country, but is more complicated with items that will be shipped ParcelRate.

• Parcel rates are based on dimensions and weight but also on destination, with different rates for BC/NF or CA/FL.
• Letter Rate shipments cannot be tracked.

So you should be fine listing your masks on dotCA and giving Calculated Shipping to US addresses.

Your US customer should see the listing, and also see it in US dollars as well as in loonies.

Is that the situation when you list on dotCA?

[teenytrinkets]

This listing issue is a bug related to the word MASK (and, now apparently anything with MASC) blocking the listing internationally.

List on .com? It won't show up on .ca

List on .ca? It won't show up on .com

Tyler is stumped. Ebay support is ignoring me after I debunked their awful "solution".

I'm paying 100% listing fees for listings viewable by only 50% of my buying market.

Who knows what else they're blocking!? Guess we'll all find out eventually!

Beyond frustrated!!!!

[msmaggie060]

Teeny, I was thinking that one solution would be to list on .com with shipping only to the USA and list the same item on .ca with shipping only to Canada. I believe this is ebay legal but would check with Tyler or someone knowledgeable before listing this way. Only problem I have with this is that I think a lot of Canadians don’t check eBay.ca they just use eBay.com so they still wouldn’t find the masks.

Just sold another one to a US buyer and it was listed on .com. Still don’t show up on .ca unless I list there.