Item number changed? Things that make you go hmmmm...

[ricarmic]

I believe this is the 2nd time this has happened, I'm mentioning here incase anyone else experiences it.

It is most concerning to me if it is happening because I use the item number as my filing system. If the number changes, it won't be findable by me.

This item was run as an auction. I believe during the course of the auction I revised the title.

The item number I wrote down when it was originally listed was 383204229497

The item number in the unsold items list when I went to relist it was 202797361645

The only thing I can imagine at this point is that the number changed when it was revised*.

(there is no such item as 383204229497 which is in the range of other items I listed at the same time)

I can't imagine that I wrote a totally imaginary number down, and I'm pretty certain this is the 2nd time in the last few months this has happened....but one never knows!

tyler@ebay I'm "ccing" you incase this is a problem.....

*I did try revising a currently running auction and the item number did not change after I revised it.

[tyler@ebay]

Hi @ricarmic - this is the mystery of my day!

Did it start life as a fixed price listing that you then sent to be an auction? 

The first item number is recorded in the back end, but carries no data which usually means it's been 'purged' (which only happens for items that were originally listed many years ago). 

I've never seen this before though, keep me posted!

[ricarmic]

Hi Tyler, no it began life as an auction. (if the auctions don't sell then I relist them as a fixed price item which is when I noticed the new number).

So the original number I wrote down was the one it returned in the display screen when I listed it. Unfortunately I just this morning deleted my email that would have had the item listing information sent to me in the email...it's always the way things go!!!

Extra note, the auction item was created using a sell similar from a fixed price item of the same style that was started in 2017 and was purchased on October 6th. (item 382159927105)

[ricarmic]

Today I'm listing items and another bizarre event:

Listing auction items, using sell similar from other currently running items.

Hit list item, something flashed on my screen (the box that has the whirly circle until it gets an item number) and I was left in the "draft" listing with "saving" running with a continuous whirly circle.

The item was a scheduled item so I went and looked and it is in the scheduled item list as item 383228310747

There is also an identical version in my "drafts" folder too, so it didn't "clean up" after it submitted it, if infact it has been submitted, I'll know tomorrow after it submits it later tonight.

tyler@ebay 

[kawartha-ephemera]

That is strange behaviour to have a listing submission both fail and succeed all in one go. Here, I experience what seems like a high rate of failed submissions, the whirling thingy just hangs there as long as a person cares to wait ... forces me to navigate to the drafts list, that's where they have always appeared up till now. It's possible your example may have happened here without my noticing, every once in awhile I notice one or two items in drafts without any recollection of how they got there.

[femmefan1946]

Put your Active List into alpha-numeric order and check that you don't have a double listing.

I suspect that this may be a signal of the recurring problem where eBay relists items that are already listed, or even those that are already sold.

[ricarmic]

Addendum, I think I know now how this happened, because it seems I am consistent in the way I make mistakes, and I know some folks like to know the final answers for these things!

I usually relist auction items that have finished without a bidder, and I relist them as a GTC item.

The odd time I forget to change the status from auction to GTC when I've relisted. I don't know of a way to change a live or scheduled item from an auction to a GTC so I simply end it and relist it.

So I think what I did is relisted as an auction by mistake, put the relisted item number on the item, discovered it was an auction instead of a GTC, ended it, and forgot to put the new item number on it when I relisted it as a GTC.

I believe this because I almost did it again yesterday and I realized that is most likely what happened before...

So once again, the problem isn't ebay, it is a problem with the "connector between the keyboard and the chair" as we used to say in my old computer support days! 😉