NEW OPTION UNDER ITEM SPECIFICS: MODIFICATION DESCRIPTION

[silverpinups]

I listed an item tonight on eBay.com and under Item Specifics there is a "new" option called Modification Description (up to 200 characters).

I believe this might be an option for mobile applications.

Has anyone used it?

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

Sounds very possible. Another reason to no longer use GTC after this most recent nightmare for those affected. I am under the impression they have no idea that damage they may accidentally cause with their tinkering.

CM

[momcqueen]

Uhhhhhhh... it's worse than I thought. Not just the extra superfluous Item Specifics but a whole pile of new fields have been added to these listings. Some of which make no sense whatsoever and others which are just plain incorrect. I tagged tyler and cross-referenced this thread. 

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/Can-t-Relist-auto-or-otherwise-because-ebay-added-extra-...

I'm not spending any time 'fixing' this problem with these 14 listings. I don't have that kind of time to keep rectifying the mistakes ebay is making with my listings, and I have REACHED the tipping point. I've said it once and I'll keep saying it: if I have to invest time 'fixing' my listings -- which is as much work as re-creating them -- I will simply re-create them on another site (of my own) where ebay won't be able to wreck them anymore. How hard is that for the decision-makers at ebay to understand? Are the gentlemen in the Ivory Tower so far removed from reality that they don't understand where listings come from? Sellers have to CREATE them! Fairies don't leave them under your pillow.

First all these GTC pics go missing and now someone at ebay has gone and stuck their sticky fingers into the only other parts of the listings that weren't wrecked. How is it that these people responsible aren't being fired? Like, seriously. Is it nepotism or is it cronyism? I do not understand. 

[kawartha-ephemera]

FYI ... there has always been a limit to the total number of Item Specifics associated with a listing.

Off the top of my head I cannot recall the number that is allowed per listing but I have often run across this limit when adding too many of my own Specifics. Usually the problem can be solved by deleting one or two of the useless eBay provided Specifics. This has been my experience in the Collectibles categories.

Sometimes I will add information to the Item Specifics or even the Condition field that really belongs in the Description simply because the Item Specifics are so much more likely to be seen on mobile.
This extra information often exceeds the limit allowed.

I wonder if the program designers have increased the number of Item Specifics fields allowed now that they are adding all these new Specifics. If they have not, they should.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

In doing one more Sell Similar from a listing that just ended, one of the item specifics that eBay had added was an Item Specifics I had added originally. Example: Color. Why I added? Because it should have been there in the first place for this product type. So appears these fields that eBay is adding randomly  does not catch duplicates. Personally feel a seller should not have to proof a listing when they go to either relist it or use sell similar. Maybe if they are going to randomly modify our listings these field additions should highlight in RED. Also, as I recall, in the past, if you added a Item specific twice, the system gave you a duplicate field message error and you had to remove before completing that listing.

I do not use GTC but if you do, when it comes time for it to automagically relist and there is an error, does it go directly to your UNSOLD folder? Just curious. Believe it was noted previously that for GTC there isn't any sort of an acknowledgement when these process so wondering how one discovers that there is an error in ones listings?

-CM

[silverpinups]

I do not use GTC but if you do, when it comes time for it to automagically relist and there is an error, does it go directly to your UNSOLD folder?

No, not from my perspective. All my GTC have renewed without issue. The only added field I have in the Movie Memoriliblia categories is Modified yes/no and Modification Description. 

Since there is a main description field I won't have to worry.... (keep my fingers crossed).

[kawartha-ephemera]

CM wrote:
Was in process of working a relist. Item had several ITEM SPECIFICS: MODIFICATION DESCRIPTION fields added since the last time I listed. No new information was required for this actual listing. When i went to complete received a message. Too many fields. Had to go back and remove 2 that I had created previously. Then it would accept. Finding a number of listings where these new fields added by Ebay recently, the information to complete is not easy or is time consuming to locate. Definitely adding time to relist/sell similar process for anyone that uses that feature.
 
-CM

Interesting comment , got me to wondering what eBay is up to with these new fields.

So, I took a little time to experiment and found the following ;

1. All istings in every Collectibles category that I looked at on both .com and .ca now include the Modifications yes/no and Modifications description fields. So, it seems likely that all categories now include those fields whether they make sense or not. Anyone find a listing that does not include these new fields?

2. The number of allowable Item Specifics fields seems to have been greatly increased. I revised an active postcard listing this afternoon and was able to create 16, yes sixteen, custom Specifics of my own in addition to the 9 eBay Specifics already included in that category ... that's 25 item Specifics in total.

3. Once revised, the new Modifications fields appear when viewing the listing on both desktop and mobile, even if the Modifications field is toggled to "no" the field still appears.

What if anything is eBay planning on doing with all these new fields?
I think there were only 5 or so "extra" fields available before these changes, now there are many more than that.

Perhaps there are more changes still to come in this area?

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

The recurring problem seems to be discovering these "modifications" seemingly entirely by accident and then trying to figure out how it is precisely affecting your work in the past and then anything you do going forward in the future. I really don't have the time to be dealing with all these constant changes.

-CM

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

Hopefully these ITEM SPECIFIC MODIFICATIONS are not affecting anyone that uses Templates. May or may not have made that feature entirely redundant.

-CM

[kawartha-ephemera]

Those that have and use Seller Hub templates MAY need to edit them before they can be used to create new listings.

Whether editing of existing templates is required or not will vary by category. If the only recent changes to a category's specifics were the addition of the Modifications yes/no fields then most users will be able to just carry on with their existing templates without editing them.

If on the other hand there have been a lot of additional Specifics added to a category, such as MQ has shown us in the toy category, then I imagine any existing templates in those categories will require a revamp.

Due to the phasing out of Turbolister I just very recently decided to create a few Seller Hub listing templates to get a feel for their usefulness.

It does take a little time to get used to using them but with practice I feel I could create listings efficiently using the templates. If only unsold listings could be retained as inventory for years instead of months Hub would be OK for listing creation.

There's no critical need to edit my own templates as the Modifications fields are added to new listings anyway and default to "no" which is appropriate for many if not most categories. Probably will revise the templates anyway as it will be easy to do.