tree*fern
ShipScript has been an eBay Community volunteer since 2003, specializing in HTML, CSS, Scripts, Photos, Active Content, Technical Solutions, and online Seller Tools.
alan@ebay Could this board remain open beyond June 10? If not, it would be helpful to have one place / path to report problems.
Question: Which Item Specifics fields can have more than one keyword (separated by a comma), and which can have only one?
eBay has an ItemSpecifics lookup tool on this page, but it's been on-and-off broken this past year. I'm told it may come back to life tonight.
https://developer.ebay.com/tools/item-specifics
The tool will download a spreadsheet of parameters that might not be easily interpreted, but I have a beta tool to translate that into a usable bulk data entry page.
eBay's spreadsheet includes information about whether an ItemSpecific can be used in a variation or only in the master record. It indicates which items are mandatory, which items have immutable values, which accept custom values, which are multi-selects or single-selects, and it provides a list of common values for each ItemSpecific name. It's pretty handy data, so I hope they can keep it stable for the duration.
What I don't know is when or how it will switch from the old specifics to the new specifics, since sellers obviously need to prepare in advance of the cutover. As it currently exists, it pulls in the data that is most popular for that category at the moment.
In the meantime, sellers probably need to extract all of their current item specifics in the event they are lost and must be re-established. I'm working on a tool to capture ItemSpecifics from active listings (not inventory).
@shipscript wrote:
eBay has an ItemSpecifics lookup tool on this page, but it's been on-and-off broken this past year. I'm told it may come back to life tonight.
https://developer.ebay.com/tools/item-specifics
The tool will download a spreadsheet of parameters that might not be easily interpreted, but I have a beta tool to translate that into a usable bulk data entry page.
eBay's spreadsheet includes information about whether an ItemSpecific can be used in a variation or only in the master record. It indicates which items are mandatory, which items have immutable values, which accept custom values, which are multi-selects or single-selects, and it provides a list of common values for each ItemSpecific name. It's pretty handy data, so I hope they can keep it stable for the duration.
What I don't know is when or how it will switch from the old specifics to the new specifics, since sellers obviously need to prepare in advance of the cutover. As it currently exists, it pulls in the data that is most popular for that category at the moment.
In the meantime, sellers probably need to extract all of their current item specifics in the event they are lost and must be re-established. I'm working on a tool to capture ItemSpecifics from active listings (not inventory).
Hey Shipscript I to think that this would be a great data set for sellers to have. Unfortunately I followed the link that you provided but I was unable to get that page to load or retrieve any item specifics.
I was wondering if it might have anything to do with the fact that I am not a registered eBay developer? See my screenshot below. There is a message at the top of that page that states:
" eBay API License Agreement updated, action required. Learn more ..."
Example:
Item Specifics >Author>Stephen King,Terry Pratchett,Terry Goodkind,Orson Scott Card,Robert Silverberg,Ursula K. Le Guin,Tad Williams,George R. R. Martin,Anne McCaffrey,Raymond E. Feist,Robert Jordan
I am not sure how the emoji found its way into my example in my previous post but it did. Bad emoji
.
I spoke with eBay staff about the broken page and explained how this is going to be a popular resource over the next 8 weeks.
Apparently, a large chunk of that developer platform is being migrated to a different server and this particular tool is not there yet (and hasn't been for months - so this must be a migration of molassalopes) . I've been assured that the tool is not going away, and that they'll try to get a message posted on that broken page.
@Anonymous Thank you for adding your voice. This tool really needs to be fixed earlier instead of later.
alan@ebay Please let us know where and how to report category change and IS problems, thanks!
Books category Item Specifics: The Format Item Specific now no longer allows data entry, only choices from a list. Please add or change these formats:
- Staple-bound Booklet format is missing. Please add.
- Ring/Wire Bound vs. Spiral Bound. Ring/Wire Bound isn't needed; Spiral Bound covers it. It's unnecessary, but if you want to differentiate between metal wire spiral and plastic spiral and plastic spiral comb bindings, then please make the definitions clear.
Ring /Wire Bound vs. Ringbound. A ring binding (Ringbound) is not the same as a wire spiral binding (Spiral Bound).
- eBook. Delete, not needed as the list also has eBook (Digital Delivery) and eBook (Physical Delivery).
- Leather vs. Leather Bound. Need only one.
Sorry, forgot to add:
Is the third eBook IS meant for sellers providing both a digital and physical copy? If yes, then please change that to eBook (Digital and Physical).
(I can't remember the rules, and the current Help page doesn't say.)
Thanks @Anonymous , but does that also apply to reporting problems / technical issues with the June 10 changes?
