Can't list item due to false "payment method" issue?

[dr_pickles]

Anybody else unable to list an item due to getting this false error message upon submission "It appears you are offering a payment method that is not permitted in the eBay marketplace." ? I have recreated the listing 4 times. It's not an actual payment method issue as my payment method is the same one on all my other listings and Ebay confirmed it was ok, but they have no idea what is causing this issue and had to send it up their chain to their internal tech support who of course will not notify me when it is fixed. I just have to keep guessing and trying for the next 3 days. Sigh. So am I alone in this or anyone else affected?

[nobody*s_perfect · Accepted solution]

The bots that monitor listings for forbidden terms are very literal.  They have been known to object to the term "Western Union" in the Description of a postcard of a street scene, and to a listing for several model trains in which one line had the word "Western" in its name and another had "Union."  So scan your listing writeup for words that might confuse or alarm the bots.  Or post the text here and we'll help scrutinize it.

[mr.amherst]

Yes, I called Ebay yesterday afternoon with this same issue.  After speaking to two people they are also sending it up with a report.

No idea when things will change.

[brightlightbookseller]

Do you mention any type of payment method in your description or title?  If so, remove it.  No need for it, even if it is seemingly an allowed payment method, as eBay sets the guidelines and it's easier to let their text do that talking. Otherwise, do as @nobody*s_perfect mentioned and check for odd words or phrases that it might be mixing up.

[dr_pickles]

Thank you everyone. Well I managed to fix it and I assume it was related to a word, but it doesn't make any sense. I removed all the text and it allowed me to list it. So I then I put all the text back in and it it failed to update. Ok, so all I need to do is winnow it down (there were no obvious "bad" words related to payment). So I remove sentence by sentence and then it works... then I start adding back sentence by sentence what i just removed... and it continues to work until at the end all the same text is there and it still works. So I then just paste in the whole block of text which is identical to what was there and it fails again. So all I can gather is there is some invisible character it was choking on (??) This really makes no sense, but at least I got it listed. 

[wastingtime101]

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@dr_pickles wrote:

Thank you everyone. Well I managed to fix it and I assume it was related to a word, but it doesn't make any sense. I removed all the text and it allowed me to list it. So I then I put all the text back in and it it failed to update. Ok, so all I need to do is winnow it down (there were no obvious "bad" words related to payment). So I remove sentence by sentence and then it works... then I start adding back sentence by sentence what i just removed... and it continues to work until at the end all the same text is there and it still works. So I then just paste in the whole block of text which is identical to what was there and it fails again. So all I can gather is there is some invisible character it was choking on (??) This really makes no sense, but at least I got it listed. 

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Did you copy/paste any part of your description from another source @dr_pickles ? Sometimes when you copy stuff from places like Wikipedia, Amazon or wherever sellers might pull pieces of their descriptions, it can carry hidden HTML that causes issues.

[dr_pickles]

No, it was text I wrote myself from scratch. Bizarre.