What happened here? Item says "Out of Stock" - but no sold notice, and still shows in active listings?
Summary: juicydrupes experienced an issue on eBay where they attempted to lower the price of an item, but encountered an error message indicating a quantity issue. The item was reportedly sold but still appeared as active and not in sold listings immediately. mam98031 and others suggested possible explanations, including system delays, error in handling simultaneous edits, and peculiarities in payment processing. juicydrupes speculated that the timing of the price edit coincided with the purchase, causing confusion. Other participants shared similar experiences with delays in updates and listing statuses.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/278340163535
I was trying to lower the price a bit, and it kept saying "Enter a quantity more than 1" - as if I was editing the number available.
I was in the price field for sure. And it still says "1" as quantity in my listings.
And then I noticed it said the item was sold?
Database problem?
warrenshobbies
·1 month agoI'm guessing here, I have seen this happen with certain orders and thought it had to do with the payment option and how it gets processed. I also have items showing out of stock for up to a half an hour without a sale being shown. The timestamps on the date sold is out of order, because the sold page lists sales by when the payment is processed on MTQFP listings with immediate payment required.
Below is seller hub solds with out of order times.
bdmh-enterprises
·1 month agoYup, editing the listing doesn't take it offline. It also can take minutes for changes to propagate around the site after saving. I've had it happen when I was raising the price, that was annoying. I've also had it happen when changing qty, that was more annoying since it made it so the listing had an extra item, fortunately I noticed on the orders page before over selling.
The time gap to show in sold items seem long, but evening is probably the busiest time on the site so could have just been slow. Bad timing all around lol.
juicydrupes
OP1 month agoHere's something else - on the Orders page it says 4:04pm PDT as the SOLD time. On the actual item page it says 04:28 PDT as the sold time. And that does about reflect the time line. I went to edit the item just after 4:00 PDT. By 4:12 PDT - confused, I messaged my brother asking if he could see the item. He said it was out of stock. Looking at other listings these times all seem about a minute apart. So this 24 minute gap looks like a glitch of some kind.
juicydrupes
OP1 month agoThe only conclusion I can come to is - the buyer must have bought the item just as I opened the "Edit Price" field. By the time I clicked save, the item was sold - and it threw me the Quantity error. So - might just be bad error handling for a condition that would be very improbable. Other possibility - maybe a slow payment gateway? In any case, feel kinda bad for the buyer. Had they waited another 30 seconds, they might have got another 25 dollar discount!
juicydrupes
OP1 month agoOk - NOW its showing as sold. So - not sure what happened.
Maybe I hit price edit at just the right time to confound the system?
Slow payment gateway?
Fortunately (for me!) the price change didn't take...!
Anyway - that was odd - never had that happen.
tobaccocardyahoo
·1 month ago · EditedIf it was not sold, I would bet on a finger slip when editing the listing.
I noted relatively recently that my listings do not go inactive after a sale. The inventory goes to zero and the listing remains unless I end it.
It annoys me because do not sell anything new, and when I have multiples of an item, I create a new listing with new images for each item..
mam98031
·1 month agoSellers can always see all their active listings from the Seller Hub under Active listings, whether or not they have a quantity up for sale. So if you look a bit closer at your listing, you would see that there is no qty available, therefore no one can purchase from the listing.
juicydrupes
OP1 month agoNo you cant!
There was no quantity available - because there was only one - and it sold.
mam98031
·1 month agoNo you can't what? See the listing under Active Listings? I can see all my listings that have a zero qty. But then I have my Site Preferences for my Inventory Settings to allow for OOS. Maybe if you don't have that setting you can't see them. I honestly don't know.
When I look at your listing, I see that it is NOT available and I do not see it when I view your listings. Which is normal if there is no qty available. Nor would anyone be able to purchase from the listing.
So what exactly do you think your problem with this listing is?
juicydrupes
OP1 month ago · EditedI went to lower the price on this item. Clicked the little edit icon next to the price, and lowered it to the desired price. When I clicked Save - it error messaged "You must set to a quantity between 1 and 200" (or something like that") - which was odd since I was sure I clicked the Price field. Tried again - same message.
When I looked at Active listings - there it was - 1 Quantity.
The problem was - someone bought the item, but the listing continued to show in my Active listings for about another 1/2 hour - with "Quantity - 1" and looked like an active listing.
When I clicked the listing - it said "Item unavailable" and "You Sold This Item."
But it never showed up in my Orders - or Waiting for Payment.
A half hour later, it finally notified as sold - and all seems well.
mam98031
·1 month agoWhat type of device are you using to try to make the change? If you are using the App, then there may be a problem with the App. Check the Technical board and see if anyone else is having the problem. Often the App will have issues that those using their desktop do not.
If there was no Qty on the listing, then that is why you couldn't change the price. There was nothing for sale. Have to have a qty before you can adjust the price.
When I look at your listing, I see no qty available.
It is possible that your Active listing just took a little time to catch up. In Active Listings from the Seller Hub, it usually will show you ALL of your listings regardless if there is a qty, but the general public can see those listings as something they can purchase if there is no qty.
As for the delay in being told it was sold. It doesn't become sold until it is PAID for, so Ebay may have been trying to process the payment, which would be why you saw it in Active listings as still available.
I think it is all just a timing issue and you are just fine if you now have a sold transaction and the buyer paid.