eBay

salebolt · ‎12-13-2017

First verify that I have current listings

https://www.ebay.com/sch/usedanddiscounted/m.html

Go to an item

https://www.ebay.com/itm/152752019442

Select calculate shipping or shipping details. Set the zip code to 99926 (Alaska) to get an updated rate.

Now go back to the current listings page

https://www.ebay.com/sch/usedanddiscounted/m.html

All the items are missing.

If you switch the zip code back, they reappear in the search results.

No idea how many zip codes are affected by this.

berserkerplanet · ‎12-13-2017

You are correct. @salebolt

It's not just that Alaska zip code. When I tried that zip 99926, a Hawaii zip 96701, and a Puerto Rico zip 00785, same thing happened and search for your items returned 0 results.

When I tried it on a few of mine, the Alaska and Puerto Rico zips disappeared my items, but search was fine with the Hawaii zip.

Something IS seriously wrong somewhere. @Anonymous

Anonymous · ‎12-13-2017

@berserkerplanet wrote:
You are correct. @salebolt

It's not just that Alaska zip code. When I tried that zip 99926, a Hawaii zip 96701, and a Puerto Rico zip 00785, same thing happened and search for your items returned 0 results.

When I tried it on a few of mine, the Alaska and Puerto Rico zips disappeared my items, but search was fine with the Hawaii zip.

Something IS seriously wrong somewhere. @Anonymous

Thank you so much for the clear steps and zip code examples. I've recreated this issue on my end and am going to get this reported to our tech teams for review. I will update when I have more information.

berserkerplanet · ‎12-13-2017

Actually, OP provide the initial clearly outlined steps, and I just followed up, but...

Yeah, it was me. Right from the start. That's the ticket" 🙂

Thanks for getting on this quickly, and do let us know what happens.

If anyone else plays with this I'd be curious to see what other zip codes force the issue and if there is any pattern, I thought there was a pattern initially, but when Hawaii didn't cause the failure for me that went out the window. Does seem to be pretty much non-contiguous US destinations involved so far.

berserkerplanet · ‎12-13-2017

It's not just specific seller item searches - all search results disappear except for international sellers and sellers who don't specify shipping.

Add Guam (ex: 96913) and APO/FPO (ex: 09012) to the list (single zips tested on each)

It looks like anyone with a zipcode anywhere but the lower 48 states is out of luck getting any search results for items from US sellers.

salebolt · ‎12-17-2017

I also noticed that some of my listings had AFO/FPO and PO Boxes blocked despite being configured to use the account settings which allow these. There was nothing visible in the item revise page or in Turbo Lister, but it was visible on the shipping calculation page. I reapplied the settings globally using this page to enable AK/HI, US protectorates and AFO/FPO on all listings:

http://cgi5.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ExcludeShippingList

Correcting these didn't fix the search bug. But perhaps the AK/HI, US Protectorates and AFO/FPO settings are being misapplied.

In any case, setting a zip code in the shipping calculator should never change the buyer's account zip or search view.

berserkerplanet · ‎12-17-2017

I was wondering about the PO box and other exclusion settings (had eBay silently flipped them on for some sellers?) when I checked those things, but had no easy way to test or know for other sellers, and when I checked mine they were clear - yet my listings disappeared from search also with the Alaska and Puerto Rico zips.

The settings changing for you may be related, but no way to know and wasn't the case for me, and if it is looks like something deep in the code applying the logic and not visible as changed seller settings.

I thought that changing the zipcode in the calculator might set a cookie in the browser that would persist in that browser session and override the account default zipcode until zipcode was changed again or changed again or cookie cleared, but I can't find one (not even something encoded). When the zipcode is changed in the calculator, the new zip is sent up to the servers as a parameter and appears to be stored there somewhere until changed again or current browser session expires. (if you delete certain ebay cookies the session ends, you are logged out, and after logging in again zipcode defaults again to account value.)

I can see why they do it that way as I can't think of any other way that would work (such as constantly resetting it to the default every time a new listing is viewed or the calc is used) without being incredibly annoying to someone researching, or shopping and looking to have purchases shipped to a different address from the default.

In any case, the original issue is still happening, and I don't see any way to workaround on our end - eBay said they are on it and they will have to fix it.