purchase history item mutation/replacement error

[trybry25]

I have noticed twice now recently that an item in my purchase history has been changed; first on a lot of cotton socks, and now on an HP Chromebook. In both cases it appears that the price was not altered, although the items are now different from what I purchased(and happily received), to new items, that I don't remember buying, and am sure I have not received.

Is anyone else having this problem?

[dtexley3]

Apparently sellers are trying to "re-use" their long tail listings to try to place the new item higher in best match.

[berserkerplanet]

It isn't a problem. It is working as intended.

Multiple item listings and GTC listings can be changed, and it is perfectly legitimate for the sellers to do (add remove items from variation listings, change shipping, prices, photos, descriptions, etc).

As dtexley3 pointed out, some sellers take it a bit far and swap in totally unrelated items in order to keep the search placement, watchers, and other juju long running listings have, but it is allowed if not totally in line with policy.

You need to be looking at the details for the item you purchased, which points at the snapshot of the listing when you purchased the item, not at the current listing. If you look at a listing it should have a link "view the item you purchased" which takes you to the original listing
"The listing below has been updated by the seller, but you can see the item you purchased."

[trybry25]

ok I found it: 

You bought this item | View order details

Still, why is the new listing showing up in my purchase history? Fortunately the price is the same, although it makes it a little confusing to have pictures and titles of things i did not buy showing up in my history. I'm talking about record keeping... which brings up another question: Is there a way to get a printable list of purchase history? I think I have been highlighting all and then copy-pasting into a text file.

[berserkerplanet]

>>Still, why is the new listing showing up in my purchase history?

I have one of them too, where the seller sent me the wrong item, claimed it was an employee mistake on the listing, the seller revised the GTC continuous listing with the new title and photos for the wrong item, and the returned item entry in my Purchase history now shows that wrong item.

Because eBay messed up the design and logic of the new purchase history pages.


When I purchase an item, I print EVERY little detail of the purchase into a single PDF file with a filename constructed from the the listing title, seller name, and price for easy lookup later Along the lines of:
"ebay_5 Pcs Energizer 364 AG1 SR621SW SR621 SR60 363 164 LR621 Zero Mercury Batteries_seller=1111deals_$2.99.pdf"

In that file is a snapshot of the listing, the checkout page (snapshot of payment method and address), the order details page, the purchased item page (the one with all the full size listing photos - obtained from the order details URL via a JavaScript bookmarklet), and the PayPal payment page. The order details page snapshot also has that page's URL visible (via another JavaScript bookmarklet) - that URL contains the transID which is sometimes necessary to pull up order details after 60 days when the info disappears from Purchase History if navigating to the listing via item number doesn't work.


As far as the Purchase History page goes, I haven't worked on any specific methods to document it. Pretty much just Print to PDF once every 30-45 days before info disappears.

Your select all/paste into a text file method should work too. Not well formatted in the text file, but the info is there to be dug out if needed. (note that the transID for each purchase and possible some other info will not be there - you need to maybe have another text file with the item title, the date, the transid copied from the order details URL, etc to be thorough)

[3eyedfishcatcher]

While I can understand ebay letting sellers reuse their listing for the reasons mentioned these changes should only go into effect for active listings. When I item is sold the order details should not be able to be changed by either the buyer or seller. The purchase history is not a watch list but records of what you paid for the item , the shipping cost, and condition of the item in both the description on the listing and in the listings pictures.  After a purchase these details should not be able to be changed as it could lead to dishonest sellers misrepresenting their items for a quick sell then after they have shipped editing their listings to make it look like the buyer should have been aware about the conditions before ordering. This is just another example of someone at ebay making a change with out knowing what problems it could cause just so they can say they made some changes regardless of if they are needed or wanted.