Comics-scifi_collectibles Volunteer Community Mentor
ShipScript has been an eBay Community volunteer since 2003, specializing in HTML, CSS, Scripts, Photos, Active Content, Technical Solutions, and online Seller Tools.
@maumau9 While we wait for @shipscript to check in on the community boards have you tried updating the Business Policies?
select edit next to the policy on this page:
https://www.bizpolicy.ebay.com/businesspolicy/manage?sellerAlreadyOptedIn=true
The way the "Results" file works for failed uploads is that you may have to walk through the errors one at a time and retry. The uploader may stop at the first failure, and when that is fixed, it will then stop at the next failure.
I have also discovered a bug that may only affect some users (I haven't expanded my testing). When I run multiple uploads (as you might be doing when trying to resolve an error), the results file link is for the prior upload, so I keep seeing the same error that I thought I had fixed. To get around that, I refresh the uploads page so that the history list is updated. Then I can download the correct results report.
If you have not sold in a long time, you may find that much has changed. Your business policies may no longer meet eBay guidelines, and shipping, payment, and return values may no longer match available options.
As @comics-scifi-collectibles recommended, you may want to first work on your policies. Create a listing manually and adjust your policies accordingly. Then use the same policies on a spreadsheet upload. Be sure that the policy names are correctly spelled and capitalized when carried over to your spreadsheet.
When you view your results file, please share the text of the error messages —and also make sure it references the appropriate upload file.
@maumau9 wrote:column C: failure
column 😧 error code -
21917329|21916250|21916250|21916250
No clue on how to interpret this
The numbers don't mean much to us either, but the numbers are then followed by the textual message in the next column:
@maumau9 wrote:The next error column: Invalid return policy (I can sort that out)
This is the failure that stopped the upload. After fixing the return policy, try again.
@maumau9 wrote:The next error column:
Warning - Funds from your sales may be unavailable and show as on hold for a period of time
I assume this is some sort of PayPal / ebay thing I have to change / set up?
The warning is a standard funds hold for new or returning sellers. It simply means you won't receive an immediate payout. Warnings do not affect your ability to list your CSV. You will continue to see this warning.
@maumau9 wrote:And that seems to be all of the errors... meaning the rest of my columns / data will pass muster?
That Return Policy seems to be the error that caused this upload to fail. Once you fix the Return Policy, you may encounter errors in the later columns farther to the right. But there aren't many columns left in the upload, so perhaps this is the last issue to resolve.
Also be aware that if your shipping policy uses calculated shipping, you will need to include the shipping columns that deal with weight and dimensions. Those columns are:
• WeightUnit ("lb" or "kg")
• WeightMajor (whole pounds)
• WeightMinor (whole ounces)
• PackageDepth (whole inches)
• PackageLength (whole inches)
• PackageWidth (whole inches)
• PackageType ("None", "Letter", "LargeEnvelope", "PackageThickEnvelope", "USPSLargePack" works for all carriers)
• ShipFromZipCode
@maumau9 wrote:My understanding one of my fields has an 85 character limit. I have tried to set a limit in both my data base (Filemaker) and my spreadsheet (Openoffice), but both somehow default to overflow the limit. Question: will exceeding the limit cause a "failure" or will ebay truncate to whatever the limit is?
My belief is that the upload will truncate with a warning for that line. If, on the other hand, that line fails, then only the affected row will fail. The remainder of the uploaded items should succeed.
In OpenOfiice, or Excel, you might fiddle with the LEFT formula to generate manipulated text in another column. Example: =LEFT(T(A2),80)
For instance, eBay's title is limited to 80 characters. So one column may be your "RawTitle" and the destination may be eBay's "Title". We'll limit the results to 20 characters in this example:
| A | B | |
| 1 | RawTitle | Title |
| 2 | The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. | =LEFT(T(A2),20) |
The T(A2) is a variable that defines the source of the text. Thus, the 20-character answer in B2 will be "The quick brown fox". When saving the CSV, the formulas will be converted to text. While the previous File Exchange would ignore columns it did not recognize, the Seller Hub is more sensitive. You may need to open the saved CSV spreadsheet and remove the RawTitle column.
@maumau9 wrote:My inventory uses a 6 digit ID number. Is there a way to add this number so I can identify my items? If not, I can incorporated it into my data field. Which leads to my next question.
Your own inventory number can be added to the Custom Label (SKU) field, since that field will be returned in some eBay reports. Only the seller has access to this private field. The SKU (stock-keeping unit) field can also be used for multiple bits of data by choosing some method to delimit the data. For instance, let's say you have a SKU and also want to store your cost in your spreadsheet. In that case there would be two bits of data, which can be delimited like this:
| Custom label (SKU) |
| 123456 | 12.95 |
| 234567 | 23.80 |
Your spreadsheet program may have the ability to split a cell, as does Excel (TEXTSPLIT), so that when you receive your eBay reports, you will also have your COGS (cost of goods sold) within your eBay data that can be split in your financial report.
@maumau9 wrote:Let's say for conversation sake, I have 10,000 items listed and I want to "replace" them with reduced prices (for example). Can I bulk upload these revised records to replace the existing records. I assume there would need to be a unique number to "match" the records. If that makes any sense.
eBay revisions are based on only the Item Number. A bulk revision through File Exchange (Seller Hub) must include two mandatory columns, Action and Item number. A revision spreadsheet for a price revision would look like this:
| Action | Item number | Start price |
| Revise | 123456789012 | 29.99 |
| Revise | 234567890123 | 38.99 |
To match a SKU to an Item number, retrieve eBay's Price and Quantity revision template from Seller Hub > Reports > Uploads, which will provide a template that includes the Item number and the Custom label (SKU), along with the current price and quantity. If you have a vendor spreadsheet with price adjustments, the data from two spreadsheets can be merged using VLOOKUP in the spreadsheet.
@maumau9 wrote:I'm curious, do you have access to my account? Policies, for instance? I'm trying to sort things out, and don't see a way to screenshot it...
Those are private, so I don't have access.
Three-key screenshots:
- Screenshot on Mac = Shift + cmd + 3
- Screenshot on Win = WindowsKey + shift + S (or use only the PrtScrn key)
Paste the screenshot into an image editing screen.
@maumau9 wrote:
I keep getting this on my posts to you: Your post has been changed because invalid HTML was found in the message body. The invalid HTML has been removed. Please review the message and submit the message when you are satisfied. Not sure what it means?
This can occur with a copy/paste from elsewhere. Usually, the forum editor will remove the HTML with a warning. If you ever get stuck where the content won't post, then pasting it into a plain text editor will strip the underlying codes. Copy it back out of the plain text editor and paste into the forum.
