ShipScript has been an eBay Community volunteer since 2003, specializing in HTML, CSS, Scripts, Photos, Active Content, Technical Solutions, and online Seller Tools.
OVERVIEW
Staff post:
https://community.ebay.com/t5/2019-Early-Seller-Update/Update-on-Good-Til-Cancelled/m-p/29556571
Help page:
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/listing-tips/bulk-listings?id=4160#outofstock
While the "out-of-stock" control is typically used by sellers of new products who have a deep inventory, it can also be used by small sellers to put their listings on vacation for a short period (no more than about 90 days).
The "out-of-stock" control can be toggled on and off within the seller's account page, so the setting applies to ALL of the seller's GTC listings. There can be no picking and choosing at the listing level (but there might be a workaround, as I'll explain further down).
Store owners have vacation mode, but those without a store can use stock-control for vacations. To use stock control for a vacation, turn it on in account settings and then manually, or in bulk, set all listing quantities to zero. After vacation, revise all of the stock levels to normal and turn off the stock control setting.
Account > Site Preferences > Selling Preferences > "Sell Your Item form and listings"
EXAMPLE
Here is what I have found when testing the "out-of-stock" control on my own GTC listings.
Toggle on:
When I enabled "stock control" within my account and clicked "apply", I landed on an error page. However, my setting was still correctly applied.
Buying is disabled & hidden from search:
After revising a listing to set it's quantity to zero, the "buy", "offer", and "cart" buttons were immediately removed, but the "watch" button remained. A few minutes later, the listing no longer appeared in searches.
The User Agreement reminds us that indexing can take up to 24 hours but it only took a couple of minutes in my case.
Listing can still be viewed:
The listing still appears in my Seller Hub and I can sort by quantity to show which listings have a zero balance. A buyer or watcher can still open the listing if they have the link to it. They just can't act upon it or find it in search.
Toggle off:
I returned to my account settings and disabled "stock control". I again landed on an error page, but I found that my setting had been disabled as intended.
Normal listings can't have zero quantity:
When I revised a different listing to set it's quantity to zero, an error message appeared warning that zero is not a valid quantity, so that confirmed that I had successfully turned off "stock control", since zero is only acceptable under "stock control".
Residual listings (for the creative):
But what about the original listing that still had a zero quantity when stock control was removed? Well, that was still hidden from search. I went in to revise without changing the zero quantity, and an error message told me that zero is an invalid number, so if I wanted to edit this hidden listing, I would be unable to do so when "stock control" is not enabled, due to the zero quantity. The interesting fact here is that the zero listing remained hidden even when the "stock control" setting was globally removed. That means there is an opportunity here to manage some listings in a selective manner. The creative sellers can use this to advantage.
When I revised that original listing to set its quantity back to "one", the listing reappeared in search and the action buttons returned to the listing.
OOAK (one of a kind listings):
So does it make sense for one-of-a-kind sellers to use "stock control" on a regular basis? Maybe. If your items are typically purchased by scammers, sport buyers who fail to pay, or to foreign addressees where you can't ship, allowing the item to persist after sale will make it a whole lot easier to bring the listing back to life after closing an unpaid item claim. You won't lose your views or watchers either as a result of that false sale.
End or repurpose:
After payment has cleared on a successful sale, you can go in and end the listing or you can repurpose the listing with a different item (yes, it's currently allowed!).
Seasonal:
Out-of-stock was not intended for seasonal storage, but it can be handled with some planning and effort. Because an out-of-stock listing can remain hidden for up to, but less than, 3 full 30-day renewal cycles, a seller can hide the listings for 90 days, restore the count for one day, and then send the listing back into hiding for another 90 days and repeat until the next season. Keep in mind that insertion fees will accrue while the listing is in hiding and that a credit can be requested for any full 30-day-insertion cycles it is hidden. eBay is not going to appreciate a lot of sellers phoning for a credit, so we'll see how this pans out.
I haven't been able to test this scenario, but my guestimate is that it would work like this:
Hide the listing in the middle of its 30-day renewal cycle, since that cycle is already being counted or charged. Let it run to the end of that cycle and then for 2 full cycles and partially into the third. Revive for a day (a chargable event for that cycle), and hide until the end of that cycle and for 2 full cycles. Repeat until ready for the season.
Counting Cycles:
These 30-day insertion or renewal cycles are based on the original start date, not on the date the listing reappears and not on monthly invoicing. This online tool can help with cycle planning.
http://isdntek.com/listingtools/billingcyles.htm
Fees:
@uvmmmdu asked if "out-of-stock" listings count against listing insertions. Yes, the insertion continues to renew every 30 days from the original start date, even when the listing is "out-of-stock". And, if the listing continues out-of-stock for 3 "full" 30-day insertion cycles, eBay will end the listing. However, sellers can request a refund of insertion fees in this situation, as described on the above help page.
Are you Creative?
If anyone else can think of creative solutions, or if you already have experience using out-of-stock, please share here.
1 BEST ANSWER
Accepted Solutions
When does GTC conversion start?
eBay says:
Starting in mid-March 2019, the listing duration for all new fixed price listings on eBay will be Good 'Til Cancelled. Existing fixed price listings that are not Good 'Til Cancelled will continue until they sell or end at their specified duration. If a short-duration fixed price item is relisted, the duration will be set to Good 'Til Cancelled upon relist.
https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/seller-updates/2019-early/index.html#fixed-price-listing
There is no single fixed date. Listings will not suddenly convert all at once on a given day. A listing that is still running won't convert. A listing can only convert when it ends and can be transformed into a new duration.
After it ends, that's it, it's ended. But if auto-relist is turned on, then when the listing auto-relists, it will be changed to GTC at that time.
Rolling conversion:
I think many sellers are looking for the absolute conversion date because they might think active listings will switch all of a sudden, but that is not the case. Conversion won't occur until the item ends and relists. That is why the date is a rolling date.
Control auto conversion:
If a seller does not want a listing to automatically roll into a GTC listing, the seller should turn off automation rules for that listing. With automation turned off, when the listing ends, that's it. The seller can then decide when to revive the listing from unsolds. At that time, they would be relisted as GTC.
Turn off Automation rules:
Here again is a picture from Seller Hub, where the "Automation rules" button can be seen at the top of the Active Items list. Sort by "format" so that your auctions are separated from your fixed price durations. Select all the fixed price items using the checkboxes on the left (or use the "Edit" button to select all, unless you have auctions in the mix). Then click "Automation rules" where you will see two options: Assign or Remove.
Either one of those options will open a new window where you can take the appropriate action on your selected listings. If you choose the "Remove" path, any listing that has no automation rules will be grayed. You can remove automation from the others.
When there are no automation rules attached to the listings as the listings end, they will remain ended instead of relisting as GTC. However, any attempt to relist, or to create a new fixed price listing, will generate a GTC listing.
I agree with your analysis. Technically, eBay's audit trail will make this ok for prior purchases, but, as you say, it leaves bookmarks wanting. It's my understanding that watchers usually receive notifications when certain elements in listings have been changed, and in that case, putting something very similar in the listing might be enticing.
Thank you for the info on how you are using stock control. It sounds like your scenario fits perfectly! And because your handmade items are all similar, but not exactly identical, running a listing for only one at a time makes a lot of sense. The fact that you can replenish without changing the title, and the fact that you can keep your sales history, will take you a long way in search results. Kudos!
Yes, if you end your listings, they will appear in your unsold list for up to 90 days and you can renew from there when you are ready to relist that item.
As you already know, you can sort your active listings by end date, which will display time remaining until the next renewal. Thank you for mentioning that and providing me an oppportunity to post a screenshot for those new to the concept.
This is a picture of Seller Hub, and the "Time left" heading on the right can be toggled to sort listings in "Ending first" order, making it easy to determine when to terminate a listing if you don't want it to roll over into a new period.
I agree that listing decisions are becoming ever more complicated. And perhaps new sellers should not be encouraged to jump into out-of-stock until they ask about taking a week off for an unexpected emergency. We do see that a lot, and this tool can help tremendously in that situation, even if they have to pay some fees. Their listings won't lose momentum and returning will be so much less stressful for them.
And I agree that sellers don't perk up with excitement about the prospect of phoning customer support to request credits. I'll bet CS is not all that thrilled either. eBay probably counts on sellers not bothering, but this switch to GTC might change that. I wonder if eBay could be encouraged to auto-credit when a full 30 day cycle rolls on an out-of-stock listing? tyler@ebay brian@ebay
Hi @shipscript - thanks for the tag, and for this thread (it's incredibly helpful).
I've requested more detail on the nature of the credit the Help Page mentions. My personal feeling is that it would be automated, but I'm waiting for confirmation of the way it is supposed to work.
I'll keep you posted as I hear back!
When does GTC conversion start?
eBay says:
Starting in mid-March 2019, the listing duration for all new fixed price listings on eBay will be Good 'Til Cancelled. Existing fixed price listings that are not Good 'Til Cancelled will continue until they sell or end at their specified duration. If a short-duration fixed price item is relisted, the duration will be set to Good 'Til Cancelled upon relist.
https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/seller-updates/2019-early/index.html#fixed-price-listing
There is no single fixed date. Listings will not suddenly convert all at once on a given day. A listing that is still running won't convert. A listing can only convert when it ends and can be transformed into a new duration.
After it ends, that's it, it's ended. But if auto-relist is turned on, then when the listing auto-relists, it will be changed to GTC at that time.
Rolling conversion:
I think many sellers are looking for the absolute conversion date because they might think active listings will switch all of a sudden, but that is not the case. Conversion won't occur until the item ends and relists. That is why the date is a rolling date.
Control auto conversion:
If a seller does not want a listing to automatically roll into a GTC listing, the seller should turn off automation rules for that listing. With automation turned off, when the listing ends, that's it. The seller can then decide when to revive the listing from unsolds. At that time, they would be relisted as GTC.
Turn off Automation rules:
Here again is a picture from Seller Hub, where the "Automation rules" button can be seen at the top of the Active Items list. Sort by "format" so that your auctions are separated from your fixed price durations. Select all the fixed price items using the checkboxes on the left (or use the "Edit" button to select all, unless you have auctions in the mix). Then click "Automation rules" where you will see two options: Assign or Remove.
Either one of those options will open a new window where you can take the appropriate action on your selected listings. If you choose the "Remove" path, any listing that has no automation rules will be grayed. You can remove automation from the others.
When there are no automation rules attached to the listings as the listings end, they will remain ended instead of relisting as GTC. However, any attempt to relist, or to create a new fixed price listing, will generate a GTC listing.
I've not seen the Australia email. If I had to speculate, I'd guess the Australia email relates to listings that automatically rolled into GTC due to "automation rules" still being active, which could have been set by either the seller or by eBay. Can you read the text of the message carefully with the above in mind and speculate from there? Have you found anything similar on the US site?
Because of the nature of GTC vs Fixed Price, it is much cleaner for eBay to start a new GTC listing when a Fixed Price listing ends than to try to change a 3-day or 7-day listing to a 30-day cycle and then to change that 30-day cycle into a GTC, adjust the listing upgrade fees for the new duration, all the while keeping the original start date and old listing number. Trying to do all of that just doesn't make programming sense. That is why eBay is NOT doing that.
The easiest method is to wait for the listing to end and simply start a new one with the relevant features applied to the new listing so that no special recalculations are involved.
