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Book Sellers: Catalog Turning Itself On Even When Opted Out

Book sellers, if you opted your listing out of the book catalog, check that the catalog hasn't forced itself on. 

 

All my book listings were opted out of the catalog. Today the catalog has forced itself on to all my book listings. When I create a new book listing and enter the UPC (ISBN-13), the option to opt out of the catalog (advanced listing form) no longer displays.

 

I've reported this issue to Customer Service, ticket #1-409663275318.

Please call CS if this is also happening to your listings that were opted out of the catalog. 

 

Generally, whenever I review eBay's book catalog to see if it's become usable, about 9 out of 10 entries are incorrect. Some are minor errors but many other errors will cause buyer problems! For example, when the catalog forces a hardcover format onto a listing for a paperback, of course we'll have unhappy buyers and returns. 

 

tyler@ebay

tree*fern
Volunteer Community Mentor

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Re: Book Sellers: Catalog Turning Itself On Even When Opted Out


@tree*fern wrote:

Hi tyler@ebay , yes you have it right. The checkbox was gone when creating a new listing (using advanced listing tool).  And the catalog forced itself onto all my existing listings that had been opted out of the catalog via the checkbox.

 

I've ended most of my book listings since I don't have time to check the catalog for accuracy for each one.

 

Today I again tried creating a new book listing from scratch. The checkbox was back on the advanced listing form for a listing created from scratch. I unchecked the box to opt out. At first the catalog did not force itself on, but about an hour later it was back on the listing, even though I had opted out.

 

I also tried creating listings using both Sell Similar and Relist. The checkbox was not available on the advanced listing form, and the catalog forced itself on the listings.

 

I noted this in the Community Mentor group: Same problem happened a couple years ago. I never got an answer about what caused and eventually fixed the problem. So this may or may not be related, but the problem was fixed after I pointed out that I'd had a search impression problem with at least one listing, where the impressions went crazy sky-high above typical. It looked like search must have counted impressions for each individual word in the book title.  Book title was: National Geographic Moments: Cars. 


Hi @tree*fern - I've heard back (again)!

 

The team says this is not an intended change and are working on correcting it - no time frame for that but given the quick attention that this is getting I am hopeful it is quickly. 

 

@wastingtime101 - I don't have confirmation about any other categories that have been impacted (though it wouldn't surprise me if these are all related). If I hear anything back on them I will let you know!

Tyler,
eBay

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Re: Book Sellers: Catalog Turning Itself On Even When Opted Out

Even when opt out existed they would still add you to the product page as long as you used some kind of product identifier like a UPC or ISBN … so you were never really opted out before.

GLORIOUS!

March shipping tip: Size matters. Enter accurate package dimensions on the listing form and the shipping label.
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Re: Book Sellers: Catalog Turning Itself On Even When Opted Out

Hi @wastingtime101   When a book listing was opted out of the book catalog, the product page never displayed itself on a book listing. This has been the case for years.

tree*fern
Volunteer Community Mentor

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Re: Book Sellers: Catalog Turning Itself On Even When Opted Out

Correct, the product info did not appear on opted out listings.

 

However, when a product page exists, all listings tied to that ISBN would appear on  the product page, regardless of opting out. 

Two different things.

GLORIOUS!

March shipping tip: Size matters. Enter accurate package dimensions on the listing form and the shipping label.
Message 4 of 43
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Re: Book Sellers: Catalog Turning Itself On Even When Opted Out

@wastingtime101   And that has nothing to do with the problem that's happening. As of today, the book catalog entry is appearing on all opted-out listings.  Also, the opt-out option is no longer shown on the advanced listing form.

tree*fern
Volunteer Community Mentor

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Re: Book Sellers: Catalog Turning Itself On Even When Opted Out

Yeah, I got that part. Until eBay either fixes it or clarifies that it’s an intended change, all you can do is list without the ISBN if the system will let you.

 

However what I said is still relevant. When a buyer shops through the product page, they’re seeing all those details and can buy your book from that page. In that situation opting out doesn’t make a difference. When buyers go to the individual listing, that’s when it makes a difference.

 

Considering all the issues and errors in the catalogue, sellers should have the ability to opt out.

GLORIOUS!

March shipping tip: Size matters. Enter accurate package dimensions on the listing form and the shipping label.
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Re: Book Sellers: Catalog Turning Itself On Even When Opted Out

A note for anyone listing without the ISBN as a workaround:  Revising a live listing to replace the UPC (ISBN) field with "Does not apply" does not work to remove the book catalog info from the listing. So far, it does work for Sell Similar or new listings.

 

@wastingtime101 

tree*fern
Volunteer Community Mentor

Message 7 of 43
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Re: Book Sellers: Catalog Turning Itself On Even When Opted Out


I take that workaround back. Sell Similar (or new) with "Does not apply" for the UPC (ISBN) appeared to work at first, but now the book catalog is on the listing. So it appears the catalog is forcing itself on to all listings (that are in the catalog) in the Books category, even when the UPC (ISBN) is not entered.  
@tree*fern wrote:

A note for anyone listing without the ISBN as a workaround:  Revising a live listing to replace the UPC (ISBN) field with "Does not apply" does not work to remove the book catalog info from the listing. So far, it does work for Sell Similar or new listings.

 

@wastingtime101 

 

 


 

tree*fern
Volunteer Community Mentor

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Re: Book Sellers: Catalog Turning Itself On Even When Opted Out

Is this a permanent change or a system glitch tyler@ebay velvet@ebay?

GLORIOUS!

March shipping tip: Size matters. Enter accurate package dimensions on the listing form and the shipping label.
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Re: Book Sellers: Catalog Turning Itself On Even When Opted Out


@wastingtime101 wrote:

Is this a permanent change or a system glitch tyler@ebay velvet@ebay?


Hi @wastingtime101 - that's unclear at the moment. I'm sending it on for more review, but we probably won't hear back on this until early to mid next week. 

 

Thank you for letting us know what is happening @tree*fern

Tyler,
eBay
Message 10 of 43
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Re: Book Sellers: Catalog Turning Itself On Even When Opted Out

I'm not sure what the problem is. But when we don't want our book to be a part of the catalog (which is wrong more often than right), we just don't put in an isbn.

 

Is the only benefit to you putting the isbn in that you don't have to input the info yourself?

 

Most of our books seem to sell by key word. Not by author or title or most of the other info in the catalog.

Message 11 of 43
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Re: Book Sellers: Catalog Turning Itself On Even When Opted Out

Yes, I just noticed the same problem today on one of my  "sell similar" items -- eBay had automatically entered an ISBN number, even though my previous listing had been listed with "Does Not Apply" in the ISBN box -- and the book details of the ISBN number which eBay had automatically entered was INCORRECT (wrong publisher), and thus useless to my listing.

 

Since eBay always states that any details regarding the books are the responsibility of the seller, why would eBay automatically force ISBN numbers upon book listings, even after sellers have entered "DOES NOT APPLY" in the ISBN box?  How many NAD cases will eBay booksellers face, before eBay corrects this problem?

 

Yet again another eBay holiday SNAFU!!!

Message 12 of 43
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Re: Book Sellers: Catalog Turning Itself On Even When Opted Out

tyler@ebay  Thank you for replying, and thank you for the help! 

Please note that the book catalog forcing itself on listings that have "Does not apply" for UPC (ISBN) is a problem. A single book title can have multiple, different published editions, and/or are published in different formats (e.g., hardcover, paperback, audio) and they do not all have the same ISBN-13 and ISBN-10.  Buyers are often looking for a specific edition or format.

tree*fern
Volunteer Community Mentor

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Re: Book Sellers: Catalog Turning Itself On Even When Opted Out

@1786davycrockett   Please call CS and report the problem.  It helps get the fix prioritized if they know it's happening to more than one seller.  Ticket #1-409663275318.

tree*fern
Volunteer Community Mentor

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Re: Book Sellers: Catalog Turning Itself On Even When Opted Out

Roger that!

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