How long after returning store from vacation before listings return to search results and store?

[vulcansystems]

Been selling on ebay since 2011.  Have run a fairly successful store in that time.

Over the Labor Day weekend, we put our store on vacation but allowed buyers to continue to purcahse items.  Then a few months later, we lost our Top Rated status because apparently being on vacation for a few days meant we didn't meet our 1-day handling times, so our on-time shipping rate fell below 95 percent (didn't that used to be 90 percent) ?

So anyways, we're no longer Top Rated.  So now for the Thanksgiving weekend, to avoid this happening again since we're really close to getting that status back, we put  the store on vacation but this time checked the box that says buyers can't buy anything while we're on vacation.  Which, we didn't really want to lose a day and a half of sales, but figured it was better than the alternative of staying below 95 percent on-time shipping.

So since we'll be back to shipping stuff on Monday, we took the store off of vacation mode early this morning.  After a few hours, a mere 6 of our 99 items for sale showed back up  in our store and in the search results.  Now, more than 10 hours later, that number is up to only 14 out of 99.

My question is, how long does it take for every item in the store to become searchable again once the store is returned from vacation?  And just as a gripe, I think it is absolutely ridiculous that we can't close the store down a few days a  year without being punished by ebay for it.

[emerald40]

Important:

• It can take up to several days for your listings to become hidden after you select and save this Store vacation setting.

• When you clear this setting, it can take up to several days for your listings to appear again in search results.

  I think it depends on how busy it gets with listings being indexed in.  So this time of the year it can take a bit longer for everything to show again.

[vulcansystems]

Thanks for the info!

As a follow-up question then, is there any mass setting where I can just increase our handling time by a few days temporarily on each and every listing instead of going on vacation, and then set it back to its default?  I know I can do this one listing at a time,  but can it be applied to each and every one all at once?

[emerald40]

In Sales manager Pro you would

• click open your active listings
• Use the check box for the listings you want to change
• Then use the edit button (top left area near the check all box)
• Click on edit selected listings
• When the new filtered results show up us the check all box and
• then look under the drop down box for handling time
• Make your changes all at one time then save he changes

Above courtesy of Goodluckselling

[swenson8781]

In the beginning of November I placed all of my items on vacation (hidden so buyers couldn't purchase), removed them when I returned.  It took about 48 hours for all items to be re-populated into my eBay store, however, items were searchable again within about 6-12 hours.  As I had items purchased prior to them all showing up in my store again, and I could see them in search, just not in my store.

[points13]

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@vulcansystems wrote:

Thanks for the info!

As a follow-up question then, is there any mass setting where I can just increase our handling time by a few days temporarily on each and every listing instead of going on vacation, and then set it back to its default?  I know I can do this one listing at a time,  but can it be applied to each and every one all at once

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If you are using business policies it can be done there in a few clicks. I have always turned on the vacation settings with the block and hide about two days before leaving and turned it off on friday if i was going to be back to ship on monday like you did. All my items seemed to be up within a day.

Reading on here, lots of sellers have had trouble when they do not block and hide. Changing the handling time would be the fix for leaving them visible but todays buyer usually doesn't want to wait and may not notice a temporary long handling time. Making an unhappy buyer

[eggs3]

Regarding repopulating your store after being on vacation: someone gave me this hint a while ago and it seems to work. When you want to re-open your store, first, go into your store and turn your "vacation settings" to off. Then go into "My ebay" and "active listings" and click to select all of your listings. Then click "edit" like you are going to edit all of your listings, but then don't make any changes to the listings. Just click "submit" changes and the listings will be re-submitted. When I have done this, within 5 minutes or so, my store is repopulated.

[thevintagesilvershop]

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@eggs3 wrote:
Regarding repopulating your store after being on vacation: someone gave me this hint a while ago and it seems to work. When you want to re-open your store, first, go into your store and turn your "vacation settings" to off. Then go into "My ebay" and "active listings" and click to select all of your listings. Then click "edit" like you are going to edit all of your listings, but then don't make any changes to the listings. Just click "submit" changes and the listings will be re-submitted. When I have done this, within 5 minutes or so, my store is repopulated.

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True. The above works to quickly re-index and see your listings in your Store again. 

[dcintennessee]

@eggs3- awesome tip, thanks!

[myboardid]

Just wanted to add - I returned on Sunday from a trip, having closed my store ten days before.  All I did was turn off the vacation settings, and my items were viewable within 5 minutes.  I had a sale within 10 minutes. 

[castlemagicmemories]

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@myboardid wrote:

Just wanted to add - I returned on Sunday from a trip, having closed my store ten days before.  All I did was turn off the vacation settings, and my items were viewable within 5 minutes.  I had a sale within 10 minutes. 

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That  is great, my board!  But I understand not everyone is that fortunate.

[all4my3miracles]

I just spent 40+ minutes on phone with ebay customer service and they were unable to help me.

Minutes later I saw your post, followed your tip, and all of my items were re-populated within about 2 minutes.

Thank you egg3 ~ Great advice! 

[calntom]

Book marked this one.   Thanks

[lovett-1000]

You are right it takes to long. I go to my listings and do a revise with out doing anything.  After I revise it will show back up. I know it sonds crasy I only have about 40 listings. But do not like to wait on the slow system to put my listings back in search. So I revise all without doing any thing. That seems to put them back active quicker.  I hope you sell lots of items. 

[demyan1978]

You can edit your items in bulk and change something. For example increase price to 1 USD. After that they will return to search results. Next day decrease price to 1 USD so it will have the same price and all your listings will be in search.