Started a new Store for the vacation options need answers

[dj56]

I started an Ebay store to add my listings so I can go on vacation for 3 weeks.

My question is now all my items show seller is on vacation from date to date.

Is there a way to set it so people can still see my items but also let them know Im on vacation and not let them buy anything?

thanks

[wastingtime101]

You didn't need a store subscription for that. Vacation settings exclusively for store owners were recently replaced with Time Away settings available to all sellers.

You cannot turn off the ability for people to purchase your items and still have them appear in search. You're either actively selling or you're not.

[duncanvr]

Use the time away settings but also extend your handling time to at least 5 days this will also give you time to catch up with sales when you get back from holidays. Good if you happen to still sell a lot of stuff when your on holidays as you don't want to rush with packing when you return. Just remember to switch the handling time back when you have caught up with packing & shipping after you return.

[dj56]

Most of my items are in Electronics CB radio and Ham Radio, and are all kits that are custom made meaning I have to assemble them. I do have most of the items set to 10 day handling time to give me time to assemble and ship. Most take 2-3 days to assemble. So i joined the Store to put my selling on hold.

My question is when I did this until December 31 2020 all my items are no longer viewable to people on ebay.

I wish there is an option to have all my items still show with no buying option and the people see im on vacation and they will be able to purchase items after December 31.

Again all my items disappeared nothing can be seen.

Is there an option so my items can still be seen but no sales allowed?

thanks

[frodobagginskennedy]

 new settings only allow you to go on vacation for 15 days.  We just came back from 24 days.  I had to remember to extend the vacations settings for another 15 days.  I usually extend my handling time to accomadate our being away.  I am still going to do that from now on.  I had to hide my listings and not allow sales for the first 15 days.  I do not like this new time away since we usually go away for 3 weeks.  Sales really lagged since I could not allow sales for 15 days.

On Etsy I just extended my handling time which is so much easier to do then on e bay,  I also posted a statement that we would be away.  My Sales were phenomenal on Etsy the entire time we were away.

[dj56]

Here is an answer from Ebay.

If you opt into the Store and set the Vacation date all your listings are hidden from ebay buyers even yourself if you try to view your store its empty, nothing listed.

Ebay does not want buyers to see something they cant buy, Big Brain Fart thinking.

The time away option should be set the vacation time/dates.

But still let the item be seen buy people and have no option to buy until the seller returns from vacation.

The way its set now its like I either quit ebay>got banned>closed my account and every other thing but let buyers knwo Im still selling but on Vacation. Ebay get you HEAD OUT OF YOUR BUTT HOLE and think about this im still selling but just on vacation you need to re think and revise this option asap.

Brain Fart all the way again as usual!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[nobody*s_perfect]

Time Away can be set for up to 30 days (not just 15) and you can re-set the ending date while it's active. 

[frodobagginskennedy]

I tried to do 30 days and it would not accept it.  Will be trying again in a feweeks will see what it does.

[nobody*s_perfect]

As you can see above, it accepted an end date of January 7. Maybe you mis-counted the 30 days. The 30 days of time away would include today and January 7, plus December has 31 days.

[frodobagginskennedy]

I wanted to KEEP sales live.  YOu cannot do it for more then 15 days

Invalid input: Time away duration with allow item sales cannot exceed 15 days

[nobody*s_perfect]

Yes, that's the difference. It makes sense that eBay wouldn't want sellers to keep buyers waiting for 30 days. IIRC, the allowable handling time of 30 days is supposed to be just for pre-orders.  But on day 14 you can go in and extend your time away end date.

[frodobagginskennedy]

Yes but if you do that after the first 15 days wants you to start shipping.  Since you are still away you cannot ship.  So you have to put the first 15 days on hidden UNLESS you go in and manually increase your handling time.

Beleive me I tried every variable.  Increasing your handling time for the first 15 days and keep sales live is the only option.  Then you can show your sales for the second 15 days...BUT you will have to go in and reduce your handling time for the second 15 days.

I am on a 3 week Dive vacation.  My attention is on diving and having fun not worrying about increasing and decreasing handling time.  

If you can think of a better work around I am all ears as we are going on another 3 week dive vacation soon.

[frodobagginskennedy]

  am I evaluating this situation correctly?  tyler@ebay

Thanks in advance!!

[tyler@ebay]

Thanks for the tag @frodobagginskennedy - I had to do some digging on this, but I think I have an answer. 

There is a hard-limit on the 'Allowing item sales' option of 15 days. There is not a way to extend past that without triggering shipping expectations (as you noted). 

The only thing I can think of is to reverse the order: start the trip off making the listings unavailable completely, then part way through ending that and switching to the 'allow sales while away' for the last portion of the trip. I'm not sure how feasible that will be on a dive trip though (definitely want to see pics from that if you care to share!). 

Some other things I've found out when looking into this and consider really important is that the 'Allow item sales' option will not change estimated delivery dates for local pick up or GSP items. So if you offer GSP as a shipping option you'll want to  manually change the EDDs on those listings. 

[frodobagginskennedy]

tyler@ebay 

Luckily I do not offer GSP and rarely do local pick up.  I think it also will still allow offers if it is in someones watch list as I received some offers while the 15 day block was in effect.  Next time I will manually extend the handling time then for the second 15 day I will have to reduce the handling time.

It is a PITA but will just have to set some time aside as I lost a lot of sales I am sure that first 15 days.  I have been doing e bay for years and always used the old vacation setting with items live and just adjusted the handling time.  Sales were always good.  

While I like the 15 days live option that it automatically extends, it is not good for those of us that go away for extended times.  I will love it when I go to my Moms for just 2 weeks every six weeks.  However when we go to Roatan Honduras for extended periods it is not so good.  I appreciate what they are trying to do though.

I appreciate your time in this.  Will send you some dive photos as soon as we get caught up with shipping on here and Etsy.  We got slammed on Etsy while away.

Have a Merry Christmas!  Stay safe 😉

Jeanette