Un-Removable Stock Photo Glitch

[medontmind]

 My glitch is the large main photo of the item I uploaded in many of my listings has been replaced by a stock photo. Example: https://www.ebay.com/itm/332709611518?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

I tried re- uploading the photos, I tried filling in all 12 photo spaces with pics, but the UGLY stamp sized stock photo will not go away.  Ironic thing is I can now have an unlucky 13 photos in these listings, but the 1st pic is the unwanted stock photo.

 Also some of the pics I uploaded of the item for auction now have the words stock photo in the lower corner.  Anyone else having this issue? Check your listings.

[bargainbasementms]

They're just taunting me with this line. 

"The stock photo from the eBay catalog won't appear in your listing because you've added your own photos."

Wonder if this issue has something to do with their new photo search feature. They're forcing a stock photo so it can be found in the photo search. 

https://www.ebayinc.com/stories/news/find-it-on-ebay-using-pictures-instead-of-words/

[nordnnanner]

I could never find a way around this using my mobile phone until today.  To me this is easy and works well.

When you start your listing just type some weird letters that make no sense in the title.  

On the next page that comes up just click on new, used, or any of them, it doesn't matter.

 It will then say no items match your search and you can click on create a new listing.

When you click on create a new listing put in the title you actually want and it will let you do things the same old way we used to without automatically putting in one of their stock photos.

This has made it a lot simpler for me to list on my mobile phone, as it lets me bypass all the automatic baloney eBay has implemented. 

Hope this helps...it has made it a lot easier for me and a lot less frustrating!

[nordnnanner]

I found a way get around this while listing  on my mobile phone.  On the title page type in a few letters that make no sense. This will take you to the next page where you select new, used, or etc.  Click on any one of them. It will then say no items match your search and give you the option to 

[treasurotica]

Yes but by doing it this way, you are leaving your listing out of eBay's catalog and in turn your listings will be harder to find in eBay's search.

[nordnnanner]

But what buyer looks in a "catalog"? Wouldn't it automatically pull up the item if they type it in the search bar?

[treasurotica]

There is no 'catalog' to look at, that's just a term for how eBay is indexing items now; by grouping them by identifiers such as UPC, ISBN, etc. . If your listing isn't in the catalog, every other listing of the same item that is, will get priority in search over yours. Thats the whole point of why bypassing the 'catalog' in order to avoid the stock image is a big big problem. In other words, if your item has a UPC and you deliberately don't use it (to avoid the stock photo), you're basically making your listing invisible, or at best, very hard to find.

[ukclearancecentre]

I was having this issue on one of my listings. I had 4 of my own photos but the first photo was the stock photo. 

I did some testing and realised that the photos on the listing were imported from photos from a external website rather than ones uploaded directly to ebay itself. So I tried uploading an image from my computer as the primary photo and then it was no longer showing the stock photo.

So it appears for me the glitch was that ebay didn't seem to be recognising the images imported from an external websites. 

Hope this might help others 

[treasurotica]

Hmm. All of my photos are always uploaded directly from my computer, not an external website, so I don't think this is was what's causing it. Also pretty sure it's not a glitch, it's eBay attempting to put all similar items together for its new  cataloged product display. Unfortunately at this point I doubt it's going to be "fixed" because this seems to be deliberate. 

[nordnnanner]

Yes, all their geeky, automatic updates are nothing but a pain for sellers. I wonder how much people are getting paid for coming up with all these"improvements"!  😕

[houndstooth_boutique]

ebay has still not fixed this glitched.  Stock photos are showing up on my listings also.  Since I did not want to remove my listing from ebay's catalog, I will have to live with if for now ):-

[grannyfrannys]

I always take & upload my own photos from my own computer (not an external website) & lest I opt out of the catalog entry & don't input a UPC # for the item I'm selling, the stock photo comes up as the first photo in my listings every time.

[matteottayo]

What should I do for this issues if my item already has bids and I cannot remove the stock photo or revise the options discussed here? Am I jsut screwed? This will heavily effect the amount of bids I receive and then Ebay wants me to pay a fee after they screwed my sale over?

[drakkordragon]

Unfortunately at this point the only way for you to get it fixed is to call eBay and pray that the rep you have can actually help you with this. Good luck!

[bargainbasementms]

Yes, this is eBay deliberatly trying to be more like Amazon.  Maybe eBay doesn't realize that the HUGE advantage to selling on eBay vs Amazon is that an eBay listing is MINE. I control my listing. I can differentiate myself and my item.  

The biggest pain with Amazon is that all sellers share the same listing and it becomes a huge mess and hassle. You can make the perfect Amazon listing, then some yahoo comes along and changes everything and you're in damage control mode. It's a constant headache.  

If eBay makes all our listings look the same, they're going to lose a major advantage they have over the competition. 

[dwtrading2015]

I've taken to adding this messag in the text for the adverts I have been forced to include in this stupid catalogue idea to try and defend myself from not as described returns (that you cannot now avoid return postage by buying them off with just the refund)

"Ignore any plain 'stock photo', we have been forced to add them and cannot get rid of them due to some new stupid catalogue system eBay has introduced."

Since having to change the adverts, part numbers are now listed, brands and all sorts of other pre loaded rubbish.  I will have to make an new photo and try and replace the stock photo but my main photos were carefully done with critical eye catching info which worked.  It is back to square one.  I note that the feedback link now only goes to an email pop up where the email address is not populated so you can't even send a message back - I suspect they are overloaded with 100% complaints.  This catalogue thing is a terrible idea where bad reviews from other sellers are now show against my product which is awful.  All the changes being forced on us are truly the poorest interfaces and restrictions they could possibly make.  I beg Aliexpress to start a direct competion with eBay so I and everybody else, buyers and sellers, move immediately to another platform.  It is time eBay got rid of the hippy programmers and emplyed some professionals.  ALL of the changes are terrible and contravine their OWN policies.  I am displaying a stock photo of a product I don't stock and can do nothing about it.