Variation listings - what the hey?

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

Suddenly I can't edit any variation listing which uses 'character' as an attribute????

Getting an error message that "character" is not a valid IS. Erm it's NOT an IS it's a variation attribute.

eta: Seems to be Lego listings it's affecting???

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

Yep. It's looking like the only option I'm going to have is to wipe out the whole listing and any sales history. Lovely huh?

[sharingtheland]

And is it any wonder I don't want to deal with ebay's managed payments ....

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

I also notice total radio silence from those I tagged about the problem.
I absolutely do NOT understand why "character" is no longer an allowed variation specific for minifigures.

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

Personally, I think for Lego minifigures, "character" should be a freaking default.

[lovett-1000]

Same thing happened to me. That is the reason I have so many of same with diff Wt. Sorry this happened to you. Wish you best in sales. 

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

Strangely, it's only the Lego that are affected. Other variations are quite happy to let me use character as a variation specific.

I'm now pretty sure they mucked it up when adding the new IS requirements in the Lego category. For now I'll just leave them and hope they fix it before I return from vacation next week.

[shipscript]

When eBay assigns a standard item specific name to a category, it does create problems for variations that share the same name. When a variation error occurs because the name is already reserved for item specifics, the variation name can (or must) be changed by at least a letter or two to pass the filters. In many cases, variation labels can not be identical to the item specifics of the master record.

This causes problems for long standing listings whose variation names were later subsumed by the category item specifics. eBay's reworking of category item specifics was discussed in this thread.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Gather-your-Item-Specifics-before-the-Category-changes/m-p/298...

To determine if there is a conflict between eBay's category item specifics and a label you would like to use (or are already using) for a variation, you can download eBay's category item specifics from eBay's Item Specifics lookup tool:

https://developer.ebay.com/tools/item-specifics

That file can be opened in a text editor to be pasted into this tool:

http://isdntek.com/ebaytools/ItemSpecificsEditor.htm

The above editor can create a readable report that will advise whether a label is allowed within a Variation, or whether it can only be used in the master record.

The problem for existing listings is that renaming variations is not an easy task. The variation must first be deleted and then recreated, and if there are sales against that variation, deletion is not possible until those sales roll off.

A few months ago, we tried to tackle some of the issues of variations. If we have missed any details on this thread, we should probably pick them up and add them to the tutorial.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Variation-Listings-let-s-work-on-a-tutorial/m-p/29755562

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

Thanks for that ship.
As I suspected it looks like all I can do is delete them altogether, lose the sales history, and start over.

Added to this is that I am going on vacation until the 4th, don't have time for this and NOW I can't even edit the handling time thanks to this screw up.

FWIW, the actual IS on the main page of these listings doesn't even have "character" as a field (probably because it wouldn't make any sense, not that that's ever stopped eBay's coders in the past).

I would STILL like an explanation as to just WHY ebay doesn't think character would be a suitable variation specific for Lego minifigures in a series.

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

Might I also mention, they've managed to muck up the field "type" in the PGP category as well. Even though I've been dutifully filling the type field, when I try to edit it throws an error and I have to erase what's in the field, type the same **bleep** thing again and THEN it accepts it.

[brian@ebay]

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@myjunqueyourtreasure wrote:

Suddenly I can't edit any variation listing which uses 'character' as an attribute????

Getting an error message that "character" is not a valid IS. Erm it's NOT an IS it's a variation attribute.

eta: Seems to be Lego listings it's affecting???

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Hi @myjunqueyourtreasure, if you can provide an item number then I'll be happy to review this! 

[abfabvintage]

@myjunqueyourtreasure 

Thanks MyJ. My concern was my friend received an actual email 2 days before the Chat on 8/21 and I did not ansd still don't have it...she was kind enough to send me the actual IS pages related to what I sell...the answer I received on the Chat was to check my spam folder ? duh...and the other part that raised my hackles (which doesn't take much)  a comment in the Chat that: "Additionally, there are times where a notice like this would be sent out early to members who may face a significant time investment to update their listings..." which frankly made me feel like I am less important lolol. I need to know ahead of time just like everyone else to go in and change my program/listings before these changes hit...that's all...thanks for the reply.

[shipscript]

@myjunqueyourtreasure 

I started a new listing in the category for Character toys, based on your Paw Patrol listing:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/183704768636

We can see that one of the default master attributes is "Character."  That is why you can not edit the listing with that attribute in the Variation.

brian@ebay 

It looks like eBay's Item Specifics Lookup tool is broken again. Any chance you could bug them to fix it again?

https://developer.ebay.com/tools/item-specifics

[abfabvintage]

@Anonymous 

All due respect (gosh I hate that phrase)...I need to get the information as quickly as others no matter if I have 2 items or 1k...I use the information to be ahead of the game and make sure my listing program people have the same info...ahead of time. These changes affect not only my active listings, though meager to most, but my entire listing program. And, I believe, when they change categories or IS on active items, insertions are made unbeknownst to the seller and only noticed if the seller happens to go in to do a revision not related to IS or category. When the category/IS changes were made mid year on my actives, whatever they changed totally wiped out my Condition descriptive blocks. So I think I am familiar enough on how this works. 

[brian@ebay]

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@shipscript wrote:

@myjunqueyourtreasure 

I started a new listing in the category for Character toys, based on your Paw Patrol listing:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/183704768636

We can see that one of the default master attributes is "Character."  That is why you can not edit the listing with that attribute in the Variation.

brian@ebay 

It looks like eBay's Item Specifics Lookup tool is broken again. Any chance you could bug them to fix it again?

https://developer.ebay.com/tools/item-specifics

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I'm happy to get it reported! Thanks for letting me know, @shipscript 

[Anonymous]

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@abfabvintage wrote:

@Anonymous 

All due respect (gosh I hate that phrase)...I need to get the information as quickly as others no matter if I have 2 items or 1k...I use the information to be ahead of the game and make sure my listing program people have the same info...ahead of time. These changes affect not only my active listings, though meager to most, but my entire listing program. And, I believe, when they change categories or IS on active items, insertions are made unbeknownst to the seller and only noticed if the seller happens to go in to do a revision not related to IS or category. When the category/IS changes were made mid year on my actives, whatever they changed totally wiped out my Condition descriptive blocks. So I think I am familiar enough on how this works. 

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@abfabvintage- I didn't say or even imply that you should not be notified of changes. I think that kind of information should be readily available to all sellers. What I did say is I think Trinton already answered your question. If you don't like his answer then the next step would be to tell him why you think the notification system should change.

I think others received such early notice due to their volume of listings but that doesn't mean you won't also receive advance notice.

I speculated in my last that you will receive advance notice of the IS changes if eBay puts them in the seller update this week. These changes don't go into effect until Oct 8th so you will still have a solid month of advance notice if the changes are noted in the seller update. It's just a guess, but I'm hoping that's what will happen.

With regards to your listing program - forgive my ignorance, but isn't it their job to keep on top of changes, not your job to tell them about changes? I don't know but I thought that's one of the reasons people pay for those services? Perhaps your program is different and relies on its users to find out about updates.