eBay restricts search visibility for items in some categories for 24 hours after listing or edits

[the_og_surplus]

If you sell anything in the collectibles>militaria category, anything in sporting goods>hunting>any gun related category, some optics categories, or many other categories that are affected then when you list an item, fixed price or auction, eBay is blocking all search visibility for a full 24 hours, not only after you start a listing but after any edits. This is a clear case of them intentionally not delivering on the product they sell a seller- I pay for a 7 day auction and 7 days of search visibility and only get 6 days if it is in some categories, while in others I get 6 days and 21 hours.

There also may be some filtering by keywords as well, not just category, it is hard to say yet. But it definitely applies flatly across all listings in some categories.

After talking to other sellers and an eBay rep I have managed to put together what I think is happening.

This all started happening about the same time that eBay started forcing everyone on to their new international shipping plan. The eBay rep let it slip that some categories must be "reviewed" for export compliance. So what is happening is that eBay is holding every listing they think applies for a "review" for 24 hours. Now maybe their idea is that someone looks at it and releases it sooner, but if so they don't seem to be able to make that happen, so its always 24 hours.

I don't know if it only applies to those who use their international shipping or not. Anyone here who has opted out of it want to make a listing in an affected category to see if its blocked for 24 hours for me? I asked the eBay rep and they wouldn't or couldn't tell me if withdrawing from the program would change it.

Its bad enough that visibility is blocked 24 hours after listing, but they also do it for 24 hours after any edits. So if I see I made an error or learn new information on an auction if I try to update it I lose another 24 hours of visibility and bidders. On my fixed price listings if I simply update my quantities because I got more of the item that's another day in the black hole with no sales.

[reallynicestamps]

If they are going to have a 24 hour hold on certain categories, they should be clear about it. How hard is honesty?

Nothing to do with honesty.

They are telling us there "may be" up to a 24 hour hold.

If it were 24 hours and one minute, that would be a dishonest statement.

Otherwise, economies of scale come into play.

"Up to 24 hours" one statement programmed to show on all Sell Your Item forms on all categories.

Simple. Cheap. Easy. KISS.

"Exactly 24 hours" on Guns & Ammo. "Up to six minutes" on Dolls and Toys , "Up to 3 hours on Books", Up to....."

See how that goes.

And every one has to be programmed and the timing decided and the listing corrected so that "Jan 6 Barbie" is correctly indexed.

KISS.

[oh_you_pretty_things]

I agree with you. It's infuriating having my listings held up like this. And ebay customer service is worthless.

[kh-shakhib]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.