ePid...?

[*coins]

I just saw a new box on my listing form the other day...it says 'ePid'. After reading and reading, I still cannot figure out what it does or what it is for. I sell coins, so I rarely use the product catolog. Is it something I am supposed to be using?

I know nothing about this...

Thanks.

[ittybitnot]

Am I the only person getting an error message when I tried to go to the catalog page? 

Don't know.  Perhaps it blew up trying to  determine which products are fake, real, new, used, new other, have extra parts, missing parts, etc. and just couldn't handle it.   Have no fear..soon no UPC, no epid, your item will not be shown.  I

[*coins]

I clicked it, and this is what I got. Have you tried a different browser?

[westex80]

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@*coins wrote:

I clicked it, and this is what I got. Have you tried a different browser?

 Sure enough I guess you can't view that page in firefox. I was able to open the page on Microsoft Edge. Thanks for the suggestion.

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[1786davycrockett]

"I will assume eBay will be auto inserting this EPID to correct listing that are the same (UPC codes, etc)."

And therein lies the problem.  And not just a teeny, tiny problem.  But a PROBLEM.

Because eBay has a very bad tendency of ignoring the basic characteristics of individual items that eBay seems to feel are "identical," simply because (in books, for example) the title and author are the same.

But simply because a book has the same author and title does not necessarily mean that it is univerally identical to every other book with the same author and title.  There are differences in publishers, and page counts, and editions, and illustrations, and introductions, and afterwords, and forewords, and footnotes, and copyright dates, and cover art, and. . .you get the picture.  And then, of course, there are all the infinite numbers of condition variations.

So how is one, single, annoying EPID gonna include ALL those variations?

Sounds like another disasterous avalanche in sales, once more due to eBay's ignorance.

[ittybitnot]

But simply because a book has the same author and title does not necessarily mean that it is univerally identical to every other book with the same author and title.  There are differences in publishers, and page counts, and editions, and illustrations, and introductions, and afterwords, and forewords, and footnotes, and copyright dates, and cover art, and. . .you get the picture.  

Yes, as a seller, I got "the picture" a long time ago. That is why I sell my used / vintage books someplace else....they are in Google shopping within a couple of hours with my own pictures, edition information, and condition well described.  Even if I insert the ISBN, the buyer will know exactly what is being offered.   Can't figure out why ebay disagrees with this format.    I never believed eBay when they said all those product identifiers, MPC, ISBN, etc. was for better visiblity in Google.  Actually, I don't believe anything ebay says anymore, and I have been here for 20 years. 

[readabouthorses]

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@westex80 wrote:

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@*coins wrote:

I clicked it, and this is what I got. Have you tried a different browser?

 Sure enough I guess you can't view that page in firefox. I was able to open the page on Microsoft Edge. Thanks for the suggestion.

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I clicked the link and saw the page using Firefox with no problems. Is your Firefox too old?

[berserkerplanet]

>>I clicked the link and saw the page using Firefox with no problems. Is your Firefox too old?

I suspect westex80's snafu was just one of the new, all too prevalent fails, that a page reload cures. (My All selling page failed to load this morning. Took a refresh to get it to fill out.

The catalog link views just fine in Firefox 3.6.24 (11-08-2011) or FF2.0.20 (12-18-2008) About as old as it gets unless I reinstall FF1.5 or Phoenix 0.5

Which is surprising. eBay is making sure that pages are blank white expanses in older browser with most new pages they roll out. Although that mostly only applies to heavy function pages that use new-fangled scripting features the older browsers don't possess. Purchase History, Feedback, SYI, Seller Dashboard and others have been useless in FF3.6.24 for years. Mostly there, but buttons and dropdowns don't work, etc. Can no longer change items per page or other popup settings on search pages in FF31 starting when they rolled out all the broken search changes recently. Manage Shipping Labels page now requires somewhere around Firefox 52 min to work (for no good reason other than change for the sake of change with no consideration for backward compatibility)

[nc-daydreamer]

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@pburn wrote:
eBay Product Identifier. ePID. It's like the ISBN for books. It will be a searchable "keyword," so to speak.

From a quick Google search:

https://blog.edock.it/en/ebay-product-identifier-epid-the-new-in-of-2018

https://help.sellercloud.com/article/qNElEl5T2a-e-pid-ebay-product-identifier

https://ebaydts.com/eBayKBDetails?KBid=1475

Thanks for the info, but this is way over my head I'm afraid.  Don't these folks have a life - anything better to do than complicate the lives and business of others?  Geeze... Whatever happened to the KISS concept?

[vintagecraze50]

I would like to use the epid but have no idea whatsoever how to get an assigned number whatever for  fine jewelery  products that are  only come from the manufacturer with a part number specific to that manufacturer. Sometimes the part number is not even given on the thousands of these that are on here now, or anywhere else on the web. So search on Google is pretty much brand name and product decsription in the title  to find stuff.  For now the best way to search this stuff is the TITLE, not any kind of cataloque specific. That seems to be the best way to get visibility. These items will never have a UPC unless they are sold by Walmart, Overstock etc. who then put their own UPC on the item. At best, only a limited number of these items will ever have a UPC. So we are just sticking with what works now.

[gramophone-georg]

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@*coins wrote:

Thanks to everyone for the fast answers!

I am not a fan of Amazon's ASIN because they practicallyforce you to put one in..I hope it never comes down to that here.

Thanks again, and I appreciate all of the replies!

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Hope springs eternal, yet surely you know better.