out-of-stock-option NOT WORKING!

[thecapecantina]

Hi, when I click the out-of-stock-option APPLY button it brings me to "page not responding", I kept trying for about 2 weeks now, and I can't find a fix. Does anyone know how to fix this? I need it ASAP.

[berserkerplanet]

Using Firefox 31 I ticked the box, hit "apply", it ground for a minute "waiting for My eBay", and landed on a "page not responding"page.

https://my.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?MyEbay&CurrentPage=MyeBayPreferences&FClassic=true

However, the box is now checked in my settings. I can't test anything because I have no GTC listings, but it's possible the setting is applying, and it's just that the redirect back to the site settings page (or wherever it's supposed to go) after that is broken.

I unticked the box, hit apply, and same thing happened, ending on error page. Box is now unticked when I go back to the settings page.

That time I fired up HTTPFox and watched the sequence. It does look like they are trying to redirect back to the settings page after POSTing the change data, and although the return URL in the POST data is correct, something is going wrong during the POST process, and it fails over to the error page.

Once again, I can't test anything without changing a listing to a GTC and trying things, and I'm just not going to do that (I don't do GTCs), but my take on this is that it may be a non-issue - the changes to OOS status appear to be applying and it's just really a cosmetic issue.


Does the OOS box stay ticked on your settings page? Have you tried testing a GTC listing somehow to see if OOS is actually enabled?

[thecapecantina]

It does stay ticked, so your saying that if it stays ticked, the feature is already working and just bringing me back to ebay? Thanks.

[berserkerplanet]

What I was saying is that at the time I didn't know.

I was assuming that if the box stays ticked that that means that the change does get submitted, even though returning to the site settings page fails. That doesn't necessarily have to be true, as It's possible that the status of the checked box (checked or not checked) is not pulled from the same place in the database(s) that the status of the OOS on or off variable that eBay uses to manage the GTC listings, but unlikely since that would be a stupid way to handle things.

I don't have any GTC listings, and thought I couldn't test anything, but after thinking on it a bit, looking at the developer API documentation, I ran some tests, and turns out that OOS also applies to non-GTC variation listings.
https://developer.ebay.com/DevZone/guides/ebayfeatures/Development/Listings-UseOutOfStock.html

The setting is working for me even though the return to the settings page fails after submitting the change in the same way you described. So yes, my guess was correct, and toggling the setting in site preferences does turn OOS on and OOS even though the "page not responding" error occurs when the return to the settings page fails after submission.

Note: My simple tests* indicate that that site setting OOS change will not apply to current listings unless the listings are revised to get the change to "take".

*added a variation to listing and saved while setting showed OOS enabled. Everything normal. Revised and changed qty of that variation to zero, saved, and it showed OOS. Changed site setting to not use OOS, and looked at listing, which still showed OOS. Revised listing and changed price by a few pennies, saved, and the variation disappeared as it should when OOS is not enabled.


If you want to change a bunch of GTC or variation listings to use OOS, they will need to be revised to get eBay to go grab the new OOS setting and apply it. You could bulk edit the listings after changing the OOS setting, and just make a change to something in them (bump or reduce price by a penny, find/replace something in the description - like add a space or period to some unique word in all the descriptions, etc).

You can test your listings to make sure the OOS changes is applying by revising one and reducing qty to zero. Should show OOS on the listing itself, and disappear from search, or if a variation listing will show OOS on the variation.