"New item specifics requirements coming September 9th" CoNsEqUeNcEs?

[gwzcomps]

Looks like there are consequences if we don't supply inaccurate or irrelevant item specifics.

"As previously announced, we’ll be requiring you to complete certain item specifics starting September 9th. After this date, you won’t be able to publish new, relisted or revised listings without the required item specifics."

Make me wonder, if I am paying to use the site why do I have to pay with my time to help maintain it?  If these item specifics are so important why didn't eBay do their due diligence and hire people qualified to set them up?  It should not be my job to correct all of eBay's blunders on their site.

[gwzcomps]

Luckily there are other options.  One of the other "Marketplaces" just offered me 5 sales of waved FVFs and they would cover shipping costs.

[southern*sweet*tea]

I have IS on everything, a lot of them are my own since Ebay really doesn't provide much for the paper stuff I sell.  The IS should still be available to check off in my settings, though, but it's not.  

[gwzcomps]

Must be category related then.  They keep meddling with the IS in the electronics categories.

[d.clawed]

Yah, my missing item specifics were on an item I sold a month ago.  I hope they don’t “shut me down” for something I already sold.

Honestly, no one checked this before they sent out this message with the ticking time bomb at the top!  Apparently I have 5 days, 7 hours, and 24 minutes to fix this or they will freeze me?

[gwzcomps]

My interpretation is you won't be able to change listings or list listings that aren't compliant with the new requirements.  That is only on a per listing basis though.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

@gwzcomps 

I know I shouldn't be shocked but on dot ca Item Specifics is not included as an option. Takes us forever to get any fixes like this in Canada. Will keep an eye out for it. We should have by 2027.

-Lotz

[mjsbay]

I just received an email from eBay saying I had 3 listings that fit in the category as "Needing Required Item Specifics" If you did not receive an email from eBay in your inbox, you're probably Ok. 

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@mjsbay wrote:

I just received an email from eBay saying I had 3 listings that fit in the category as "Needing Required Item Specifics" If you did not receive an email from eBay in your inbox, you're probably Ok. 

---

Oh, so it's an email message, I though I had missed an announcement or something.

No, no email as of yet.

[gwzcomps]

A thought I just had regarding these required IS.  In the past I used to sell broken iPads for parts or repair.  There was a legitimate market for ones that were completely destroyed even.  Once eBay started requiring people to use the catalog for apple items I couldn't list them anymore.  On non working items it is impossible to get all the IS required to list.  In the case of non-working apple products I am missing out on tens of thousands in sales since I can't list them here.

Just in the last 60 days I have sold ~$2500 of broken laptops for a total of ~$100 in fees under the current structure or ~$170 in fees under the MP structure.  It will be impossible to list said items after the 9th with the new requirements.

tyler@ebay brian@ebay  I'm not sure who the right person to tag would be.  Is it eBay's intention to eliminate used/non-working items from the site?  Just in parts laptops I do $10k-15k yearly in sales.  My inability to list broken apple products has probably cost me another $8k in the last 2 years since that change.

[pjcdn2005]

Although some of the things that ebay does or requires doesn't make sense to me, I do think that if they were trying to get rid of small sellers (as has been mentioned hundreds of times on the boards) or sellers that sell a certain type of item, they would simply do so. There is no reason for them to set up some elaborate scheme to make it more difficult for those particular items to be listed. 

[gwzcomps]

I think it is an optics thing.  Looks worse to kick unwanted sellers off the site rather than make their lives so miserable they leave on their own.

I also realized this will probably cause problems for mixed lot listings.

[pjcdn2005]

I think that it is more of a conspiracy theory than an optics things.

[chapeau-noir]

---

@pjcdn2005 wrote:

Although some of the things that ebay does or requires doesn't make sense to me, I do think that if they were trying to get rid of small sellers (as has been mentioned hundreds of times on the boards) or sellers that sell a certain type of item, they would simply do so. There is no reason for them to set up some elaborate scheme to make it more difficult for those particular items to be listed. 

---

It might not be their intention (TBH, I'm not sure we sellers of used items are even much on their radar) but some site changes have the potential side effect of rendering us irrelevant.  Recall that something like 82% of inventory on this site is new, much of it commodities that can be found anywhere, and eBay has been trying to force a catalog structure with their version of a buy box, etc., to organise all of this stuff.  We sellers of used items of whatever nature don't fit into any catalog.  I sell in both fashion and electronics, and whereas fashion got royally skrood when it came to IS's last year, it was mostly just plain ignorant taxonomy that did it and it was survivable after a fashion.  In electronics, my experience is a bit different and I think it's because it's more subject to a catalog structure.

[gwzcomps]

Ugh CS people are so dumb.  Yet again they are telling me to do things that are directly against eBay policy.  This policy is going to reduce my sellable items by $50k minimum.  I will no longer be able to sell the following:

• Non working items
• Barebones systems
• Systems missing parts
• Specialty parts that lack the correct IS options

CS told me I can type in "Not Applicable" under the fields I can't properly fill out.  That is a lie as the site policy I just found prohibits that!!!!

Item specifics must be accurate. When item specifics are required, they must be filled out completely. The following are not allowed:

• Use of inaccurate information such as "Does not apply," unbranded/generic, or "N/A" for required product identifiers (such as Brand, UPC, or MPN) when the manufacturer has provided that information for the product
• Including information that is not specific to that field, such as the brand of an item in the item specific for size
• Including terms in the wrong field of the listing

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-policies/item-description-policy?id=4372&st=12&pos=1&quer...

[patd3283]

I am one of those octogenarian sellers that has made a small income selling items here.  I am reasonably computer literate but this has me VERY concerned.  I have been filling in the items that make sense on the lists for a long time, but so many of them are repeats of previous imputed information.

I have several kitty Christmas ornaments listed and there are 3 or 4 places to put in kitty.  They are 1970s vintage and I have no idea where they were made and some are made of various materials.  All those boxes seem repetitive and/or useless.

Shortly, I'll be listing some of DH's unused locomotives.  Neither one of us would be able to answer all those fields and very few of the brand is in the catalog.  They are higher $$$ items and I guess eBay may just lose the listings/sales by these changes.  Buyers in this category know what they are looking for and are educated on the engines.

So eBay may lose this old lady as a seller, sadly. 😞