"This seller is currently away" message displayed. Only we're NOT 'away'...

[replacementradios]

Over the last few days we've noticed the following message appears on our listings for which the quantity drops to zero. "This seller is currently away, and is not processing orders at this time. You can add this item to your watch list to purchase later."

That is inaccurate and misleading. We're not away. We're just showing zero quantity for the item in question. FYI - We use the eBay-provided Out Of Stock option, which doesn't end a listing just because quantity drops to zero...

There are many problems with this message. It could send potential buyers to competitors when we may have another listing they'd be interested in. (ie - They may decide not to look at other items in our store and just move along.) Or maybe they would normally contact us to see if we have more in stock or on the way, but don't in this case, because eBay says we're "away". Or maybe it's a buyer going back to a purchased listing because of a problem they're having. They see we're "away", so they don't bother to reach out for assistance. They just open a return case (possibly with the wrong reason), because they didn't think we'd be able to provide support... Any way you look at it, this is NOT a good message to be presenting. It serves no purpose. The listing already shows quantity 0, so they can't buy the item. Why scare them away from contacting us or looking at our other items?

Why is this message appearing and how do we either customize it or turn it off? FYI - I checked Vacation Settings and they are NOT turned on.

This is something eBay has evidently recently put in place of their own accord. For us anyway. Anyone else having this same experience?

[reed-sales]

I have experienced this as well: https://community.ebay.com/t5/My-Account/eBay-is-posting-quot-Seller-is-currently-away-quot-on-my/m-...

 

[replacementradios]

reed-sales, Do you use the Out Of Stock feature too?

[replacementradios]

And have you reported it to eBay? If so, do you have a Service Request Number? I'd like to reference it when I call, because they almost always say "there's been no report of the problem you're having" when I call with a problem. Even though I always find others in the forum who have reported the problem before me...

[darkeyedman]

I had the same problem and ask others to look at my listings. They did not see the message. One reply suggested it was only on listings whose quantity was zero, and I believe this is the case. 

[dhbookds]

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@reed-sales wrote:

I have experienced this as well: https://community.ebay.com/t5/My-Account/eBay-is-posting-quot-Seller-is-currently-away-quot-on-my/m-...

 

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I'm seeing that as "out of stock", not the away message........so perhaps it's fixed........

[reed-sales]

I am awaiting a call back right now, I will post report# after I'm off the phone. 

[reed-sales]

Support ticket started with eBay: 

SR#1-278285749416

No other reports had been made at the time I spoke with him.  He was able to verify the sporadic nature of the message popping up only part of the time.

[wickerjay]

I have this same issue for any item that is currently "out of stock" and eBay's system simultaneously shows the vacations banner:

"This seller is currently away, and is not processing orders at this time. You can add this item to your watch list to purchase later."

This glitch is driving business away from my store. Just because a specific item is OOS, doesn't me that I don't have hundreds of other items available, but I know some buyers will see the vacation banner and move on to the next seller.

[pjcdn2005]

If a listing has a zero quantity, buyers don't even see it so how could it drive buyers away?

I noticed the same message earlier when I looked at an out of stock item and when I relisted it the message was still visible to me at first. But once the listing was available in search, the message was gone.

[rebecca@ebay]

Thanks all for posting about this - the good news is the team was already aware, thanks to the reports via Customer Support but I was able to find out they are working on fixing it now. No ETA for the fix but it's definitely prioritized.

Thank you!

[pjcdn2005]

I just read in another thread that although buyers don't see out of stock items in search, someone who has already purchased the item or someone who finds it by using an off ebay search engine will see an oos listing. I didn't realize that so I learned something new today!

[replacementradios]

Or if they have the item in their Watch list... Or if they had it in their cart... Or if they've previously asked a question about it and, as a result, have it in their message history...  Or if one person sent the item link to someone else... Or, or, or...

The "away" message is inaccurate, in this case, and shouldn't be presented, regardless of how likely one thinks it is to drive people away. One missed opportunity because of an erroneous message is too many...

[maxoptical]

what if your listing is indexed by Google or another search engine?  and my listings are in stock but showing the message. 

[actionfigurevault77]

The message is also displaying randomly on listing WITH actual quantities, so it's not just when your stock levels hit zero. Needless to say, as the rep. said, it's being worked on.