Warning - Buy it Now listings not running for a full month

[ett1954]

Just listed a Buy it Now and it is showing ending on 3rd March. 

I had around 100 listings auto-renew today half are finishing on the 3rd March whilst the remainder are finishing on the 4th March.  These were sequential listings in order that buyers can easily find what they want; now they are spread over two days.

Marco@ebay can you ask your CEO to use some of his "magical innovations" to put them back into sequence please.  It also would help if he could get the children, sorry programmers, to stop playing on a live site.

[marco@ebay]

Hi ett1954, thanks for your post.

If you confirm the item number, I will be happy to look into this for you and assist you further.

Thank you,

Marco

[ett1954]

Marco, thanks for your response and for taking up this matter.

This affected 7 new listings that were made yesterday afternoon (4th March).  Six of these were scheduled at specific times to start so they slotted into existing listings in the correct order of the same type that were auto-renewing.

An example is item 204677221633 which now shows a finish on 3rd April instead of 4th.  Interesting that they also show a time which is one hour forward of the time at which they became active whilst the auto-renewed listings show the time ending as the same as that they ended.  It seems someone has been playing with the change from GMT to BST as there is now a disparity between existing listings and new listings.

I would appreciate your comments, and both a confirmation this will be resolved and these new listings being reinstated into their correct position with the existing listings finishing on the 4th April.

[morrissey67]

Hello, yes I've had the same problem - I thought it was my error

[ett1954]

@morrissey67   I think more people will begin to notice this as they try to schedule new listings to fit in with existing listings finishing after March 31st; this is when the clocks change.  It would appear someone doesn't know how many days there are in March although auto-renewals seems to be working correctly.  This would suggest the scheduling calendar is no longer synchronised correctly as one compensating for the clocks changing whilst the auto-renewal is not.

marco@ebay  Any news yet on this problem?  I have new listings to schedule into existing listings in a few days - do I add an extra day and subtract an hour to compensate?  At the moment the scheduling feature is no longer fit for purpose if you are accurately trying to slot new listings into existing listings.  A response from someone at eBay would be appreciated.

[marco@ebay]

Thanks for your reply, ett1954. 

I was checking there, and the listing for the item 204677221633  went live on March 4th, and it is ending on April 3rd in case it doesn't sell before that. If you count the days from March 4th until April 3rd, you will see that there are 30 full days. Other than that, I don't see anything wrong with your listing. If you wish to flag something else, please let me know.

Have a lovely day,

Marco

[moldosgifts]

Ive just relisted 40 items that had a 2 months and 28 days showing as used on the countdown calander that displays underneath, so no not getting full 30 days on those and it has been happening for a while now.

I have 1,160 listinf do you want every item number?

[ett1954]

marco@ebay  "If you count the days from March 4th until April 3rd, you will see that there are 30 full days."

Then why did the listings renewing at the same time now show an ending date of 4th April (31 days)?  All my lisitngs ending yesterday (5th March) are now ending on the 5th April - 31 days.

Buy it Now listings run for the full calendar month and auto-renew to finish on the same day the following month.  The only change is when listings are made on the 31st when they will then finish and renew back on their original listing date.  It's been like this for several years and is one reason why I now never start listings on the 29th, 30th and 31st of a month.  You also did not address the time issue - renewed listings show no time change; new ones did.

[wastingtime101]

Hi @ett1954 . You're not imagining a problem here. We've been experiencing the same issue on .com starting with new listings created 10th February.

devon@ebay from the US team is looking into this tech issue. Perhaps he can connect with marco@ebay to provide an internal update so Marco can update you when eBay fixes the problem.

The concern surrounding this issue is listings that can renew twice within the same calendar month, taking up 2 free insertions or getting hit with an extra insertion fee.

Here are some of our current discussions which include screenshots of the problem in the first link, and tips for listings that may double-renew in the same month in the second link:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Report-eBay-Technical-Issues/Listing-quot-End-Date-quot-off-by-1-Day/m...

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Listings-created-March-1-2024-potential-unexpected-fees/td-p/3...

I checked the UK help page and see you have the same "calendar date" renewal policy as the US which went into effect July 2019 - it's different from the old "30 day" renewal policy for fixed price listings that Marco appears to be referencing.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/listings/creating-managing-listings/selecting-listing-duration?i...

When you list an item as Good 'Til Cancelled, it will relist every month on the same day until it's sold. For example, if you list your item on the 1st of May, it will relist on the 1st of June. 

If you list your item on the 29th, 30th or 31st of a month, the duration will be adjusted if the following month is shorter, but will revert to the original day for longer months. For example, if you list an item on the 31st of May, it will relist on the 30th of June, and then again on the 31st of August and so on.

Hope this info helps!

[ett1954]

marco@ebay  I presume you have noted the response from @wastingtime101  above and read the appropriate threads which appear to confirm we now have the same issue in the UK as that which has been running on .com since February 10th and appears to be linked to the clocks changing to daylight saving which happens there on March 10th

Note the confirmation that listings end on the same day each month and NOT every 30 days as you state.  The 30 day listing period was changed, as I mentioned earlier, in 2019.  I have just put another listing up (item no.  395252366995) which continues to show a 30 day listing period; i.e. it is ending on 6th April and not 7th April.

It beggars belief that this has been happening on .com for nearly a month with no resolution.

As commentators on the US thread have pointed out you had better be prepared for a tidal wave of complaints as some new listings in 31 day months will be relisted after 30 days and could result in some unexpected fees for anyone at the limit of their shop allowance.

Can we please have some feedback on when this issue will be resolved.  I have new listings that need activating, however if listings are now renewing after 30 days I will need to review, as I am sure others will, my strategy going forward.

[ett1954]

@wastingtime101   Many thanks for your post - I can stop questioning my sanity.

I  have posted a comment on the US thread to confirm we are now experiencing the same, as I note there still doesn't appear to be a resoltion to this on your side of the pond.

[marco@ebay]

Thanks for your reply, ett1954.

As advised before, for the example you provided, everything seems to be ok. If you are still seeing this problem with other listings, please confirm the item number and I will be happy to look into it for you.

Thank you,

Marco

[wastingtime101]

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@ett1954 wrote:

we now have the same issue in the UK as that which has been running on .com since February 10th and appears to be linked to the clocks changing to daylight saving which happens there on March 10th

---

Our issue in the US is not about clocks changing. Yes, there is an hour difference on renewal with DST factored in, but from what I can recall that always happens twice a year with listings created the month prior to DST and really isn't a problem.

The part that's a problem is listings renewing one full calendar day early, e.g. a listing created March 7th should renew on April 7th, but instead they are scheduled to renew on April 6th. This is occurring with all new listings created since Feb 10th but is not affecting listings created prior to Feb 10th.

If that's not what you're seeing, then your issue is different from what's happening on .com.

I made a guess based on your original post saying all listings created March 4th were scheduled to renew on the 3rd that you are experiencing the same problem as we have on the .com site. Perhaps I misunderstood your original post and if that's the case I apologize to everyone for muddying the waters on this.

[ett1954]

@wastingtime101  I don't believe you have misunderstood; it is the timing that is relevant as it is linked - see below.

The US DST starts on 10th March - you noticed a switch on 10th February to 30 days for new listings, a full month before

The UK equivalent of DST (BST) starts on 31st March - I noticed the change on 4th March however I didn't start any new listings in March before the 4th March so the problem could well have been happening a day or two before I noticed.

The fact is new listing in the UK are running for 30 days whereas old listings are ending and auto-renewing on the same day in April that they finish.  As March is a 31 day month they are running for a full calendar month; that is 31 days.  They both can't be correct.  The old listings have been renewing on the same day for several years and I have seen no notification that new listings will only run for 30 days.

marco@ebay  Maybe I should rephrase the question.  You state "I was checking there, and the listing for the item 204677221633  went live on March 4th, and it is ending on April 3rd in case it doesn't sell before that. If you count the days from March 4th until April 3rd, you will see that there are 30 full days."

Please check the following listing (item no. 394547989780) which renewed automatically within one minute of the listing you checked.  This shows a finishing date of 4th April (31 days).  If you check the time the two were listed you will note they were within one minute of each other.

marco@ebay - your statement that listings run for 30 days in incorrect.  Please see the following link:  https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/listings/creating-managing-listings/selecting-listing-duration?i...

What is more you will note that the new listing has its ending time pushed forward one hour (presumably to cater for the change to BST) whilst the old listing has exactly the same finishing time as when it ended.

@wastingtime101  This is why I believe it is linked to the clock changes - the two types of listings, old and new, are showing two discrepancies - date and time.  I am not sure whether US listings were similar - if anyone over there was to create a new test listing it may confirm it.

[wastingtime101]

Thanks for the added info. It does appear to be the same as what we're experiencing on .com.

Glad I didn't provide some unnecessary complication here. 😁

[rainbowtrax]

Yep, we've been getting this issue randomly for days. Did some Sell Similars this morning and they are running correctly for a full month so end on 7th April. But now I've created a new listing - item number 305437962922 and it is only listed for 30 days and ends on 6th April. marco@ebay this is not correct.

Since 2019 BIN listings run for a full calendar month, not a set 30 says. The policy has been quoted in previous posts on this thread. As March is a 31 day month, listings created during March should run for 31 days and end on the same date in April as the date in March they were listed on. Eg, a listing that starts today, 7th March does not end on 6th April (30 days), it ends on 7th April (a calendar month). Currently this is not working correctly for both new listings created live and for scheduled listings when they go live. Other posters are correct. The system is broken.

marco@ebay  Do you see what we mean?

[rainbowtrax]

Right, I've done some further digging. The only listings that run correctly for a calendar month are those that were left to auto renew. Every new BIN listing and every old BIN listing that is ended and relisted are all only listing for 30 days. I currently have over 500 affected listings on this account alone.

The issue started on 1st March. It seems to be that ebay's calendar has been upset by the 29th Feb for the leap year. Everything listed on 29th Feb is ending correctly on 29th March. But everything listed on 1st March is ending on 31st March instead of 1st April, everything listed on 2nd March is ending on 1st April instead of 2nd etc.

The easy way to check is to customise the columns on the Active Listings page to include both start date and end date next to each other then the issue can be clearly seen. See screenshot below.

marco@ebay  this is going to be a site wide issue and affecting all BIN listings from 1st March onwards. Basically ebay needs to do a site wide correction to extend the date of every BIN started from 1st March onwards by one day. Then they need to correct their internal system or this will just continue endlessly.

[rainbowjam]

marco@ebay  I have over 1,600 listings affected on this account. Of those, 1,481 were started on 1st March so should renew on 1st April. But instead they are going to renew on 31st March - one day BEFORE my next monthly shop listing allowance kicks in on 1st April. If not dealt with, this is going to cost me an extra £88.86 in listing fees as I will be paying twice in one month for those listings. So if not corrected then that is virtually doubling the cost of my shop for this month so I would need that amount credited back to me.

[ett1954]

Thanks for your confirmation @rainbowtrax  This is exactly how I first detected it as I have these columns permanently showing on my listing page.

Not only will this reduce the 'free' listing capacity on months with 31 days it can push people over that in months going forward resulting in fees they shouldn't be paying.  Judging by the lack of any positive response and acceptability of the problem existing by eBay here or in the US maybe it was intentional and another means of increasing income.

[ett1954]

Beat me to it.