Buyer asking if stores are closed on eBay

[b86fiero]

Is this glitch still ongoing? Repeat buyer messaged me about one of my listings asking if my store was open so she could purchase or if I was on vacation, when I would re-open. My store is open and I sold a couple of items this morning.

She stated she looked at other eBay stores Tuesday and this morning and received banner messages for some stating the stores were unavailable or on vacation. She contacted some sellers and they told her their stores were open and ready to ship her purchase.

Anyone else having this issue?

[chevymontecarlo88]

Just looked at your listings and did not see any issues.

[b86fiero]

Thanks for checking.

I do think this is a glitch that some buyers have run into recently. I thought there was another post about this issue a while ago but I didn't find it.

[sextons-sweet-deals]

This buyer is asking about one of your listings. That seems to me they can still view it.

What type of message are they getting when they go to buy or make offer?

Is it possible this buyer is trying to purchase outside of eBay? How does their complete profile look like?

[b86fiero]

Repeat buyer who messaged me about stores being closed on eBay just came back and purchased the item of mine that she had been shown the vacation banner on.

She said it took a few attempts of clicking on the listing before she was able to purchase.

This type of glitch can wreak havoc with sellers. Hope eBay fixes it fast.

[oaklandmaryland]

Ebay does rotate different areas of the country that see one's listings

[hartungcards]

"Ebay does rotate different areas of the country that see one's listings"

LOL, good one.  I've also heard eBay only makes unicorn listings visible on Thursdays.

[mam98031]

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@b86fiero wrote:

Thanks for checking.

I do think this is a glitch that some buyers have run into recently. I thought there was another post about this issue a while ago but I didn't find it.

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That is an assumption with nothing to back it up, unless you can link us to threads of a similar issue.  Sometimes stuff happens.  IDK why, it just does.  You likely did not suffer any problem with this short term issue.  

If there was a seller that had this issue in the past, it doesn't mean that your issue is or was caused my the same thing.

[valueaddedresource]

@b86fiero just to clarify, did your buyer send you a screenshot or copy and paste the exact wording of the banner?

Would be interested to know if it said "the seller is away until x date" or if it was a more generic message saying the store was just not available right now or there were no items available to ship to their location.

[wastingtime101]

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@valueaddedresource wrote:

Would be interested to know if it said "the seller is away until x date" or if it was a more generic message saying the store was just not available right now or there were no items available to ship to their location.

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Good question because they are different things. An empty store can sometimes be explained by having the wrong location (country) set on search. But a Time Away banner is a different story.

[b86fiero]

As stated - "I thought there was another post about this issue a while ago but I didn't find it".

Before making a similar post as a previous one, I tried to find it so I could read it and see if the problem was the same or similar or had been resolved in some way. Since I couldn't find the post I was looking for I couldn't provide YOU with a link to it.

[b86fiero]

Hi,

No, my repeat buyer didn't provide me with a screen shot.  She did send me two messages a couple of hours apart asking if I was on vacation as she really wanted to purchase this particular item right away and my store showed as on vacation when she clicked on my listing. I told her I was open for business and was not on vacation and had just sold two items that morning. (Shortly before she contacted me).

She then sent a follow up message that she would try again to purchase the item. She also asked if there was a big problem with eBay lately as she was getting the vacation banner when attempting to purchase from other sellers, some of whom she contacted and was told they were also open for business. She then sent another message about some "store unavailable" banner at the top of another seller's listing. (I have no idea why that would have been). I didn't ask so I do not know if she was on a computer or on the app. I also do not know what browser she was using.

She was finally able to purchase the item later in the afternoon and I shipped it this morning.

I found my buyers experience odd and a bit concerning if a glitch is occasionally showing any sellers store as being on vacation when it is not. Who knows, maybe a seller forgot to end their time away?~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was trying to find a community board post something along the lines of "eBay says my store is on vacation and it's not" before I started this post. 

When I couldn't find a similar post, I post about the transaction. It was made simply to inform and find out if anyone else had or had heard of a similar issue.

[b86fiero]

Interesting thoughts.

I'm wondering if "store unavailable" might be a store in the process of being set up or and inventory file being uploaded or even located in a country where the seller does not ship to the US. 

I've never seen a listing with the "store unavailable" tag.

I assume the vacation seller away banner was the usual one we see.

[b86fiero]

Hi,

This is a repeat buyer of mine. She could view the listing but it displayed a vacation banner to her so she was unable to purchase the item. My store is not on vacation.

I don't know if she was on a computer or using the eBay app.

[wastingtime101]

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@b86fiero wrote:

Is this glitch still ongoing? Repeat buyer messaged me about one of my listings asking if my store was open so she could purchase or if I was on vacation, when I would re-open.

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Multiple buyers reporting the issue today on this discussion:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Report-eBay-Technical-Issues/Seller-is-on-vacation-glitch/m-p/34440117...