Troubleshooting eBay Listing Errors

When there is an issue with a listing you are working on, eBay usually returns several errors. Often, the top errors don't make much sense. You can usually ignore them and focus on resolving the bottom-most error.

 

Error Message
Description and Solution

The item cannot be listed or modified. The title and/or description may contain improper words, or the listing or seller may be in violation of eBay policy.

This error indicates that there is an issue with your eBay seller account or you have supplied restricted information. Most of the time the issue is that you have reached your eBay listing limits.

Listing Limits

  1. You have already listed the maximum number of items eBay will allow you list for the month.
    • Solution: Request a higher listing limit from eBay.
  2. You have reached the maximum inventory dollar value limit on your active listings.

Other Account Related Reasons

  • You have an unpaid balance, invalid credit card information, or pending buyer cases with eBay.
  • If your seller level falls below standard, eBay requires that you add a backup funding method to your listings.
  • eBay must approve you to accept major credit cards. If you select credit cards as Payment Methods, but you aren't approved, you will receive this error.

Data Related Reasons

  • Your listing cannot contain email addresses or hyperlinks to pages outside of eBay. References to payment methods no longer accepted by eBay will also result in this error. eBay scans the entire listing, including the description, payment instructions, return instructions, image names, etc. We have seen even sellers receive this error because their images have watermarks with their email address.
  • eBay restricts the use of certain words in the title or description. Some brand names or product names are restricted.

Solutions

  • You can view your listing limits on your My eBay page in your eBay account. They're in the Monthly selling limits section of the Selling Manager Summary page. This section includes a link to Request higher selling limits, or you can go to: https://scgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?UpgradeLimits.
  • Check the Payment Options in your Solid Commerce eBay Listing Details. Most eBay sellers aren't approved by eBay to accept major credit cards. If you have checked off any of the credit cards as Payment Methods, you should uncheck the credit card options and try listing again. If you have questions about accepting credit cards, contact eBay.
  • Remove any email addresses, hyperlinks to outside pages, or references to devoid payment methods. Check your description, payment instructions, return instructions, image names, image watermarks, etc.
  • Check with eBay to see if you have an unpaid balance, invalid credit card information, pending buyer cases, or need to add a backup funding method.
  • Try listing your item manually. The errors eBay provides through their user interface are more specific than the ones they send us through their API, so you may gain better insight into the source of the issue. This also makes adjusting your title easier if the issue is keyword related.

You've specified catalog product details and variations, which are not supported at the same time for a category. Either list using a catalog product or list using variations.

This error indicates that eBay is trying to find the parent item for your variation in their catalog, which isn't possible.

Solutions
Delete the UPC, EAN, or ISBN saved to the parent item and try to list your family again. Even the value "Does not apply" should be removed.

Ensure that the SKU of the parent item is entered in the ebay parent sku field, even for the parent item.

Variation cannot be deleted during restricted revise.

This error only appears on listings that have had at least one sale. Due to the sale, eBay restricts the update options available. We see this error in two scenarios:

  1. When you attempt to update a live listing after changing a variation attribute and/or image. For example, you change the size of an item from "small" to "S."
  2. When you try to add a new child item to an existing listing.

Solution
If you need to update the eBay listing, you will need to close the listing and relist it.

Errors mentioning images.

Reasons

  • The URL for your image contains a space or other special character. These characters get replaced by escape characters. For example, spaces get replaced by "%20." The escape characters make the URLs invalid, so eBay cannot find your image.
    • EXAMPLE: "https://images/Image Files/ABC-1.jpg" becomes "https://images/Image%20Files/ABC-1.jpg."
    • Solution: Remove spaces or special characters from your image names or image folders. Hyphens and underscores are legal characters. You will need to supply a new URL that doesn't contain special characters.
  • The image size is too large. eBay specifies that the width plus height of an image supplied through the API must be equal to or less than 12,000 pixels. The maximum file size is 12 MB.
    • Solution: Resize your image to make it smaller and rehost it.

 

Tracking not posting but order marked as shipped

In February 2023, eBay had a bug where tracking wouldn't post back to eBay but the order status was marked as shipped.   

https://ir.ebaystatic.com/cr/v/c1/rsc/feeds/v1/guide-uploadable-templates.pdf

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