eBay-UK now requires EAN - where is this in GarageSale?

GarageSale
1

eBay-UK has recently made “EAN” a required field. Where is this field in GarageSale ?
It is not in Item Specifics and it is not “Barcode”…

so how do I fill in this eBay field ??

2

Hi,

it’s the Barcode field in the Options Inspector.

http://wiki.iwascoding.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Setting_Up_Auction_Templates#Barcode

Regards, Kristian

3

Hi Kristian - I tried that. Even with data in the Barcode field, eBay-UK still gives an error message saying that the EAN field needs to be completed

4

Hi David,

ok, I see, hmm, did you already check the item specifics for an EAN field?

Regards, Kristian

5

Hi Kristian, yes - also tried that.
Clicking “Get Suggestions” in the Item Specifies window does not add a new EAN field.

I called eBay support and they said that making EAN a mandatory field was a new policy (June 2015), so maybe also new for Garagesale?

6

Hi David,

we’ll see what we can do.
So far please try to create a custom specifics field in the item specifics and name it “EAN”. Maybe this already does the trick for now.

Regards, Kristian

7

Hi Kristian, some more information…situation changing…
The error message is "21919401 - required field, EAN, is missing. Please add EAN to the listing and retry"
Adding EAN to Item Specifics does not solve this problem.

However, if I do put something in the Barcode Field of the Options Inspector, I also get (2 messages now):
error message “21919402 - xxxxxx is an invalid value for EAN. Please input a valid value for EAN and retry”

I am putting a valid EAN into the Barcode field (the one I am playing with is 4009803041186 - you can see the product via Google)

So, it seems as if eBay is recognising “data” in the GarageSale “Barcode” field, but it won’t accept that data.

8

I have now tried many valid EAN numbers from the barcodes on my products - eBay will not accept any of them.
Any data in GarageSale’s Barcode field gives an eBay error message.
If there is no data in the Barcode field, then a different error message.

Lose - Lose !!

Any help appreciated !

UPDATE - MORE INFORMATION.
An example : eBay does not accept EAN 4823017700338 when entered in GarageSale’s Barcode field. BUT, if I Revise an auction already in eBay and add this EAN, it is accepted. So something in the upload validation is going wrong ???

9

Hi David,

can you tell me in which category you are trying to list your item?

Thanks,
Paul

10

Hi Paul,
90% of my listings are in category 1189 - Toys & Games, Model Kits, Models
I have not tried EANs in any other category (yet)

ALSO:
What I would really like would be for GarageSale/eBay to accept “Does Not Apply” in the EAN field. eBay will accept Does Not Apply if you revise an item already in the eBay system (it is actually the default characters). Most of my auctions are vintage, antique, items which have no barcodes
regards
David

11

Hi,

I could reproduce this here. But these are warnings, not errors, right? (The yellow icons mean warning, the red ones mean error).

So you should be able to lost the item.

Thanks,
Paul

12

Hi Paul, yes, understand, today they are just warnings !
But - when I spoke to eBay Support about this, they said that the Mandatory EAN number (these are mandatory in the UK since 1st June 2015) would be like the changes to picture sizes - first “warnings”, then “recommended”, then a block to prevent listings that did not comply…

But also - what if I wanted to list an item with a valid EAN ? GarageSale will not let me do this.

So we could turn the problem around and say it differently - maybe:
“I WANT to use EANs, but GarageSale does not support this. The Barcode field does not work”

???

13

Currently I am testing this, but it seems that eBay somehow does not accept your EAN code. I tested different code and “Does Not Apply”, too and these are accepted by eBay. So besides that you can not enter “Does Not Apply” into the Barcode field this field indeed works.

Maybe you can try to list an item through the eBay website and tell me whether the website does accept your EAN code? Maybe the upload validation is somehow buggy on eBay’s end (as you stated above).

14

I tried to list an item with your EAN and eBay accepted it without any warning. Seems that there is a different validation on the website and through the API we are using. Maybe you can just ignore the warning, that there is no product found for your EAN.

15

Hi Paul, many thanks for your efforts.
I also have Turbo Lister on a Windows laptop. Turbo Lister must use the same API ??

If Turbo Lister also fails, then it is an eBay API problem.
If Turbo Lister works, then it is a GarageSale problem ?

I will try to do this as soon as possible, maybe tomorrow but maybe Thursday…

UPDATE : I was able to do this very quickly !!! same problem with Turbo Lister - valid EANs are rejected “no product found for the EAN”… looks like we need to raise a ticket with eBay Support

16

OK - because exactly the same problem happens with Turbo Lister, I spent a long time talking with eBay support this evening.
It is acknowledged that EANs are a problem at the moment.

BUT - the important thing is that Turbo Lister will support “does not apply” in the EAN field.

This is now a request that GarageSale also allows “does not apply” in the Barcode field.

Many of my items do not have barcodes, so when eBay makes the EAN a mandatory field at the end of the month, I will need to be able to specify “does not apply”

many thanks !

17

Hi David,

currently I am working on support for “does not apply” in GarageSale. This will be send whenever a product identifier is required in the category but none is set in the template. I will come back when a prerelease is available for testing.

Thanks,
Paul

18

Hi David,

I have uploaded a pre-release for you here:

http://downloads.iwascoding.com/downloads/GarageSale_6_2015-06-18.zip

Please note that you have to update your categories in the preferences (even if it states that it is already up to date). With this release you will still get the warning about the not found product, but you should be able to upload listings without a EAN/ISBN/UPC to categories that requires a product identifier. The “Does not Apply” is automatically set on those items.

Thanks,
Paul

19

I now have this problem as of today. I am trying to list in ‘Home, Furniture, DIY > Appliances > Other Appliances’. I downloaded the pre-release from Paul above and updated the category tree then quit & restarted. I am still getting the error ‘21919301 Required field, EAN, is missing. Please add EAN to the listing and retry’.

20

Hi,

what did you enter in the Barcode field?

Thanks,
Paul