How Do You Temporarily Suspend Your eBay Listings?

by: OnlyPollyPocket

I have successfully put my store on vacation often.

Go to Seller Hub and, on the left under ''selling tools'', select ''vacation settings'' (at the bottom).  Then under ''change settings'', scroll down to to ''vacation settings'' and select the radio button ''Turn on''.

Enter your vacation message and MOST IMPORTANTLY check the box next to ''Keep people from buying your fixed price listings while you're on vacation. Your auction style listings will still run as scheduled''.  I think this is where most people run into trouble.  They click vacation on but fail to check the box that stops buyers from buying.

Then, of course, click ''apply'' at the bottom of the page.

I might be wrong but it is my understanding that if you do not have a store, you cannot use vacation settings.

by: OnlyPollyPocket

P.S.  This does not "suspend" you listings, it just stops people from buying.  Your listings will still end on the specified dates (unless they are GTC in which case they will renew).

by: ebayout

There is no way to suspend auction listings, even with a store.
You MUST cancel them, or they will roll right along.

by: papergoy

I went overseas last year for three weeks, and was surprised that I sold about ten items while gone.  And had people making offers on a few items, etc.  I did tell them that there would be a delay in shipping, and everyone was fine with that so I ended up with a little extra money in my pocket I wasn't expecting, and no one complained. But it was a bit disconcerting to see sales happening when I thought I couldn't sell anything!

by: lessthanthreerecords

The easiest way would just be to extend your handling time.  That way you can still make sales, but have a much longer time before you need to ship.  You can only go up to 30 business days though, but that's roughly a month and a half, so it should be fine for most vacations.  Something I've done also is to raise the price to something that would prevent a sale.  For example, if your item is prices at $50, raise the price to $1,000.  Of course, is you have a lot of items listed, it may take a lot of time both to change it and also to change it back, so I'm not sure I would recommend doing that for a large number of items.  I've mainly done that when an item sells on another site and is not immediately paid for.  That way I can prevent double-selling it without too much hassle re-listing in the event that the item does not get paid.

by: sasikat9

If you don't have a store then you can't suspend your listings. Vacation hold is only for stores,

by: sellerchick

These are all great tips, and maybe another way to guarantee no sales if you can't use vacation mode is use file exchange to set everything to zero quantity, then use file exchange to relist with old quantity filled back in. Request a download of all listings first and maintain that as a backup copy. Test with one listing now, to make sure it will work for your account.

by: Disgruntled_Seller

There is another way other than vacation mode if  you are using GTC listings.

I am not sure if it applies to those without a store, but in your account settings, site preferences enable "use the out of stock option"

Set your quantities to zero and the listing will not show but will remain active. Once you get back, simply change the quantity to the real number.  

by: Marie

@David

Since you do not have a store on Ebay, you have only one choice.  You need to close all your listing.  You can list them again when you return.

@lessthanthreerecords

Extending your handling time by a few days is fine if you are only gone for a couple of days.  But on extended trips, that is not a good idea.  PP has a requirement that you ship within 7 days of payment as one of the qualifications for Seller Protection with PP.

by: Marie

Ebay use to have a problem with the vacation mode for store owners.  When a seller put their account on vacation hold and if buyers had their items sitting on their watch list or in their shopping cart, even with the vacation hold, those buyer could actually purchase the items.

That was fixed a long time ago.  If the seller is using the vacation hold properly, this problem will not happen.  Some just don't completely read and understand the options when putting their store on hold.  They either assume they know or are just to much in a hurry to read the screen in front of them.  Then when things go wrong for them, they blame Ebay.

There is a box to check when setting up the vaca hold that says "Keep people from buying your fixed price listings while you're on vacation. Your auction style listings will still run as scheduled."   Some simply forget to check this box.

by: CanBrit

Two different processes, if you have a store or not. I have a store and I like to be still able to make sales. I do put out a vacation message, but I extend the handling time to cover the duration I will be away. I always get sales during vacation periods.

If you do not have a store, you can either cancel all listings, or put the handling time out for the duration of the vacation. With auctions you only have a capacity for a max of 10 days, so for safety's sake auctions should be cancelled.

by: Marie

If the Seller Protection offered by PayPal is important to you, extending your handling time can cause you to lose it.  I know for some it isn't important, but I'm just reminding those that may find it important.  PPs rules require that you ship within 7 days of payment as one of their requirements for Seller Protection.

by: Scotty

I don't think you need to do anything....there are no sales to people like us on ebay so nothing to worry about while on vacation.
It is impossible for the market to drop this rapidly unless it has been manipulated...which it has been via visibility.  I serious think my items are visible 1-2 days per month and that is it.

by: angryllama

SIGN UP FOR A STARTER STORE.  Your situation might the first REAL reason I've ever seen to sign up for eBay's SMALLEST, Starter Store.
It is very inexpensive and PARTICULARLY if it CAN be had on a month by month basis.
HOWEVER, if you consistently have even so few as 20 up all the time and have desires continue this level of activity go ahead and take the NEXT HIGHEST level of store as THAT has significantly better "Extras".  I for years have been PUT OUT that eBay's OWN INFO for would be store "owners" buried the REAL BENEFITS (they have declined thru the years, but USED to be bid deals), and then eBay ONLY discussed nickel and dime benefits which lead INTERESTED parties to NOT take a store.in the mistaken opinion that their benefit would be only a FEW DOLLARS a month, but just for example even what EARLIER was the SMALLest Store has the $25 per quarter COUPON for shipping supplies

by: Marie

If anyone is interested.  Here is the link that describes each store level that Ebay currently has available.

https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/run-your-store/
subscriptions-and-fees.html

by: 227272

A caution on ending your listings early for vacation:

Before I had a store, I once ended all my listings early — there were less than 20 — because I was headed off for vacation.

This triggered a warning (and I believe a permanent ''demerit'' on my account) from eBay about selling off-site. It seems that because ONE of my listings had had a question from a buyer (not a solicitation to make on off-line deal and no exchange of contact info), and the listing was among those ended early, the BOTs had been triggered.

There is no way to fight these things. Artificial Intelligence is here, and I live in fear of BOTs, LOL.

by: Bad Hair Day

I end them all, then re-list when I return. Total peace of mind!

by: maxmad

we use to use pay for a store to go on vacation then get rid of the store when we were back, did it for many years

by: RightbrainWoman

I had this problem some time ago and had to go into EACH listing and put a "disclaimer" at the beginning of the description that stated ... "I will be out of touch until x date and will be unable to ship until then." I got that info from an old ebay forum and it seemed to work okay with one sold listing ... I got a lot of reminders from ebay to ship but the buyer did not complain.

by: Tiffee Jasso

If you can put your items into the draft section, you will have to list when you get back. That is what I would do if I had a problem.