Using the eBay Out Of Stock Control Feature

Modified on Thu, 8 Sep, 2022 at 6:13 PM

How to set the eBay Out Of Stock Control Feature

By using the Out Of Stock Control functionality you can keep your Fixed-Price GTC (Good 'Til Cancelled) items alive, even when the quantity reaches zero. While the item has no quantity and is unavailable for purchase, eBay will remove it from the eBay search results, but will continue to keep the item's listing page to advertise the item and will continue to charge listing fees every 30 days. This is useful if you are waiting for stock of an item with the same item number. Instead of ending the listing and then recreating it when the stock arrives, you can use this feature to hide the item. Then when stock arrives revise the item to update it's quantity.

You can select the out-of-stock option by following these instructions:

1. Go to eBay, sign in and click on your name in the upper left corner:

2. Then click on 'account settings' from the drop down menu:

3. Choose 'Selling Preferences' from the navigation menu:

4. On the 'Selling Preferences' page, you will see a section entitled 'multi-quantity listings' with a toggle so you can turn on or off whether listings stay active when you're put of stock.

Toggle it on or off, depending on whether you want the listing to end when it reaches zero or remain active but hidden until the stock is replenished.

That's now set, you don't even need to save anything, just navigate to wherever else you want to go.

(an alternative route is My eBay > Seller Hub > Overview > Shortcuts > Site Preferences)

While the quantity is zero the benefits of using this feature are:

The item retains the same item number
The item's listing page is kept live
The count of items sold is preserved
The item is not removed from any buyer's watch list
Exposure to other search engines is maintained
Sales history is retained

There are a couple of things to note:

The feature is only available to GTC Fixed-Price listings.
Once enabled the feature will be applied to all your GTC listings until you disable the option.

Warning

When an item's quantity is zero it is removed from eBay's search results but the item is still live. This means that Good 'Til Cancelled automatic renewal will continue every 30 days and listing fees will be charged.

You therefore must be sure that you wish to make use of this feature, as you will continue to incur fees on every Good 'Til Cancelled listing you have even if they are no longer available to purchase.

If you wish to use this feature but do have listings that you want to end when they reach zero, you will have to end each one manually.

More information can be found on the eBay help page.