Using the Out-of-Stock Feature

Note: In the 895 release, the Item.OutOfStockControl field was deprecated and replaced by SetUserPreferences.OutOfStockControlPreference, which changes this feature from being set on individual items to a seller preference that applies to all their listings. For details about the changes, see 895 Release Changes.

Topics:

Out-of-Stock Feature Overview

Fees For a Listing With Zero Quantity

895 Release Changes

Out-of-Stock Feature Overview

Using the OutOfStockControlPreference sellers can keep their GTC (Good 'Til Canceled) items alive, even when the quantity goes down to zero. This enables them to replenish stock for the same ItemID, without the need to relist it when the item is back in stock.

This feature is useful for a seller who is waiting for additional stock of an item with the same ItemID. Instead of ending the listing and then recreating it when the inventory arrives, this feature hides the listing from search. Then when more inventory is available, they can use the Revise calls to update the inventory of the item (through the Item.Quantity or Item.Variations.Variation.Quantity fields) and the listing would appear again. If the item was specifically searched for with GetItem (or related call), HideFromSearch would be returned as true and ReasonHideFromSearch would be returned as OutOfStock.

Benefits of This Feature

The following are the benefits of using this feature.

Saves time because the seller does not have to end and recreate the listing when waiting for additional inventory
Improves inventory management
- Due to the 1:1 SKU and ItemID mapping, the seller doesn't have to refer to multiple ItemIDs to get a count of how much they have in stock, what was sold, etc.
- Since the listing stays alive, the sales history is retained
Increases SEO (search engine optimization) because the item is long running, which increases the chances that it will be indexed by popular search engines.
Variations management becomes easier because

Variations with zero quantity, which do not have sales, are kept alive
All the variations can have a zero quantity

What Happens When This Feature is Enabled

The following describes how single SKU and multi-SKU items work when a seller enables this feature.

On a single SKU item and the quantity is zero, the item does not appear in the Search Results page. If a user has the ItemID, they can go to the View Item page directly. On this page, the Buy It Now and Add to cart buttons are gone, and there is a label showing that the item is out of stock.
On a multi-SKU item and at least one variation has stock, the item will appear on the Search Results page. Variations with zero quantity will be shown as 'out of stock' on the View Item page. When all of the variations have zero quantity, the item will not appear on the Search Results page. However, if a user has the ItemID, they can go to the View Item page directly. In that case, all the variations are grayed out, the Buy It Now and Add to cart buttons are gone, and there is a label showing that the item is out of stock.
If you want to delete a variation for an item that is using the Out-of-Stock feature, use the Item.Variations.Variation.Delete field set to true.

Variations: Changing the quantity to zero of variations behaves differently depending on whether the feature is enabled or disabled. The following shows the behavior when setting the quantity of a variation to zero. In this example there are three variations; A with a quantity of 5, B with a quantity of 3, and C with a quantity of 1 and there have been no sales of any of these variations.

Variation Quantity Set to 0	Feature Disabled	Feature Enabled
A	Variation A is deleted.	Variation is retained. Since at least one variation has stock, this variation will show up on the Search Results page. On the View Item page it will be shown as 'Out of Stock'.
B	Variation B is deleted.	Variation is retained. Since at least one variation has stock, this variation will show up on the Search Results page. On the View Item page it will be shown as 'Out of Stock'.
C	You receive an error because you cannot set the last variation to quantity zero.	The variation is retained and all variations will be shown as 'Out of Stock' on the View Item page. The item will not appear on the Search Results page.

Using the Out-of-Stock Feature

This feature is enabled as a user preference using the SetUserPreferences call. When the feature is enabled, it is automatically applied to all the user's existing listings and to any new listings they create. When the quantity of an item goes to zero in a listing using this feature, the item remains 'alive'. When the item is in the out-of-stock state (quantity equals zero), the item will not be shown in the search results until it is back in stock (quantity greater than zero).

Table: OutOfStockControlPreference Usage
Feature	Sample Snippet
To add this feature use: SetUserPreferences	<SetUserPreferencesRequest xmlns="urn:ebay:apis:eBLBaseComponents"> <OutOfStockControlPreference>true</OutOfStockControlPreference> ... </SetUserPreferencesRequest>
To return the setting for this feature use: GetUserPreferences	<GetUserPreferencesRequest xmlns="urn:ebay:apis:eBLBaseComponents"> <ShowOutOfStockControlPreference>true</ShowOutOfStockControlPreference> ... </GetUserPreferencesRequest>
To revise the quantity use: ReviseInventoryStatus ReviseItem ReviseFixedPriceItem	<ReviseInventoryStatusRequest xmlns="urn:ebay:apis:eBLBaseComponents"> <InventoryStatus> <ItemID>190004054177</ItemID> <Quantity>0</Quantity> </InventoryStatus> </ReviseInventoryStatusRequest>

Table: OutOfStockControlPreference Usage

Feature

Sample Snippet

To add this feature use:
SetUserPreferences

<SetUserPreferencesRequest xmlns="urn:ebay:apis:eBLBaseComponents">
  <OutOfStockControlPreference>true</OutOfStockControlPreference>
   ...
</SetUserPreferencesRequest>

To return the setting for this feature use:
GetUserPreferences

<GetUserPreferencesRequest xmlns="urn:ebay:apis:eBLBaseComponents">
  <ShowOutOfStockControlPreference>true</ShowOutOfStockControlPreference>
   ...
</GetUserPreferencesRequest>

To revise the quantity use:

ReviseInventoryStatus
ReviseItem
ReviseFixedPriceItem

<ReviseInventoryStatusRequest xmlns="urn:ebay:apis:eBLBaseComponents">
  <InventoryStatus>
    <ItemID>190004054177</ItemID>
    <Quantity>0</Quantity>
  </InventoryStatus>
</ReviseInventoryStatusRequest>

Fees For a Listing With Zero Quantity

When a listing using the Out-of-Stock feature has zero quantity, the listing fees are refunded if the listing is out of stock for the entire billing month. If the listing is out of stock for 3 consecutive billing months, it is ended as shown in the table below.

Note About Multi-variation Listings: When each individual item in a multi-variation listing has zero quantity, then the listing is in the out-of-stock state and the fees are applied/refunded as shown in the table.

Table: Fees for a Listing Using the Out-Of-Stock Feature
Billing Period (Consecutive Periods)	Item is Out-of-Stock for the Entire Billing Month	Fee and Refunds
1	Yes	Charge listing fees at the beginning of the period Refund listing fees at the end of the period
2	Yes	Charge listing fees at the beginning of the period Refund listing fees at the end of the period
3	Yes	Charge listing fees at the beginning of the period Refund listing fees at the end of the period eBay ends the listing

895 Release Changes

In the 895 release, the Item.OutOfStockControl field was deprecated and replaced by SetUserPreferences.OutOfStockControlPreference.

895 Release Changes Overview

The following describes the changes for the Out-of-Stock feature.

This feature will no longer need to be set on each listing, but will be enabled once as a user preference. Once enabled the feature will automatically be applied to all the sellers's listings.
The fees for a listing using this feature that is in the Out-of-Stock state have changed to give the seller more time to get inventory. See Fees For a Listing With Zero Quantity for details.
If a listing is in the Out-of-Stock state for 90 consecutive days, the listing will end.

How This Affects the Seller's Current Listings

The following describes the behavior of listings that existed before this change; those using and not using the deprecated Out-of-Stock feature.

If the seller sets OutOfStockControlPreference to true, any existing listing that was not using the Out-of-Stock feature will now have this feature.
If the seller does not enable OutOfStockControlPreference, any existing listing that has the Out-of-Stock feature will still have that feature.
If the seller does not enable OutOfStockControlPreference and wants to remove the feature from an existing listing that has the feature, they will have to delete the listing and recreate it.

This change will not affect the use of the Out-of-Stock feature of existing listings. However in order for new listings to take advantage of this feature, the seller will need to enable the OutOfStockControlPreference.

The following table shows what happens to items using the deprecated Item.OutOfStockControl setting.

Deprecated Setting `Item.OutOfStockControl`	New Setting `SetUserPreferences. OutOfStockControlPreference`	Resulting Out-of-Stock Behavior
False (default)	True	True
True	False (default)	True
False (default)	False (default)	False
True	True	True