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Why am I getting a "Specified SKU is in use" error?
Summary
If you are trying to re-list or re-add an item using SKU as your inventory tracking method and you are getting a "Specified SKU is in use" error. Here are two possible reasons.
Detailed Description
There may be more reasons this can happen, but I am going to speak on behalf of two instances.
1. There are situations where an item is removed by customer service for many different reasons. When this is done, the SKU is longer available for use. You will need to do two things in order to get use of that SKU again.
- Contact CS to see why your item was removed, http://ocs.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?CustomerSupport
- After contacting CS, you will want to file a support ticket to get use of the SKU's again, https://developer.ebay.com/my/support/tickets
2. If your item was not removed by CS, check to see if you are using the <ScheduleTime> field. If you are, please ensure you are using it correctly. Here is an example of how you can get your item in the "Specified SKU is in use" state.
Example: When you use this field, the item does not technically get listed until your scheduled time occurs. So if you were to add an item and schedule it 5 minutes from the time of the API request, and then you end your item before that 5 minutes, you are not actually ending it because the item has not been listed, although your end item API call is successful. So your end item API call gets put into a queue. You then try to relist your item, and you get an error saying the "the SKU is in use". Because the item hasn't been listed yet nor has it been ended, so the SKU is in fact in use.
Additional Resources
AddFixedPriceItem: http://developer.ebay.com/DevZone/XML/docs/Reference/eBay/AddFixedPriceItem.html#Request.Item.ScheduleTime