Is there a time limit on Away mode for shops?

[pennyforum14]

I need to set my shops AWAY at the end of May for about 6 weeks.  Is this likely to cause me any issues?  I use 30 day listings with free relists on one and GTC on the other.  The GTC shop has less items than my free monthly allocation so if the clock keeps ticking while I am on Away settings, presumably they will relist and the free listings will prevent any account buildup?  Is an out of office message and invisible listings the best way to go?

[twyngwyn]

I went away for a week....didn't leave any invisible listings but changed my handling time to 10 days, then reverted when I returned....all good feedback

[egglesdtp]

Penny - if you are going to be away for 6 weeks, I think it would be best if your listings were invisible.

[pennyforum14]

Definitely eggles, that was the plan.  I just wondered if there was  a limit to how long you could be away for, and if I needed to actually end everything rather than just making them invisible.

[kopenhagen5]

6 weeks holiday, who's a lucky penny. 

Don't know what type of stores you have but is worthwhile just closing the stores until you return ?

Save a few dollars.

[pennyforum14]

Very lucky kopes, heading OS, never done that before.

I'd rather not close the stores, I think I will just make everything invisible and add an out of office message.  I don't plan to even check emails while away, too much to cram into the trip.  Is the shop itself visible even though the listings are not?  Is there a way to put a message in the shop front?  I want to cover all bases and make sure no sales slip past.

[englishrosegardens]

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@pennyforum14 wrote:

Very lucky kopes, heading OS, never done that before.

I'd rather not close the stores, I think I will just make everything invisible and add an out of office message.  I don't plan to even check emails while away, too much to cram into the trip.  Is the shop itself visible even though the listings are not?  Is there a way to put a message in the shop front?  I want to cover all bases and make sure no sales slip past.

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I set my shop to away for 24 hours every weekend.  Your listings will roll over as normal, whether they're on gtc or auto relisting. 

The shop is visible but it'll show 0 listings if you hide everything (which is definitely advisable).  People can still see items they have on watch but they aren't able to buy them. 

You can put a message in your shop front.  It happens automatically - when you tick the holiday setting you can select a return date from the little calendar but there's also a box where you can put a message.  The standard message is ebay's one about "this seller is currently away, blah blah blah" but you can change that to whatever you want.  I put mine in bold, large writing in a bright colour and put a couple of returns above and below it so it stands out.

I never have an out of office response.  If they can see my shop is closed then they can jolly well wait until I'm back for a reply!  I've been away for over a month at times and rarely had more than one question for the whole time.  Most say "when you return" so I don't think it's an issue if you have a return date clearly displayed.  You could also put in your message to please not send messages as they'll just clog up your inbox.

Edit: forgot to add that I think I was away for 6 weeks once.  Ebay aren't going to care whether you're away or not, so long as they're still getting fees from your shop. 

[englishrosegardens]

If you've never set your stores to away before you can experiment and do it for 5 minutes and then set it back again to normal. It takes a while for your listings to 'disappear' (and to show again) so you can click on your shop page to check what others will see before they have a chance to disappear.

[digital*ghost]

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@pennyforum14 wrote:

  Is the shop itself visible even though the listings are not?  Is there a way to put a message in the shop front?  I want to cover all bases and make sure no sales slip past.

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The shop structure is visible, the listings aren't, unless someone has a direct link to a listing (such as via a watch list), then the listing is viewable in full, but they can not purchase (if they try, eBay will say they can't buy right now, but they can add the item to their watch list to purchase later). 

I don't know how long a shop can be on holdiday settings for, but I have seen a few that had visible listings and were showing as away until a date about 2 months ahead. I just tried to check how far ahead eBay's calendar would go for the return date, but I stopped halfway through 2017 

[pennyforum14]

Thanks everyone, sounds like I have nothing to worry about then.  I haven't had this big a break in 15 years.  The last thing I need is to be worrying about things back home.