Ongoing Checkout Issue – “Item Isn’t Available for Purchase in Your Location” (Perfume Listings)

[q5r8z_65]

For over a month now, buyers have been unable to check out my listings due to the message:
“Unfortunately, this item isn't available for purchase in your location.”

However:

• Buyers can add the item to their cart, but checkout is blocked.
• The issue randomly disappears, leading to an influx of orders before returning, usually 2-3 days.
• No shipping restrictions exist – listings clearly state "Posts to Australia" with zero limitations.
• My shipping policy is consistent across all listings and has not been changed - not at all.
• The products are perfumes/fragrances, but they comply with eBay’s policy updates (no restricted ingredients, all legal).
• No, I’m not selling low-effort samples or testers in letters. Everything follows best practices, is legally compliant, and meets all shipping and packaging requirements.

eBay support claims this is a technical issue, yet it has persisted for over a month. What’s worse, it seems to selectively impact certain sellers.

Before anyone gives low-effort, surface-level responses just to gain points, here are some preemptive answers:

• Yes, the buyer is in Australia.
• No, the item is not pickup only.
• Yes, I am fully aware of the Dec 5, 2024, policy update, and my listings are compliant.

If you’ve actually solved this issue as a seller—or have any useful insight—please share. Otherwise, don’t waste time stating the obvious or copy-pasting policy updates that don’t apply.

Has anyone managed to get their listings fixed for checkout? If so, how?

[padi*0409]

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@q5r8z_65 wrote:

1. eBay has already acknowledged this as a technical issue, yet it remains unresolved after a month.

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You don't seem to realise that that statement from the CS rep is rarely factual, and is used primarily to get you off the chat line.

[q5r8z_65]

Primarily why i’m asking here…

[domino-710]

Could it be you cannot send perfume through AP. ??

[q5r8z_65]

A solution has been achieved. Turns out eBay will lie and give you incorrect information. PM for help! 

[countessalmirena]

EDIT: OP, your last post was not showing when I posted.

If this is a technical issue, and nothing but a technical issue, OP, you are probably being unrealistic in posting on a community board for a remedy. Nobody here works in eBay’s IT department, so it’s just not possible for any of us to fix the issue if it’s caused by bad code.

But it may not be a technical issue. Yes, you’ve said eBay had told you that it is; eBay CS reps will tell you whatever they need to tell you to end a chat if the issue being complained of isn’t solved by quoting pre-written scripts.

To that end, did you receive the “It’s a technical issue” advice through live chat, or was it by phone? Was it a higher level CS rep?

(I’d still have reservations but answers to these questions couldn’t hurt in sorting out the chaff.)

If you mean that you want advice in how your listings might be caught up in automatic listing checks set in place to meet the requirements of the updated policy, and how that might be remedied, then it’s not a technical issue as such. If there’s any eBay member whom you feel inclined to trust, message them and ask if they would kindly take a look at one of your typical listings (which I presume is on an account other than this one) to see if anything pops out at them.

I’m still not sure whether you have actually provided eBay with a copy of your DGL. Your answer wasn’t clear.

I did find your opening post aggressive in tone; I realise you didn’t want the most usual replies if you are quite sure that you are fully aware of and compliant with the upgraded perfume policy, but there are ways of expressing that without what I (and clearly others) perceive as being at least a touch snarky. If you didn’t want to be snarky, then talking about “low-effort, surface-level responses just to gain points” would best have been avoided. Points? Do you mean helpful votes? They have no value in the scale of things. “Low-effort” is an unnecessary descriptor and - in my opinion - it could be taken to express pre-emptive contempt.

You could simply have posted as follows:

❝Here are some preemptive answers for probably the most obvious questions:

• Yes, the buyer is in Australia.
• No, the item is not pickup only.
• Yes, I am fully aware of the Dec 5, 2024, policy update, and my listings are compliant.❞

That wouldn’t have offended anyone and it would have conveyed the information unambiguously.

Assuming it’s not purely a technical issue (and therefore beyond the scope of volunteer responders), and without looking at a listing, I can only speculate about what could be causing the problem which, from what you’ve said, appears to be intermittent.