Where to go to activate "Add-on" function to Variation Listing?

 I'm on the sell item page but I can't find where I need to click. Basically, what I want to do is (for example):

 

The main thing for sale in the listing is a blue torch, a red torch, and a green torch. After the buyer purchases a torch, they can purchase an optional battery to go with that torch. Another example could be a white phone and a black phone. The buyer can purchase an additional phone case.

 

At the moment, it seems like the only I thing can do is set it up like this:

$10 Blue Flashlight

$12 Blue Flashlight + Battery

$10 Red Flashlight

$12 Red Flashlight + Battery

$10 Green Flashlight

$12 Green Flashlight + Battery

 

It would of course be much better this way:

$10 Blue Flashlight

$10 Red Flashlight

$10 Green Flashlight

$2 Optional Battery Add-on

 

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Where to go to activate "Add-on" function to Variation Listing?

On the screen where variations are created, there's two options for variations - attributes and options.

 

You'll need to create one attribute for all the colours, and a separate attribute for the add on (eg "Battery option") and then create / name the options something like "With Battery" and "Without Battery" 

 

On the next screen, you'll see a list of all the possible combinations between the two attruibutes, so the list will actually look like the first one you've written, but it will also add "Without Battery" as an additional option, so will look more like this:

 

$10 Blue Flashlight + Without Battery

$12 Blue Flashlight + Battery

 

In the listing however, each attribute will be a separate dropdown menu, so when a buyer looks at the listing, they will select the colour in one, and the battery option in the other. 

 

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Where to go to activate "Add-on" function to Variation Listing?

On the screen where variations are created, there's two options for variations - attributes and options.

 

You'll need to create one attribute for all the colours, and a separate attribute for the add on (eg "Battery option") and then create / name the options something like "With Battery" and "Without Battery" 

 

On the next screen, you'll see a list of all the possible combinations between the two attruibutes, so the list will actually look like the first one you've written, but it will also add "Without Battery" as an additional option, so will look more like this:

 

$10 Blue Flashlight + Without Battery

$12 Blue Flashlight + Battery

 

In the listing however, each attribute will be a separate dropdown menu, so when a buyer looks at the listing, they will select the colour in one, and the battery option in the other. 

 

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Where to go to activate "Add-on" function to Variation Listing?

Thanks, that worked. I was looking through the eBay help pages but I couldn't find the relevant sections.

 

I have another question. Let's use the blue flashlight example again.

 

$10 Blue Flashlight + Without Battery

$12 Blue Flashlight + Battery

 

On the selling/item edit screen, those two options seem to be separate/not connected so if I had a total of 4 blue flashlights, will eBay automatically deduct my stock in a smart way? So when a buyer buys 1, my stock will go from 4 to 3, and not 8 to 7.

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Where to go to activate "Add-on" function to Variation Listing?

Unfortunately no. It's one of the biggest shortcomings of the variation format, in that you can't choose to have a global quantity that depletes all options when a purchase is made, so each possible variation and combo needs to have individual stock numbers.

That means if you have ten flashlights but only five batteries, you can only make five available if you want to avoid someone purchasing six with batteries.
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Where to go to activate "Add-on" function to Variation Listing?

That's just par for the course with eBay: instead of having a good foundation of code that can support future features and demands, they have a Frankenstein monster with bits and pieces attached.

 

The other big shortcoming is that if your Variation listing has lots of attributes (eg colours) and you run low on stock, the available options will all show "colour[out of stock]" and there's no way to hide or delete the out of stock colors and just show the available ones.

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