Reading the repricer activity log

The repricer activity log is a read-only history of every price the repricer has ever evaluated on your listings. This article explains how to read each entry: the price move itself, which rule triggered it, and the reasons a change might have been blocked, failed, only previewed, or later undone.

What each entry shows

Every time the repricer evaluates a listing, it logs an entry showing the old price and the new price it worked out, side by side, so you can see the exact move at a glance. Next to the price move, the log names the rule that fired, for example a margin floor rule or a competitor-tracking rule, so you know why that particular number was chosen rather than having to guess.

Because the log records every evaluation, not just the ones that went live, it builds up a full history of how your repricing rules have behaved over time across all your listings.

Why a change did not happen

Not every evaluated price reaches eBay. The activity log records the outcome of each evaluation, and when a price move did not go through, it states why:

• Blocked by margin floor: the rule wanted to drop the price below the minimum margin you have set, so the repricer refused to make the change and kept the existing price.
• Blocked by daily limit: the listing had already hit the maximum number of price changes allowed for that day, so this evaluation was recorded but not applied.
• Failed at eBay: the repricer tried to push the new price to eBay, but eBay rejected or did not complete the update, so the listing’s live price is unchanged.
• Previewed only: the repricer is running in Safe Mode, so this entry shows what the price move would have been, but nothing was written back to your live eBay listing.
• Undone: a previously applied change was reversed, and the listing was restored to its price from before that repricing cycle.

Reading the reason next to each entry means you never have to guess why a listing’s price on eBay does not match what a rule seemed to intend.

Using the log to check your rules

The activity log is the most reliable place to confirm a rule is behaving the way you expect. If a listing’s price never seems to move, check the log for that listing: it will usually show a run of “blocked by margin floor” entries, telling you the rule is working correctly but your floor is preventing any drop, rather than the repricer being stuck or broken. Equally, a string of “failed at eBay” entries is a sign to check your eBay connection rather than your rule configuration.

Because the log keeps a full history rather than just the latest result, you can also use it to see how a rule has responded to competitor price changes over several cycles, which is useful when you are tuning a new rule before relying on it.

See the related articles below for more on setting up repricer rules and Safe Mode.