We’re releasing WP-Lister for Amazon version 2.7.4 with important compatibility updates for PHP 8.2+, improvements to order management, and several stability fixes. This release addresses issues reported by merchants over the past few months and ensures the plugin works smoothly with modern PHP versions.
PHP 8.2+ Compatibility Updates
PHP 8.2 introduced stricter type checking and deprecated several functions that were commonly used in older code. If you’re running PHP 8.2 or newer, you may have encountered fatal errors or warnings. Version 2.7.4 addresses these compatibility issues.
Deprecated Function Removal
The most significant change is the removal of the deprecated utf8_encode() function, which PHP 8.2 removed entirely. This function was previously used to handle character encoding for international marketplaces like Amazon France. We’ve replaced it with proper encoding detection and the mb_convert_encoding() function where actual encoding conversion is needed.
For most data, modern WordPress and WooCommerce already handle UTF-8 encoding correctly, so in many cases we simply removed the unnecessary encoding calls. This actually improves compatibility with special characters and international text.
Dynamic Property Warnings
PHP 8.2 also deprecated the creation of dynamic properties without declaration. A merchant processing feed results saw warnings about $errors and $warnings properties being created dynamically. We’ve now properly declared these properties in the AmazonFeed class, eliminating these warnings.
Type Error Fixes
We fixed two type-related errors that could cause fatal failures:
A merchant in Italy encountered a critical error when trying to import products from an Amazon inventory report. The error occurred because the code was passing a null value to the count() function, which now requires an array or Countable object in PHP 8+. We added proper null checks before counting to prevent this error.
Similarly, when processing certain feed results, the str_getcsv() function would fail with a ValueError because the enclosure parameter wasn’t a single character as required. This has been corrected to ensure feeds process without errors.
Order Management Improvements
Feed Submission Confirmation
An Italian merchant selling health products reported that after submitting tracking information to Amazon, the green confirmation checkmark wasn’t appearing consistently for all orders in the WP-Lister Orders page. The tracking was being sent successfully to Amazon, but internally the feed submission results weren’t being stored.
This meant merchants couldn’t easily see which orders had been confirmed without checking Amazon Seller Central directly. We’ve fixed the result storage mechanism so the confirmation checkmark now appears reliably after successful order fulfillment feed submissions.
Stock Synchronization on Cancellations
A computer hardware seller reported inconsistent stock behavior when cancelling Amazon orders. Sometimes cancelling an order would increase stock by the expected amount of 1 unit, but other times it would incorrectly increase by 2 units. This created oversell situations requiring manual stock corrections.
The root cause was that WP-Lister was adjusting stock in one place, but WooCommerce was also reverting stock changes in another. To fix this, we now use WooCommerce’s core wc_update_product_stock() function for all stock adjustments and properly set the order_stock_reduced flag before saving the order. This tells WooCommerce that stock has already been handled, preventing duplicate adjustments.
Order Discount Calculations
We corrected an issue where order item discounts were being calculated incorrectly, which could cause order total mismatches between WooCommerce and Amazon. The discount was being added to the subtotal when it should have been subtracted from the line total. This is now fixed to ensure accurate order totals.
Tax Rate Warning
We resolved a warning that appeared when processing orders with certain tax configurations. The code was attempting to access a tax_rate property on what could be a null object. We now use the appropriate variable that’s already validated, eliminating this warning.
MSRP Plugin Compatibility
A UK merchant using the WooCommerce MSRP pricing plugin noticed duplicate MSRP price rows appearing in their product edit screens after updating the MSRP plugin. This happened because the MSRP plugin developers made significant changes to their code structure, causing WP-Lister’s plugin detection to fail.
WP-Lister adds its own MSRP fields only when the MSRP plugin isn’t detected, to avoid duplication. With the detection broken, both sets of fields were appearing. We’ve updated our detection method to work with the new MSRP plugin structure, so you’ll once again see only one set of MSRP fields.
Character Encoding Improvements
Beyond just removing the deprecated utf8_encode() function, we improved how the plugin handles character encoding overall. The old approach would sometimes double-encode text or fail to properly handle accented characters used in European languages.
The updated code checks whether text is already in UTF-8 format before attempting any conversion, and only converts when necessary using the more robust mb_convert_encoding() function. This provides better support for international characters across all Amazon marketplaces.
How to Update
WordPress will notify you that version 2.7.4 is available. You can update directly from your WordPress dashboard:
- Go to Plugins in your WordPress admin
- Look for “WP-Lister for Amazon” in your plugin list
- Click Update Now when prompted
Your settings, listing profiles, and listings will remain unchanged during the update. As always, we recommend backing up your site before updating any plugins.
If you’re running PHP 8.2 or newer, we strongly recommend updating to version 2.7.4 to avoid compatibility errors.
What’s Next
We continue to monitor PHP development and WordPress ecosystem changes to ensure WP-Lister remains compatible with the latest versions. We’re also working on additional improvements to order processing and inventory management based on merchant feedback.
If you encounter any issues with version 2.7.4 or have questions about these changes, our support team is ready to help at.