TL;DR: Version 3.8.1 delivers a critical security patch, fixes sizing issues for fashion sellers, resolves quantity management problems for variable products, and adds powerful new REST API capabilities. If you sell shoes or clothing on eBay, or use automation tools with our API, this update solves problems you’ve been working around.
Critical Security Update
We’re starting with the most important news: version 3.8.1 includes a security patch identified by researcher domiee13 through Patchstack’s bug bounty program. While we can’t disclose specific vulnerability details, we strongly recommend all WP-Lister users update immediately.
This is precisely why we participate in Patchstack’s program—professional security researchers help us identify and fix potential issues before they affect real stores. Your site’s security is our top priority.
Action Required: Update to 3.8.1 as soon as possible.
When eBay Speaks a Different Size Language
A sneaker retailer selling European brands to US customers faced a frustrating challenge. Their WooCommerce products use EU sizing (40, 41, 42), but eBay’s US marketplace requires shoe listings to include US sizes—and it’s a mandatory field for the Clothing, Shoes & Accessories category.
The solution seemed straightforward: use WP-Lister’s Variation Size Map to convert EU sizes to US equivalents (40 becomes 7, 41 becomes 7.5, and so on). They configured size mappings in the profile settings, expecting eBay listings to show proper US sizes in the Item Specifics.
Instead, nothing happened. The size mapping worked when they hardcoded values, but failed completely when Item Specifics were configured to pull from the product’s Size attribute—the most logical approach. Listings kept showing EU sizes, making them harder for US customers to find and trust.
The Problem: When an Item Specific was mapped to a product attribute, WP-Lister processed the mapping after pulling the attribute value, but the size replacement logic never ran. The plugin looked for the mapping too late in the process.
The Fix: We rebuilt the size mapping engine to process replacements at the correct stage—after attribute values are retrieved but before they’re sent to eBay’s API. Size maps now work exactly as expected, whether you’re mapping split variations or using attribute-based Item Specifics.
But we didn’t stop there. The same merchant also reported another frustrating issue: when they added the [[attribute_size]] shortcode to listing titles to show sizes for split variations, sometimes all variations showed the same size, or the sizes appeared duplicated in the description.
This happened because the plugin wasn’t properly deserializing variation data before matching it to split variation items. When listing data got cached in a serialized format, the shortcode couldn’t find the right size for each variation and either grabbed the wrong one or repeated the first one it found.
We fixed the variation data handling to ensure it’s always unserialized at the right moment, so [[attribute_size]] and similar shortcodes now reliably show the correct variation values in titles and descriptions for split variations.
Bottom line: If you sell shoes, clothing, or any size-variant products on eBay, size mapping now works reliably whether you’re using split variations, regular variations, or attribute-based Item Specifics.
Making Fixed Quantities Actually Work for Variations
Here’s a scenario that affected more users than we initially realized: You’re selling variable products (like t-shirts in multiple sizes) and want to list each variation with a fixed quantity on eBay—maybe you always want to show 10 units available regardless of your actual WooCommerce stock, to avoid overselling during high-traffic periods.
The Listings Table offers a “Fixed Quantity” option for exactly this purpose. But it simply didn’t work for variable products. You could set a fixed quantity all day long, and WP-Lister would ignore it, reverting to your actual WooCommerce stock levels.
The only workaround was to split your variations into individual products—creating separate WooCommerce products for each size—which defeated the purpose of using variations in the first place and created a nightmare for inventory management.
The Problem: The quantity implementation code skipped variable products entirely, assuming fixed quantities only made sense for simple products. This assumption was wrong—there are plenty of valid reasons to use fixed quantities with variations.
The Fix: We updated the quantity handling in the Listings Table to check and apply fixed quantity settings for variable products. Set your desired fixed quantity in the listing settings, and it will now be respected whether your product is simple or variable.
This issue came up in the same support conversation as the size mapping problems. After we fixed the size mapping, the merchant mentioned they also couldn’t set fixed quantities for their variable products. The fixes work together—now you can properly map sizes and control how quantities appear on eBay for the same variable product.
REST API Gets Smarter and More Powerful
If you’re using custom scripts, external tools, or automation platforms to manage your eBay listings, version 3.8.1 brings two significant REST API improvements that make your integrations simpler and more capable.
Plain English Condition Values
Previously, if you wanted to update a listing’s condition via the REST API, you needed to know eBay’s numeric condition codes: 1000 for New, 3000 for Used, 2000 for Manufacturer Refurbished, and so on.
Nobody remembers these codes, so every integration required either hardcoding a lookup table or keeping eBay’s documentation open.
The API now accepts plain text condition values that match what you see in eBay’s interface:
- “New” → 1000
- “Used” → 3000
- “Manufacturer Refurbished” → 2000
- “Seller Refurbished” → 2500
- “For Parts or Not Working” → 7000
Send condition: "Used" and WP-Lister automatically converts it to the correct condition ID. Your API integrations become more readable and less error-prone.
The REST API also now properly handles boolean fields like global_shipping, ebay_plus, best_offer, and immediate_payment, accepting common boolean values (“true”, “yes”, 1) and converting them correctly.
Profile Switching via API
Large-scale sellers often need to move listings between profiles—perhaps you’re restructuring your listing templates, or you want to apply different pricing rules to specific product groups.
The updateListing endpoint now accepts a profile_id parameter, letting you reassign listings to different profiles programmatically. Combined with WooCommerce’s product taxonomy system, you can build powerful bulk management scripts:
- Query products by category or tag
- Update their assigned profiles via API
- Revise the listings to apply the new profile settings
This kind of bulk profile management was previously a manual, time-consuming process in the WordPress admin.
Product Identifier Flexibility
eBay requires specific product identifiers depending on category: UPC, EAN, ISBN, or MPN. Different regions and product types use different standards, and managing these identifiers can be confusing when you’re trying to map WooCommerce fields to eBay’s requirements.
Version 3.8.1 adds new profile options to use WooCommerce’s Global Unique ID field as your UPC, EAN, or MPN. This is particularly helpful if you’ve been using your actual UPCs as SKUs in WooCommerce (a common practice, though not ideal)—you can now properly map those values to eBay’s UPC field without restructuring your entire product catalog.
The profile settings include new checkboxes: “Use Global ID as UPC,” “Use Global ID as EAN,” and “Use Global ID as MPN.” Enable the one that matches your products, and WP-Lister will send the Global ID to eBay as the appropriate identifier type.
These options also support shortcodes, so you can use attribute values or custom meta fields if your product identifiers are stored in non-standard locations.
Smaller Fixes That Add Up
Beyond the major improvements, 3.8.1 includes several quality-of-life fixes:
Bid Count Display: Fixed formatting for the number of bids shown on auction listings. A small visual bug, but important for merchants who rely on the Listings Table to monitor active auctions.
REST API Error Handling: Errors from REST API requests are no longer echoed directly to the output. This improves API response formatting and prevents unexpected content from appearing in automated workflows. Errors are now properly logged while keeping API responses clean.
ConditionDescriptorsType Fix: Corrected the ConditionDescriptorsType definition to resolve validation errors that could occur when listing certain product types with specific condition configurations.
PHP 8 Compatibility: Eliminated a deprecation warning about converting false to array that appeared when running WP-Lister on PHP 8.0 and above. Your error logs stay clean, and you can confidently upgrade to modern PHP versions.
ActionScheduler Organization: All WP-Lister background tasks now use the WPLE group name in ActionScheduler. If you’re monitoring background jobs in the WordPress admin, you can now easily filter for WP-Lister tasks instead of hunting through a mixed list of scheduled actions.
How to Update
Automatic Update:
- Navigate to Dashboard → Updates in WordPress
- Click Check Again if you don’t see version 3.8.1 listed
- Click Update next to WP-Lister for eBay
- Verify your license is active at eBay → Settings → Updates
Manual Update: If automatic updates aren’t working (cache issues or hosting restrictions), contact our support team for a direct download link to version 3.8.1.
What’s Next
We’re actively working on several improvements for upcoming releases:
- Enhanced variation handling for complex product configurations
- Improved bulk editing tools for managing large catalogs
- Better integration with WooCommerce’s new features and blocks
- Performance optimizations for stores with thousands of listings
We also continue to participate in security research programs and maintain active support channels. If you encounter any issues with 3.8.1 or have suggestions for future features, please reach out through your support portal.