New faster (and slower) processing
A new filter processing system was installed on March 28 that changed how often filters are updated and how fast new items are delivered. We apologize for the delay in posting this information.
This change addresses a performance problem caused by a small number of users who configure a large number of filters (in some cases over 100 filters). At times, other users were negatively impacted and experiencing delays.
The majority of users, who have a small number of filters configured, are already seeing faster updates as a result of this change. Users in active categories are updated as fast as once per second. In slower categories, updates typically usually run under five seconds. Remember that eBay delays may impact actual delivery time of new items.
For those few users running a large number of filters, your performance will now be degraded. In some cases updates may be running as infrequently as every 5 minutes in slow moving categories. This is in addition to eBay delays.
An even smaller number of users were heavy consumers of system resources, but not buying at all, have been blocked completely as they were just leeching from everyone else.
How to get faster updates
While in the past, we have recommended creating separate filters for different channels and products, this recommendation has now changed to suit the new system design.
You should consolidate filters wherever possible. The fewer filters you have, the faster they will update. Each user now has their own filter queue and filters are processed in round-robin fashion. The more filters you have configured, the longer time there will be between updates of an individual filter.
Update: New All Channels option now available.
Version 3.4 and above provide a new option to allow filters to span all eBay categories on a site. While channels are still preferred for performance and convenience reasons, the new “All channels” option will allow those users that are configuring the same filters in multiple channels to further consolidate these filters and get better performance.