eBay

ricarmic · ‎12-12-2023

In my continuing experimentation, I've done a couple experiments relisting ended autions as is and selling similar auctions as is ie both back up as auctions. Based on what I got from that blog, I would not have expected any difference but...

Relist seems to have noticeably worse views/results than sell similar.

Now my sample size is pretty small, and the experiment will be over after the coming week until the new year, but so far:

Relisted:

-views are very slow to show up if at all

-overall views are low compared to when first run

Sell similared:

-views are quicker to show up

-overall views are better than relisted but low compared to when first run

One would expect views to be lower because the "regulars" all saw them the week before, but I'm surprised at the very noticeable "0" views when using the relist, almost across the board at the start.

Anyway will post observations, and am interested to hear any other observations/results between using the two methods others have had!

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎12-12-2023

@ricarmic wrote:
In my continuing experimentation, I've done a couple experiments relisting ended autions as is and selling similar auctions as is ie both back up as auctions. Based on what I got from that blog, I would not have expected any difference but...

Relist seems to have noticeably worse views/results than sell similar.

Now my sample size is pretty small, and the experiment will be over after the coming week until the new year, but so far:

Relisted:
-views are very slow to show up if at all
-overall views are low compared to when first run

Sell similared:
-views are quicker to show up
-overall views are better than relisted but low compared to when first run

One would expect views to be lower because the "regulars" all saw them the week before, but I'm surprised at the very noticeable "0" views when using the relist, almost across the board at the start.

Anyway will post observations, and am interested to hear any other observations/results between using the two methods others have had!

@ricarmic

I see similar results with using sell similar. The few times I have used relist (by accident) I've gotten crickets in sales by doing so. My main recent observation is new listings have a much better sucess rate when it comes to sales vs anything longtail or refreshed. To my mind it might be helpful if eBay gave some of these items a bit of kick fill in the ______. General eBay search is has been getting progressively worse....more like broken. I've had buyers ask questions that were clearly in the listing details. When I pointed this out to them (politely) they explained all they see is the nuisance promoted listings vs scrolling down and finding the info they needed. Followed by an Ohhhh and thanks for sharing that.

-Lotz

ricarmic · ‎12-12-2023

THX for sharing.

Re item details, yep I see the same barrage of stuff when I'm in my own listings, this is why I'm now trying to fit EVERYTHING into the titles as it seems, if one is lucky that's all thats being read anymore! (If then, I've had a number of folks asking questions that are answered in the listing title!!!.)

I also have a wonder that folks looking at stuff on the phones have little to no hope without a lot of work to see details or even enlarged pictures as I also get questions about stuff that is very easy to see on a computer....

msau4301 · ‎12-12-2023

Absolutely I notice a big difference between re-list and sell similar. The re-lists, like you say have very slow (if any views) and/or activity/bids of any kind (I do mostly auctions) where as sell similar is almost always much higher. I've sometimes been surprised by this when an item had 15 watchers but when re-listed zero (crickets as lotz says). I know from the buying side as a collector myself having items in my watch list, I used to get emails or notifications from eBay after they ended "An item you were interested in has been re-listed". I don't think I ever get those notifications anymore (can't remember the last time) and I do think amongst the many changes made somehow the re-listing has lost out. Most times if I re-list an item it is at a lower price (to help move it) and I used to think that's what some of the watchers were doing, seeing if the price lowered but now I'm not so sure.

Also not sure if it makes a difference but when I do sell similar I often change the main photo but I don't think the photo is the issue so much as the sell similar is treated like a new listing and shows up in search before re-lists. And 100% I notice the more activity/sales I've had recently seems to make a big difference like people are being drawn to where the action is. Last to note I've never used the promoted listings if that's relevant.

ricarmic · ‎12-12-2023

THX for sharing!

Yes I do not use any type of promoted listings for Auctions either, you might remember my experiment way back when, I did not see any difference in auction item sell rate/value rate when they first came out and I haven't troubled myself with the auction promotions since.

I do see view bursts when an item has multiple watchers or bid(s), so certainly either of those will encourage the algorithm/bots to bring more viewers. I expect that's why (at least in my categories) there are still folks selling stuff starting at very low start prices, the ones that do get watchers/bids attract more views, however from my observations, on average across the seller they are not achieving great average prices, especially these days. There's a lot of "99c" items for each one that achieved a great price. I'm not willing to try that model in the current selling environment in my categories, the prices and "action" is far too weak.

rocketscollectibles · ‎12-12-2023

I started using relist similar recently and noticed often that my listings has a boost. In my category there is what we call the FOMO (fear of missing out), and i think that some people jumps on some listings when they see the tag 'new listing'.

2nd-time-around-jewelry · ‎12-12-2023

I always end my listings before they relist on their own. I then relist them as Sell Similar. I think it makes them look like new listings & puts them at the beginning of searches for a little bit. Sometimes it gets more viewers & some items selling sooner.

femmefan1946 · ‎12-13-2023

@rocketscollectibles

Sounds like you are the outlier since "Relist" does better for you.

I too feel that Sell Similar gets better results than Relist.

This is even true when I have taken down a long unsold item (most of mine are one-offs) for a week or so then uploaded it, with or without tweaks.

regs43 · ‎12-13-2023

I left my listings for 3 months, didnt end anything (used to daily and sell similar). Sales were fine with leaving them, but I did sell similar all my variation listings 2 days ago and have moved 100 cards (mostly 3 listings), so clearly that helped on the 3 listings that were buried in a saturated sports cards category.

I do not promote, if that matters for anyones tests in the past lol

pjcdn2005 · ‎12-13-2023

A lot of buyers search newly listed and sell similar does reset the date of a gtc listing so that could explain the higher sales using that method. When you use 'relist' your gtc listing is sorted using the original starting date so someone searching newly listed probably wont see it.

But with auctions I have to "guess" as I never use auctions, that the sort date would be the same whether sell similar or relist was used. I would have thought too that both methods would have similar results. Perhaps ebay gives more of a boost when sell similar is used?

msau4301 · ‎12-13-2023

Yes, with auctions if they end without selling the options are still relist or sell similar and I do believe as soon as you hit "relist" you don't get the same placement (at least it would seem in my case).

Right now, before I stop this week until next year, I have all auctions of items that didn't sell first time around and a few have bids and/or sold and all but one has a number of watchers.

I also know that at least 30 percent (sometimes more) of my sales are repeat customers and most follow me so I think that always helps too!

ricarmic · ‎12-14-2023

As a side note, this relist vs sell similar was part of an experiment to "re-run" auctions.

Traditionally I run them for 7 days, normally have 10-20% sell rate and convert all non-sellers to BINs, so I thought to try re-running them for a 2nd time.

The first "re-list" group, that I was complaining about having a low view rate, achieved a 20% sell rate, which was a big (positive) surprise to me. It looks like I need to do some more experiments around auctions, when I restart listing auctions in January.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎12-14-2023

@ricarmic wrote:
As a side note, this relist vs sell similar was part of an experiment to "re-run" auctions.

Traditionally I run them for 7 days, normally have 10-20% sell rate and convert all non-sellers to BINs, so I thought to try re-running them for a 2nd time.

The first "re-list" group, that I was complaining about having a low view rate, achieved a 20% sell rate, which was a big (positive) surprise to me. It looks like I need to do some more experiments around auctions, when I restart listing auctions in January.

@ricarmic

Totally unrelated question but how much room does 5000 + listings take with the kind of items you sell if you don't mind me asking? Sorry, curiousity was getting the best of me.

-Lotz

ricarmic · ‎12-14-2023

About 12 shelving units in a good sized room, but the bankers boxes generally are at the warehouse. I keep them in the main room for the first couple weeks because I'm lazy and don't want to haul them back and forth if I dont' have to!

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎12-14-2023

@ricarmic wrote:
About 12 shelving units in a good sized room, but the bankers boxes generally are at the warehouse. I keep them in the main room for the first couple weeks because I'm lazy and don't want to haul them back and forth if I dont' have to!

Thanks. I just know how much room my hodge podge of listings takes up!!! 🙀

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎12-14-2023

@ricarmic wrote:
THX for sharing!

Yes I do not use any type of promoted listings for Auctions either, you might remember my experiment way back when, I did not see any difference in auction item sell rate/value rate when they first came out and I haven't troubled myself with the auction promotions since.

I do see view bursts when an item has multiple watchers or bid(s), so certainly either of those will encourage the algorithm/bots to bring more viewers. I expect that's why (at least in my categories) there are still folks selling stuff starting at very low start prices, the ones that do get watchers/bids attract more views, however from my observations, on average across the seller they are not achieving great average prices, especially these days. There's a lot of "99c" items for each one that achieved a great price. I'm not willing to try that model in the current selling environment in my categories, the prices and "action" is far too weak.

@ricarmic

Have you seen any uptick in sales by running sales? It may entirely depend on how much you are willing to mark down? Not sure if those items get a "small" boost or not. Towards end of last month I had promoted and an overlapping sale. There was a small uptick in sales for the month. Promoted items sold more than items that were listed as on sale. Bulk of sales by my observations were from best offers.

If anyone has observations/comparisons for sales vs promoted....

-Lotz

ricarmic · ‎12-15-2023

I don't run sales, I have not found them to be useful. Having said this I haven't tried one in a long time.

I think you'll recall I've mentioned a few times in other threads that I get WAYYYY better results from using a promoted rate of 10% as opposed to a 10% discount sale..... a sad truth for the customers, good news for eBay.

flipistics · ‎12-15-2023

@ricarmic wrote:
I don't run sales, I have not found them to be useful. Having said this I haven't tried one in a long time.

I think you'll recall I've mentioned a few times in other threads that I get WAYYYY better results from using a promoted rate of 10% as opposed to a 10% discount sale..... a sad truth for the customers, good news for eBay.

Same for me.