AI Powered lister
Summary: it.warehouse initiated a discussion about the use of AI-powered listing tools, noting significant improvements in efficiency and productivity for their business. Various participants expressed skepticism towards AI listings, citing concerns about generic descriptions and potential inaccuracies. lotzofuniquegoodies emphasized the importance of human judgment, especially for unique items, while intimewithmusic discussed the limitations of AI in certain niches. transtraders and aramatic criticized AI-generated descriptions for being generic and misleading. it.warehouse acknowledged these perspectives, emphasizing AI's role as a tool to enhance efficiency rather than replace human expertise.
Anyone use AI-powered lister?
Please "Yes" or "No"
Thank you so much!
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoI think part of the resistance to AI may come from how people have experienced it so far. Many people have probably tried something like ChatGPT by simply giving it a photo or some information and asking, “What is this? Write me a description.”
That's certainly AI, but I don't think that's enough.
I sometimes compare it to sending a few hunting dogs after a leopard. The dogs may be capable, but sending them in without the right protection, training and direction may not produce a very good result. Put protective spiked collars on them, train them for the task, and control how they work, and the outcome can be very different.
We've taken a somewhat similar approach with AI. We don't simply send a photo to an AI model and accept whatever it says. We've built a lot of rules, constraints, instructions and workflow around the AI — what it should look for, what it should not assume, how it should describe condition, how it should determine item specifics, how it should approach pricing, and when it should avoid making unsupported claims.
So in my view, the real question is no longer simply “How good is AI?” It is “How well has the AI been trained, constrained and integrated into the particular job you're asking it to do?”
A general-purpose AI and an AI system specifically engineered for eBay listing can use similar underlying intelligence and still produce very different results.
flipistics
·2 weeks agoI want no part of an AI anywhere near my description. That part takes me very little time anyway.
Where it would be useful for me would be for listing a book (for example) where the AI could go through my pictures and pull out the item specifics from them (like ISBN, author, publisher, publication date, whether it's vintage, hardcover or softcover, and maybe even genre.
For movies / CDs it would again be useful to be able to pull in the item specifics that are slow and annoying to fill in, like actors and other lesser specifics that might help conversion but most people probably don't bother with. CDs pulling in genre would be rather helpful, especially for rare CDs where it can be hard to even find the artist.
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoThat actually makes a lot of sense, and I think that’s one of the areas where AI can be most useful.
The description doesn’t have to be the main reason to use it. For items like books, CDs, movies, and similar products, having AI pull useful item specifics directly from the photos can save a lot of repetitive work — ISBN, author, publisher, publication date, format, genre, actors, and other details that are easy to overlook or simply too time-consuming to enter manually.
That’s very similar to how we use it. The real value for us is not just generating descriptions, but reducing the time spent identifying the item, choosing the category, filling in item specifics, and building the listing.
And you can still keep full control over the description and use your own wording there.
transtraders
·2 weeks ago · EditedeBay pulls a lot of item specifics for you if you put the UPC in and its in eBays catalog for say a DVD. It would be nice if AI could pull the UPC from the pictures and have that part done for you. Or if your item is not in eBay's catalog (which happens fairly often, especially in Canada, our UPC's seem to be different than American UPC's) then yeah that could be useful.
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoYes.
That’s actually one reason the AI doesn’t focus too heavily on UPCs. A lot of products either don’t have a UPC, use different UPCs in different markets, or no longer have the original packaging — especially used, older, or one-off items.
Instead, the AI tries to extract as much information as possible directly from the photos and uses all of those visual details together to identify and define the product. So the UPC can be helpful when it’s available, but the system isn’t dependent on it.
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoGuys, I started this thread mainly because I wanted to understand how AI is being used in the eBay seller community and what other sellers really think about it.
After reading the different opinions here, I think I have a much better understanding now.
My own view is this: AI is already affecting the way we work, whether we like it or not. Sometimes it helps us, and sometimes it creates new challenges. Since we probably can’t completely avoid its influence, I think the more practical question is how we can use it to our advantage.
For sellers, that could mean working more efficiently, reducing repetitive labor, lowering operating costs, improving listings, making products easier to find in search, and ultimately becoming more competitive.
That doesn’t mean blindly trusting AI or letting it do everything. It still needs good instructions, review, and human judgment.
But I think the sellers who learn how to use AI as a tool may be able to spend less time on repetitive work and more time on sourcing, customer service, pricing, and growing the business.
That’s probably my biggest takeaway from this discussion.
aramatic
·2 weeks agoAn AI description to me means the seller is either lazy or ignorant, maybe both. The descriptions are ludicrously generic and often sound like cheesy 1950s advertising ("must-have item" etc. etc.).
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoHi, I really understand what you’re thinking. I had the same feeling before.
It’s similar to my experience with Tesla FSD. Even when Tesla offered me a free one-month trial, I refused to use it because I didn’t really trust it. Later, I finally gave it a try, and it completely changed my opinion.
After actually using it, I found it extremely helpful. For long-distance driving, it can handle many repetitive tasks very well and make the trip much less tiring.
I think AI tools are similar. Sometimes we’re skeptical at first, but once we actually use a good one in real work, we start to see how much time and effort it can save.
A lot of sellers are simply used to their existing workflow and don’t want to change it. I was the same way with FSD. Sometimes you don’t really see the value of a new tool until you actually use it yourself.
aramatic
·2 weeks agoHave you actually read the AI descriptions in eBay? They're ludicrous, an insult to our intelligence. Every item is “a true gem”, a “must-have” item, and “is sure to impress”. Here's an actual one, chosen at random just now and while typical certainly not the worst.: "The Vintage TI Speech Synthesizer PHP1500 by Texas Instruments is a rare and sought-after piece for collectors of vintage computing equipment. This unit, made in the United States, is a unique piece of technology that allows for text-to-speech conversion, offering a glimpse into the early days of natural language processing. While the functionality of this unit is untested, it is a valuable addition to any vintage computing collection for its historical significance and potential future value." Rubbish. The item isn't rare, it's not unique etc. etc. and though it's "untested" it's still a "valuable addition"! This blather tells us absolutely NOTHING, and is actually condescending to its presumed target audience. I'm too respectful of buyers' intelligence to resort to this kind of nonsense.
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoI think it also depends a lot on how the AI is being used. Not all AI tools behave the same way.
If you simply give information or photos directly to a general AI and ask it to write a listing, it can sometimes become overly enthusiastic, make assumptions, or produce descriptions that sound better than the reality.
The tool we use puts certain constraints on the AI. We specifically ask it to stay factual, make reasonable conclusions based on the available evidence, and avoid making claims that cannot be supported by the photos or information provided. In other words, it isn't simply given freedom to say whatever sounds good.
Of course, no AI is perfect, particularly with specialist items like stamps. Details such as centering, perforations, watermarks, varieties, etc. may still require an experienced seller. But that's really how I see AI being useful — let it handle the repetitive work while the seller provides the specialist judgment.
transtraders
·2 weeks agoNope, and I hate listings that use AI descriptions.
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoI understand that. A lot of AI-generated descriptions are terrible, especially when sellers just copy and paste them without checking.
For me, the value of AI is not letting it write random marketing text. It’s more about helping with repetitive work — identifying the product, adding specs, item specifics, and creating a clean first draft.
We still review everything before publishing.
I think AI is just a tool. Bad AI listings are annoying, but well-checked AI can save a lot of time without making the listing worse.
missedbyothers
·2 weeks agoNo, it's terrible. I created a universal prompt for AI models that work well, and I use it - that way, I get what I need.
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoThat makes sense. In fact, you’re still using AI — you’ve just built your own workflow around a prompt that gives you the output you want.
I think that’s probably the key point: AI itself isn’t the problem. The quality really depends on how it’s instructed and how the final result is reviewed.
For us, the main advantage of an AI lister is automating more of the whole process — product recognition, specs, item specifics, title, description, and other listing fields — instead of having to prompt an AI model manually for every item.
Your approach sounds very useful too, especially if you already have a prompt that consistently produces exactly what you need.
intimewithmusic
·2 weeks ago · EditedI hope you don't mind a bit of critique. I looked at your listings. Many of the listing cells completely ignore their designations. Many photos are too dark with little contrast. Sometimes what you list is not picture specific to the pictures.
For example your listing #353853632924 for a single "knob" for a Mackie board.
It includes 4 photos of the entire board but not a single photo of what you're actually selling with an asking of $9.99 OBO
"Condition" reads "
“Attention U.S. Buyers: From Jan 25, 2026, import duties & tariffs are prepaid by us, no this charges on delivery.” (Nothing here about actual condition.)
"Item Description" reads..
"PLEASE READ CAREFULLY
What Included
1x knob only , you can choose blue or red or black
Physical Condition good
Working Condition WORKING GOOD"
This info is in the wrong place.
With respect to photos you have text overlays: Ie "Risk.free"
eBay Photo policy is "No text or marketing overlays:
and "Photo must accurately represent the item." Not happening in this listing.
Then there's the TITLE:
"(1x KNOB ONLY) For Mackie CR1604 16-Channel MIC/LINE Mixer"
Starts with brackets, doesn't start with search terms IE: "Mackie Channel Knob for CR1604 Mixer". who cares about "For 16-channel MIC/LINE etc"? It's just a waste of your 80 character search term priviledge and punctuation in titles can be detrimental to your search advantage. Just an opinion.
@it.warehouse AI possibly allows you to throw more spaghetti against the wall but it's not going to make your listings stand out in a gallery filled with accurate comps.
Put me down for a "nope".
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoHi, thank you for the reminder!
Actually, this listing was not created by our AI lister. In the past, our sellers sometimes had to post listings like this because they needed to finish a certain number of listings each day.
Now that we are using our AI lister, things have improved significantly. The listings are much more detailed, accurate, and professional than before.
Thank you for your feedback!
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoHere is a real example of an AI-generated listing:
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/117414747322
The title, category, item specifics, and suggested price were all generated by the AI lister, without any manual input.
Our seller only took a few photos of the item. That was basically all they needed to do.
The description has two parts. The top section is our customized template set inside the AI lister, while the bottom section is generated by AI based on the product.
You can change the layout, move the AI-generated section, or customize your own description/template at any time.
This is what I mean when I say AI can be especially useful for high-volume sellers. It’s not just generating a description — it can handle most of the listing process from the photos.
lotzofuniquegoodies
·2 weeks ago@it.warehouse
Just had a look at your AI generated listing for the brackets. To my eye I think it might be better to have the listing details first and any business policy disclaimers last (after). For many users going forward there is a tendency to NOT ALWAYS scroll to the bottom. Mostly because of using an app. Description would be first thing I really want to see. I still do my searching on PC where it is easier to see more info all at once.
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoYour suggestion is great.
In the AI Lister, there are 4 options:
AI description only
Don't apply any template. Each listing uses just the AI-generated (and edited) description.
Template above AI description
Show the template first, then the per-product AI description.
Template below AI description
Show the per-product AI description first, then the template.
Template only
Use only the template. The AI / edited description is dropped.
lotzofuniquegoodies
·2 weeks ago@it.warehouse
From your testing and use does the AI over ride any preset business policies? I've found for ages that eBay features/settings tend to trip over what a user has set.
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoThe app gives you 4 options. You can use everything generated by the AI, combine the AI-generated content with your own preset information, or use only the content and settings you have defined yourself.
intimewithmusic
·2 weeks ago · Edited@it.warehouse @lotzofuniquegoodies I think in all fairness it's rare we see a seller with more than 20K listings in the Canadian forum. Most of us, even those with thousands of listings, sell in a broader niche than electronics. fIn my view this is a tool dedicated for like items that require little help to raise them above the comps in the buyers search result.
There is a different new AI assisted listing tool called "Nifty" being talked about it on "The Selling On eBay Radio Show" podcast (episode 163 approx 30 min in). Not sure if this is available in Canada yet. It could be of greater interest to the typical eBay Canada seller because they are saying it successfully incorporates cross platform listing. Other programs have done this but apparently this one will adjust the inventory on each platform automatically when something sells. I'm not sure but I believe it also generates widget backgrounds.
It's not something that I'm interested in due to my niche but it may be of interest to the cross platform listers here. In fairness Shari seems to be liking Nifty. She has approx 1000 listings in her store and sells a large variety from women's clothing to restaurant equipment. I think her store would compare to many of you selling on eBay Canada. This is the link to her eBay dot com store.
https://www.ebay.com/str/7daysale4u
Here's the link to the NIFTY Listing Tool website.
Nifty listing tool (Tested by Shari West (nee Smith) Sept 2026)
https://nifty.ai/
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoOne thing we’ve found is that the AI lister we are using isn’t limited to electronics. It works surprisingly well across a wide range of product categories and can adapt to very different types of items. Before we started using this AI lister, I tried many different products and applications, but none of them really met my expectations.
intimewithmusic
·2 weeks ago · EditedYou don't mention who provides the condition. "Condition" is the "new description". Unfortunately eBay has made the condition harder to reveal due to it's multiple click process.
If a human still crafts all of the images and a human needs to input item condition and a human generated template is used for seller details/ terms that's pretty much what sells an item particularily on an app.
One scary thing AI does do in this case is provide the price. That's the part I worry about the most given countless variables, seller motivations and market fluctuations based on buyer geography. AI Yi yi yi yi! ;>}
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoThe AI lister can also determine the item’s condition from the photos. If needed, you can change it manually, but in our experience, 95%+ of the time, no change is necessary.
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoI understand your point, but that’s exactly where the AI lister reduces the workload.
The seller still takes the photos, because the real item needs to be shown accurately. But the AI can use those photos to identify the product, determine the condition, generate the title, category, item specifics, price suggestion, and product description.
The seller terms or store template are created once and then reused automatically across listings. So the human is not rebuilding that information every time.
In our case, the biggest time savings come from removing most of the repetitive data entry. The person mainly takes the pictures, reviews the result, and publishes. For high-volume sellers, that difference is significant.
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoI agree — price is probably one of the areas where AI should be treated as a suggestion, not a final decision.
There are too many variables: condition, seller strategy, urgency to sell, shipping cost, location, current competition, and even how quickly the market is moving.
For us, the AI-generated price is just a starting point. The seller can review it and change it anytime before publishing.
I think AI is very useful for saving time, but pricing still needs seller judgment, especially for unusual, rare, or high-value items.
intimewithmusic
·2 weeks ago · Edited@it.warehouse Thank you for an interesting topic! From reading the comments here made by veteran sellers I think you need to up your AI selling game if you want to make your case.
In answering your inquiry I had time for one review. Regardless of who or what wrote the listing it's a relevant choice. In this case you're selling a highly unique part with no photo and no part number. That would be a great test for AI to fix. If a human instucts AI it would probably find your part number and even a stock photo of the part. After that a human could make the listing corrections and incorporate a way for a buyer to choose the part number they needed. Good listings are crafted, not synthesized.
I observed the same deficencies in many of your listings. We are selling to many people who don't speak English well or at all. eBay international buyers expect to find descriptive concise item information within the appropriate listing cell. When selling internationally, after grabbing a buyer's attention with strategic titles and photos, the most important cell is "Condition". "Condition" is the new "Description". Currently AI fails if given the task to describe the condition of a random widget on it's own. Enter the human.
If your listings incorporate irrelevant information into a field, or unecessary punctuation, has it occured to you your listing may not translate into other languages correctly and concisely? Can you trust it's foreign translations in countries you sell to as well as the English version?
Example: AI says, "Electronic drum. Battery not included."
Translated to Italian, "Batteria elettronica. Batteria non inclusa. "
In Italian that means "Electronic drum. Drum not included."
Ships To:
"Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Croatia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Worldwide"
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoWe’ve been using this AI lister for about 2-3 months. Normally, summer is our slowest season, especially for electronics. But this year, the opposite happened — these past two to three months have been some of our fastest-growing sales months ever.
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoRecently, about 75%+ of the products we’ve sold were listed using AI. Of course, newly listed items usually have some advantage and tend to sell faster, but we currently have more than 9,000 active listings.
In the screenshot below, these are some of the items we just sold. All of them were listed using AI.
Any item marked with the torch or guitar icon was listed by our AI lister.
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoWe’ve tested this AI lister with all kinds of products — electronics, stones, clothing, shoes, and more — and so far it seems to handle them very well.
Of course, the suggested price may sometimes need to be adjusted depending on your own selling strategy.
Like this - https://www.ebay.ca/itm/117228886267 We’re not stone sellers — we only used the stone for testing.
The AI lister also has a “Hint” field, where you can add extra information or instructions to help the AI better understand the item and generate a more accurate listing.
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoricarmic
·2 weeks agoFor sure nope
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoUnderstood!
It reminds me a little of my experience with Tesla FSD. Last year I didn’t even want to try it, even when Tesla offered a free month. This summer I drove across the U.S. and ended up using FSD for more than 5,000 km in about five days. After actually using it, my opinion changed completely. I was much less tired at the end of each day.
I feel somewhat the same way about AI listing tools. I was skeptical at first, but once they became good enough, they started feeling less like a gimmick and more like a useful assistant.
ricarmic
·2 weeks agoIn my world (stamps) I'm not selling widgets, each item is unique to itself.
Generally I don't use hardly any descriptions at all (nobody reads them, I do well to get them to read the whole title).
Generally when I'm reading a description thats AI'd, I stop and go only by the pictures etc.
Granted I'm "medium old"+ so evolving is slower for me ;-)
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoThat makes complete sense, especially with stamps where every item can be unique and the photos often tell the story better than a long description.
For us, the biggest value of AI is not really writing a beautiful description. It’s reducing the repetitive work involved in creating the title, category, item specifics, basic condition information, etc. The seller still needs to decide what information actually matters for that particular item.
That said, I’d still encourage you to give AI a try sometime, even just as an experiment. You may find it gives you a different impression once you see what it can do with a real item from your own niche.
We don’t really have stamps here, so I tested it with an old banknote instead. I only uploaded two photos and didn’t change anything at all afterward. The listing was generated directly from those two images. You can even see the revision history in the listing to confirm that nothing was edited after it was created.
It might not replace your current workflow, but it could still be interesting to see how close it gets on a unique collectible item. https://www.ebay.ca/itm/117416139338
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoThe AI identified the banknote and gave some historical background about it.
It highlighted the key features and important details of the note.
It included some interesting information that wasn’t obvious from the photos alone.
It added useful collector-related context without me entering that information manually.
All of this was generated from just two photos, with no changes made afterward.
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoStamps and banknotes are quite similar in that they often carry a great deal of history. Beyond their design and face value, they can reflect the politics, culture, economy, important events, and even the social conditions of the time in which they were issued.
ricarmic
·2 weeks agoThe item description isn't full of flowery adjectives and the condition description was to my mind surprisingly good, although it doesn't say anything about the centering, which I believe is important (but one can see it via the picture anyway).
My store is closed at the moment, but the majority of material I sell is in bulk, ie 100 to 100,000 stamp lots.
I've always suggested experimenting, it looks like some day I'll have to "embrace" AI at least as an experiment, although I'd be interested to see how it would interpret bulk lots!
john_koenig99
·2 weeks agoNOPE
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoThank you!
For sellers doing a lot of volume, I think the biggest benefit is probably not just faster listing—it’s reducing repetitive manual work and getting inventory online faster. Selling faster means business running faster.
lotzofuniquegoodies
·2 weeks ago · Edited@it.warehouse
Hard NO!! Definitely easy to tell when a listing has been created that way or similar. I personally would not purchase a listing that was entirely created using that method. Is a user risking INAD? Possibly!!!
As a blast from the past, sellers when creating listings were definitely encouraged to create listings as accurately as possible to the best of their abilities and buyers were responsible for reading those details BEFORE clicking Bid or Buy Now. How the eBay world has changed!!!
As a secondary quandry is using AI plagerism?
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoThank you for your answer!
I’m curious how many high-volume eBay sellers are already using AI for listings.
For us, it has made a pretty big difference. We used to have four people working on listings. Now one person can handle the job and still list 100+ items per day, sometimes with better results than before.
intimewithmusic
·2 weeks ago · EditedNo, not plagerism although Australia just banned music from it's airwaves that is 100% AI created.. That was mostly due to a popular cover of a Madonna song 100% AI generated. In my view that was plagerism unless agreed to by the property rights owner.
lotzofuniquegoodies
·2 weeks ago@intimewithmusic Remember in "our" day when we were ordered to include our sources? You could use but you had to make it your own. Total agreement regarding the performing arts. So very wrong.
From a quick google "non AI" search on the concept:
No, using artificial intelligence is not technically the same as traditional plagiarism, but schools and workplaces often treat undisclosed AI-generated work as a similar violation of honesty.
Key Differences
Traditional Plagiarism: Involves copying or closely paraphrasing someone else's specific words or ideas and passing them off as your own without giving credit.
AI Generation: Generates new text in real-time by predicting word patterns learned from a massive dataset, rather than copying a single specific source word-for-word.
Why They Are Often Linked
Authorship Issues: Traditional plagiarism asks, "Where did this information come from?" AI misconduct asks, "Who actually did the work?" Submitting a fully AI-written paper as your own misrepresents your personal effort and critical thinking.
Policy Violations: Many academic institutions and organizations classify unauthorized AI use under the same disciplinary umbrella as cheating or academic dishonesty, even if no specific source text was directly duplicated.
Acceptable vs. Unacceptable Use: Using AI for minor tasks like brainstorming, checking grammar, or editing your own writing is often permitted, whereas having an AI tool write entire sections or essays crosses the line into misconduct.
Source: the internet
Do users of these selling platforms copy and paste from current listings spotted on line. Probably!!
Is that acceptable? Only you can judge. I can remember when the biggest challenge was removing html links!!! Oye vey!!
Brings to mind the new normal with a job hunt. Applicant brings in an AI generated resume. Business scans resume using AI. Business sends AI generated response to applicant yay or nay. Kind of takes out the personal touch.
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoI completely agree with what you said. However, AI and society have developed to a point where we really have no choice but to adapt, just as we had to adapt when computers first became widely used.
As a business, our first priority is to use these technologies to generate more profit and, most importantly, to survive and remain competitive.
intimewithmusic
·2 weeks ago · EditedI've been involved with tech companies since the 90s but I'm not ready to agree when you say "we". I might have agreed when Roland sent me to LA for the unvailing of Windows 95. The razzle dazzle was impressive. Most of the readers here are part time sellers, young entrepreneurs and some folks who depend on online sales as a sort of "pension". Many have massive sales experience. Many are incredible experts in their fields. Many have been selling here since the 90s. They are crackerjack targetted fast listers.
I can't speak for them. They list items targetted to repeat buyers or specific collectors. They know who they sell to and how the listing must be crafted. AI cannot grade, appraise and sell stamps. Foreigners buy my music memorbilia but not usually Canadians. Each niche is unique. With the gold price fluctuations occuring daily allowing AI to appraise and list gold jewelry is a recipe for disaster.
When you say "we have no choice", I know you meant that in general terms. I think due to your business model and narrow niche you mean you have no choice. What if you ended all of the listings in your store that either use electricity or pair with electric items? Would the AI lister be cost efficient to list what's left in your store? Is it cost efficient for thrift stores to use AI Lister to sell it's rolling inventory without the risk of INADs?
Undoubteldy the trade war and the loss of the de minimis is really affecting you in the electronics niche. It's killing many of us. What most Canadians need is not the ability to list faster. We need flex in the borders again, a return to simplified direct competitive shipping and for eBay to feature our listings in search results.
Faster listing for most of us is paying to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic.
I hope you don't mind the sharing of opinions. Any input or idea that could possibly boost sales is appreciated. It's also great that you're taking the time to stick around and respond to so many forum members!
Thank you!
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoI don’t mind at all — this is exactly the kind of discussion I was hoping for.
And I think your correction of my use of “we” is fair. AI may become increasingly important in business, but that doesn’t mean every seller needs an AI lister or that faster listing is everyone’s main problem.
Our situation is different. We handle a large volume of electronics, so listing speed and labour cost matter a lot. Using AI, we save about C$15,000 in labour each month and are able to list and sell more.
But I completely agree that experienced niche sellers have knowledge AI cannot replace. Stamps, memorabilia, jewelry, antiques and other specialized items often require years of experience. That’s why features like “Hint” are useful — the seller can give AI information it cannot see or understand on its own.
And yes, for Canadian sellers, shipping costs, border issues, tariffs and search visibility can be much bigger problems than listing speed.
So I should probably say: AI listing solves an important bottleneck for some businesses, including ours, but not necessarily for every seller.
I really appreciate you sharing your experience and challenging the idea.
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoI absolutely respect the sellers who built their expertise in the 1990s and have decades of experience behind them. That kind of knowledge is valuable. At the same time, though, the world keeps changing. We also shouldn’t underestimate what a new generation can do when technology gives them leverage. Some very capable people today are not simply working two or ten times faster — technology can allow one person to accomplish what previously required an entire team.
There will always be truly unique items where specialist knowledge, grading, appraisal, and personal judgment matter enormously. But outside of those very specialized niches, a huge part of commerce is still made up of ordinary products being sold to a mass market. That brings us back to the original question: can AI reduce the repetitive work involved in selling those products? I think in many cases it clearly can.
Thrift stores are actually one of the examples where I think AI can be especially useful. If you provide enough clear photos, AI can identify, summarize, and describe a wide variety of used items extremely quickly. Humans naturally have their own vocabulary, habits, and areas of expertise. Someone who is excellent with electronics may know very little about clothing, books, kitchenware, or collectibles. AI has the advantage of being able to work across a very broad range of categories and usually express the information in a consistent, structured way.
And I think the importance of listing speed depends heavily on the scale of the business. If a store only needs to create a handful of listings each day, faster listing may not matter very much. But if a business needs to create dozens or hundreds of listings every day, labour and listing throughput become completely different issues. At that scale, I believe AI can be a very powerful tool for improving productivity and competitiveness.
That doesn’t mean AI replaces experienced sellers. It means experienced sellers now have another very powerful tool available to them.
intimewithmusic
·2 weeks ago · EditedHa ha. If you want to try an experiment here's one. It's sort of the reverse to having AI generate a listing for you.
Open a conversation with Gemini or Chat GPT. IE: Can you help me with an eBay listing?
When it responds cut and paste a complete description from one of your lisitings including any repeated terms or tariff or delivery info you may have there.
Ask it if it thinks you have the best wording to sell the widget?
You can also ask it about your photos if you upload them.
It's interesting. The problem is if you change one word in your query you get a totally different answer. If you try it on a different platform you get a totally different answer. the next day you get another answer... you get the point
lotzofuniquegoodies
·2 weeks ago@intimewithmusic
Something I forgot to add. I recently was creating a listing for a lapel pin. Wasn't sure if it was rare or common. Entered my title and photos. Hit AI. System suggested a price of 2.37 and free shipping with 14% promotion rate. Not sure based on that price if there would be any meat left on the bone after it sold.
Does the AI have any info on Canadian shipping prices and options? Is eBay's AI trained or based on listings created in the USA? It does seem to get very flustered if you spell using Canadian English.
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoThat’s actually a very good example of where AI still needs some input from the seller.
That’s also another reason I support giving the AI additional information through a “Hint.” For example, you can specify a minimum acceptable price of $X, or tell the AI that the item is rare.
The AI Lister we are using also supports eBay Shipping Policies, so you can select the appropriate shipping setup from your own eBay account and adjust the shipping charge for each individual item if needed.
intimewithmusic
·2 weeks ago · Edited@lotzofuniquegoodies Pricing is plain and simple "personal" and depends on seller motivation and if you incorporate any PL fees etc into your cost of goods. All AI can do is give you comps based on non descriptive undefined past tense sales data. With respect to memorabilia or art if you have an object belonging to someone famous and they take a dirt knap the price goes up. AI will give you bad advice. If you then tell AI that person died it might acknowledge a change in market value and throw out a ballpark figure. If you contest that, suppose you say "But when Elvis died his watch listed on eBay increased by 2000%" AI will "grimace" and backpedal again and throw you another figure.*
It's a great research tool though and can give you insight into your buiness model. In a few seconds after inputing relevant data it gave me a perfect 8 page step by step program on how to move my store to another platform.
( *Busted! Okay Elvis died decades before eBay but I liked Dolly too much to bring her into this...)
Hey! You down there! Yes, you with the "Thumbs Up" I'm still typing this trivia! LOL
lotzofuniquegoodies
·2 weeks ago · Edited@intimewithmusic
My interpretation of that suggested price including the free shipping is IF you were to use eBay's suggestion after you personally paid for required shipping and ebay fees you would be in a net loss situation. Promotion fees at your discretion would be the topper to all the minuses. Do we know if promoting at ebay's suggested rates is just upselling on their part? Maybe!?!? Similar to the add on's for lottery tickets. All I know is those add on's have never increased my meagre winnings the times I've said what the heck!!
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoThat’s a very good point, and I completely agree with you.
AI can analyze a huge amount of existing listing data and provide suggestions based on what generally works, but it may not fully understand the unique characteristics of a one-of-a-kind item. That’s why one of the useful features this AI Lister is the “Hint” option. It allows the seller to give the AI additional information that may not be obvious from the photos or the item itself.
I don’t think AI should completely replace the judgment of an experienced seller. Its real value is as an assistant — handling repetitive work, suggesting improvements, and sometimes catching details we may have overlooked, while the seller still keeps the final decision-making power.
For us, that balance is probably the most effective way to use AI.
it.warehouse
OP2 weeks agoyes — I know exactly what you mean. General AI tools can give quite different answers depending on how you phrase the question, which model you use, or even when you ask.
That’s also why the AI lister we use isn’t simply sending an item to a general-purpose AI model and accepting whatever comes back. It has additional instructions, rules, and constraints built around it.
In simple terms, the AI is told to behave like an experienced professional eBay seller, not like a student writing a generic answer. It is guided to focus on the information that actually matters for an eBay listing and to produce seller-level, practical content rather than just “creative” AI text.
Of course, AI still isn’t perfect, and the seller should remain in control. But adding those rules and eBay-specific guidance makes the output much more consistent and useful than simply opening ChatGPT or Gemini and asking, “Can you help me list this?”