'Automation Rules' Relist? CHECK YOUR QUANTITIES

[momcqueen]

As we all know, as sellers, we have multiple ways to relist an item if it is sold or unsold. We can use 'assign automation rules' or relist one at a time using 'relist' or use the 'bulk listing editor' to do so when more than one item has ended. Sell Similar and Good Until Cancelled are also among the options for putting an ended item back out there, or renewing it every 30 days, respectively.

And maybe I am the last seller on ebay to realize this but when you utilize 'assign automation rules' to end a listing when it has come to its conclusion.... but did you know it resets to the original quantity when it does so, regardless of how many may have sold while it was active? It does not track or accommodate for items sold when it relists for you, unlike a renewal by Good Until Cancelled and your regular 'relist' whether through a one-at-a-time or Bulk Edit relist. 

This is interesting and enlightening to me because a handful of times in the past, I had discovered incorrect quantities with active items in my listings, particularly among those where a quantity of which had sold. It seemed like they were being reset. I did not know the reason for this and blamed it on a 'sell similar' error on my part, or a random ebay glitch. I use the 'assign automation' rules very rarely and had instead preferred to relist one-at-a-time or with the Bulk Editor. Recently, the Bulk Editor has been wrecking my listings by adding incorrect Product Catalogue details to them so I had begun to make whatever revisions required by hand before the listing ended and then assign an 'relist once' rule by automation as a workaround.

I thought I would raise what I have found here to other sellers in case it helps to dispel anyone else's confusing about incorrect quantities on a relist. Like I say, maybe everyone already knows but I did not.

'Automation Rules' Relist? CHECK YOUR QUANTITIES or you and your buyer could be in for an unpleasant surprise.

[momcqueen]

You can see it is set to relist with its original quantity of two.

[ypdc_dennis]

That's been true about quantities for a long, long time.

One of those gotcha issues.

[momcqueen]

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@ypdc_dennis wrote:

That's been true about quantities for a long, long time.

One of those gotcha issues.

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Then I am the last to know. 

[rose-dee]

Yes, I think this has been around for a while (I wouldn't say a long, long time as the other poster above mentioned, but at least since eBay began the "free/auto relist" feature about a year ago).  I recall noticing the same thing, since I do list a lot of items in multiples.  I presume eBay's reasoning was that sellers will want to restock a sold out item with the same quantity the next time they list -- obviously not always true!  

Wouldn't it be nice if they'd put a check-box next to the "auto relist" that said "relist with original quantity" -- that would be both a reminder and an opportunity to make the appropriate changes.  

But it's a good thing that you've reminded many sellers who may have forgotten or not yet noticed. 

"Recently, the Bulk Editor has been wrecking my listings by adding incorrect Product Catalogue details to them so I had begun to make whatever revisions required by hand before the listing ended and then assign an 'relist once' rule by automation as a workaround."

Ah yes, d-----d if you do, d------d if you don't.  

Automation that isn't really properly automated, that seems to be eBay's continual problem. 

[rose-dee]

As a test, I went through the steps to relist a sold out item using the normal "Relist", and it does pick up the original quantity.  

But that  has been around for a long time and is different from an auto-relist in that there is an opportunity for the seller to edit the quantity before relisting.  This may have been what the poster above was thinking of. 

Incidentally, I believe eBay has made some changes recently with respect to GTC listings, retaining the metrics that were attached to the original listing (visitors, watches, etc.), for a certain length of time (60 days??).  This means that if you don't want those metrics to be shown on the relisted item for any reason, you might have to use Sell Similar or start from scratch.  Just another heads-up.  

[pocomocomputing]

rose-dee, the quantity issue with relists has been around for the 6+ years I have been selling. pierrelebel and femmfan1946 regularly posted warning about this behavior way back then in the ebay.ca forums as well as this issue coming up often in the eBay.com forums.

One of the hazards of using free listing promos and Fixed Price non-GTC durations when you have a quantity of more than one.

I also have a couple of variation listings that I relist manually using Fixed Price non-GTC durations. I have to remember to delete a sold variation before relisting or set the quantity to zero after if I relist by accident with the sold one still in the listing. So anyone using variation listings that have ended, beware of sold out variations in the listing.

[pjcdn2005]

As long as I can remember relist carried the correct quantities forward. Sell similar took the quantity back to the original amount.

When you use the automatic relist, everything else stays the same so although I'm not surprised that the quantity reverts back, it would make more sense to carry the current amount forward. Then, it would be treated the same way as a regular relist.

[momcqueen]

...... Except in this case, the 'automated relist' didn't revert back to the original quantity of the listing; it kept the current and, more importantly, correct amount. Look! Is it to soon to rejoice? I thought I would mention this now that I found it. 

[momcqueen]

There is only one as listed for sale because it seems as if it remembered there was only one left of the two that sold despite the 'quantity' as it showed on the 'automated action' page. This is good news, yes?

[pjcdn2005]

yes. 🙂

Although...instead of using the automatic relist, why don't you use gtc for multiple item listings? It does carry over the correct amount.

[momcqueen]

Oh, sometimes I like my listings to end so that it's easier to take advantage of the promos. Mostly it's because I am forever fine-tuning store policies, or experimenting with the price/postage options. Having to physically relist an item requires that I look more closely at it.

Normally I use the Bulk Editor to do relists in groups of ten or 20 related items except that recently the listing tool been contaminating my items with details and/or specifics from the Product Catalogue that are flat-out incorrect. Looking for a workaround that avoided using the Bulk Editor meant I chose to revise the existing listings in advance of them ending and then use the 'automated' feature to 'relist it once'. This is what I'll have to do until it's safe to use the Bulk Editor again.

I certainly hope that what it's doing with the 'incorporate details from the (faulty) product catalogue without prior warning or permission' is halted prior to Christmas. I like to include a bit in my listings each year that outlines postal deadlines for the holidays, and I won't be able to do that this year if I have to add it BY HAND to a thousand listings.