Duplicate listings policy - starting October 26

[dipmicro]

http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/news/DuplicateListingPolicy.html

I think this one is going to hit Asian sellers pretty hard. Especially this portion:


I have more than one seller ID. Can I list identical items under different seller IDs?
No. The policy permits one Fixed Price listing per identical item per seller across all your selling accounts. Sellers who create duplicate Fixed Price listings for identical items under different seller IDs may be subject to a range of actions including listing cancellation, loss of fees, limits on account privileges, loss of seller status, and account suspension.


I have observed HK sellers who have 10-20 accounts (I was able to detect). Perhaps some have more.

Duplicate auctions remain allowed.

[coxengines]

I can only guess who now has a big smile on his face :^O

[dipmicro]

Imagine the evil laughter with my OP. Mwahahaha ... :^O

[dipmicro]

And for authentic experience, I found an audio for you to play:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil_laughter

on the right side. Press Play and read my original post. Authentic.

[westernstargifts]

http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/news/DuplicateListingPolicy.html

I think this one is going to hit Asian sellers pretty hard. Especially this portion:


I have more than one seller ID. Can I list identical items under different seller IDs?
No. The policy permits one Fixed Price listing per identical item per seller across all your selling accounts. Sellers who create duplicate Fixed Price listings for identical items under different seller IDs may be subject to a range of actions including listing cancellation, loss of fees, limits on account privileges, loss of seller status, and account suspension.


I have observed HK sellers who have 10-20 accounts (I was able to detect). Perhaps some have more.

Duplicate auctions remain allowed.

I clicked on that link and DH came into the room and asked if I had heard that noise....:^O

[westernstargifts]

Actually it was the link from post # 3. I double Czeched....

I know....that was a bad joke.....:-x

[momoftwingles2]

Ya'll are just to funny!

Susan
momoftwingles2

[dipmicro]

Beside all the jokes, I actually wonder how this is going to be implemented.

US PowerSeller boards has several threads about this and folks naively think they can just rearrange the words in the title to make it different. It will not work, all it takes to alphabetically arrange titles and compare those.

I think this new policy is minor inconvenience for obvious offenders. Big Asian sellers that have been flooding will probably continue flooding in little more sophisticated way. All I have to say that in China $300-$800/m (depending on province) gets you a reliable full-time person who can run $10-$50k operation under his name and big brother can have a farm of 100 such operations. So much for multiple accounts.

My mwahaha was perhaps premature.

[axe_n_gear_music]

I have been told by another seller, that eBay is saying that you would have to change a minimum of two distinct things for the item to be not deemed as "duplicates" - so for example, you can change one word in the title, and change the price by 5 cents, and that would work.

Can anyone confirm that?

AXE

[cartoonsinabox]

I have been told by another seller, that eBay is saying that you would have to change a minimum of two distinct things for the item to be not deemed as "duplicates" - so for example, you can change one word in the title, and change the price by 5 cents, and that would work.

Can anyone confirm that?

AXE

I guess this new policy won't change much if this is true.

[bilge21]

I have been told by another seller, that eBay is saying that you would have to change a minimum of two distinct things for the item to be not deemed as "duplicates" - so for example, you can change one word in the title, and change the price by 5 cents, and that would work.

Can anyone confirm that?

AXE

If that's true, should be a simple matter reporting violators. In other words, watch your competition's listings like a hawk and don't hesitate to report them.

[axe_n_gear_music]

True, you do have the option to report violators, but people will always find a way to tweak their listings ever so slightly to pump up their exposure and listing volume.
Just like the thousands of sellers who still get away with leaving the old "great transaction-visit us today at www.widgetsandmore.com" in the feedback that they leave their buyers. I have reported lots of stuff like that over the years, return to check months later, only to see that they are still doing it. I have never really done the "duplicate listing thing" myself, but I do have a ton of competitors that list the same item 10 - 20 times, so I think this will really benefit me in the long run.

But I do believe it will be a cinch for most sellers to simply tweak two things in their listings to get away with it - toss a different picture in and change the price or description slightly, and that would probably do it. - here is a bit from the duplicate listing announcement from eBay:

"How do I differentiate listings that are significantly different?
If you have duplicate listings that show up in the duplicate listing look-up tool for items that are significantly different, revise those listings so that the difference is appropriately reflected in at least two of the following areas: listing title, price, photo, item condition, item specifics and/or description."


So, we'll just have to wait and see how this one goes....?:|

Cheers,
AXE

[bilge21]

yep, seeing a lot of changes in prices with my competitors still flooding the categories. prices are only nickles in difference but the ads are duplicates.

There's no way to report them either. Ebay hasn't set up thier reporting mechanism to report that particular violation.

[bcbeautiful]

I think if the sellers use a different photo, that also counts a a different listing. Takes more work to use a new photo for each duplicate, but I think that is also a way around.
From what I read, you save (copy) the photo over and over with a new name each time (which gives it a new path name ) and then ebay thinks you have a "different" photo.

[foretra]

For me is a PAIN in the a** , I've been on eBay since 2002 always had multiple fixed price listings (only one per day) with automated re-listing all of a sudden I have all these listings canceled... I do agree about not floding the market with the same listings but one per day is not flooding... I guess that moment to finally get the hell out of here is coming soon

what's the point of having an eBay store then???

[waddell.jim]

Re using different pictures or scans. This doesn't work either. I sell postage stamps. Collectors collect different corner blocks of 4 from sheets called plate blocks or corner blocks. For example someone may collect the lower left corner block of 4 from a sheet of stamps. Others upper right corner. I just had an Upper left corner block and a lower right corner block removed. Totally different pictures & slight change in description, but still removed. Lower left is worth twice as much but price difference didn't matter either. This has to change.

[momoftwingles2]

Re using different pictures or scans. This doesn't work either. I sell postage stamps. Collectors collect different corner blocks of 4 from sheets called plate blocks or corner blocks. For example someone may collect the lower left corner block of 4 from a sheet of stamps. Others upper right corner. I just had an Upper left corner block and a lower right corner block removed. Totally different pictures & slight change in description, but still removed. Lower left is worth twice as much but price difference didn't matter either. This has to change.

Hi there,

This doesn't make sense at all when the policy clearly states:

Creating two or more listings for items that are not identical, identifying the difference in titles, prices, photos, or descriptions.

You should contact eBay and explain the difference.

Susan
momoftwingles2