Duplicate listings - Why won't eBay act?

[lupo-store]

I have nearly 500k feedback and have sold on eBay for 26 years.  The issue with Duplicate Listings in the sectors I sell in seems to be getting worse.

Many sellers cannot compete with one good listing so instead of having 10% market share they have several listings and may grab a total of 20% market share.  I report ALL THE TIME and nothing appears to be done.

Here's what I propose to eBay.

When it is CLEAR that a seller has duplicates (e.g. 4) then remove ALL of them.  After you have done that, go through ALL their listings and removal ALL other duplicates.  Then warn the seller if they list duplicates again then there could be a 3 day suspension.  eBay are far too weak IMHO about these and it's made a mockery of best match.  Also it's pushed the ACOS down on promoted listings as theres too many listings chasing the same sellers.   

[typo_lee]

Same in our sector. Guy came in massively undercutting us, multiple duplicate listings and has effectively killed off our business on here for a certain product. Great for him. Bad for us. But ebay don't care and I have raised this with ebay multiple times. Its shocking. We sell on amazon and amazon dont let anything like that happen on there! Much better to sell on and a fairer place to sell.

[palison_123]

Massive problem in my category too-has been for 3 years.

We have one seller now with at least 11 accounts selling the same items and listing an item 4 or 5 times on each account. IE: 11 x 5  =55 duplicates .

If you do a search and 50 items show up 40 of them are from that one seller  under different accounts.

If someone does land on my page every promoted shop is from that one seller.

Its not worth promoting items or introducing new items to the platform as they just get drowned out with these spam listings.

This is totally against Ebay policy and every Irish rep I have spoken to has agreed but nothing gets done .

As you know Ebay might catch on that people cant find what they are looking for because of the same item being repeated again and again and actually enforce their own policy.   (The duplicate  policy was introduced many years to stop this SAD shopping experience and give shoppers choice.)

I`m not waiting around for that moment and have started to invested in other places . 

[lupo-store]

I started this thread as I have connections within trust and safety high up.

I want people like yourself to kindly illustrate how these are killing off the sellers who follow the rules to the letter in the hope that they become stricter 

[goldenwolfman]

Are these Chinese sellers by any chance, just interested?

[palison_123]

I hope you find my post supportive of your experience and is very much an example of your complaint . 

[the-nutwood-collection]

It's not just the search function that's being distorted by these sellers, it's also the saved search emails.

The last few saved searches I have created are monopolised by duplicates.  These sellers are either creating, or using sell similar, on a daily basis - maybe more than once a day.

This means that the 12 (or however many it is) slots on the email are taken up by identical images.  Sometimes it's just one image that occupies all the slots, sometimes it's two or three different images that are duplicated that take all the slots.

Previously, there was a link on the email that would run the search and I could click this to see everything that was newly listed.  That link his disappeared so, to run the search, I have to go via the menu.  More time, more clicks, a deterrent to most browsers who will just look at the email, see it's full of stuff they've seen before - every day for the last however-many days - delete the email, and move on.  Other sellers that have newly listed just one item are being drowned out by these, what I call 'duplicate factories', and miss the chance of being seen. 

Not only that, the 'You might also like' section is also full of duplicates!!!! 

[brindsey]

Not just duplicate listings, but on two different accounts.  One slightly more upmarket with designer dresses £450 down, the other slightly less ranging from £30 to £160.  123 items on the one account, 176 on the other (probably much less because of the duplicates). All items priced differently so easily found when sorted by price.  And, to add insult, both accounts are 'private' with no returns accepted.

Me, I've reported so many times,   just given up.

[lupo-store]

Keep these coming please. I have passed the link on to people who are at the top of Trust and Safety.

I want them to see how frustrated sellers are

[m.j.rodgers]

My issue is in the automotive area. So many sellers list the same item that isn't specific to a vehicle as individual items with title "Tyre sealant for Audi A4" then another listing "Tyre Sealant for Audi A5"  then Ford Focus, Ford Mondeo, etc etc 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152499976401 

 One such seller. Far from a rarity.  

[m.j.rodgers]

Another example 

Specific part that probably fits 200+ machines so 200 listings from one seller 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/116467133839 

[lupo-store]

I think from the policy they are allowed 5 of these types of listings only

[wyntersemporium]

Jewellery section also using the same photos all from the far east as it were. All if most have the same seller as recognise the name of the seller. Also notice they don’t put their address on eBay but put in their supposedly tax thing. 
eBay should crack down on that.