Multiple listings of the same item

[doomed-doomed]

Wasn't there a rule against this?

I don't mean variations in a single listing, but when a seller posts the same item half a dozen times or so, and does that with all of their listings, thereby filling pages.

[cobwebcottage]

Yes,it contravenes the duplicate listing policy but trying to get Ebay to enforce their own policies is another matter.....

Duplicate listings policy | eBay

[rjwilmsi]

eBay prevents listing of exact duplicates, so sellers who want to list mutple just add a random character to the end of the listing title, or number them, which seems to get round the check eBay has in place.

It seems that eBay don't much care about duplicate listings because I agree that they're all over the place. I'm sure if eBay did care they could charge an insertion fee for each duplicate, which I expect would reduce the problem by 99% almost immediately.

[douglaspuglas]

I've given up trying to report duplicate listings because eBay does absolutely nothing about it.

[ett1954]

@rjwilmsi  "I'm sure if eBay did care they could charge an insertion fee for each duplicate, which I expect would reduce the problem by 99% almost immediately."

eBay will not do that because their business model these days is all about garnering more fees from each sale.  These duplicates create more pages which results in yet more space to place promoted items which in turn results in more promoted listings being 'clicked' and possibly sold within the 30 day window.  This activates the promoted listing fee from the seller by that buyer or potential buyer.

The recent free listing and fee offer to private sellers will in turn generate many more pages in which to implant promoted listings - it's all about space for promoted lisitngs and the increased return in revenue from these.

The last 7 quarterly reports to investors have shown a decrease in sellers and buyers and subsequently GMV (sales) however eBay reports an increase in income made up by a substantial increase in promoted listing fees.  In short, on average, everyone is having to pay more to sell.

The next quarterly results will be announced this coming Wednesday.  Expect more of the same.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

I was looking for something last week and came across this, pages filled with the same item, same seller BUT the price varied, sometimes by 1p sometimes by a £1.  Infuriating because i had to scroll through lots of cr.p i did not want to finally find what i did.  No wonder buyers get fed up of it.

[4_bathrooms]

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@kath3735_wxmjn wrote:

I was looking for something last week and came across this, pages filled with the same item, same seller 

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Not that it should be necessary but you can click on "More Filters -> Seller -> Only show items from -> Specific sellers" ensuring "Exclude" is selected then enter the eBay ID of the seller you want to exclude from the results in the "Seller" box.

[kath3735_wxmjn]

Thank you, i did not know that but i shall do so in future but as you say should not have to!

[the-nutwood-collection]

It's not just the listing pages that are cluttered with duplicates, it's also the saved searches.

I'm searching for something and, every day, the same items appear on my saved search.  I can't exlude them because the listing title is different - these sellers must use a thesaurus to find new words to put in the title - but the images are always the same.

It is absolutely infuriating.  I don't bother to look at the search most days because it's just a waste of a click.