How about placing same listing dozens of times (see description)?

[dakbat-61]

Does posting same ad dozens of times on eBay with different pictures for each ad and a different description help with the chances of the ad being seen by visitors and thus the chances of selling it if you want to sell without using the promotion option?

[eburtonlab]

I think you missed my point.

The fact that you notice that some people can break the rules and apparently get away with it is not a good reason to break the rules yourself, because there will always be people trying to break the rules and at any given time someone will be getting away with something.

And because there are buyers that see what those sellers are doing and make a conscious decision not to buy from such sellers and actually follow through and then won't buy from sellers that do that. Ever.

And if your response to that is "How many buyers are like that, though?" then you are asking precisely the wrong question.

[tsme35]

Ebay doesn't care but their losing money because of it. 5 or 6 sellers list 5-10 of the exact same item, I'm not talking about different colors, sizes or quantity, just the same item it floods the market, so my one item that I've followed ebay policy is covered up and I have to drop my price below theirs. I can handle one on one having excellent customer service but one on 20

[gurlcat]

I think you're right -I am the one not getting your point, and I still don't.  It sounds like you're saying this is a problem that self-corrects.    And I especially don't understand how you could dismiss the question of how many buyers know what they're seeing and how to see more clearly, using advance search, etc. ... when numbers are precisely what matters in business.  How many buyers are vulnerable to crooked practices are exactly what matters. This woman I'm talking about (and to be clear, I really don't wallow in bitterness about her on a regular basis or think she is THE bane of eBay, just one example of a duplication violator, the one I'm most familiar with) - if her sales per month are vastly higher than another mystery lot seller who also has (apparent) near-limitless stock but keeps their listings refined to meet the policy, then obviously more buyers are buying from her just because her listings are duplicated, and because all those buyers AREN'T the savvy type you're talking about.  

Do you not agree it's problematic that nothing happens when these kind of sellers get reported?  

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@gurlcat  I understand your frustration with these listings, but I still do not see them as duplicate listing violations. If I have ten brand new copies of the same CD by a particular group, and I list 10 listings for that CD, those are violations because the item itself is identical. If I have ten brand new cds by this group, but they are all different titles, I can list ten listings, because they are not identical.

This seller is NOT selling identical items in these listings. If the items are not identical, it simply isn't a duplicate listing.

So, reporting these as duplicate listings is probably ineffective. 

However, since the listing photo does not show the items being sold, they can be considered violations of the picture policy:

"The following are not allowed:

• Photos that don't accurately represent the item"

Also, whether she calls them a "lot" or a "grab bag", they may be in violation of another policy, which requires at least a basic description of what the lot contains : 4 brooches, 2 necklaces, etc. I'm not sure just what is required here, but if ebay considers these to be "grab bags" they might be a violation of another policy.

But a duplicate listing violation? At best, I'd say this is a gray area, but my guess is, again, I don't think ebay would consider these to be duplicate listing violations.

[gurlcat]

So, those issues you bring up, they definitely frustrate some buyers, namely if they didn't read the description, which DOES make very clear that the photos are just representative and that the lots will be randomly scooped by weight only.  -Some of her negative feedbacks reflect the fact that the buyers didn't read the description, and she replies with bitterness, sarcasm, etc. about it.   But some are like "I knew this was a mystery lot but I didn't expect it to be almost all necklaces!"  or  "I knew I wouldn't get the jewelry in the photos but what I got is way lower quality than the photos" etc.  And by the way, you'll see disappointed comments like that in some other mystery lot sellers' feedback too, not just hers.  It's a really risky way to sell, not worth the savings in time and effort of not photographing each lot, if you ask me. 

But the fact that buyers can leave feedback expressing their disappointment like that (even when they obviously  didn't read the description) and the fact that they can use the MBG if they're disappointed, I believe this is why eBay allows mystery lots to exist.  And there are TONS of them.  -I don't sell them btw.  I do offer junk lots but my listings have photos of the actual pieces in each one.  As a buyer, I have bought only a few mystery lots, just out of curiosity, and in each case they sucked, lol.  And that really didn't surprise me one bit, and I didn't neg the sellers or anything.  But you know what?  -There are plenty of buyers who are crazy about them, I mean even this woman's feedback is always at least 95% positive.  

What I'm trying to say is, maybe eBay has policies that mystery lots would technically violate, but because buyers have built-in paths of recourse and most of them are just fine with sight-unseen jewelry lots anyway, eBay does't go after those listings pre-sale. 

And THAT is exactly what makes those 'mystery' aspects different from duplication, in terms of harm.  Duplicate listings do cause problems pre-sale, just by existing extraneously.  -They give buyers a false sense of wide selection, and they crowd out other sellers' listings.  That's why I feel eBay should take them more seriously.  

Now, one last try to convince you that Miss Thang's listings are duplicates.  Maybe this will be the easiest way to get it across: Go back to the post I made about her listings and look at my screenshot of those 3.  -If you were a buyer looking for a grab bag of used jewelry, and you wanted to spend up to $55, how would you decide which of those 3 to buy?  (Since you can't see this from just a screenshot of search results, I'll let you know, if you click on each one, the descriptions are the same, and all 3 have a bunch of different photos of different piles of jewelry).  So, which of those 3 will be the best according to what you like?   

IT LITERALLY DOESN'T MATTER which of them you pick, because if you are the next buyer of a 3 pound junk lot that she gets a notification for, she is going to scoop from the same tote, regardless of which 3 pound junk lot listing you picked.  So why are there 3, when all of them are for identical Schrodinger's Cat boxes?  

[gurlcat]

Oh man I just realized something and wish I hadn't.  -How awesome it would be if there was a separate category under Vintage Jewelry for mystery lots only.  Oh my god, how much easier it would be to shop here for actual-photo lots and how much better visibility my lots would have for buyers with the same stipulation.  I never even imagined that before, but now that I do I just feel despair because I know there's no way to get traction on a good idea here.