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Listings disappearing? help!
Summary: k-motorhead is reorganizing inventory and has noticed some items have disappeared from their eBay listings without notification. They suspect a possible glitch and are seeking advice on how to prevent this issue. wooden_flower explains that eBay often removes stale listings, especially older ones, and advises comparing active listings with physical inventory regularly. disneyshopper mentions that ended items stay inactive for 90 days before removal. k-motorhead has developed a solution using an Excel spreadsheet to track active and sold items monthly, ensuring missing items are identified and addressing the potential listing issue at the end of months with 31 days.
We have ~1800 items currently. We should have more. We are physically moving inventory locations and re- binning items. Doing this inventory count, there are items that I listed within the last 2 years. Some inventory items have been on the store for 5+ years. Im taking them out as we move inventory locations.
How do I prevent the items from just disappearing?
Is it the 3 day February relist glitch? they are not in the ended listings or sold....or anywhere. eBay didn't notify me they were removing for a violation. I cant even find the ebay ID number in google. We used to write this on every item. Now we rely on the bin location, 27 gal totes. Theres only so much that fits in them. Mostly eBay motors parts and acc. No two items are the same and its easy to find one part in the bin. Were up to 52 Bin locations, so a yearly inventory and relist missing items would be an ENDEVOR. Not writing the year make and model and component on the item has sped up listing times, but now we cant hire just anyone to help do an inventory count, because you have to actually know what you are looking at!
The only solution I can see currently, is to download a monthly inventory report on the 27 every month. Compare month to month and subtract out the sold items. ? AND not list any items on the last 3 days of "every long month" Is there a better way?
We're wanting to get the storefront up to 20k items. I need a solution before we get to that point.
Its taken me MONTHS to get the things I have moved into bins correct and organized.
Now I'm sitting here wondering exactly how many items I potentially have sitting on the shelf, taking up space and not listed....
HELP!
k-motorhead
OP1 month agoI have found a solution!
I have made an excel spreadsheet we plan on executing on the 1st of every month. Download active inventory and last months sold items on first of month. I have requested the active listing report from before the Bin relocations started.
The spreadsheet has 3 sheets. Old Active, new active and sold. You have to manually move the ebay id and item description from sold list from the wxy column to the A1 location. Format all item numbers to numbers and drop the decimal places to none on all sheets.
Insert a column on the old active behind A.
Use formula at b1 cell: =IF(AND(A1<>"", ISNA(MATCH(A1, 'NEW ACTIVE'!A:A, 0)), ISNA(MATCH(A1, 'SOLD ITEMS'!A:A, 0))), "Missing", "PRESENT")
DRAG it to the bottom.
Then filter old active B column for missing.
It will remove sold items and only leave you with items you deleted or ebay just didnt have the common courtesy to tell you they were removing. We will update the old active list as needed.
We are also planning on not listing anything on the 29,30,31 to avoid the February glitch problem they refuse to fix.
wooden_flower
MentorAug 11, 2026 at 11:15 PM@k-motorhead
That is an elegant solution. 👍
disneyshopper
Mentor1 month agoIf you END any items, they will be in your INACTIVE folder for 90 days, and then ebay will automatically remove them, so you have to do something within 90 days if you do not want to re-create any listings.
wooden_flower
Mentor1 month ago@k-motorhead
eBay routinely removes stale listings - generally over 12 months old or since the last sale if multiquantity, although the timing might be different in motors categories. They do not notify you when they do this.
The only way I know of to figure out the missing items is compare your active listings to your physical inventory.
Once you’re back in balance, set up a regular review of your oldest listings - you can sort by list date in seller hub. End and relist the ones that will become stale.