Is eBay promoting items that have sold?
I sell a variety of different items. I have noticed that when I sell an item that may not have sold in a few weeks or months, all of a sudden I sell 2 or even 3 of that item in span of 1 or 2 days.
It appears that once I sell one of these items, it becomes 'popular'. Does eBay somehow push items that sell, so that more are sold?
6 comments
stainlessenginecovers
·9 months agoVery common; Items are 'pushed up' to the 1st page when 'multi-item' items sell.
I have over 500 items and this has happened for over a decade.
luckythewinner
·9 months agoDepending on the item, it is also possible that someone found your item and posted about it (or a link to it) on social media, a messageboard, or a collector's forum.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·9 months ago@freyinnovations On eBay, "promoting" is usually associated with ebay ads (formerly known as "promoted listings", now also sometimes referred to as "boosting" by ebay, which further confuses things.
Sellers have to take extra steps to run ebay ads.
That is NOT what is happening here.
What is happening here is: If you sell multi quantity listings, and you start making sales, ebay's algo will see that as a reason to bump that listing up in search. Success, as they say, breeds success. So, yes, ebay is probably improving your item's visibility. But ebay is not "promoting" your item in the sense of running ads for free.
bashort
·9 months agoYes this happens. If I have a qty of a common item I will start out with a price that I am losing money at to get some sales on the board then raise the price up, its a way to promote a item where the promotion can be ended any time.
christworks
·9 months ago@freyinnovations That first sale of a multi-quantity item can take a while sometimes, but yes, when one sales, you are more likely to sale another one. All the more reason why not to end and relist multi-quantity listings. That listing has shown buyer conversion to a sale. Obviously eBay wants sales and the algorithm will increase the times it organically comes up in search, and will likely place higher without the need for it to be promoted.
Some multi-quantity items are just slow movers because of the nature of the item. I have a ton of ONN brand wired earbuds. Most buyers are not searching for wired earbuds, so the sales are going to be slower anyway.
toomuchstuffagain35
·9 months agoThis is something that happens often.
An item can sit for ages with no apparent interest then one sells. Suddenly the rest of them (if you have MQ) sell in a very short space of time, so it does appear that selling an item improves it's visibility.
It's not that ebay are "promoting" that item per se, but more that a sale signals to the algorithm that this is an item that buyers want, so then it's presented to buyers more.