problem with stuff being sold and then relisted by somebody else later.
Summary: bag2man mentioned an issue where an item sold earlier was unexpectedly relisted, suggesting it might have been hacked. kensgiftshop clarified this was a known issue called a 'ghost listing' on eBay. femmefan1946 shared a strategy involving sending messages to buyers to resolve the situation and advised checking listings for duplicates regularly. Other participants, including tag_poppin_deals and johnjefprks, shared similar experiences, discussing eBay's occasional relisting issues, particularly with variation listings. Suggestions included using tools and systematic approaches to monitor listings actively to prevent such occurrences.
I have an item that is supposed to ship today but the item was sold quiet a bit earlier to somebody else. I guess I got hacked, I changed my password a couple of days ago. I can move the item into archive to avoid the present problem. what do you think.
adamcartwright
·3 weeks agoMy eBay homepage is my Manage Active Listings page sorted by Start Date, most recent first.
If any listing were added, I would notice it immediately.
For me, this is the best way to guard against ghost listings.
tag_poppin_deals
·3 weeks agoI'm seeing this problem when I "revise" or add another item to an existing listing.
johnjefprks
·1 month agoI have been having the same problem with my variation listings. I use to think maybe it was my mistake. But now I am sure ebay messed up a couple of my listings, in fact one was so messed up I had to end it before anyone purchased something that was already sold. Then today I checked another listing and found a couple more cards that were available in the listing that were already sold luckily I was able to remove them. It's upsetting that ebay has no way to get a hold of anyone to get things straighten out.
stephenmorgan
·1 month ago · EditedDid you know that eBay admits there is a problem with Variation/Multi Quality Listings and they post a "TIP" to warn you about this. The "TIP" relieves eBay of responsibility so if you get Defects because of this you Fees may go up by 6%.
The "TIP" states that Variation/Multi Quality Listings may be repopulated to their original quantity when relisted and that you need to check them.
I have seen this happen often and I am considering ending all Variation/Multi Quality Listings because of it. I have been lucky so far and not received Defects for being out of stock.
dhbookds
·1 month ago@stephenmorgan that's also true for multi quantity listing......... i.e. you start with 10, sell 3.........end the listing and then relist it....it will relist with quantity of 10....... a relist is a COPY of the original.... so it copies the 10.
That has always confused people........but always been that way......
stephenmorgan
·1 month agoI only have a quality of one for each variation so after I have sold a item I have gotten into the habit of completely removing the variation from the listing and then revise and save the listing. I thought this would resolve the issue but it does not always. I still get a listing occasionally that completely repopulated its self.
johnjefprks
·1 month agoWhen I revise or relist a variation listing I always check the select all box and put in a quantity of 1. I always check the listing after I revise or relist. The listings I am referring to I had not been revised or relist but somehow the quantities were changed. I have screen shots of the purchases and the items being available again in the listing . I have not revised the listing until I discovered this. Then I revised the listing and removed the cards completely out of the listing.
inhawaii
·3 weeks agoThat's a pretty good "tip" ... double check your listings.
christworks
·1 month ago · EditedRegardless of whether it is a seller error or eBay glitch, it really does not matter. Sellers are responsible for making sure you do not have duplicate listings until eBay says otherwise.
Do you need to check every day? Of course not. But - I do think it is worthwhile checking once a month.
What I do is download my active orders from eBay. I then upload the spreetsheet into ChatGPT and direct it to find any listings that exactly match the title or SKU. I also have it to list anything that possibly could be a duplicate. I have over 1700 listings and it takes about 2 minutes for it to give me a report in PDF format that I can print out and review.
For the purposes of this thread I ran an updated report for my inventory.
johnjefprks
·1 month agoDoes that work on variation listings.
christworks
·1 month agoAs long as the data is in the spreadsheet, you can instruct AI to find duplicates of anything.
johnjefprks
·1 month agoI am not having problems with duplication. The problem is the listing has a quantity of one for each card when the card sells it goes to zero. rRecently I have had a few listing where the cards sold and I can see that in the purchase history. Then I check the listing and the same card has a quantity of one available. And I haven't touched the listing.
christworks
·1 month ago@johnjefprks So are you saying eBay is relisting your items after they sell?
johnjefprks
·1 month agoYes.
tsme35
·3 weeks agoIn the last month, I've caught ebay relisting one item twice, I end listings every 2 months and sell similar, twice I've had a listing in the list to sell similar try to list it twice. And that's the ones I've caught, now I run that scan to double check.
chapeau-noir
·3 weeks agoAs I've said before, these don't show up in our seller hubs, listed inventory or anywhere else but on the site. It's why these 'ghost' listings, while rare, are so annoying.
It's easy for me to track these things because my store is so small. The last one happened when I had sold one of only two mice I had left. Twice.
femmefan1946
·1 month agoEBay refuses to admit that they sometimes relist Sold items.
I have had a little success with sending a Message to the buyer, explaining the problem, and asking if they are willing to cancel the transaction for a full refund.
If they agree you do not get a Defect.
In future, it is worthwhile reviewing your items for sale every now and again. Put them in alpha-numerical order and look for duplicates or listings that seem familiar. I do this every month or so and usually find a half dozen duplicates in perhaps 2000 listings .
bag2man
OP1 month agogood idea. I have sent a message. hopefully he ok's it. thanks for the idea
chapeau-noir
·1 month agoThey actually did admit that this happens from time to time, and were looking for sellers to submit instances - this was earlier this year (I think).
These instances do not show up in seller's listings, just on the site (at least in my experience) - once sold then they appear in the orders tab - that's how I realised that it wasn't my error.
tag_poppin_deals
·3 weeks agoWhere do I submit instances?
bag2man
OP1 month agothe buyer said it would be all right if I cancelled the buy. thank you for the idea.
kensgiftshop
·1 month agoNo, you were not hacked, it's called a ghost listing.
Some sold listings have been getting relisted by Ebay and it's been going on for years.
You'll have to cancel the order as out of stock and refund the buyer.