Which is better: Auto relist or Sell Similar
When I look at Reseller videos most of them say it's better to sell similar when your auction ends. I've been doing that but it's getting tiresome. So I started to auto relist.
My question: Which way will tell the AI robots that your listing is "new" and push your listing to the top?
11 comments
mam98031
·3 years agoThey are two different functions completely.
Relist will use the original information you had in the listing, so make sure the quantity is what you want it to be. Sometimes sellers forget to check that. With the relist, if your listing had any Watchers, those Watchers will get an email [if their site preferences are set to receive them] to notify them that you have listed the item again. The same listing number is used on Relists.
Sell Similar Watchers are not notified because it becomes a new listing. With a new listing number.
nanniestreasurechest
·3 years agoOne of the other advantages of the auto relist is I get up to 8 free auto relist on each item so if I'm worried about going over my 250 free listings then I just let it auto relist. Most of the time I don't come that close to the 250 so I just sell similar.
nanniestreasurechest
·3 years agoI noticed on my auctions that if I relist then if someone does a search using "newly listed" as a search they won't come up but if you "sell similar" it shows up. Of course this is only good for about 24 hours then after that you get farther down the list. For the category I do auctions in, "newly listed" is used by many collectors. That's the only advantage I've seen between the two.
a_c_green
·3 years agoRight. The Sell Similar process results in a new listing (with new listing number, etc.) and is treated the same as if you had created it from scratch.
In comparison, the Relist process will put the listing up again under its original listing number and (more importantly) its original listing date, not its relisting date, so any chronological sorts will leave it in the middle of the pack after it's been relisted a few times.
liawri-75
OP3 years agoACGreen: It appears that after a listing has relisted a few times (3 or 4?) you should end the listing and "sell similar"?
a_c_green
·3 years agoThat's what I do; yes. I'll let BuyItNow listings re-list themselves for a while, but if they're now sinking to the bottom of a mass of listings for similar items, such that new prospective buyers aren't likely to be seeing them at all, then I'll end the listings and Sell Similar on each to get it introduced as a new listing, and that will ensure that it floats to the top of any search ordered by Newest First.
For example, I've used the Post Office rebranding of First Class Package into the new Ground Advantage group as a reason to look at each of my older BuyItNow listings in turn and verify that the Shipping info will be current. I'm doing the necessary revisions to each listing as a Sell Similar off the old listing, ending the old one and then launching the revised version as a new listing that way. (There are some other changes I'm also making along the way, so this gives me a chance to get a fresh look at each old one, one at a time.)
Regarding auctions in particular, one thing that really annoyed me about relisting an auction that didn't sell the first time around (as opposed to doing a Sell Similar off the old auction) was that the relisted auction would go live carrying its original starting date, not its latest one. Thus any chronological sort would place the auction further down in the listings (sometimes way down, if I hadn't relisted it for a while), so people sorting by Newest First wouldn't see it at all. Sell Similar would put it in as a fresh listing instead.
b86fiero
·3 years agoProbably neither. I believe you must end the listing then change either the title, item specifics, description and / or price when relisting.
I have a few listing with larger quantities of the item available. They auto relisted numerous times and I have ended and relisted them occasionally. They did not show up as "new" until I changed the title wording and the description.
I'm not sure anybody knows how long your listing would be pushed to the top or at what time of day it would appear there. With a billion or so listings on eBay how long is any particular listing shown in the top spots?
If your items are not selling using auctions try using the buy it now format when you relist. Many buyers won't wait for an auction to end unless it it s highly desirable and sought after item.
Best wishes to you and hope your sales improve quickly.
liawri-75
OP3 years agoThanks all.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·3 years agoebay has said that it now has the ability to recognize an old listing whether you use relist or sell similar, so I'm not sure it matters very much. I think it would be more important to make some significant changes, such as price or photos, if you want ebay to treat it as new.
cardxcraft
·3 years agoI'm curious; do you know or have an idea on how they're able to differentiate the sell similar items as not being new? I thought about it, although I lack the technical know how, I feel as though the photo has data embedded in it. But, I'm not sure.
I tried downloading a photo from both an active listing and ended listing, to read the data associated with it, but I couldn't. The best I could do was a screenshot.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·3 years ago@cardxcraft No, I don't know. As I recall, she did say that they no longer use the ID number to determine whether it is really a new listing or not.