Eliminate relisted items from search results

[randomengineer]

Is there really no way to eliminate re-listed items from search results? I am looking for rare items, and frequently get notified of the same items that have been repeatedly re-listed.

Assuming this is not possible, how can we request that Ebay fill this need?

[mudshark61369]

@randomengineer,

"Is there really no way to eliminate re-listed items from search results? I am looking for rare items, and frequently get notified of the same items that have been repeatedly re-listed".

If ebay were to eliminate relisted items from saved search results, it would anger a lot of sellers, and  why would ebay eliminate anything that was relisted, from being shown? 

A buyer could  have missed an auction's end and now they know they have a 2nd chance to bid on it.  A buyer might have placed an item in their Watch list and forgotten about it.

Maybe some buyers never noticed the item while searching before. 

Then there's a possibility seller may have revised the listing or lowered the price, which would be a benefit to a buyer. It would also give buyers a chance to contact a seller who has relisted an item many times, mentioning that they have seen the item relisted and ask if they would consider lowering the price.  I've done that successfully several times.

If ebay were to remove relisted items from saved searches they would have to do it for all relisted items. The programming needed to allow individual buyers to block relisted items might cost more than it is worth, for the amount of use it would get.

[martin2001]

A partial solution you could use is to create a search and using the Advanced option you can eliminate certain sellers from that search. I would assume, that you would know which sellers to eliminate. You would then save this search and next time you search for a particular item, these sellers will be excluded and obviously, if they relisted that item, it won't show up.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@mudshark61369 wrote: ... If ebay were to eliminate relisted items from saved search results, it would anger a lot of sellers, and  why would ebay eliminate anything that was relisted, from being shown? 

A buyer could  have missed an auction's end and now they know they have a 2nd chance to bid on it.  A buyer might have placed an item in their Watch list and forgotten about it.

Maybe some buyers never noticed the item while searching before. ....

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I think the OP wants eBay to offer an OPTION for searches to exclude relists.

Anybody who has regular searches that they sort by "newest first" gets frustrated at seeing so many "newest" listings that aren't really new.  On the other hand, the first time I conduct a new search, of course I want to see everything even if an item is a relist.

[femmefan1946]

I agree this could be a useful OPTION for a buyer.

We know, or at least I believe, that eBay will drop some previously seen listings from a Search if it is repeated.

As if the logrithm  (sp?) is programmed to show a Searcher slightly different items since the first batch was not satisfactory.

If it were constant, it would be an annoyance. And probably it would be best if it had to be opted for with each changing Search.

[wastingtime101]

eBay released an update a couple years ago so items that are relisted using the "relist" function will keep the original listing date when search is sorted by newly listed. If a seller relists an item that was originally posted 3 mos ago, that item will be way down on search sorted by newly listed. I believe eBay implemented that change specifically because buyers complained about relists filling up newly listed sort.

If a seller uses the "sell similar" function then the system sees it as a new listing, so it will appear at the top of a newly listed sort.

But I believe you're referring to a saved search, and that is going to operate differently from a general search sorted by newly listed.

As suggested above, you can set up an advanced search and eliminate specific sellers, then save that search. That's probably going to be the option that achieves results closest to what you're looking for.

[randomengineer]

Thanks to those who validated the need for this buyer feature. None of the workarounds are practical; I would spend more time eliminating sellers than deleting the notification emails. This problem could however make for a good third-party app/service project. 

I had asked if anyone knows how to make a feature request such as this to eBay. Anyone know where to send this feedback besides these forums?

[wastingtime101 · Accepted solution]

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@randomengineer wrote:

I had asked if anyone knows how to make a feature request such as this to eBay. Anyone know where to send this feedback besides these forums?

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Search for an item @randomengineer then click the feedback link. Those surveys go to the team that develops search.

[007craft]

Yes this is needed.  I'm looking for 8 Rare video games.  I have the video games name saved as a saved search.  The problem is that each of those rare games has 100 listings for the non rare variant I am looking for.  So out of 100 listings, 2 or 3 are expiring everyday, and auto relisted.

This means every day I wake up to around 16 emails showing the new listings for my 8 saved searches.  But all those new listings are not new, they are just relists.  I don't want to exclude sellers because lots of these sellers are game shops and get new inventory.  I'm waiting for when they do post an actual new item and hoping its the variant I'm looking for.

We need the options to either exclude relists from saved searches, or exclude individual items from a saved search so they stop coming up in my daily emails.

[eburtonlab]

I'm looking for 8 Rare video games. I have the video games name saved as a saved search. The problem is that each of those rare games has 100 listings for the non rare variant I am looking for.

You may be better off finding ways to distinguish between the rare and non-rare variants, if that is possible. If you want to some suggestions, please provide some details of what you are searching for if you are willing to share that info. If that works and you can limit your search so that it only provides results when a rare variant is listed, you can greatly reduce your email volume.

So out of 100 listings, 2 or 3 are expiring everyday, and auto relisted.

If you limit your searches to items listed in the last 24 hours or the last two days using the Advanced Search page options, you can eliminate items that are automatically relisted. You would still see new items, and items that were manually relisted by the seller -- in that case the listing gets a new item number and is treated just like a new listing.

If there are a small number of items you want to exclude from a saved search, you can exclude them by item number by putting a minus sign in front of the item number in your search terms. Or you can exclude by seller username if you think it is unlikely that a particular seller will list the item you are looking for or if you just want to avoid seeing any of that seller's items.