At one time eBay would warn us when a stale listing went over 16months without selling. I saw this a lot since my items are both OOAK and longtail collectibles.
The notice was useful, since I could pull down those listings, rework them if necessary or delete/discard/donate.
The refreshed listings would go back up a week or so later.
Even then it was erratic. When we moved across the country 10 years ago, I packed my stock of books in conjunction with putting some into Unsolds and deleting some turkeys. I discovred that while I had 2000+ books in stock, all with inventory slips indicating they had been uploaded, there were only about 1100 listings on my bookselling account.
No idea where the rest went.
So you are not alone.
It is very rude of eBay to delete slow moving merchandise without notice.
But they do it anyway.
Miss Manners does not approve.
