3 items with the same listing name but different variants, not showing up in searches

[toinfinityoutlet]

Hi,

I have 3 listings with the same name for the listing, but variations. they are batman action figures, one has armor and a mask & capes, the second has just the mask & capes, the 3rd has just the action figure by itself.

I have gotten 0 views when every other action figure i posted has gotten tons of views and bids within the first hour of posting. I went ahead and changed the titles slightly will this help?

I also listed about 30 he-man action figures with a few that usually sell quickly and for high prices and they are getting next to no views but than others are getting tons of views.

I am also promoting all of these listings 17% to ensure they are on the first or second page of almost any way you search, vintage batman, vintage batman action figure, vintage He-man, vintage MOTU, vintage masters of the universe, vintage he man action figure & so fourth

some are indeed on the first or second page while others are no where to be found.

Would someone be able to take a look at my store listings and let me know what I am doing wrong? Im assuming this is a ebay glitch but I would really hate to have to end auctions and cancel bids do to low traffic especially with me paying 17% promotion.

I just had the same issue with a spiderman figure that generally sales for $25 and it got such low visibility it sold for $0.95 idk if i should cancel the sale due to issues with the listing but im not understanding why some of these are getting high visibility and auctions up to $10 within the first few hours of listing and others (that are more rare and valuable figures, are getting almost no visibility.

I also log in from a private browser and a vpn browser to test my listings, with again the results are some show up in that first or 2nd page and others are no where to be found.

Any help and tips would be great. I am doing alot of sales, have been doubling my sales each month about 20 sales away from becoming a top rated seller, hopefully once i achieve top rated status i wont have to put up 17% in promo to have the same success rate as ebay promises higher visibility to top rated seller listings.

I also have a question about top rated plus. I read somewhere that ebay gives a 10% fee discount on top rated plus listings. does this mean something that would be 12.5 % is now only 2.5% or is it if my 12.5% = 10$ they deduct 10% from that 10$ final value fee?

[caldreamer]

I don't know much about Batman but I do have years of selling experience and can offer some advise. 

It is very risky to start auctions at 99 CENTS (often you only get 1 bid).   When item sells at 99 CENTS you will lose money.  EBAY selling fees on entire amount (purchase price + shipping + sales tax) plus 30 cent handling fee.

Promoting your listings at 17% is crazy and you won't make any profit.   You would pay BOTH "selling fees + promotion fee" on entire amount.   

Top Rated Plus requires that YOU PAY for "free returns" (customer can return any for "any reason" and you pay).   Your understanding of 10% fee discount is incorrect.   For 12.5% fee your discount would be 1.25%.

[toinfinityoutlet]

Yeah, I'm noticing that the 99 cent auctions is risky. I'm just wondering why some auctions have no visibility. And I def usually don't run 17% i was just experimenting to see what would get visibility, obviously something is broken with eBays algorithm.

Its also crazy that they apply the fee to your shipping costs, it really makes no sense, they take away a percentage of your shipping, in terms not leaving you enough money to ship your package. They should change that, its a horrible standard

[nobody*s_perfect]

If the titles on your 3 Batman auctions are identical, then eBay sees those as duplicate listings. The policy on duplicate auctions is: "You can have more than one auction-style listing for identical items if you follow the guidelines above, but only one duplicate auction-style listing without bids will be visible to buyers at a time. Once the first listing receives a bid or ends, the next listing will appear on the site".

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-policies/duplicate-listings-policy?id=4255&

I was going to recommend that you should tweak at least two of those 3 titles, adding details to make them look different to the eBay bots, but it seems you already did that last night, so this post is just to confirm the policy. Still, the titles would be more effective if you added relevant details based on "one has armor and a mask & capes, the second has just the mask & capes, the 3rd has just the action figure by itself." If the 3 listings didn't show up when you searched after tweaking them, it was probably just because they hadn't been re-indexed yet.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@toinfinityoutlet wrote: ... Its also crazy that they apply the fee to your shipping costs, it really makes no sense, they take away a percentage of your shipping, in terms not leaving you enough money to ship your package. They should change that, its a horrible standard

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eBay set up that policy in 2011 because (1) they want to encourage Free shipping rather than penalizing sellers who roll the shipping cost into the item price; and (2) sellers were avoiding fees by setting the item price artificially low and then inflating the shipping cost, like setting the price at 99 cents and the shipping at $50.

[nobody*s_perfect · Accepted solution]

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@toinfinityoutlet wrote: ... ebay gives a 10% fee discount on top rated plus listings. does this mean something that would be 12.5 % is now only 2.5% or is it if my 12.5% = 10$ they deduct 10% from that 10$ final value fee?

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The FVF credit is 10% of the FVF amount, not a discount on the FVF rate.  If the FVF would have been $10, the discount is $1.

[toinfinityoutlet]

Yeah i forget sometimes re-indexing takes forever. And that Shipping fee fvf policy is rubbish, certain stuff is hard to profit when providing free shipping. I never inflate my shipping rates I think its scummy for people who do. Every action figure I sell is at 13 oz calculated rated with the shipping discounts i receive being forwarded to my customers, but I know alot of people probably opted out of forwarding the shipping discounts to the customers and charging them the full rates smh. Guess its one of those things where the bad eggs ruin it for all. I also offer free shipping on many items as well

[nobody*s_perfect]

Sellers who charge the retail postage rates aren't the "bad eggs;" if eBay believed that, then retail would not be the default for the shipping calculator.  IMHO charging the retail rate gives the seller a legitimate built-in handling fee to cover overhead such as packaging materials and the eBay FVF on shipping. 

Most sellers who offer "free" shipping just add the shipping cost to their asking price; most of them add the Zone 8 price so in effect they are overcharging closer buyers.

[toinfinityoutlet]

i get it, i guess what i meant was people who hike up the shipping prices, not the ones who use it legitimately.