A "Ghost Listing" strikes again!

[movieman630]

Just when I thought I'd seen the last of the "Ghost Listings" today I had another one.  It's been some time since I've had one, I was hoping they were all gone now.  I really hate having to cancel a sale for "out of stock" that I wasn't responsible for.

I wish I knew when that ebay glitch happened, I think it was 2017ish. 

Have any of you been able to narrow down when the "Ghost Listing" glitch started? 

[movieman630]

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@gamersbaystore wrote:

Why cancel for being out of stock when ebay screwed up? I refuse to do so. If its ebay's error, then its their problem to fix, not ours. No one should be taking hits to their accounts for ebay's mistakes. 

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You really don't have any choice when someone buys something and you can't fill the order.

[movieman630]

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@sumsum70 wrote:

I would never OOS a ghost listing. There's a much smarter move. 

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Yes, which is?

[movieman630]

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@powell-memorabilia wrote:

Plenty have them - no doubt.  On occasion, someone will come here to complain about ghost listings, and we can find obvious duplicate listings.  Another source is a seller just having the wrong quantity in a listing.  Dulpicates are easier to create than some would imagine.  

Regardless, sellers with “ghost listings” should ask themselves why so many sellers never have them.  A “glitch,” over time and number of listings, is going to be spread out fairly evenly.  Those with even occasional - ahem - ghost listings would be better off focusing on what they are doing wrong, not a supposed glitch that affects a minority of sellers.

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Some of us have been here for decades.  Stick around a while longer and you'll eventually find out.  I don't think I had my first run in with this until I'd been around for like 10 years and had thousands of listings and sales.

[powell-memorabilia]

I’ve been selling for over 20 years.  Plenty of ID’s, plenty of listings.  Never had a ghost listing.  Ever.

[chapeau-noir]

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@powell-memorabilia wrote:

I’ve been selling for over 20 years.  Plenty of ID’s, plenty of listings.  Never had a ghost listing.  Ever.

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I respect your time on here, but just because you haven't experienced it doesn't mean it does not exist.

[movieman630]

I've never been mugged, doesn't mean other's haven't.

[powell-memorabilia]

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@movieman630 wrote:

I've never been mugged, doesn't mean other's haven't.

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Potentially a good example - because a mugging isn’t a completely random event.  All sorts of things that contribute to the likelihood of being the victim of a mugging. Where one lives, wearing a flashy gold Rolex, going out at night unaccompanied, etc.  all contribute.  

That mugging analogy only works if one makes the pretty big leap that there are select sellers that are subject to this “glitch,” and others that aren’t.  If we go with the more plausible explanation that ghosts listings are the result of seller error, it doesn’t.  At the end of the day we’re talking about something that you are causing through your own errors OR something that can be avoided, even if the doing of eBay gremlins.  

[squinkercat59]

It's happened to me a few times also. I do not have multiple listings, all my items are singles only. Every week for years now, I run this handy duplicate finding tool:

https://www.isdntek.com/ebaytools/DuplicateListings.htm

I have no duplicate listings, and yet it still does happen occasionally. Something will sell that has been long gone. It's an admitted glitch, has been for years, that they just don't fix.

[albertabrightalberta]

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@powell-memorabilia wrote:

100% seller error.  Understandable with a high number of listings. But still just plain old seller inventory management.

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Absolutely not! 

I've had it happen only once but there's no way this was seller error. My sale of the item had been over 2 years prior to the ghost item sale. 

[steve_stuff]

Sorry but the only ghosts that actually exists haunt ebay.

We had 10, 15 on this account over a two year period but none in last two plus years. On other account two or three over same period and then none. Other id's never.

BUT

In 2014 a friend opened an account to sell his records. In 2019 sold the last of them off ebay, cancelled and deleted all active and deleted all unsold and even the stuff on the sold ... I mean ordered list. Signed out of account and never went back. Was going to close account but never did.

In 2022 he got a question about his active listing, a record he sold in 2017 according to the 'your item sold' email [he kept them all]. Ended and this time closed account.

[kensgiftshop]

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@powell-memorabilia wrote:

I’ve been selling for over 20 years.  Plenty of ID’s, plenty of listings.  Never had a ghost listing.  Ever.

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It does happen.

I think I had about 3 of them years ago.

[albertabrightalberta]

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@powell-memorabilia wrote:

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@movieman630 wrote:

I've never been mugged, doesn't mean other's haven't.

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Potentially a good example - because a mugging isn’t a completely random event.  All sorts of things that contribute to the likelihood of being the victim of a mugging. Where one lives, wearing a flashy gold Rolex, going out at night unaccompanied, etc.  all contribute.  

*snip*

At the end of the day we’re talking about something that you are causing through your own errors OR something that can be avoided, even if the doing of eBay gremlins.  

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Typical....blaming the victim.

[steve_stuff]

I knew I shouldn't have temped? angered? the ebay gremlins - Two days ago I posted about our friend's ghost listing and mention that we haven't had one on this id in two plus years ... until today.

This morning I used the scheduled page to get to the message one, then right clicked the left arrow to go back and realized that the count had gone up one. Went thru them one by one and found a relisting of something sold last August that we had two of.  After version one sold we changed the photo and the part about 'No cut out hole or writing on label' to 'Has' and 'and', then relisted with the other non sellers from that group five weeks later. Version two has been relisted two/three times since and now both are on scheduled list. So caught it before it went live ... 'funny thing' is the version two listing was the one marked as the duplicate and so wouldn't have been shown - so if the record had sold we didn't have that copy anymore.

Got it all straighten out ... for now. 

[broto_64]

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@sumsum70 wrote:

I would never OOS a ghost listing. There's a much smarter move. 

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And what is that, blame it on the buyer via "problem with address / buyer asked to cancel?"

[broto_64]

Some people firmly believe the Loch Ness Monster and Big Foot are real, too.

Firmly believe, you can not convince them otherwise, they will argue with you to the death.

Same with socks disappearing in the clothes dryer, they don't truly disappear.

Mismatched Tupperware lids and containers, it's not an actual mystery.

To all of that there exists a simple explanation that has nothing to do with any otherworldly goose bump raising stories.

Mental blank spot I'll believe, I get those.

Just a few weeks ago I could NOT remember my password to the password manager, which I've used daily for a good decade... Took me days before it suddenly came back to me, what happened?

Mental blank spot.

Inventory issues, something with quantity 5 only had 4, perhaps (as I sometimes do) a seller actually "used" one of the items for themselves (or sold or gave away one outside of ebay) and never adjusted the quantity for sale. Doesn't remember doing it is a big part of this.  Completely oblivious too, such as entering 2 instead of 1 because 1 and 2 are right next to each other (especially on phones, "fat fingered")... 

Being unaware of having done it, I had a driver some years ago hit my car, while turning, barely bumped it but still made contact... The driver never knew it, denied it 100%, called me crazy. Then when I showed them the damage (which again was minor) and then showed them on their car oh... They got in their car, put it in gear and sped off (granted that's another story). The point is: People commit mistakes they're never aware of, and yes it can happen time and again.

Some of us who never have ghost listings, and/or those of us who do not believe in the Loch Ness monster and the big foot... Do not argue, it is a waste of time. Is it fabrication or delusion, who knows, but it is reality to those who firmly believe.

I will say this, if I ever have a "ghost listing" it is definitely in my best interest to look at my methods. 100% the fault lies within, or blame it on the mysterious ebay gremlins which will result in it happening again. Which perhaps is the whole reason why it keeps happening to the same people?

A selling "glitch" is something that ultimately must happen to every seller.

This isn't a glitch any more than this conversation resurfacing every so often.

It is easier to blame it on the nameless, faceless, something out there.