Cross-listing?

[shopmyfinderskeepers]

Hello,

 I thank you all for taking the time to read this and share your thoughts with me. Ive had this question for anwhile and don’t have anyone to ask. I’m glad to see there’s a community here that supports each other. I’m very new to selling and sincerely enjoy every aspect to it. Eventually, I am considering cross-listing at some point, but then how does sending “watchers” offers work? Or does it? My thought is you no longer send offers due to the item possibly selling on both platforms. Am I correct in thinking this or am I missing something that could enable me to both cross-list and still send offers? For those who currently cross-list, how has your experience been with this? Do you see noticeable increased sales, in cross listing ,that the offers you would have sent on one platform and “hopefully” would have been accepted are tiny in comparison? In the end, from experience is it a game changer to cross- list? Please be easy with me, it took a lot for me to reach out and ask what may be a silly question.  I appreciate you all sharing any valuable knowledge with me.

                                        Take care 

[wastingtime101]

Hey, welcome @shopmyfinderskeepers.

Cross-listing across multiple platforms requires a lot of juggling if you have consistent sales. You have to always be "on" - like getting alerts on your phone so as soon as your item sells on one venue you can take down the listing on the other venue.

One thing to keep in mind with eBay is the out of stock cancellation is basically the kiss of death. Any account can survive one, but if it's a habit then just a couple will bring your account below standard - higher fees and risk of permanent suspension.

So if you decide to cross-list it's better to do so with slow movers and small volume you can manage. If you can't be "on" most of the time then it's better to not cross-list. Perhaps rotating inventory every 2-3 mos between venues is a better option to consider.

As for offers - you can end a listing even if there's an active offer. Offers that have not yet been accepted by the other party are neither here nor there with regards to your question.

[chapeau-noir]

I've never NOT sold on several platforms (cross listed) since I started here in 2001 - in fact, I sold on several platforms before then, so I'm pretty familiar with it. There are no 'rules' to handling listings on multiple platforms, just common sense and familiarity with your markets

I use offers, sales, etc. when I want on all platforms, but never on more than one platform at once on the same item - it's just a bit of a failsafe I use.  I do some tailoring of items platform to platform because they attract different markets, so I don't have everything running on all platforms but I do have a fair amount.

One thing I will say - selling across multiple platforms means you have to stay on top of all of your listings at all times and keep them updated - there is no such thing as 'set it and forget it', so it's better if you're a seller who can engage with your listings on a consistent basis - I mean hourly.  I've been on training runs and had to stop when I hear my phone go off to check what sold, and then double check it's off other platforms, then sprint to catch up with my friends.  It's not something I would start all at once - cross list a few things.

[dbfolks166mt]

     While I list on multiple platforms and venues I seldom cross-list the same item on multiple sites for many of the reasons  wastingtime101  mentioned. What I list on the other sites are items that are restricted or prohibited by eBay, including the VERO companies or items where the scamming risk on eBay is simply too great. I.E. things like cell phones, electronic equipment, coins..... 

     If you cross list as others mentioned it is a constant monitoring process to avoid issues. 

[shopmyfinderskeepers]

Thank you so much for sharing.I appreciate your time. 

[shopmyfinderskeepers]

I greatly appreciate your response and will definitely take note. So glad to have your insight. Thank you. 

[shopmyfinderskeepers]

Thank you everyone for you wonderful words of wisdom.

[iamalwaysright]

As mentioned being able to cross list an item well is very difficult compared to just using one platform. Obviously certain types of items don’t bode well for cross listing, like unique items.

It’s virtually impossible to always have correct inventory counts 24/7 with this method.

So first off you need to welcome the chaos and accept that you will only be able to keep your inventory accurate to like the 90th percentile if your product consistently sells. You can see this will be a big problem with eBay because of the out of stock kiss of death. This means you should only cross list items that you know you can always restock at the drop of a hat. 

You need to also have a pretty good prediction of your sales. You can also significantly overstock the product so it won’t matter if your inventory is 90% correct because your stock will never hit the danger level thus never going out of stock. Of course this will tie up significant capital as well. That’s why I said only certain types of product should be cross listed. Ultimately if it becomes too much to handle you can always pull the plug on on platform and spend time to get your ducks in a row again to try to cross list again. 

[fastkc]

I haven't even read the responses yet but thank you for asking this. I have the same exact question as you do. 

[fastkc]

Very helpful, thank you for the response. I've never done it but figured it was a sort of 'juggling act' as you described. 

[slippinjimmy]

You can "juggle" or you can use software tools to do the juggling for you. For multiple platforms this can get pricey and you may have to hunt to find a program that handles the sites YOU want to list on. The most popular handle eBay, etsy, Amazon & Shopify but the cost is prohibitive for low volume sellers.