Does the quantity sold reset to 0 after relisting?

[kcastore]

Hello everyone, new here. Hope this finds you all well. I found this phenomenon which I'm not sure if it's normal or what, so I thought I might as well ask. Here it goes ...

One of my items sold out, so eBay does not show it to buyers. I didn't check the listing's status, I just assumed that all its information, including and especially the number sold, gets kept in eBay's database. 4 months later, I got more stock, so I updated the available quantity (by uploading a CSV file.) The listing goes live alright, but the sold quantity is reset to 0!

I'd like to see the number sold restore to what it was before it ran out of stock, I believe this gives buyers confidence. So, my question is: Is it normal for an item's sold quantity reset to 0 every time I run out of stock and relist it? Is there any way to avoid this from happening?

Thank you in advance.

[parkersparrow]

That shouldn't happen. Are you sure you didn't just relist? I've never used a CSV file to update my qty though so don't know if that could have cause the problem. I will just go to my out of stock tab in manage active listings and adjust the available qty.

[hurryagain]

@kcastore 

It could be...

What some sellers do is when the listing is at the last qty, they put that last one at an insane price.  So, if you have 10 to sell you put 11qty and that 11th one is really expensive. 

Example:

Your normal price for that item is $10.00.

The last item price is $1,000.00

Nobody is going to buy it at 1K.  I think these sellers do this to keep their qty sold in tact while waiting for more product because when they have more, the price goes back to their normal price.

Although right now, because of COVID-19, there is a report price gouging feature and people are going nuts reporting everything that they feel is over priced so you may not want to do this until the whole COVID-19 thing blows over.

...hate to see you get dinged...

[kcastore]

Yes, I saw this before, so I tried the same approach for a few days. But then I got a few emails asking me about the price. So, right now, I set the avail qty to 0. Fingers crossed that it won't reset to 0 next time.

[kcastore]

No, I did not relist. I just changed the qty to, say, 20 in the CSV file and re-upload it.

[inhawaii]

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@kcastore wrote:

Hello everyone, new here. Hope this finds you all well. I found this phenomenon which I'm not sure if it's normal or what, so I thought I might as well ask. Here it goes ...

One of my items sold out, so eBay does not show it to buyers. I didn't check the listing's status, I just assumed that all its information, including and especially the number sold, gets kept in eBay's database. 4 months later, I got more stock, so I updated the available quantity (by uploading a CSV file.) The listing goes live alright, but the sold quantity is reset to 0!

I'd like to see the number sold restore to what it was before it ran out of stock, I believe this gives buyers confidence. So, my question is: Is it normal for an item's sold quantity reset to 0 every time I run out of stock and relist it? Is there any way to avoid this from happening?

Thank you in advance.

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If you have the out of stock option, which i assume you do, ebay usually let's your listing sit there with 0 in stock for 3 billing cycles/months.  After 3 months the listing is automatically ended. The listing will still be around for a while as a ENDED listing, in which case you can RELIST.   Are you sure that's not what you did, relist?

[kcastore]

Thank you very much! I just looked through my sales record, the last sale was made on 11/9/2019, and restocked on 4/3/2020, well over 3 billing cycles. After it's out of stock, I didn't do anything to the listing. I just let it be and didn't bother to check its status.

The way I restock is: I have a CSV file (actually a .xlsx file) which contains all my items' IDs, avail qty, and prices. I just go in Excel, change the number, export it to a CSV file, and upload it. 

So does that mean eBay ended (removed) the item after 3 months? But if it's removed, the item ID should have been removed too. So, this means when I upload, there should have been an error because the ID is invalid. Am I right? But there was no error, the ID still exists, as well as the pictures and everything. Only the number sold is 0! Is this normal?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/202956152063

Thank you.

[nobody*s_perfect · Accepted solution]

That seems to be a relist, rather than an out-of-stock item that got new stock.  The current listing shows as a new listing that began on April 4.  Your older feedback for that item shows a different listing number and a listing that ended on February 25.  Looks like the "Out of stock" option just ran out of time.

[kcastore]

Thank you very much!

For the life of me, I don't know how to find the ended listing like you did. But you were right, somehow, somewhere, the old listing was ended. Your picture shows that it ended on 2/25/2020, and the last sale was made on 11/9/2019, that's pretty much the "3 months" time @inhawaii  said.

So, I guess the solution is: 1. Try to restock within 3 months; 2. if can't, then at the end of the 3 months, change the number of stock to 1, list it for a few days, say sorry to everyone who wants to buy, then change the number to 0. This should buy me another 3 months; 3. if 2 doesn't work, set its price to $1,000, like @hurryagain mentioned.

Thank you all very much again!

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@kcastore wrote: ... if can't, then at the end of the 3 months, change the number of stock to 1, list it for a few days, say sorry to everyone who wants to buy, then change the number to 0. This should buy me another 3 months ... 

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That strategy would probably work even if you just listed the quantity of "1" for an hour (rather than days). And be sure to not let the 3 months run out; IIRC it's three full billing periods with zero quantity; here's the policy:

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/listing-tips/bulk-listings?id=4160#outofstock