Multiple items in same auction

[whidobie]

Can anyone direct me on instructions on how to have an auction with multiple different items in the same auction for sale?

[nobody*s_perfect]

The only way to offer multiple items in an auction-format listing is to sell them as a "lot" to one bidder.  Just write it up like any other auction.

eBay does not permit "choice" listings, such as when multiple items are shown but the auction winner chooses just one item.

For fixed price listings, if the items are identical you can set up a "Quantity available" with the "each" price and then the buyer can indicate how many they want.

The fixed price format has an option to list variations of the same item, such as a shirt in different sizes or colors, but that doesn't work for items that are actually "different" from each other.

[stephenmorgan · Accepted solution]

Variation Listings are available for certain categories.  If you can use the Variation listing you can list many, many items in the same listing with different Buy It Now Prices and it only counts as one listing.

You can not do this with Auctions, it has to be with Buy It Now.  You can include Best Offer and each item can have 12 Pictures.

The only thing is your items need to be similar and you can only set one Shipping Rate that will apply to each item in the listing. 

[pburn]

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@stephenmorgan wrote:

You can not do this with Auctions, it has to be with Buy It Now.

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"You can not do this with Auctions, it has to be with Buy It Now fixed-price listings." (Auctions can include a "Buy It Now" option.)

[whidobie]

Thank you as that was what i was looking for.

[stephenmorgan]

You are usually correct, but you were a little quick to criticize me this time.

But thank you for that input though.

[stephenmorgan]

Perhaps you may have meant Best Offer can not be included on the variation listings?  

[stephenmorgan]

It takes a bit of learning to do the variation listings.  I studied and watch quite a few video's to get a good understanding on how to do it.  If a video does not make sense look for another one.  Eventually one will make sense to you.

While trying to learn I scheduled the listing to start at a future date.  This way I could see how the listing would look and make sure that is was working correctly.

There was a bug and I do not know if it has been fixed.  As you sold items they would be deleted from you inventory sort of.  On you drop down list they would not be to be clicked on.  You could still view the pictures of the sold ones but you could not buy them.   

If you canceled a listing that had sales and later decided to reactivate that listing, it would repopulate everything as being available for sale again (even the sold ones).  I am not sure that this happens when they are automatically relisted?

I just got into the habit of opening up the listing and deleting any sold items a couple of weeks after the sale.

[pburn]

No, I meant that auctions can have a "Buy It Now" feature, exactly like my post said. I'm not disagreeing that auctions cannot use variation listings--I'm disagreeing that "Buy It Now" has anything to do with it. Nor does "Best Offer," for that matter.

There are two types of listings: auctions listings and fixed-price listings. Both types of listings can include a "Buy It Now" option. You're confusing "Buy It Now" with "fixed price."

You said "You can not do this with Auctions, it has to be with Buy It Now." That is incorrect. Auctions can have a "Buy It Now" feature.

The correct statement would have been "You cannot do this with auctions. It has to be a fixed-price listing."

I don't know how I can explain the misunderstanding any more clearly.

[nobody*s_perfect]

It's a matter of semantics. Some users feel very strongly that the term "Buy it now" should not be applied to fixed price listings, even though that's what the purchase button says on every fixed price listing.

[stephenmorgan]

 “You’re confusing “Buy It Now” with “fixed Price.”???....

They are the same thing.  You posted the Policy, and it says “fixed-price Buy it Now”. 

Is there a fixed-price listing that is not a Buy it Now?

Anyway, I am sorry I am not able to articulate myself so that you would understand what I was offering to the original poster.

Peace Out.

[releasethekraken_1]

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@stephenmorgan wrote:

 “You’re confusing “Buy It Now” with “fixed Price.”???....

They are the same thing.  You posted the Policy, and it says “fixed-price Buy it Now”. 

Is there a fixed-price listing that is not a Buy it Now?

Anyway, I am sorry I am not able to articulate myself so that you would understand what I was offering to the original poster.

Peace Out.

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Since the term "Buy It Now" is associated with BOTH listing formats, using it to describe Fixed Price listings is open to misinterpretation by less experienced eBayers.

[sergei.lopatin]

I'm trying to buy an SSD, and just learned about the proliferation of the Variation Listings. Now I'm doing my damndest creating saved searches to filter those out.  Essentially, almost all of such listings are spam.

For instance, a seller lists SSD with capacities from 128GB to 2TB under one Variation Listing. So, it would include 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB - five items with very different prices: the most expensive may cost 20x of the least expensive. What I see in the search results is the lowest item price and the highest item price. If I'm interested in something in the middle, I'm out of luck - I would need to go to the listing page and select from dropdown box to see the actual price of what I'm looking for.

Why are they doing that? Because if a prospective buyer sorts the search results by ascending price, the price taken into account is the price of the least expensive item! Thus, for pages and pages normal search returns the absolutely useless Variation Listings that won the top positions in the search results by the supposed "loss leaders", which nobody wants and nobody buys. This is the definition of spam.

Please be aware that as a matter of personal policy I decided to never buy from sellers engaging in such spamming. I guess I'm not alone. If you want to sell to folks like us, Variation Listings with wildly different prices of the included items are to be avoided.