albertabrightalberta | Volunteer Community Mentor
evry1nositswindy • seller since 2013
@inhawaii wrote:Thanks for everyone's replies and opinions (even the harsh ones).
I didn't go back but don't recall seeing any "harsh" opinions as much as those opposing what you considered doing. Most of us who advised as against it or questioned why you'd even consider it are regular posters and "know" you. (At first, I thought your post was a joke based on your sense of humor! Then I realized you were serious!)
IMO, starting a new listing is the better idea.
@inhawaii wrote:
Just wanted to clear something up.
I wasn't planning on passing off one food for another.
*snip*
The only "deceiving" part would be the number sold.
If those of us who know you, read your posts, know your listings and believe you're a trusted seller and community member perceive what you're considering as "deceptive," imagine the reactions of buyers who don't "know" you.
Knowing how inconsistent ebay can be on their responses and actions on reports as well as the enforcement of their own written policies, why would you want to do something that could hurt you, your account and your reputation?
I wouldn't do it. If the item number is the same and someone decides to look at solds, something else altogether would show up. This seems dishonest to me and manipulative. I wouldn't risk my account over it.
@itsjustasprain wrote:
@inhawaii wrote:
The only "deceiving" part would be the number sold.Why do you feel the need to deceive your buyers?
I think some are being a bit unfair here. @inhawaii has already said he isn't going to do it. He came here to ask the question to see what his fellow sellers thought on the subject. It was intended to be just a discussion but sadly some have chosen to throw out accusations.
If the other posters on this thread thinks this is something that no seller has ever done before, you would are sadly mistaken. It has been years, but I've seen discussions on this subject before. Not met with this much distain but before Ebay started offering so many free listings, this was done and done a lot by sellers to save a little money.
These days it isn't as important as it once might have been to some sellers.
@redlinear wrote:
@gurlcat wrote:
@itsjustasprain wrote:
@inhawaii wrote:
The only "deceiving" part would be the number sold.Why do you feel the need to deceive your buyers?
To whatever degree popularity motivates consumers, industry marketers clearly view deception as fair game. If you read that 400 people jumped off a bridge, you don't have to. And unlike a bridge-jump injury, if an eBay item sucks you can return it.
@inhawaii this thread is striking all my impish dissident tendencies like a bell. The more finger wagging I see you getting for the idea, the more I hope you do it. Seriously, DO IT. 🤣.I agree.
I don't think there's intent to fool buyers.
I think the number of previous sales would simply keep that item "number" higher in search results. Regardless of the actual item.
And if you can trick an algorithm that's manipulating search results based on previous sales (without breaking any rules)? More power to ya!
You nailed it. That is all there is to doing this. Nothing more like some have implied. He isn't trying to cause someone distress, health issues, or even death as some have said. What you said is all it is about. And sellers use to do it all the item years ago. It was rather common for reasons I stated in my other post.
@evry1nositswindy wrote:I wouldn't do it. If the item number is the same and someone decides to look at solds, something else altogether would show up. This seems dishonest to me and manipulative. I wouldn't risk my account over it.
While the OP has said he isn't going to do it, I'm curious. How would they be risking their account? Simply a curiosity question.
You guys wanna know something interesting that I've recently been doing that relates to this?
I've been slowly revamping a huge amount of my listings to be more streamlined and hopefully simpler for the buyer. All of these listings have previous sales history and they all contain multi-variations. Some listings I've upgraded photos, title choices, description, layout, removed some variations into their own listing (like separated Childrens and adults sizes), and even removed specific attributes and options within my variations.
The interesting part is for every listing that I re-arranged my variations options and attributes (and created new ones for some), Ebay removed the amount sold within the listing page itself. So no one is able to see how many was previously sold before I made the revision. But in my Active listings page, it continues to show the amount that I previously sold. Clicking purchase history also shows the previous sales but some of them aren't there anymore as they age out.
Example: One of my listings that I revamped shows 83 sales in my active listings page
But when you click into the listing, it only shows one item sold (that's because I just made a sale after I revised, otherwise it would just show nothing).
So with these revised listings of mine, no buyer will ever be swayed by the actual previous sales history of this item. Frankly because they'll never be able to see it.
@iamalwaysright wrote:You guys wanna know something interesting that I've recently been doing that relates to this?
I've been slowly revamping a huge amount of my listings to be more streamlined and hopefully simpler for the buyer. All of these listings have previous sales history and they all contain multi-variations. Some listings I've upgraded photos, title choices, description, layout, removed some variations into their own listing (like separated Childrens and adults sizes), and even removed specific attributes and options within my variations.
The interesting part is for every listing that I re-arranged my variations options and attributes (and created new ones for some), Ebay removed the amount sold within the listing page itself. So no one is able to see how many was previously sold before I made the revision. But in my Active listings page, it continues to show the amount that I previously sold. Clicking purchase history also shows the previous sales but some of them aren't there anymore as they age out.
Example: One of my listings that I revamped shows 83 sales in my active listings page
But when you click into the listing, it only shows one item sold (that's because I just made a sale after I revised, otherwise it would just show nothing).
So with these revised listings of mine, no buyer will ever be swayed by the actual previous sales history of this item. Frankly because they'll never be able to see it.
YOU SCOUNDREL! 😉
@mam98031 It looks suspicious, like you're trying to trick someone. It looks like many have sold, when in actuality, none have sold. It could be viewed as search manipulation as well.
