Question.

[inhawaii]

I've sold a candy that was quite popular.

I sold 400+ of them.

I just found out they have been discontinued.

Will ebay let me keep the same item number and let me change the product to a similar product?

 I would be changing the title, the pictures , the description; etc.

[mam98031]

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@evry1nositswindy wrote:

@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.

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Oh I don't support doing this, we are just having a discussion.  But I don't think anyone's account would be at risk if they do it.  In an earlier post I mentioned this was fairly common place when we didn't have so many free listings.  Sellers would do this with listings to try and save not having to pay for another listings.  Not just due to a good selling history on the listing.  I'm pretty confident it isn't very common now that we get so many free listings.

[gurlcat]

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@evry1nositswindy wrote:

@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.

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But you said it would risk your account.  In reality (at worst ) it would risk the listing being taken down.  And this listing is slated to die anyway since the original item offered in it has been discontinued.   But I can't think of any way that eBay would even find out that a seller put a different item in the "shop window" unless someone here went and snitched.  

[gloryglorygifts]

I'm sure that ebay can see revisions, as we can. At the top of the description is the "see revisions" link. If we can see them, so can they, but still no alarms would go off if it looked inane. I know I update pictures lots of times (stock photos to my own) and descriptions when needed. I agree, a snitch would probably have to be involved but then again, there's no choices for that when reporting buyers, so that's a mute point too. 

[a_c_green]

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@gloryglorygifts wrote:

I'm sure that ebay can see revisions, as we can. At the top of the description is the "see revisions" link. If we can see them, so can they, but still no alarms would go off if it looked inane. 

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ITYM "benign." 😉 If there were alarms for inane listings we would all be deaf by now. 😂

[b86fiero]

So, how long before this new found means of listing manipulation appears on ecommercebytes or any of the other blogs?

Just curious. 

[mam98031]

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@b86fiero wrote:

So, how long before this new found means of listing manipulation appears on ecommercebytes or any of the other blogs?

Just curious. 

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Why would it.  This isn't new as I explained in more detail in a couple other posts.

[b86fiero]

new idea to many newer sellers

how many will give it a try?

[mam98031]

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@b86fiero wrote:

new idea to many newer sellers

how many will give it a try?

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Why would a new seller want to do this?  Not sure that makes sense.  The OP was talking about it because he had a listing with a large number of sales that he wasn't going to be able to restock.  A new seller wouldn't be running into this issue.

As I said before, it is not likely to be a big thing like it once was, years ago, before Ebay started giving us all the free listings.

[b86fiero]

I said NEWER, not new.

Newer sellers may have a history of sales for a multi quantity listing and when that volume runs out may just adopt this method of fudging the sales history of any other item they choose to replace the original with.

So, if many multiples of sellers begin fudging item sales histories using this replacement method - and the previous sales history remains with the newly fudged listing - how does that relate to the honesty of eBay sellers? And if buyers discover the switcheroo, will they feel scammed into thinking an item is popular when it may not be?

Don't expect you to understand what I am presenting here, so no need to respond to me.

[mam98031]

Not sure that would change anything I said.  I don't think this is really an issue.  But you are entitled to believe what you choose.

Why would a buyer care about the sales history if they got the item they purchased as described in the listing?

I understand what you are saying completely.  I just don't think it is a big issue as you appear to believe.  But again, you have every right to your beliefs.  

[fbusoni]

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@mam98031 wrote:

 Asking someone from Ebay to stop into any given thread by just saying their name will never have any success.  .  

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That may well be true -- the Khoros folks here who are quick to edit posts to prevent or address any hurt feelings seem to be the only beings behind the scenes here who actually have a pulse -- but it has absolutely nothing to do with my previous post, and all the finger wagging the world will not alter that fact.

[fbusoni]

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@gurlcat wrote:

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@evry1nositswindy wrote:

@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.

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But you said it would risk your account.  In reality (at worst ) it would risk the listing being taken down.  And this listing is slated to die anyway since the original item offered in it has been discontinued.   But I can't think of any way that eBay would even find out that a seller put a different item in the "shop window" unless someone here went and snitched.  

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After reading your comments @gurlcat I come to the tentative conclusion, as I hinted earlier upthread, that eBay will allow whatever is wants to allow so long as it means more money in its coffers.  That's normal corporate behavior.

It's up to sellers to live with the consequences (in this case, perhaps a guilty conscience) of their actions.

I may be projecting my own sensibilities on the OP and I apologize in advance to OP if I am indeed doing so, but the fact that @inhawaii comes here to broach what he depicts as a purely technical question suggests to me that he assesses that while the real or imagined ethical concerns inherent in changing an existing listing may well be invisible to the buyer viewing his newly redone listing, they are not invisible to him. 

Personally, I like and respect people who have a moral compass.  Money is nice to have, but in my opinion it's not the reason for our existence.

[bennotbill]

This whole idea is similar to what used to happen a lot on the UK site.

Over there private sellers regularly got the 80% off fvf offers. So to take advantage of the limited offer period some made many listings along the lines of "description coming soon" "pictures coming soon", you get the idea.

But sometimes when pictures and descriptions were changed sellers found that the listing was no longer eligible for the offer. Though judging by the number of forum posts this didn't happen often and there seemed no rhyme or reason to it.

[redlinear]

IF said proposed strategy keeps or gives an item number better placement in a search result. 
I say Go For It!
I'm up against competition that fills in the part number boxes in Item Specifics with THOUSANDS of un-related words. (that pull up in search results).
And/Or, they also fill in the compatibilities/fitment with thousands of vehicles that the item will not fit.
Further manipulating search results.
It's not just keyword spamming. It's keyword spamming to the extreme.
All this, just to be seen.
eBay won't do anything about it.  They can't because Ai is running the show, and Ai won't catch this.
So, if there's a way to mildly trick the search bot with a relevant result?  I'm all for it.

[b86fiero]

I don't understand why I was told not to bother devon@ebay to weigh in on this discussion.  Previous posts have encouraged members to contact him.

Is it okay to put this into practice or not?

Will doing this have any impact on the "fudged" listing regarding sales history? Can it be this easy to reap whatever benefit comes from one product's sales history and apply it to another product? (As noted in Post 12 upthread and regarding search placement).

Not looking to argue, just really want to know the official eBay stance on this point.