Relist or Sell Similar?

[dawnthewonderdog2]

I have been ending my GTC listings about a day or two before they roll over.  I usually just relist them, but saw some recent info that suggested Sell Similar gave the listings better treatment.  Looking to see if there are any opinions either way on the best method to use?

[kensgiftshop]

@dawnthewonderdog2 

I don't usually end my GTC listings, I just go in and edit them a little once or twice a year.

Ending them every month defeats the purpose of GTC.

[southern*sweet*tea]

What you are doing KILLS your chances of selling anything if your listing is found through outside websites such as Google.   When you end that listing, the URL is still out there and when someone clicks on it, they can't buy because the item shows as sold.

GTC means good 'til cancelled. Let them run. I will only end mine after a year or so after they are stale, then I will sell similar. This starts a fresh listing with a new URL and item number.

[dawnthewonderdog2]

Thanks for the quick response.  I was under the impression that ebay didn't do a very good job of pushing items out through Google, so the likelihood of a Google "find" was pretty low.

[southern*sweet*tea]

I don't sell a lot of stuff but I get a good bit of traffic outside of Ebay. I wish I knew where it was coming from!   I don't do social media, so your guess is as good as mine as to where the views are coming from.

The dark blue lines are non-Ebay site views, in other words, views that come from outside Ebay. Now if these folks would just buy something!

[kensgiftshop]

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@dawnthewonderdog2 wrote:

Thanks for the quick response.  I was under the impression that ebay didn't do a very good job of pushing items out through Google, so the likelihood of a Google "find" was pretty low.

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When I want to look for something on Ebay, I always go to Google first.

I can search on Ebay and find nothing, but search on Google and get some hits

The bad part, a some of the listings have been ended and left with dead links.

[vintagecraze50]

ENDING and sell similar or relist kills the google search but it puts the listings back on newly listed and in some cases higher in the search results on best match. 

[vintagecraze50]

I believe most listings are found by buyers doing an internal keyword search. I only use Google search to see various price points. Then I go directly to websites and find what I want.

[m60driver]

There has quite a bit of discussion recently on the YouTube vlogs that sell similar is the way to go these days.  One well known large seller of collectibles and vintage items had his sales plummet after Ebay implemented its radical change of categories last month but then had his sales rebound immediately back to what they had been before the change after ending his listings in bulk and the using sell similar.

[dawnthewonderdog2]

OK, then riddle me this - when I relist, there is always a flurry of sales and offers - I have always thought that this was due to "newly listed" treatment on the relists.

[katzrul15]

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@m60driver wrote:

There has quite a bit of discussion recently on the YouTube vlogs that sell similar is the way to go these days.  One well known large seller of collectibles and vintage items had his sales plummet after Ebay implemented its radical change of categories last month but then had his sales rebound immediately back to what they had been before the change after ending his listings in bulk and the using sell similar.

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Odd, I always use "relist" - it seems to keep the watchers that were there and the sales history of the others that sold?  

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@katzrul15  My opinion, for whatever it's worth:  If you are selling multi-quantity listings, and you have watchers and a strong sale history, you should go with relist, because those are factors that help maintain a higher placement in Best Match and Promoted Listings.  If you have few or no watchers and a poor sales history, it would probably be a good idea to use Sell Similar, so the poor sales history does not drag you down. (Before doing so, if you have any watchers, it might be worth sending out a Seller Initiated Offer to them or running a sale....)

If you are selling single quantity listings that have been up a long time, I'd go with Sell Similar (again, probably after first sending out an SIO to any watchers, and maybe running a sale.)  Many single quantity listings are long tail, some very long tail, and so they need time for the right buyer to come along. But from what I can tell, ebay gradually lowers their search rank as they age, and ending them and using Sell Similar allows them to be treated as a brand new listing (Also, if you want, it's a great opportunity to review the listing and make improvements.)

I have about 700 single quantity listings in my store, and recently ended about 400 older ones (some were several years old) and used sell similar. My impressions jumped through the roof. However, as far as sales go, it wasn't a silver bullet. Helped a little, but not all that much. Still, it was worth doing.

[buyselljack2016]

Here is another example of the "page views" coming from other than eBay.

on "time away" 11-19 and had views at that time.  Note that "impressions" was almost non existent at that time.

I sell many items that I restock, so keeping that listing # is a good thing.

 

[bimm_corp]

@dawnthewonderdog2 

>Looking to see if there are any opinions either way on the best method to use?

I have used "Sell similar" for both re-lists and new listings since I switched to auctions only when eBay forced GTC. . Haven't used one of eBay's listing pages for years. "Sell similar" listed items get a new item number which gets the "New" flag when posted. Just re-listing keeps the same item number and the listing gets buried down in the search. Not having to fight eBay's constant listing page changes is also a plus. HTH.

[ainpie-10]

I end mine a day before and relist, although I may try to do sell similar and see if that makes a difference. When I would just let them keep running they were just sitting there for months, so if they’re just sitting there for months it’s not doing me any good. Now, I don’t really know if it actually makes much of a difference and it could vary by category and seller status. I don’t pay for Promoted Listings.