Relisting items

[green-night]

I'm curious as to opinions on this:  

All of my listing are BINs and GTC.     After a month or so if I don't have even so much as a watcher I will cancel and relist the item with maybe a few tweaks.   Speaking to an eBay rep tonight he swore up and down to me that was a bad idea and that canceling and relisting like that drags you down in search and it is better to just revise the listing than it is to cancel and relist.   

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

I think the rep was wrong as relisting it (assuming you use sell similar) would make it a "new listing".

[green-night]

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@myjunqueyourtreasure wrote:
I think the rep was wrong as relisting it (assuming you use sell similar) would make it a "new listing".

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Why is 'sell similar' important?   Wouldn't canceling a live listing and relisting it also qualify as a 'new listing'? 

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

As far as I know a "relist" isn't treated as a "new" listing, it's just relisting an old listing. That's always been the advice from ebay before now at any rate.

[green-night]

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@myjunqueyourtreasure wrote:
As far as I know a "relist" isn't treated as a "new" listing, it's just relisting an old listing. That's always been the advice from ebay before now at any rate.

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I see.  I list/relist through a 3rd party.  Don't think eBay would know the difference. 

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

If you have a GTC listing and revise it it will continue with whatever watchers it has, view count etc.....all factors in Best Match. If you end it and relist it (whether you use sell similar or relist) it is given a new listing number and loses its accumulated watchers, sales history (if its a multi-quantity listing) and so forth.

The difference between relist and sell similar has been a subject of debate on the Boards for years, with some claiming sell similar gets a better boost in search than a relist. Others maintain there's no real difference. I'm in the "no real difference" camp.

Also, keep in mind that going forward, the Best Match search algorithm that has been in effect will probably change (and maybe already has) and it is very likely that the algo, (now that all Fixed Price is GTC) will reduce the value of relists/sell similar.

Unless you have a financial reason to not let the GTC run (some sellers don't want to pay for the auto renewal every 30 days), you would probably save time and effort by simply maintaining a schedule to review/revise your GTC listings ---- every 30 days, or 10 days, or whatever works for you. That's especially true for multi quantity listings with a good sales history or a lot of watchers.

Of course, you can experiment with it, and revise some while keeping them as GTCs and end and revise others....figure out what works for you.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

This is incorrect. Whether you relist or use sell similar, the listing gets a new listing number. That's always been the case.

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

I never said it didn't.

[parkersparrow]

I don't know how it will work now that everything is GTC . I have always been led to believe that sell similar was best or just starting a new listing from scratch. They both will create a new listing number but sell similar gets treated as a brand new listing in Cassini were as relisting may not get as much of a boost. 

[yuzuha]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

The difference between relist and sell similar has been a subject of debate on the Boards for years, with some claiming sell similar gets a better boost in search than a relist. Others maintain there's no real difference. I'm in the "no real difference" camp.

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I personally did an experiment for a few months where I used "Sell Similar" instead of "Relist" every time one of my listings ended.  I saw exactly zero appreciable difference in the number of views, watchers and sales when I used "Sell Similar" as opposed to when I just did straight relists.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

Sorry. I misunderstood. You said: "As far as I know a "relist" isn't treated as a "new" listing, it's just relisting an old listing."

It gets a new number. A new number means its treated as a new listing. A GTC retains its original number when it renews, so it is not treated as a new listing.

I'm not sure why you think a relist with a new number is treated differently than a sell similar with a new number?

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

I would say that's correct. Best Match doesn't care whether it's Sell Similar or a Relist (or a new listing). If it has a new number it gets a bit of a boost in Best Match and gets a boost in Newly Listed Order Search.

However, as I said above, there is a long standing argument about the relative value of sell similar and relists. I'm with you...no real difference for search purposes. But some believe there is a difference, I've never seen evidence for that, and as I said above, now that all FP listings are GTC, I suspect the algo is going to change anyway.

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:
Sorry. I misunderstood. You said: "As far as I know a "relist" isn't treated as a "new" listing, it's just relisting an old listing."

It gets a new number. A new number means its treated as a new listing. A GTC retains its original number when it renews, so it is not treated as a new listing.

I'm not sure why you think a relist with a new number is treated differently than a sell similar with a new number?

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Because ebay keeps track of relists, regardless of whether they have a new number or not.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

OK, thanks.

[tealt]

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@green-night wrote:

All of my listing are BINs and GTC.     After a month or so if I don't have even so much as a watcher I will cancel and relist the item with maybe a few tweaks.   Speaking to an eBay rep tonight he swore up and down to me that was a bad idea and that canceling and relisting like that drags you down in search and it is better to just revise the listing than it is to cancel and relist.   

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I think it depends on how

1) a buyer is searching and..

2) whether your listings are single or multiple quantity.

EBay search has always been unkind to single-quantity GTC listings--they sink to the bottom as the months pass.  There have been claims/wishes/whatever that now with all FP items as GTC, eBay search will adjust and this will not longer be true. (note: I'm not holding my breath on that one.)

Multi-quantity GTC items should have an advantage in eBay search as they can retain their sales/watchers/whatever histories, and this is an important factor in eBay search.

If a buyer uses Google or other cosmic search engine, GTC may create a boost for an item (either single or multi-quantity), since it can be indexed and available for months on end.  No more clicking on a Google search and being dumped on an eBay page for similar(?) items because the listing for the item you clicked on has ended.