Update glitch or feature?

[movieman630]

So now we can't see how many were sold on a listing anymore?  Is this a glitch from the update or is there some sort of genius reason they decided to not show customers how many of a multiple quantity listing have sold?

[wastingtime101]

eBay continues to test different views of the item page. They've removed number of sold items many times.

I suggest clicking the ? icon on the bottom right of the page to submit feedback and say you want the number of sold items restored on the item page as it instills buyer confidence (or whatever your reasoning is).

[ebooksdiva]

My question is .... why would buyers need to know that information?
Seems to me it's not their business to know how many of an item has sold. 

[wastingtime101]

I don't think buyers need to know, but many retailers include versions of that info because it can inform hot selling products and inspire urgency instead of buyers waiting to purchase. For marketplaces like eBay and Amazon it can instill buyer confidence that a lot were sold and it's not some new scammer account.

[toysaver]

I rely on this feature for multi quantity items.  If I get unsolicited offers on silverware place settings it's helpful to me to say I've already sold X amount at the listed price.   It shows on the order page and I hope they don't take that away.  I use this information in finding the item, a listing with 10 available is in a different location than one with only 2 left.  

[valueaddedresource]

For what it's worth, I'm still seeing it on the page, just in a different spot, like I posted in this discussion last month:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Listings-no-longer-showing-number-of-items-sold/m-p/34983034/h...

Instead of having it next to the total available, I've been seeing it on most items in these "call to action" boxes with various phrases - my guess is they are testing to see if that kind of display stands out more to buyers to prompt that sense of urgency.

That being said, some people in that other thread weren't seeing it there either, so it's definitely possible as part of testing they may not be showing it at all for some users.

Definitely agree with @wastingtime101 - the best thing to do is use the ? to let eBay know what you think about it.

[chevymontecarlo88]

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@ebooksdiva wrote:

My question is .... why would buyers need to know that information?
Seems to me it's not their business to know how many of an item has sold. 

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To get a better idea of what the seller HAS sold. It is nice to see some of the transactions (current track record) of a seller when making a high value purchase. 

[movieman630]

Clearly it shows customers that something is popular and of good value when you've sold a lot of them.

[movieman630]

Yeah, they moved it and made it black instead of red and right next to the quantity available.  WHY!?  Why these ridiculous changes?  Why shouldn't it be a highlighted feature?  It was so much better red and where buyers could actually see it!

This is the kind of stuff that drives me mad with this place.  These pointless updates that do nothing but create more confusion and obfuscate important information.

Why do they do this to us?  Seriously.  WHY?

[wastingtime101]

FYI @valueaddedresource  - I looked at a few of my listings and I don't see number sold in those info boxes. I see things like "breathe easy seller offers free returns" and "103 people have this on their watch list" but I don't see anything about the 160 sold. This is not uncommon for everybody to see something different in those info boxes or for eBay to prioritize things like free returns over number sold. Those info boxes are never static.

[valueaddedresource]

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

FYI @valueaddedresource  - I looked at a few of my listings and I don't see number sold in those info boxes. I see things like "breathe easy seller offers free returns" and "103 people have this on their watch list" but I don't see anything about the 160 sold. This is not uncommon for everybody to see something different in those info boxes or for eBay to prioritize things like free returns over number sold. Those info boxes are never static.

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@wastingtime101  yep, i'm seeing what you describe when viewing on FireFox and seeing it displayed like in my screenshot above when viewing the same listing in Chrome, so they're clearly still testing.

For me in Chrome, the inclusion of sold number in one of those boxes is very consistent - this morning I viewed ~40 random items across a variety of categories and it stayed that way on all of them, even when refreshing multiple times.

The wording in that box might change slightly, sometimes saying "popular item", "other people bought this", "this one's trending" etc. but it consistently shows the sold number in that box and then the other box varies when refreshing, sometimes calling out return policy, number of watchers, fast shipping or other info like you said.

Like you said, not uncommon for people to see different things, but the version of the test I'm in at least seems very consistent with still showing the sold number in one of those boxes.

[q12345678900]

This is absurd. They need to bring quantity sold back asap. I use it constantly as a seller, and I'm sure buyers would rather see "1,000 sold" than no info at all.

[inhawaii]

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@ebooksdiva wrote:

My question is .... why would buyers need to know that information?
Seems to me it's not their business to know how many of an item has sold. 

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Good point.

When you go into a B&M store, you have no idea how many sold prior.

[movieman630]

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@inhawaii wrote:

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@ebooksdiva wrote:

My question is .... why would buyers need to know that information?
Seems to me it's not their business to know how many of an item has sold. 

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Good point.

When you go into a B&M store, you have no idea how many sold prior.

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Funny... I seem to remember McDonalds putting that info right on their signs.

[carparts4sale_inc]

There are so many other things ebay could be changing. Why make this change.  I use that number as a seller and a buyer.  It shows customers that something is popular and a good value when they can see how many others have purchased an item.