eBay! Keep the same Item number and URL for RELISTED items! Your missing the boat!

[drusalina]

I cannot stress this enough.  If eBay kept the same Item number and URL for each RELISTED item, it would sell faster!  Pinning on Pinterest and clicking on it in Pinterests doesnt' bring up the item if the item was relisted. 

People get frustratied on Pinterest when they can't find the Pin they clicked on eBay!!! 

Come on eBay!  Use Pinterest as your tool to sell more items.   PLEASE!

[c.b.]

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@drusalina wrote:

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@omgitlightsup wrote:

Ordinarily I hate answers like this, but in this particular case I have to side with eBay.

Pinterest should not be used for "transient phenomena" like eBay listings. Some things you just can't put a pin in.

If you were looking for something special and I told you I'd just seen it at a yard sale, you'd go get it.. you wouldn't make a mental note to check it out some day, because it'd be gone.

Pin the store, or the seller.. if they consistently and regularly offer items of interest. But if the item is the thing of interest then don't pin it... buy it!

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So you are saying we shouldn't use the tools available to us across the internet and social media  for free to sell items?  

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again... what ke4fpb is saying is that given the permanence of whatever is put on the web, the internet is not as good at promoting short-termed items that may disappear within hours.  obviously, they may not disappear, but they are still short-term listings (at least the seller hopes so).  so, what ke4fpb is saying is that pinning the seller (who is hopefully much more longterm) or the store is more logical.

surely, anything can be pinned, and anything pinned is great promotion, but it is also a transient item since an ended ebay listing totally disappears from the ebay site within 1-3 months.  so, any pin up there at that time will not only lead to a closed listing...but it will essentially be a broken link 3 months after ending.   that's all.

[c.b.]

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@drusalina wrote:

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That is the problem right there.  For what I sell, it is not profitable for me to have a store, or use good till canceled.  I don't like to pay listing fees, and will use all the free ones they give.   So I guess that answers the question.  If I don't pay for a listing, they won't keep the same numbers.  But it still hurts ebay if items don't sell because when someone clicks on a pin and they don't get the correct item, or any item  (because you get the message that this item is no longer available with no suggestions for others, btw) I lose a sale and so does eBay.  hmmmm.

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you are finding problems where there are none.  i don't understand....

how does 'good til cancelled' equate to PAYING for a listing?  i am only a parttime seller and i don't have a store., and i do NOT pay listing/insertion fees.  yet, i have 2 good til cancelled listings.   even if you use RE-list every time, you STILL need to make sure you don't go over the 50 items a month.  it's just that with good til cancelled, you have to make sure you are paying attention--that's all.

if you want to avoid the error messg, then change your listings to good til cancelled.  and if you need to cancel them, you cancel them.  how hard is that?

ebay has faults...please don't invent faults where there are none.

[shipscript]

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@c.b. wrote:

surely, anything can be pinned, and anything pinned is great promotion, but it is also a transient item since an ended ebay listing totally disappears from the ebay site within 1-3 months.  so, any pin up there at that time will not only lead to a closed listing...but it will essentially be a broken link 3 months after ending.   that's all.

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eBay's redirection for weblinks to expired (90 day) items is now a search list or catalog list of similar items, depending on how much translatable info is carried with the link.

[c.b.]

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@shipscript wrote:

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@c.b. wrote:

surely, anything can be pinned, and anything pinned is great promotion, but it is also a transient item since an ended ebay listing totally disappears from the ebay site within 1-3 months.  so, any pin up there at that time will not only lead to a closed listing...but it will essentially be a broken link 3 months after ending.   that's all.

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eBay's redirection for weblinks to expired (90 day) items is now a search list or catalog list of similar items, depending on how much translatable info is carried with the link.

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ok - yes, true!  but, the OP was getting an error/bad link from the pintrest pin, so i don't know how pintrest handles it, and assumed the OP was referring to a current error mssg.

thank you for keeping the info accurate 🙂

[omgitlightsup]

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@drusalina wrote:

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@omgitlightsup wrote:

Ordinarily I hate answers like this, but in this particular case I have to side with eBay.

Pinterest should not be used for "transient phenomena" like eBay listings. Some things you just can't put a pin in.

If you were looking for something special and I told you I'd just seen it at a yard sale, you'd go get it.. you wouldn't make a mental note to check it out some day, because it'd be gone.

Pin the store, or the seller.. if they consistently and regularly offer items of interest. But if the item is the thing of interest then don't pin it... buy it!

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So you are saying we shouldn't use the tools available to us across the internet and social media  for free to sell items?  

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Not at all... but I do think we should use those tools intelligently.

Much of the web is a relatively fixed and growing anthology; like facebook or youtube or wikipedia. Stuff gets added and stays there, and perhaps gets updated from time to time. But the world still changes, as does much of the web. Pinterest is a great site for the former category, but not for the latter. And you are still able to pin the things on eBay that don't frequently change, like sellers, categories, etc. 

You could find ways in which almost any social medium is inadequate for eBay promotions.. but you gotta remember that Pinterest wasn't put here specifically for eBay sellers to profit off of it.

And yeah, I get that eBay promotes use of Pinterest.. but if you notice, pretty much all websites encourage social media.. even your smart phone has buttons allowing you to tweet or share nearly anything you do; that's because social media makes huge advertising revenue for the people running the sites. Not because those tools will enrich your life.

[luckythewinner]

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@drusalina wrote:

I cannot stress this enough.  If eBay kept the same Item number and URL for each RELISTED item, it would sell faster! 

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As someone who designs databases for a living, I will suggest that if eBay's item number is being used as a unique identifier it would be a monumental task to re-use the same one for relistings.

[drusalina]

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@luckythewinner wrote:

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@drusalina wrote:

I cannot stress this enough.  If eBay kept the same Item number and URL for each RELISTED item, it would sell faster! 

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As someone who designs databases for a living, I will suggest that if eBay's item number is being used as a unique identifier it would be a monumental task to re-use the same one for relistings.

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Then tell me how Etsy does it?  Because items I have listed on etsy and have pinned still come up when I have relisted the item.  

[drusalina]

I should also add, that 75% of my visits on Etsy come from Pinterest.  Like I said.  eBay is missing the boat.

[drusalina]

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@c.b. wrote:

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@omgitlightsup wrote:

Ordinarily I hate answers like this, but in this particular case I have to side with eBay.

Pinterest should not be used for "transient phenomena" like eBay listings. Some things you just can't put a pin in.

If you were looking for something special and I told you I'd just seen it at a yard sale, you'd go get it.. you wouldn't make a mental note to check it out some day, because it'd be gone.

Pin the store, or the seller.. if they consistently and regularly offer items of interest. But if the item is the thing of interest then don't pin it... buy it!

---

that is very true about ephemeral items--and in fact, ebay takes it one step further... they will PURPOSELY block an *ended* item from appearing in general web searches.  in the tech community, we are amazed at how well it does work.  if you want to test it... go try to search for a type of item that is still live and you will find links to an ebay listing....then once that listing ends (give it at least few hours)...see if it still shows up in the web search engines.  it will not.

of course, due to the way the web works, there will still be a few links hanging out there at times, but it's incredible how well those are flushed from the 'permanent' web.   it's a necessary purge, otherwise, imagine the amount of invalid links that would clog the web.

that is why the 'good til cancelled' is the solution to keep it going.  then again...some people like the benefits of a new listing hitting the market.  there's trade-offs either way. 😉

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I just proved your theory wrong.  This listing I had is from 2014.  It is still out there.  It was pinned on pinterest.  So they don't all get purged!  
https://www.ebay.com/itm/-/331351566421?roken=cUgayN

[drusalina]

And that link of my item from 2014 in Firefox will show my other listings (more items from this seller).  In google it doesn't show my other listings.  Why?? Because of the partnerships that Ebay has with each search engine and they that those search engine's are paid by eBay.

[rei-npkrlma]

You can update the listings on Pinterest if you really feel it's beneficial to you. I know it's a bit of a pain, but w/o a store and/or ability to use GTC, this is your best option in order to keep your pinterest up-to-date.

[drusalina]

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@rei-npkrlma wrote:
You can update the listings on Pinterest if you really feel it's beneficial to you. I know it's a bit of a pain, but w/o a store and/or ability to use GTC, this is your best option in order to keep your pinterest up-to-date.

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It is a pain and I do that, when I read that pinterest is saying it is out of stock and I have relisted.   I sometimes paste my selling page so they get to see my other items too.  I do believe that pinterest has driven most of my sales.  I see the stats on etsy that most of my views are from pinterest. 

[c.b.]

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@drusalina wrote:

---

@c.b. wrote:

---

@omgitlightsup wrote:

Ordinarily I hate answers like this, but in this particular case I have to side with eBay.

Pinterest should not be used for "transient phenomena" like eBay listings. Some things you just can't put a pin in.

If you were looking for something special and I told you I'd just seen it at a yard sale, you'd go get it.. you wouldn't make a mental note to check it out some day, because it'd be gone.

Pin the store, or the seller.. if they consistently and regularly offer items of interest. But if the item is the thing of interest then don't pin it... buy it!

---

that is very true about ephemeral items--and in fact, ebay takes it one step further... they will PURPOSELY block an *ended* item from appearing in general web searches.  in the tech community, we are amazed at how well it does work.  if you want to test it... go try to search for a type of item that is still live and you will find links to an ebay listing....then once that listing ends (give it at least few hours)...see if it still shows up in the web search engines.  it will not.

of course, due to the way the web works, there will still be a few links hanging out there at times, but it's incredible how well those are flushed from the 'permanent' web.   it's a necessary purge, otherwise, imagine the amount of invalid links that would clog the web.

that is why the 'good til cancelled' is the solution to keep it going.  then again...some people like the benefits of a new listing hitting the market.  there's trade-offs either way. 😉

---

I just proved your theory wrong.  This listing I had is from 2014.  It is still out there.  It was pinned on pinterest.  So they don't all get purged!  
https://www.ebay.com/itm/-/331351566421?roken=cUgayN

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it is NOT a 'theory' -- it is TRUE.  you are not reading what we are writing... i said they will purposely block an ended listing "from appearing in general web searches."

AGAIN -- GENERAL WEB SEARCHES.  i said nothing about purging from pinterest.  in fact, i TOOK YOUR WORD FOR IT that they were indeed disappearing from pinterest.

[luckythewinner]

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@drusalina wrote:

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@luckythewinner wrote:

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@drusalina wrote:

I cannot stress this enough.  If eBay kept the same Item number and URL for each RELISTED item, it would sell faster! 

---

As someone who designs databases for a living, I will suggest that if eBay's item number is being used as a unique identifier it would be a monumental task to re-use the same one for relistings.

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Then tell me how Etsy does it?  Because items I have listed on etsy and have pinned still come up when I have relisted the item.  

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Because Etsy probably designed their system that way from the start, and they do not have 25 years of legacy software to consider.

The complexity is not in building a system with a reusable item number - that is easy.

The complexity is in changing an existing system that does not have a reusable item number into one that does.

[drusalina]

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@luckythewinner wrote:

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@drusalina wrote:

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@luckythewinner wrote:

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@drusalina wrote:

I cannot stress this enough.  If eBay kept the same Item number and URL for each RELISTED item, it would sell faster! 

---

As someone who designs databases for a living, I will suggest that if eBay's item number is being used as a unique identifier it would be a monumental task to re-use the same one for relistings.

---

Then tell me how Etsy does it?  Because items I have listed on etsy and have pinned still come up when I have relisted the item.  

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Because Etsy probably designed their system that way from the start, and they do not have 25 years of legacy software to consider.

The complexity is not in building a system with a reusable item number - that is easy.

The complexity is in changing an existing system that does not have a reusable item number into one that does.

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They don't have to go back to the beginning.  They could start from now on. 

I remember when your file name on your photos were searchable on the web, but ebay converts the photo file name to their system, which again loses sales.  If they kept the user's photo file name (with limiting the number of characters) it would also bring in sales through regular web searches.  It used to do that.