ebay's duplicate listings policy ?

[greek38]

I bought a partial set of fancy hand painted china and decided to list it as 4 piece place settings, 6 of them. After listing I found out ebay only shows one of them until it gets a bid. I am paying for 6 listings and want potential bidders to see all 6 lots up for bids. Maybe seeing all of them might have them considering multiple purchases to start their own set. Just want to say I do not like the policy of hiding my listings in the name of "saving space" for other sellers with like items to be seen. I was not aware of this policy since I have never listed 6 of the same sets before. Another way for ebay to screw sellers who pay for listings that are not seen!

[tryno2]

It's been the policy for a long time.  Set it for mulitple items in the one listing.    

[lintbrush*]

The duplicate listing policy has been around for several years now.  Listing same item auctions is rarely a good idea.  You're competing with yourself.  Even if they would show all of them, why would someone bid higher on one when there are 3 other available?

If you only want $75 per setting, then create one Fixed Price listing with a qty of 4.  

May I suggest a title change too?  

Richard Ginori Italian Fruits 4 pc place setting Dinner Salad Plates Cup Saucer

It will fit and also casts a wider net.   I'd at least list it for $85. (50 dinner, 20 cup saucer, 15 salad)  

[dinpavent0 · Accepted solution]

did you consider listing them all at same time and just add like a stock number for each set in the title? Then it is NOT a duplicate listing as long as it is not the exact same title word for word.

[dinpavent0]

Thats how I do it with some auctions and buy it nows, especially if it is the same item, it is not considered a duplicate if you change up title and add your own stock number. My husband sometimes has some of the same collectible cars, exactly same only difference is one may have box and other not, or it is exactly same item, just one has a paint chip or something. Never had a problem with duplicates if you do it that way. I see others do it with jewelry lots and stuff like that too.

[jeannicho22]

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@greek38 wrote:

I bought a partial set of fancy hand painted china and decided to list it as 4 piece place settings, 6 of them. After listing I found out ebay only shows one of them until it gets a bid. I am paying for 6 listings and want potential bidders to see all 6 lots up for bids. Maybe seeing all of them might have them considering multiple purchases to start their own set. Just want to say I do not like the policy of hiding my listings in the name of "saving space" for other sellers with like items to be seen. I was not aware of this policy since I have never listed 6 of the same sets before. Another way for ebay to screw sellers who pay for listings that are not seen!

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I PERSONALLY would have photographed each set so they were different and so buyers know exactly what they are getting.  I would also have listed them by the same titles but put set a, set b, set c, set d, set e and set f.  The way they are photographed and presented I would be suspect that you only had one set and were listing it 6 times... might make me not want to bid on multiples.  

Also this line is awkward since you already have the shipping as part of the listings :

The winning bidder to add $12.00 for insured priority shipping to any U.S.A. address.

Just an FYI, there was a thread the other day where the OP posted similar to what you have done (on the advice of others) and their listings were all pulled down.  I believe they used the same photos for each as well but changed the title.

[upgradedendmills]

Sometimes when I buy large lots of the same items for resale I list them in different quantity lots. i.e.,  if I have 30 of an item, I will list separate lots of 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, & 8. I adjust the price to reflect the savings on shipping on the bigger lots and it seems to attract more viewers. In the case of your china, I would probably have tried a complete set for four, and then mixed up the other 5 sets into similar and individual groups that were slightly different. I would also only list 4 sets total at one time and hold back two complete sets as replacements in case of a shipping damage problem. Try it if you run into this situation again, it normally works well for me.