"Recycling" a old listing with a new product.

[inhawaii]

Have any of you taken a old listing, let's say a out of stock item that you wont be getting any more of, then change  it into a new product that your selling?

I know the pros.  It looks like you've sold several when you haven't sold any.

Are there any cons?

Does/has anyone done this before?

Is it allowed by ebay? 

[buyselljack2016]

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@inhawaii wrote:

Have any of you taken a old listing, let's say a out of stock item that you wont be getting any more of, then change  it into a new product that your selling?

I know the pros.  It looks like you've sold several when you haven't sold any.

Are there any cons?

Does/has anyone done this before?

Is it allowed by ebay? 

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When GTC started some suggested doing that.

I did one once, and found it to be a confusing mess.   It would have to be an old, old listing, as what happens is it changes the sold item as well. At least in my experience it did. Went to look where someone had purchased the original item, and it was showing the new item. Never did it again.

Blue posted that it can only be done if there is not much of a change in what is being listed. Don't know just where the coding limiting parameters are on that.  Mine was close. Some toothbrush heads. Just a variation in the item.

With the # of "free" listings that I now get I see no reason for me to want to do it.

[Anonymous]

Hmmm, I never thought of that, probably because I rarely sell more than one item. Pretty clever.

AFAIK there is no prohibition against this. Heck, if eBay allows you to "sell one like this" from a stranger's ad, I don't see why they wouldn't let you relist your own ad to retain the quantity sold mirage.

I tried to find a policy against it and couldn't. https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/default/ebay-rules-policies?id=4205

[a_c_green]

I don't think past sale information is going to carry forward into a revised listing, is it? That is, if I have a Sold-Out listing for 5 units of Widget A, and I relist with a new description and photos of Widget B, I don't think it's going to show anywhere that I already sold 5 Widget B's.

I also don't think I could use a current listing for 3 Sold Widget A's with 2 remaining, and change that into a Widget B listing with 3 already sold, because I don't think I can change an active listing Title or remove photos or description from it after sales have been made, can I?

I think the best you can do is to use the Widget A listing as a Sell Similar basis for a Widget B listing. Watchers of Widget A will then get a heads-up message (if they accept these alerts on their account) saying that Widget A "or a similar item" has been relisted by you. Clicking the link will bring up your new Widget B listing, so to avoid total confusion, one hopes that your Widget B does have some logical connection to Widget A.

(I occasionally get alerts about a new listing from a seller I follow that's a total non sequitur because of what he chose for his Sell Similar listing, such as if I had been watching a vintage bike part, but clicking the new link brings up a listing for a needlepoint kit or something instead.)

[valueaddedresource]

@inhawaii  - it may depend on what you are selling.

I've seen sellers do this with new in box mass produced consumer type goods and one con can be that "product ratings" attached to that listing may then show a review for a different item than you are currently selling.

Another con may be in how the listing shows in Google search/shopping results.  Since you are keeping the same item number, that also keeps the same URL.

Google may have the old listing cached, then when someone clicks through it's a different item, which may at the very least be confusing but at worst could make the prospective buyer not trust the listing or be concerned about a possible bait & switch.

Personally I wouldn't do it, but your mileage may vary.

[chapeau-noir]

It would keep any external links/pathways intact, so I guess that would be one reason to do that.

[luckythewinner]

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@inhawaii wrote:

I know the pros.  It looks like you've sold several when you haven't sold any. 

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You are assuming that would be a "pro".

It might not be. 

What if you recycle a low priced item into a higher priced item, and buyers look at the sales history? 

[onlinecentral]

I purchased Widget A. Before it arrived, the buyer recycled the listing with a different photo, description and price.

When I looked in my Purchase History a few days later, this new item appeared.

I looked at the active listing and then clicked on View The Item You Purchased.

I figured out the buyer had done the recycling and that messed up my purchase history.

I was sort of irate for being sent on a Wild Goose Chase to figure this out.

I did not confront the seller.

Circumventing the system to artificially inflate the number of units you have sold could cause some of your buyers to become confused or irate.

Maybe waiting awhile for all of the packages to arrive plus the 30 day return window would work better than making the change right away.

[itscalledapostingid]

Something I noticed when this is done to an item - when Ebay shows the item in the "notification bell drop down alerts thingy" it shows a thumbnail photo of the original item. It never updates to the new photo even after a year or more. That could be confusing to someone watching the item.

[duffy4444]

    I don't know if I follow your question, inhawaii, but this is what I do:

    I always use "Sell Similar" or "Relist", then modify where needed before posting. Then the quantity count is reset to the new quantity I want to sell, and I don't worry about stepping on any toes. Sell Similar is my time-saving friend when I had, for example, hundreds of different Avon colognes of different quantities to list, when I actually purchased a 3,000-item hoard from an Avon Rep who passed away.

   Please clarify if I'm way off base in understanding your question.

Cheers, Duffy