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Hi all,
Going to do a quick brain dump here from my workshop notes with some links to Youtuber commentary and summaries. It was a festive atmosphere in Vegas at Ebay Open. Some speculated this might be the last in person event that they hold. Ebay ended up giving us some swag credit, swag, and $300 in credit to spend on Ebay (coming soon”) so that was very cool. I can’t say I learned a ton and there was a lot of fluff and hype about AI but the employees scanned your badge and took notes on important feedback. The best presentation was from the Cassini mastermind and a Google rep. Also valuable was a back end store report that I got during my private 20 minute session.
Key points:
1. Ebay is discouraging ending and relisting/sell similar of stale items because of the storage space. https://youtu.be/3fBNq5Zg_V8?si=QA_vtUsL4-7HE06i This is a great video on this topic.
2. When you end and sell similar, the Google crawlers will find your listing again in approximately 3 days.
3. Ebay multi-quantity listings with zero in a variation automatically put 1 because it can’t make a listing with a variation at zero quantity. Thus, you get “phantom listings”. This also happens if someone cancels before shipping and you don’t click relist.
4. Solid Ebay reps admitted items do mysteriously fall off the platform and it’s a known problem. (They just admitted they had had it happen to them.)
5. Coming features (parital list), most with no deadline for themselves:
(1) COGS will appear (optional) in listing and in active items list in September or October 2025; (2) INADs – buyers will need to provide photographic evidence of the non-match of description soon; (3) AI message assistant to answer buyer questions that are already included in the listing to stop wasting seller time; (4) Unpaid items are down to 1% now, working on adding for auctions; (5) for INR returns where is actually delivered after seller refunds, Ebay will start compensating seller for loss of item 10/1/25; (6) an ad campaign called Things.People.Love emphasizing the unique items on Ebay (yeah!); (7) for as is for parts listings, 3 day return instead of 30; (8) automated positive feedback for sellers if buyer leaves none and doesn’t make a claim 9/3/25; and (9) the search guy said coupons will matter more.
There was a lot of chatter about their “magical listings”. Until I hear from Youtubers that it is faster than sell similar in my categories, I just am ignoring the hype so you might want to look at Youtube if you want details on that. The demos were trading cards, flat items like posters, and easily identifiable new stuff.
At my store review, the assigned gal was really young and had technical difficulties. However, on the printout they sent later via email had a high percent stale listings and a low percent stagnant (I did sell similar on my whole store about 6 weeks before). I asked the difference and they said it’s 30 and 90 days. Then she (the supervisor I ran into in the ladies room) said “you don’t want any of that”. The first young gal said to tweak the photo and title after 90 days but I am thinking I will refresh my store more often now – every 90 days. (I assume she was advised not to tell me to use end and sell similar). When I went up to the Cassini search guy after the session I asked if they had dialed up the freshness factor in the last year or so and if staleness of some listings is a drag on your whole store – both of which I suspect – and he answered anecdotally that he had two stores and one with something over a year old doing poorly. So basically never carry anything over a year old, it’s probably not getting seen unless it’s super rare. He didn’t say if they had tweaked it lately.
The one tip from the assigned gal was to use the newsletter function to get a free banner on my prior customers and followers screens. So apologies in advance if you get a banner from me. Interesting that she was pushing the newsletter in particular and another speaker did as well.
A few more things from the search guy (1) first 60 characters most important but use all; (2) ok to keep vintage in the first 60s characters if you think people are searching for that, but don’t include new; (3) no extraneous symbols and words, decreases hits by 2x-4x; (4) google will disallow busy images, watermarks, and clean photos get clicked on the most; (5) 6-7 images is best; (6) using 7 attributes (item specifics I think he meant) doubles listing performance; (7) no you don’t need to fill out all item specifics; (8) wait to make sure your images are loaded; and (9) sales and frequency of listing in your store are two of the biggest factors.
One other important point for me. The Google lady and Ebay employees were asked by me in the hallway if I could get items seen on Google without using the UPC code. They said never put in the UPC code incorrectly but you don’t need to include it to get your item seen in Google. I want to start leaving it out because Ebay is showing the same item cheaper to my buyers and buyers don’t shop by UPC.
Here is another person’s take. I’m going to watch later https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOUn9KKNCLM
I hope you find some of this helpful. 🙂
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https://imgur.com/user/retrodecor
here is what the back end store “business report” looks like for my store. I’ll leave it up for a week for so.
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Hi @christiner thanks for the detailed report, especially the tips from the search guy!
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https://podcast.app/episode-128-ebay-open-2025-final-debrief-from-las-vegas-e422393466
I met these two in Las Vegas. One of the few good podcasts for advanced sellers. This is another perspective on day 2 of open. Not sure if what I said about photo evidence being required for all INADs or just the ones that were sold for parts / as is. Hm.
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https://youtu.be/TqtPofn5ImA?si=HxD5ZBnyUIwYf0J8
another great summary by Justin resells. His channel is not sexy, but he delivers content succinctly and strikes a scavenger life-ish tone on challenging eBay yet appreciating it.. smart tech guy.
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Thanks for sharing. Helpful information and the Justin Sells summary was also very useful. Seems like, in the end, end and relist is the way to go regardless of eBay trying to discourage it. Probably more because it messes with their own internal metrics.
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https://www.instagram.com/p/DNnwvR_tUty/
Re ebay listings with calculated shipping not showing up on Google.
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Hi @ChristineR — I haven’t posted in ages, but stopped by and I can see the Forum could use some new posts LOL
A couple things:
Calculated Shipping and Google:
I think this is correct: Google Shopping does not like calculated shipping, which is something you’d think ebay would have wanted to make clear to us all, like they had made the fuss about white backgrounds for a long time. But I’d guess calculated shipping is a revenue stream for ebay, and they don’t want to give that up?
In any event, from what I can tell (I need to study this a bit more), ebay items with calculated shipping can indeed show up in a regular Google Search, but they are not likely to show up in a Google Shopping Search (I’m guessing because ebay probably doesn’t even submit those with Calculated shipping)
End and Relist/Sell Similar
I watched the ebay guy and Google gal, and came away confused about this (as did many people). It does seem to me that he was talking about very frequent relisting, and, in particular, this might refer more to multi quantity listings than single quantity long tail items. But it’s hard to know, and hard to reconcile with the stale (30) and stagnant (90) definitions. Again, I think these actually focus on mutli quantity listings, and my understanding is the count really begins with the first day without a sale, NOT the first day listed. So, a multi quantity listing that has been up for 200 days might not even be stale as long as it has been making steady sales…but if it gets to the point that it has gone 30 says straight without a single sale, it is “stale” and is almost certainly lowered in search (making it harder to prevent it from becoming “stagnant”.
Many smaller sellers (like me) sell mostly single quantity listings, and over the years I’ve tried, with limited success, to get ebay to tell me how they determine “stale and stagnant” for these types of listings. ebay currently has about 2.3 billion active listings worldwide at any given time, so it stands to reason that ebay has a process in place to reduce search exposure for older listings (even if they are long tail). ebay had previously claimed that Search now has the ability to identify relists as relists even if you use Sell Similar and the item is given a new ID number. Add to this the fact that ebay recently provided us with a tool to auto reduce an item price every 3-5-7-14-or 30 days, and I conclude that ebay really, really wants us to speed up sales velocity. I have always been a Trash Elf , subscribing to the List it and Forget it view, and I do still get sales for items that have been listed a long time—that is the nature of long tail selling.
However, I suspect ebay is indeed lowering older single quantity listings in search, and whether that’s on a 30 day, 90 day or even one year period (or something else) for Single Items, I think I’m going to start spending some time each week ending, REVISING, and relisting older listings, and then maybe , after they’ve been up a while, running a sale to move them out.
But my emphasis will still be on getting up new listings. I have so much unlisted stuff , I really need to focus on listing new rather than revising old. But I think a mix of both tactics might be a good idea.
Hope all is well with my fellow Trash Elves!
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Evidently Ebay has found a way to work with Google if you pay per click on a calculated listing. I would certainly like to show up in Google shopping without paying extra. A local friend of mine does flat rate, and encouraged me this week to switch but it’s easier to get Posh exposure I think with the software. Someone else said you can make rules for Ebay flat shipping based on where people are located, but I haven’t confirmed that.
I also have a huge backlog and hate to go back and revise listings. My “coach” at the open said to do so after 90 days but I think they were not allowed to tell us to end and sell similar. When I do, I get to make tons of offers. However, I REALLY should make myself go back and look over pricing. I know I was using too long of a period (including pandemic era pricing) before to price.
It’s always a challenge to decide where to spend your focused time, but I do feel like working the levers at Ebay is neccessary while getting out from under their algorithm with very little extra work and paying for software is quite tempting.
Incidentally, I ran a very specific search to buy and sorted low to high. There are not a ton of this product under $20. I looked through it all and then later discovered omitted listings I liked in an area at the bottom of the screen labeled “deals for you”. I wish they would have just showed me those in the search results. I’m wondering if this is the new buyer AI working and they find hidden listings…
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ebay has also said that photos that violate ebay’s “no watermark” rule are not accepted by Google Shopping. But ebay is now apparently starting to remove the watermarks before submitting those listings to Google. Which raises two questions: Since it is against ebay rules, why not remove them from ebay listings as well? And if they can do that, is there no way they can work around the calculated shipping (and, as you say, apparently they can work around it if you are paying for offsite ads.)
Yes, listing new is my priority, but I’m also considering the physical space taken up by older listings that might be so denigrated in search that they might as well be unlisted….so it’s almost as if I’m listing a new item. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself.
I do think if an item has watchers, and you lower the price enough, ebay sends a notice to the watcher…so even revising a listing can maybe move the needle a bit, without actually relisting.
But as a seller, trying to figure out the search algo is a nearly pointless guessing game: ebay is supposedly individualizing search results now, so you and I could use the exact same search term and end up seeing different results. (and of course, Promoted Listings further muddy the water) I focus on the basics: good photos, title, etc, and hope it shows up LOL
For Google Shopping, I’m considering going to free shipping on some things (like mens ties) which I think would allow me to avoid calculated shipping. But I’m on the East Coast, and I’m hesitant to use anything but calculated shipping for most things. That is interesting about the rules, I’ll have to look into that.
I am unimpressed with ebay’s own AI for sellers. I have fooled around a little with things like ChatGPT, and I know there are now several AI listing tools out there that some people think are pretty good. I find it interesting that ebay is claiming its new AI listing tools will allow every one to list faster, which means they want even more listings on the platform…but if they start getting more and more at a faster rate, how many will be the same thing, driving down prices? And what percentage will really get visibility, and what percentage will basically be shunted to the side?
I’d really like to see ebay improve things like stores and newsletters, allowing sellers more autonomy, with fewer restrictions on how we can communicate with our buyers and establish our “brand”. But I don’t see that happening , at least not anytime soon.
I do use General Ads, usually at 4% or so, but am not at all sure it makes that big a difference (maybe it would if I used a higher rate, but I’m reluctant to do that). I think maybe the biggest thing one can do, aside from creating good listings, is activity—–list, send offers, use the newsletter, revise, maybe even using their social media tools helps even if it isn’t very good….I think maybe ebay sees you are active and maybe you get a boost. I don’t know.
I would love to do more with social media. It’s funny. I run the Facebook page for our local Friends of the Library group and I have really grown the page (we are a very small branch library) and even the head honchos who run the library system have taken note.) But I can’t seem to bring the same effort to my own FB business page. And I do very little with IG , which I really should do more with. You seem to do well with it, any suggestions?
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@Mycottage are you currently using the newsletter feature? This was suggested by the rep at my review. On 9/29 I have my zoom review. I’m curious what they will say and hoping it is someone more experienced than the live person they gave me. So I’m going to wait to end and sell similar until after that meeting.
It’s in my nature to overanalyze and I can’t help but think about why aren’t my sales better. I’m pretty confident in the vast majority of my items. I feel like my listings are pretty solid with the exception of a few of the photos and my old bad lighting. I’m sure it’s pricing to some degree.
I don’t really know how to use Instagram effectively honestly. I just kind of be myself and post what I want and inconsistently. I like humor and music so I throw that in there. Right now I just use it to promote pop up events that I am doing. My Ebay sold and listed posts do the worst in the algorithm. My daughter told me to try to pick trending music clips. Once in a while someone posts a follow me and link your account and I picked up a few new followers that way. Instagram stopped showing my business stories in my own personal account. I have no idea why.
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I’ve been haphazard about using Pinterest. I probably should use it more. I wish ebay would tell us where external traffic comes from , because I’m sure they have that info, but they clearly don’t want to share it with us. (Unless we use their social media tool, and I’m not sure how much use that really is)
I had been using the Newsletter for a while, but saw little impact. I think it would be more useful if I had a more focused inventory….more of a niche. But I’m going to give it another look. I have IG and FB account, but spend most of my time doing the Friends of the Library FB account instead of my own LOL
I will be interested to hear what the Zoom interview tells you.
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