Duplicate Listings Potential

Cliff Frey

When listing items for auction out of the population of items in one's store, it appears that the potential for duplicate listings is significant. For example, say I list a lot for auction on day one, according to my understanding the item goes to auction and becomes dormant in the store although I can still see it. It does not have any indication sitting in the store that it has been listed as an auction item that I can tell. So maybe 5 days later, while trolling through store pages, I inadvertently come upon the some lot in my store and I list it again at auction. Now I have at least two of the same lots visible at auction and it appears to me that the lot in the store is also visible to buyers when I put that Scott number into the search engine. If two buyers come along and bid on two of the items, I really only have one and there is an ability to deliver problem created. I have noticed this being a problem for a while and just now decided to comment on it. Is there a solution or am I imagining there is a problem?

Mark Rosenberg

If you have a store item, which you want to send to auction, from the Members Area > Selling > Listings section, check off the item and click the "Auction" button at the bottom of the page. This will send the store item to auction, which will close the original store item, such that it is no longer available in your store. If the item does not sell at auction, only at that time would the original store item become active again. So you would never have more than one active listing for the same item.

Cliff Frey

Mark..not to be argumentative, but yesterday, I purposely relisted at auction, the same lot of stamps in my store 4 times and guess what..when I went to search mode for that group, all four lots were available for purchase. I have since deleted them but it is possible to inadvertently have multiple listings since items in the store appear to be able to listed multiple times while in"auction" status.

Mark Rosenberg

If you list the same item in your store 4 times, whether it's as a store item, or an auction, yes you would have 4 listings for the same item.

However, If you want to avoid creating duplicate listings within your store, do not create multiple listings for any item you have. Instead, just create one store item for each listing you have. If any of those store items you would like to send to auction, do not create a new auction listing for the same item or edit the original store item. Instead use our send to auction feature. You can use this from the Members Area > Selling > Listings section. Search for the listing, and then click on the checkbox to the left of the item, scroll down, and in the Bulk Actions section click on the "Auction" button (do not edit the listing, but click on the grey "Auction" button). This will close the original store item, and start a new auction listing for the same item. If the item does not sell at auction, the original store item will be re-opened.

Cliff Frey

Mark, the procedure that you described of using the site's "send to auction"feature is precisely what I used. Sorry that I was not more clear previously. I have been using it quite frequently over last several months.

Cliff Frey

Mark. One last ? on this topic. When an auction item ends, you describe it as automatically going back to the store as an active item there. At the same time it shows up in the closed/sold category. The actions there include relisting, deleting etc. If I choose relist as a store item, will that give me a duplicate listing in my store. Additionally, will deleting it cause my (now active) store item to disappear from my store? Thanks

Mark Rosenberg

Using the Send to Auction feature itself can not create a duplicate listing, because it will close the Store Item and then create a new Auction Item. If the Auction Item does not sell, the original Store Item will be re-opened.

However, if in addition to the Send to Auction feature you also relist the closed Store Item - yes you could create a duplicate listing. However, as Store Items never end - unless they Sell, there should be no reason to relist Store Items - so if you do not use both the Send to Auction and then also relist the close Store Item - you wouldn't create a duplicate listing. If you delete a closed listing - it would not affect any other listings in any way.