Private Listings & The Effect On Feedback Usefulness

[aspidistral*bliss]

I understand the reason for private listings for things that people might be embarassed to buy but...

It's obvious some sellers are taking advantage and use private listings for ALL their listings, meaning that it is impossible to use their feeback effectively.

For instance I want to buy a dog bed.

One seller that sells them has all their feedback private listings. Plenty of negs and neutrals. But I can't tell which feedback is for these beds. So I can't judge what I will get.

Clearly I'm not going to buy from this seller.

This is really annoying and I question the fact that ebay allows this to occur.

I think private listings should only be available in limited circumstances.

[patchoo78]

You missed a bit colic

There is NO reason for sellers to use Priavte Listings on general merchandise, except to be hiding something.

Meaning, that unless the item is particularly sensitive in nature eg Lingerie etc then the seller can have the listings as private, otherwise there is no reason and it looks like the seller is trying to hide something

[perfectly_dark007]

frankly, if your feedback is private, its bad. never buy from someone thats hiding the truth.

Funny thing its not uncommon to see such people around these forums trashing everyones comments and listings..

[putney32]

frankly, if your feedback is private, its bad. never buy from someone thats hiding the truth.

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frankly, and actually, if your f'b is private you cannot sell on eBay.

(private) feedback, as opposed to private listings, is for Buyers only.

[viewmont1071]

You missed a bit colic

There is NO reason for sellers to use Priavte Listings on general merchandise, except to be hiding something.

Meaning, that unless the item is particularly sensitive in nature eg Lingerie etc then the seller can have the listings as private, otherwise there is no reason and it looks like the seller is trying to hide something

and I think patchoo you missed a bit...this bit 

 competitors can undercut general merchandise prices.

 By using best offer and keeping your listings private competitors have no idea what the end sale price was

Keh.....???

you may have missed this bit too patchoo...

they are hiding something....

hiding end prices from competitors

[viewmont1071]

So to take the stategy to the extreme... if all members listings were private then sellers would not be able set a price point using comparitive end price search strategies (big words for.. a completed listing search)....

How many B and M businesses do you think would supply their sales figures to a general resource pool so that other competitors could work out an average end price ??

It's almost a given though on ebay that prices are set this way and by members inferring that hidden sale prices are nothing but dodgy selling practices the practice of predatory competitor price searches can continue................

So, some of those that hide their end prices with private listings are opting out of the

"completed listing search end price predatory seller" scenario

[the3coopers]

So, some of those that hide their end prices with private listings are opting out of the

"completed listing search end price predatory seller" scenario

Absolute Rubbish. :^O

Private Listings only hide the information in the FEEDBACK PAGE.

The sale prices are still clearly available for all to view from the Completed Listings search.

Look at this example search - a well known seller who lists with Private Listings....

http://tinyurl.com/ctdmbjr

Just an example, and ALL of those are Private... almost 100 of them over the past 2 weeks, which gives a pretty good idea of what the "going rate" is, eh?

The prices are also available by using any number of 3rd party websites that tap into the eBay API and allow searching of prices further back than the nominal 2 weeks that eBay generally shows them for.

[the3coopers]

By using best offer and keeping your listings private competitors have no idea what the end sale price was

Keh.....???

you may have missed this bit too patchoo...

they are hiding something....

hiding end prices from competitors

Nope  - you actually missed the bit about the FACT that the prices are all disclosed in Completed Items searches

Keh indeed 😉

[thecatspjs]

Completed listing search only gives a snapshot of a quite limited period of time - so you can get a glimpse, but you would have to do searches and print out over a number of weeks and months to use for any meaningful analysis.

[the3coopers]

Completed listing search only gives a snapshot of a quite limited period of time - so you can get a glimpse, but you would have to do searches and print out over a number of weeks and months to use for any meaningful analysis.

Yeah, but the prices paid in the past are of limited "value" anyway.

It'd still take ages to go trawling back through the seller's feedback, eh!

But why bother doing either searching manually? Just subscribe to a service like Terapeak and get all that info on the past 12 months of pricing, plus much more, handed to you on a plate:

http://www.terapeak.com/products/terapeak/seller-research

Anyway, as I said... sellers who use Private Listings are suspect, because they don't allow BUYERS to research the feedback on items that have been sold. If the seller has 100% feedback, then fair enough... but if they have (say) 98% feedback wouldn't you want to read the feedback about the item was (both good or bad)?

http://www.feedbackselector.com/  << Try that... a good trick 🙂

Now, maybe somebody can explain to me... why would a Seller want to hide all the Buyer's Feedback for their generic items?

[viewmont1071]

Nope  - you actually missed the bit about the FACT that the prices are all disclosed in Completed Items searches

Keh indeed 😉

Keh indeed coops it's great having a price...say 24,80.........it's useless however when you do not know what the product was...and that's a fact....