fake qty of items sold, sellers scam

[qldparts]

Im wondering if any one has had any luck having a competitors listing removed because they are misinforming potential buyers that they have sold hundreds of units however when you check the history it clearly shows the items was something totally different in the past. For example a $15 item before now a $115. item. ive reported to ebay numerous times and they can see the issue however the sellers listing remains and they continue to repeat on other listings. Any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks

[papermoon.lady]

Apparently they are aware of the fact that there are issues. 

Changes to ‘quantity sold’ calculation for MSKU li... - The eBay Community

It's 6 weeks now... There should be some improvements, but I have noticed weird sold items issues too (as a buyer, as I am not a seller).

[jellybirddesigns]

It's not illegal to reuse and update listings.

As an example - I sell cushion covers. Now lets say that I have a listing up for a particular design that I sell for $30 and I have a quantity of 10. Now when those are all sold out, I can easily just change the picture, the heading and the price to another design without having to rewrite all the information. I've done it in the past with several listings.

As long as what the current listing it showing is valid with the price and the description, I think you are worrying too much about what other sellers are doing. I would be seriously p***ed off if someone reported a listing that I changed just because I updated to a different product.

Why are you checking the minutiae of another sellers products? There is nothing stopping YOU using the same technique. 

[imastawka]

I think the key words are 'competitors listing'

Ebay is not going to take any notice of a competitor complaining.

What if the competitor complained about you?

Would that be fair?

[twyngwyn]

do they have multiple sites?

[kopenhagen5]

Simple solution - When purchasing, ignore quantity sold, I do.

[p9games]

If I am buying a TV from a seller I expect that qty sold to be for that TV.  Not the historical sales of a $10 USB cable that they've 'repurposed' to inflate the perceived sales of the TV, boost their rankings and so on.  

Additionally, this 'technique' is misleading to buyers in terms of product reviews and feedback.  If I am buying a TV and all the reviews are praising the durability of the USB cable that would set off alarm bells.  I'd avoid that seller like the plague.

I can understand why a smaller seller without the API integrated listing and content management systems might want to recycle a listing.  Saves on data entry time perhaps.  But doing so is deliberately gaming the system, misrepresenting your sales quantity and product feedback and reviews

[jellybirddesigns]

I'm pretty sure that most people go by seller feedback and score. 

I  know that when I buy something I'm 100% more interested  in the sellers reputation as compared to whether they've sold 10 or 20 widgets of whatever I'm after.

Reviews are only a "thing" if a seller lists an item from the Ebay catalogue, which doesn't apply to me and millions of other sellers.

Again, it is not against any Ebay rule to update or reuse a listing.

[janeababe]

As a buyer, I’m more interested in how many they have in stock, not how many they’ve sold. 
I couldn’t give a rats cahoota how many they’ve sold, tbh. Why would you? 

The OP is trying to discredit his competition. It’s in poor taste, as far as I’m concerned. 
The OP is going on my block list! 

[eol-products]

I do find listings with 500+ sales do tend to sell well especially for items that may vary in quality and the brand is not well known. If I was looking for a generic brand item the one with the most sales would make me feel it may be the safer option. It may not always be the case but I would prefer not to be a buyer who finds out the  hard way.