Rob & Melissa Stephenson from Flea Market Flipper talk about whether you should use the "sell one like this" feature on eBay.
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Should You Use “Sell One Like This” On eBay?
Rob: What's up, Pro Flippers? On today's episode we are talking about if you should be using the "sell one like this" tab when you're listing your items on eBay.
Rob: All right, guys. So we're talking about the tab that is on eBay listings, which says sell one like this.
Melissa: And should you be using this when you're doing your listings or not, or does it matter? And best practices for using it if you do decide to use it.
Rob: And I feel like there's controversy on this. I feel like I've heard some other resellers say that they do not use the sell one like this. As for us, we do use it. We use it almost every time I list something, I jump in and I find a listing or an item that is close to what I want.
And then I, that, that's the first thing I go to is I click on the sell one like this.
It pops up.
Melissa: Yeah. I was going to ask like, what is it? So it's a, it's a button. If you look up comps, you're looking up sold comp, or looking up comps, it would be sold or not sold, right?
Rob: Usually you're looking up it on both of them.
It might be a little bit different button if it is an active listing, than what it is versus a, a completed listing. So, but they do have them on both of them that you can actually click on that button and it will take you to a pre filled out form to list your item. So you, it, it kind of speeds up the process.
Melissa: And if it, you do find one that's sold comp, it's probably better than an active comp because you know it sold. So the active comp hasn't sold yet. So, what they have in the description could be helpful in yours. And we're not, well, we'll dive into some of the best practices for it. So.
Rob: It is a great point. What Melissa just said. So you, when, when item has sold and you're looking at sold comps, typically their title, remember when we're, when we're listing items on eBay, the title is what you have to hook people with. That's what you got to get people with that are searching in the search bar. You have to have the right word that they're searching for to pull up your listing.
So chances are if the item did sell that they had, yeah, some word or in there that a buyer was using to describe what they were looking for and it was in that title. So typically that's why I use the sell one like this is because I have a title that I can run with. I never leave it just the same.
I never do the same exact title when I click sell one like this because it will fill out the title. It takes away the description so you can't use the description anymore, but it will leave the title on there and you can either leave it the same. Or you can alter it. And I always alter it. I just don't want to use the same exact title.
Even if I change the words around a little bit, I don't want it to look exactly the same as the, the seller who originally used that.
Melissa: So it doesn't let you do the description. It does not have the specs.
Rob: Does not pull over description, all the specs of everything. So they do not want you copying somebody else's description.
You shouldn't anyway. No. So it does not pull that over. You have to come up with your own description. I think it gives you the first sentence. It'll, it'll take the title. And then put it as the first portion of the description typically, and I'm talking about mobile because this is what I typically use as mobile, might be a little bit different on desktop. But mobile, I think it usually puts one or two sentences as, as the description. That just, it's your exact title and they copy and paste it down to the description and that's how they set it up for you.
Melissa: Yeah, so really the biggest best practice for it is do not copy a listing word for word, title for title, picture for picture, because that's no, that's no, no good.
So, the, the title is key. So you want to make sure you're keeping those buzzwords in the title and maybe putting any other ones and putting anything else in there, but we've seen some people use the other person's pictures. I mean, that does happen sometimes. People use our pictures. It's like you, that's not a good practice because it's not the item you're selling.
Like, and it's a different item. So it might be the same model, the same whatever, but it's in different condition or whatever it is. So don't use their pictures. And we even don't encourage stock photos. So we, we haven't seen very good, I don't know, like it, I just feel like it's not your item. So you don't encourage stock photos.
Rob: Setting false expectations. If you're using a stock photo, it can be something that looks way better than what your item is. If it's a used item. If it's a brand new item and it's in the box and you're selling it in the box, that's different. But for what we sell, typically they are used items and I don't want to set false expectations for anybody, who's looking at that item.
So I want to use my own pictures. The other thing is, eBay, when you do the button, sell one like this, it doesn't pull over somebody's picture. So you physically have to go in and copy and paste, edit that picture and pull it over into your listing. But people do that. They absolutely do. You should not do that.
We do not recommend you doing that. Because it does, like I said, you're already setting false expectations for the listing and you're just setting yourself up for failure. Somebody can buy your item and then it's not the same or it has different scratches or you know, it has a, it's in different condition than what the pictures are that you're stealing.
You're not going to be happy. So don't do that. Use your own pictures, take your own pictures, all of your own pictures, and put those in there. Now, one thing that you have to make sure of is when you fill out the shipping portion of the sell one like this. It will pull over the original seller's shipping, guidelines, information.
So it will say if they have, the box size, say the box is 12 by 12 by 24. If they have that in there for the box, it will pull that over and it will use all of their same form settings. Yes, the form that they used for, thank you, the settings that they used for theirs. It will pull that over to you and you can go right through it and not have to click a thing and do it.
The problem is I do not do that. I will never do that when I'm pulling somebody else's, when I'm selling one like this, when I'm using that tab and pulling over, their, their form for everything that I'm doing, I pull out all of their shipping, settings and I put my own in there. Typically we don't do calculated shipping.
We don't tell the size of the box. We don't tell the weight of the box. I put there's an option that you can put don't know. You don't know the size of it and that's what I always click because I either do flat rate shipping or I do free shipping for anything that I'm shipping. But if you don't, just make sure you are changing that and making sure that the box that you have for your item is correct and the weight is correct because if eBay's using that to calculate anything, you're going to be in trouble when they go to calculate it and if it's not right or you have to use a bigger box than what, the initial, the other seller used, you're going to be in trouble and you're going to have, well, not in trouble, but you're going to be responsible for more money to pay for shipping if it is in a larger box and you can't get it in that same size box.
Yeah. So definitely something you want to take note of.
Melissa: And just a side note for the calculated shipping, always make sure, like if you measure an item and the item is certain 10 inches, whatever, and then you have to account for padding and boxing and everything. You can't just measure that item, like the height, the width, the length.
It's not going to be that. So make sure you account for that. If you can't pack it, it's not a bad practice to package it up while you're, when you're starting off at least and get to know like the size and weight and you can add that in for calculated shipping. That's not a thing we do anymore because we know roughly.
The size of the package, how much it's going to cost to go across the country. And we just kind of either figure that into the price or do flat rate on it. So, but if you're starting out, it is a good way to start or just make sure that if you do calculate it, that you are accounting for the box and the packaging.
Rob: It's such a good point because you can, the item is going, the box is going to be bigger than the item and you might not find the exact size box that will fit that item. And it might have to be bigger. So you want to make sure if you are using calculated shipping, you either have the box on hand or you know the size of the box that you're going to use versus, like we buy boxes from U-Haul. If I know exactly what size box that it's going to fit in and I'm going to have to put padding around it to make it work, but I know it will fit in that. Then I can do that ahead of time. But like Melissa said, we don't typically do that. We just use flat rate or we do free shipping and build it into the price.
That's how we do it. But if you're doing it, make sure you know that size of the box so you can do it. Other than that, I, the other, the difference with sell one like this, I've heard other resellers say it messes with eBay's algorithms if you're not starting from scratch. We've never experienced that, so I can't say that it's right.
I can't say that it's wrong. I have no idea. I just know it's a lot easier for me to find the exact item I want and have a head start on that title. That I know it already sold an item, so I know if I just alter it a little bit, maybe put a couple more buzzwords in there, that I would look for if I was looking for that item, I know I'm going to be way better off than trying to create that from scratch myself.
And I have a good idea, but like I said, I will never copy the title directly. I will change words around. I will mix it up. I will make it so it doesn't look exactly the same and then add anything that I can to it.
Melissa: Yeah, so definitely don't. Best practices. Don't copy. Don't copy. Don't copy. Whatever you do, don't copy.
Don't copy word for word. And double check the specs. Like as the stuff gets pulled over because especially like if you're doing. Make sure the model's right. Make sure the number's right because sometimes like something might be slightly different and you might if you're selling something with this model number and it's actually this model number, you can get in trouble.
Like the person buying it's like, this is not the one I ordered because this is what it said it was and this is not it. So, just double check all that stuff to make sure it's right.
Rob: That's a huge point because I did that even last night. I listed something last night and I looked, absolutely.
And I looked and some things will have the manufacturing country. They'll have all this other stuff. So, UPC, UPC, I think that's a number and all that. And I don't typically know that cause we sell used items. So I don't know what that is, but the one I pulled over had a UPC number. So I had to delete that UPC number and then put N/A, because I don't know what it is.
So, just make sure you are going through all the stuff that is filled out and make sure that it is accurate for what you're selling. Such another great point, because it will, eBay will pull everything over for that. When you do the sell one like this, they will pull everything over and you just want to verify that what you're doing, that you're giving your buyer all the correct information.
If you don't know what it is, take it out of there. Don't, don't leave it in there if somebody else had it in there. If the previous seller had it in there and you don't know what it is, put N/A, or just take it out and don't use it. You want to make sure that you're, you're advertising your items correctly.
Melissa: Yeah. And we'd love to know, are you using it? Do you see a difference? If you use it, does it help? Does it not help? Let us know, hit us on Instagram is probably the best way to reach out and let us know if you're using it or if you stopped using it or if you know now not to copy word for word and double check all your stuff.
So, yeah, thanks so much for hanging out with us. We love hanging out with you guys.
Rob: That's it. You guys rock. Have an amazing day and we'll see you on the next episode.