Can the seller+ eBay import tool UPDATE listings?

[warriorhut]

Hi,

I've had a lot of issues with the seller+ "eBay import tool" (not NinjaLister) so before I do another run I'd like to get clarity on something.

Is this tool intended to only be used once?

The reason I ask is the last time I ran it I ended up with thousands of duplicate listings. It seems like the tool expects me to delete all my current listings first but this causes its own set of problems, especially if some items have running auctions, pending messages or shipping.

What I expected this tool to do is check whether a listing has previously been imported and update the existing eBid listing details, quantity and price. If an item is sold/removed on eBay i'd expect it to be removed from eBid. If I've remapped categories I'd expect them to stay remapped and not ask again but none of this happened last time.

Is this a bug in the importer and is it going to be (or has it been) fixed? I need to resynchronise my listings but the tool is basically unusable for this purpose in its current state.

I have 1000's of listing so I need this tool to "just work". It is too much maintenance to do everything on both sites. I might consider using another listing tool to manage my inventory if anyone can make a recommendation but honestly I paid extra for the eBay importer and it's just not doing the job I expected it to.

I've sent an email to support and waiting for a response but I'd still appreciate any advice from members or recommendations for other tools or workflows to keep eBay and eBid listings in sync.

NOTE: Please don't suggest I drop eBay, that's a non-starter. I hate eBay as much as anybody here but it is responsible for 99% of my sales and eBid just doesn't have that much reach yet. Maybe one day but we're not there yet.

[warriorhut]

I got a response from support but it's unsatisfactory. I'll share here in the case it helps others:

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On 31/7/21 10:36 am, eBid Support Team wrote:
> Hi,
>
> When you import from eBay using the (My eBid > My Bulk Upload > eBay Import) method then we will simply pick up all your current listings on eBay and import them with a discount of your choice.
>
> For future reference: If you wish to replace your already imported listings then just tick the "Remove all my currently imported eBay listings before starting import?" box when importing, this will remove all your current imports and will mean we will not have to check for any duplicated listings.
>
> Also, if you sell on eBay, you should remove it from eBid and visa versa.
>
>
>
> Best Wishes
> eBid Support Team
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My response to this is:


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Hi,

This reply ignores my questions. I already knew I could delete existing listings and I made that clear in my original question. Let me clarify the issues with the process you outlined below:

1.) This does not remember the category remappings, so you have to fix all the mismatched categories on every import. This can take a considerable amount of time.

2.) This removes all of the items from ebid stores. That's a huge issue as I then have to go into each store and relist every product.

3.) This destroys any search engine rank or bookmarks against the original listing.

4.) This loses any other history or status. That's a real problem if the item has outstanding communication, refunds, postage, etc.

5.) This would delete listings that were exclusive to ebid and not on ebay. That's an even bigger issue if they are active auctions.

Your reply feels condescending and tells me you don't understand the issues. I'm a computer programmer and I know for a fact it would be trivial for your system to remember the original eBay ID and perform an update on pre-existing listings. Your tool doesn't do that so it's basically unsuitable for performing regular updates on a large or regularly changing catalogue. I urge you to fix this.

If you are going to take the position that the eBay import tool is a "one-time" action then you should make that clear in your marketing around the feature. The only reason I paid for seller+ was because I thought I could use this tool to keep ebid in sync with my ebay account. As it stands the tool is not fit for that purpose.

Regards,
The Warrior Hut

[EastCoastWheels]

I am with you, I don't understand what i need to do to keep auctions synced between ebay and ebid. When I do my upload it starts all auctions over again at starting price. I hope someone can explain how this is supposed to help me.

[BordersBargains]

Yeh its a bit of a flawed system, Mine doesn't even work at all and I gave up with support. I now manually list