Let's discuss duplicate eBay listings and how they impact your seller rating and sales. For starters, eBay enforces a duplicate policy to offer shoppers more product variety across more than one seller. It also prevents a single seller from monopolizing the top rankings of the same product set at a fixed price by punishing accounts with identical listings.
Ultimately, the policy is a positive step forward because it rewards buyers with choices and e-commerce merchants with more visibility.
The consequences of having duplicate listings on eBay include:
- Account suspension
- Lost sales
- Lower inventory rankings
- Impact on linked accounts
To keep your eBay account successful, we’ve provided a primer on duplicate listings, how to find them, and remove them from your online store.
What is a Duplicate Listing on eBay?
Before we go any further, let’s explain what these are. For starters, eBay considers a duplicate listing based on the following criteria:
- The same product is listed more than once under multiple categories
- The same product is listed more than once under different accounts
- A seller tries to curtail the rules by offering inconsequential bonuses with the same item under several listings
Now, not every duplicate listing is nefarious or intentional. For example, some international sellers experienced issues when listing the same product in different languages, which eBay flagged as duplicates. Nevertheless, this can be frustrating for sellers who aren’t familiar with the policy, so it’s best to follow their rules or contact eBay directly if you have additional questions.
How to Avoid Duplicate Listings on eBay 
Following eBay's Best Match rules is the easiest way to avoid duplicate listings if you’re not using an inventory management software that simplifies e-commerce management. Here’s how to optimize your listings to reach Best Match results:
- Use bulk listing to list similar products under one fixed-price listing
- List variations (color, sizing, etc.) under one fixed-price listing with variations
- Reference the parts compatibility guide before posting items that fit different vehicles
Still, we understand that most e-commerce business owners and marketers simply don't have the time to manually update their listings or ensure 100% compliance. That's where e-commerce software that simplifies SKU management comes in.
How to Find Duplicate Listings on eBay
If your eBay account contains items with duplicate SKUs, we recommend using e-commerce inventory management software like SellerActive that includes built-in seller protection.
Our platform works by identifying duplicate listings by referencing each SKU from an uploaded eBay inventory file using the Cart Multichannel tool. A notification will then appear, prompting you to download a CSV file that details which SKUs need to be removed.
If you’re not a SellerActive customer, there are a handful of crowdsourced online tools that can find duplicate listings for you. However, many of these tools only scan for duplicate product titles, which aren’t considered duplicate listings in eBay’s eyes. So it’s important to look specifically at the item SKUs when looking at the lists produced by these tools.
How to Remove Duplicate Listings on eBay
Once you've identified your duplicated listings, their removal is essential to staying eBay compliant. There are two ways to do this.
- Manually make updates through eBay’s Seller Dashboard by changing the Custom Label (SKU) field or deleting any equivalents.
- Quickly remove any identical SKUs by uploading the CSV file from SellerActive’s Multichannel tool to eBay’s File Exchange by navigating to Select Template (Listings) > Type (Edit price & quantity).
Make eBay Duplicates a Thing of the Past
We know the difficulties of managing multiple e-commerce storefronts may surface mistakes. So whether you need account maintenance or seek a solution that automatically addresses the issue, we offer a practical platform that ensures e-commerce sellers aren't breaking rules. The benefits of SellerActive include:
- Avoiding duplicate listing creation
- Syncing listings across multiple marketplaces
- Creating pricing strategies and thresholds to protect from overselling
- Fulfilling orders with multichannel order management and FBA
If you wish to improve how you manage your eBay store, start by enrolling in a free 14-day trial of SellerActive today.