How to Raise a Zombie Auction

March 7, 2008 3:24 AM

I'm trying to see an old, outdated eBay (or eBay.ca) auction (from approx. 6-8 months ago) and have the item number. Can I resurrect the listing?

I've tried the usual places--Google cache, archive.org...but I need other options, since I am having no luck so far.

posted by yellowcandy to shopping (6 comments total)

I'm going with I think you're out of luck. ebay purges it's listings after what looks like 15 days (or so).

And given how much dynamic content there is, I don't think archive.org does a snapshot of the whole thing.
posted by filmgeek at 4:50 AM on March 7

An auction I won but got ripped off from in late October was on the site until early February. It's been cleared in the last few weeks. Try plugging the auction number into the search field maybe.
posted by loiseau at 3:15 PM on March 7

The completed listings search only covers the past 15 days, but the auction page stays up for a minimum of 90 days. Sometimes exactly 90 days, sometimes several times that.

Replace the "1234567890" in the following URL with the auction number. If it's still on eBay, that will get you the listing page.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1234567890

eBay does not allow anyone to spider their web site. The database of completed auctions is a very valuable source of information (e.g. on the pricing of collectibles) and they want to profit from that.
posted by winston at 8:29 PM on March 7

The database of completed auctions is a very valuable source of information (e.g. on the pricing of collectibles) and they want to profit from that.
I think this is true, but how are ebay leveraging extra profit from it currently?
posted by bystander at 3:27 AM on March 8

bystander, I don't know but they are quite vigorous in preventing others from getting their hands on the information for free
posted by winston at 5:45 AM on March 19

I see ebay is now selling access to completed auction pricing, so I guess that answers it:
http://pages.ebay.com.au/marketplace_research/
posted by bystander at 5:03 PM on April 29