Comments on: How to Raise a Zombie Auction

Question: How to Raise a Zombie Auction

yellowcandy — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 03:24:39 -0800

I'm trying to see an old, outdated eBay (or eBay.ca) auction (from approx. 6-8 months ago) and have the item number.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

By: filmgeek

filmgeek — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 04:50:38 -0800

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.

By: loiseau

loiseau — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 15:15:32 -0800

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.

By: winston

winston — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 20:29:40 -0800

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.

By: bystander

bystander — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 03:27:05 -0800

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?

By: winston

winston — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 05:45:58 -0800

bystander, I don't know but they are quite vigorous in preventing others from getting their hands on the information for free

By: bystander

bystander — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:03:30 -0800

I see ebay is now selling access to completed auction pricing, so I guess that answers it:
http://pages.ebay.com.au/marketplace_research/