Best match search results

pod · #1 08-19-2010

How badly does the "Best Match" default search hurt fairly new sellers?

I did a search, using two words, in order, from my 6 word item title and landed 97th down.

Of the almost 100 above me, 60 plus didn't even have the words in the tittle! They were similar products, but not the same.

I know that higher sellers will obviously get better results. But even when they don't match they are getting higher results. Just by being in the same category it seems.

There HAS to be a way to work with this. I tweak my tittles. So if I have 3 items the same, all 3 have a little different tittle. But beyond that I'm at a loss what can be done. If anything can...

**SaiJin** · #2 08-19-2010

THe free shipping actually bumps you up a little bit.

And if you don't have any infractions in your performance dashboard, that'd bump you up as well.
I'm sure there's more, but this is what I know.
Also I believe a lot of buyers actually would still do lowest cost first.

pod · #3 08-19-2010

I've changed it to free shipping on some smaller stuff. see if that brings in some game. Even a couple things at close to cost to see what happens...

My biggest issue is even if I search for words or phrases directly in my tittle items that are not even the same and have none of the key words get up before me by 6 pages.

It seems the best match is heavily bent. Again, I understand bigger sellers are going to get better results. But I'm being bumped buy 60+ items I didn't even search for. They are getting placement just for being there. Its no wonder my hits are @ 20% what they were selling the same products 2 years ago.

7 days ends with 20 hits. Before over 100....

jeffweico · #4 08-19-2010

I remember when eBay fist made this change. After about 2 weeks, AuctionBytes was full of posts with people complaining that their pageviews had dropped dramatically. About 10% of the posts were positive, as their pageviews increased dramatically.

The idea of displaying auctions by "ending soonest" was doomed for a long time. It was too fair. eBay had to find a way to skew it to their favorites.

But Saijin is right, free shipping bumps you up, and so does recent positive feedbaclk. And also being a top-rated seller.

This fall, eBay is implementing a new way of showing their listings in a few categories. This new way will be more like Amazon. Except that Amazon lists by lowest price first. eBay will also do this but take "other factors" into consideration. As you can imagine, nobody is allowed to know what those "other factors" are.

I don't know if this will be good or bad, but if it works for eBay, then you can bet it will be coming to all categories soon. So that 18th century antique blue cobalt vase you want to sell better have a UPC code!

pod · #5 08-19-2010

I think a good part of my problem is my product as well. Its more of a professional item and its lost in a bunch of cheap crap that's not the same, but pulls some of the same search results. If that makes sense.

The ebay buyers have always wanted cheap deals. But I think its at a point now where they mostly want crap for next to nothing. And the products I have in this account are mid to high range. And my type of clientele has maybe moved away from eBay.

I took a peak at a seller that used to sell similar products in a similar price range. His products were a little higher end and a little more pricey, but still somewhat in competition with each other. He still lists all his stuff, but hasn't had any feedback since oct 09. So he's not selling anything anymore. I can only assume he still lists to direct traffic to his site. Because he's not moving any product!

I went over my numbers from 2 years ago on the same products and same time of year was always slow. But traffic is at about 20% and sales are around 12%

I'm going to see if I can get some better love with Amazon. I just don't think eBay is for me on this product anymore. At least listing is nothing now. So no stress on having to sell or listing fees killed you like a couple years ago. And maybe throw a bunch of money at Google and see how that works out... But at this rate sales off eBay are just not panning out.

jeffweico · #6 08-20-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by pod

I think a good part of my problem is my product as well. Its more of a professional item and its lost in a bunch of cheap crap that's not the same, but pulls some of the same search results. If that makes sense.

The ebay buyers have always wanted cheap deals. But I think its at a point now where they mostly want crap for next to nothing. And the products I have in this account are mid to high range. And my type of clientele has maybe moved away from eBay.

I took a peak at a seller that used to sell similar products in a similar price range. His products were a little higher end and a little more pricey, but still somewhat in competition with each other. He still lists all his stuff, but hasn't had any feedback since oct 09. So he's not selling anything anymore. I can only assume he still lists to direct traffic to his site. Because he's not moving any product!

I went over my numbers from 2 years ago on the same products and same time of year was always slow. But traffic is at about 20% and sales are around 12%

I'm going to see if I can get some better love with Amazon. I just don't think eBay is for me on this product anymore. At least listing is nothing now. So no stress on having to sell or listing fees killed you like a couple years ago. And maybe throw a bunch of money at Google and see how that works out... But at this rate sales off eBay are just not panning out.

For higher end stuff, you are probably looking at better sales on Amazon.

You are right, the best strategy for success on eBay is to sell crap for cheap.

It's funny, because eBay wants to be Amazon, but they are looking more like Ioffer with each passing day!