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Hello, Long time listener. I finally jumped ship at my full-time job and am full-time Ebay now.
The following I really feel I have all aspects of my business locked down as efficient and solid as possible:
Sales Reporting
Supplies and Vendors
2268 Feedback at 100%
Packing and shipping
Buyer communication
Storage and Pulling
Inventory system
Sourcing
Templates for Flyers
Templates for Descriptions
All aspects of photographyMy biggest weak points, or parts I dont fully understand are the following:
– Getting 20 Listed a day
– Order of keywords in the title
– The effect of using () or – or & or # or ‘s in the title
– How do you know if you have an “irrelevant keyword” in your title
– How do you know if it matters?
– Do the best match search results change every impression or does the algorithm cycle the listings based on time (ex. every 2 seconds)
– Does your description text have any relavance to search results.
– Why do sometimes you end up under the “Related Searches” section
– Watchers to results
– Views to resultsIve been studying the algorithms for about 6 months now and come to many conclusions about the cassini code. Anybody want to share and analyze it? I rank really high on some items.. not all.. I feel I need the above questions answered based on evidence, so I can standardize a process for my Titles mostly. Ive changed my titles so many times. Titles are a big sticking point for me. Just looking for some Ebay pals to share what I’ve learned. Also J and R I noticed some of your listing titles end like this “examp…”
You last keyword is cut off with ” … ”
Im assuming you used a third party listing program like TL or file exchange that doesnt have max character of 80.
I doubt Ryanne typed half a keyword then …
Thanks for everything!
Scott in CTp. s. Heres a tip I just discovered.. If you use Google Chrome browser to research BEST MATCH RANKING, its probably way off! I was searching my store items sorted by best match on a 2 phones, a tablet and a pc at the same time and getting completely different results..and it was really pissing me off..I was using 2 different Ebay app versions, chrome on the tablet and chrome on the pc. After about an hour trial and error I figured out data is stored somewhere for the chrome browser which saves SOME old Best Match data and shows those listings higher up instead. Im not talking about clearing previous searches or clearing chrome browsing history. I used CCleaner to wipe all chrome caches, then all the results matched up perfect. Anyway bottom line is this… Ebay app (for android anyway) is true and live BEST MATCH RANKING, Dont trust browsers
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Hello, you may want to visit the forum Selling on Ebay and then look for the eBay Open thread. You may also want to visit the Seller Hub on Ebay.com then the Seller Center which has information and videos from eBay open that just occurred. There may also be some on http://www.youtube.com.
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you saw my titles get cut off?
can you tell me which items? you can just paste the titles in here.
i would love to fix those.
if you’re looking on mobile app, i’ve seen them cut off there on lots of listings, but not on the desktop. we don’t use any third party listing software. thanks. -
Welcome Scott. Sounds like you have a very analytical mind. Don’t let it drive you too crazy trying to perfect your eBay business. I think eBay is a very “fuzzy” platform especially if you sell weird, vintage stuff like we do. Your desire to perfect search ranking probably becomes more important if you’re selling highly competitive commodity items (like iPhone cases). When you sell the weird stuff, you have less competition. The quality of the photos and the condition of the item will then set you apart.
You bring up a lot of topics, but let me respond to the most important one IMHO: Listing. If you dont have items listed on eBay, nothing else matters. Especially at first, we do recommend getting 20 items listed a day. Though it’s more of an aspirational goal than a concrete goal, achieving solid listing numbers is important to build up your inventory.
If eBay is now your full time job, you should commit to at least eight hours of work a day. That’s less than three listings an hour. As our inventory grew, the need to list 20 items a day was not as important. But those first six months of solid listing has set us up for the success we have today. There are no shortcuts to listing. It’s the unglamorous part of the business that has forced many sellers to quit.
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Thanks for the welcome. Ryanne it looks like the trend for the cutoffs might have to do with copying a title pound for pound from someone else who used a third party.. I remember when I listed through file exchange (.csv file) I made some titles over 80 characters and it did the same thing.
Also I never use Ebays pre-filled Product Catalog because the information is never right. (Photo is different, Year is different, publisher is different, etc) this is for books anyway. Heres some Titles:
(ironically lol)
– The Airbnb story : How Three Ordinary GuysFlick to Kick : An Illustrated History
Portuguese Contemporaneo Vol. 2
Portuguese Contemporaneo I
Encyclopedia of Sewing Machine Tecniques
Also I’m reluctant to start listing full force because there is so much conflicting info out there and I want to make sure I’m doing my listings correct the first time. I just went through my 500+ listings and removed all HTML and it was tough. Examlpes:
Dont use all caps (everyone does it)
Dont use & “‘s() ~~ (everyone does it)
Most important keywords first (nobody puts shoes in the first 5 words)
Use Ebays recommended keywords that show up in the search bar (these dont show in Best match)I guess because I’m over 500 I just want to make sure my listings are absolutely as effective as possible and dont want to waste any because the anchor subscription is pretty hefty.
Thanks Scott
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We break every rule you mention on our listings, yet we have sold pretty consistently every month for the last nine years. I have found that many of these discussions and “rules” you refer to are often conjecture and guesses by random eBay sellers. No one really knows the best way to list on eBay because eBay purposefully keeps it secret. Obviously if you have some concrete facts, please link to those pages so we can read them. Reproducible tests are how you know its true.
If you find the perfect way to create a listing so it’s top in the eBay search engine, let us know. Others have come here and shared similar goals, but we never hear back from them. Maybe they found the secret…
If you are depending on eBay for income, more and better info is nice…but just listing items consistently (even “imperfectly”) goes a long way towards financial stability.
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Thank you Jay for your input. I hope I wasn’t come off as a conspiracy theorist. Also didn’t want to come off as critically analyzing your listings. Just a friendly pointer, as many have notified me of in the past.
I take your advice very seriously, and appreciate yours and Ryanne’s time and dedication to the podcast!
Here are some things I can definitively say about Best Match Ranking through numerous studies and tracking over months period:
I’ll try to be of some value.. # of watchers on an item makes a HUGE difference in your best match rank, and it’s very simple to test.. search for 5 of your items with 0 watchers (using basic keywords, ex. “antique etching”) then write down what rank they are each for BM… then simply watch each one of those same items (watch your own)…wait ten minutes, then research those same keywords..
I would say about out of 100 listings Ive tried this, approx. 90 of them would double rank. My conclusion is that it is the number of watchers that matters, not that your item has been ‘watched in the past 24 hours’. Your newly increased ranking sticks way beyond 1 day. Probably not a good idea to share because will only increase competition, so feel free to delete this if you also test positive. I just know this was one of your recent controversial claims that you may disagree with.I find Best Match results important to understand because somthing as simple as using “Race Car Baseball Hat” as oppossed to “Race Cars Baseball Hat can mean the difference between being rank #3 or not showing at all..
The most important factor to Best Match rank is Ebay’s predetermined category. It doesn’t matter what it really is. For example if you search “Dantes Inferno” the majority of what is listed is in Books and video games category, therefore your item needs to be in those categories to be anyway near the top of Best Match. If you search “Dantes Inferno Print” you need to list your item in the Art category…
but someone may generally just be interested in Dantes Inferno and may actually decide to buy a print I have listed… but will never see the listing by searching just “Dantes Inferno” even though its in my title.I do get your point though Jay! I too have been spinning on the hamster wheel of society and been forced a mindless corporate drone. Your calm, confident and poise nature on the podcast has always motivated me! Traits I need to adopt. Its like your an overachieving Type B personality. A lucky entrepreneurial recipe!
Phone chachinged. Gotta pack-
We’re all good. I’m definitely a proud Type B. No stress is worth any amount of reward. I like being able to find ways to succeed in a calm, rational way.
When you and others talk about the specifics of eBay search, my eyes glaze over. I imagine wasting hours changing listings, testing, changing again. Then when I think I have it all figured out, some eBay engineer makes a change to the algorithm. Whoops! Start from square one.
Going back to living a calm life, we find it’s easy enough to list cool items consistently. We probably don’t do it perfect, but it works for us. We’re probably creating some amount of competition by sharing our lives on this podcast, but we enjoy the community that has popped up. Money isnt everything.
Anyway, glad you found us. Hope we can keep you company while you enjoy your new life as a Scavenger!
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You are correct about the Watch Lists. Some sellers actually try to game the system by having multiple IDs and watching their own items. So an item with no interest may have five watchers—all of them the seller himself. But the more watchers, the better the search placement, and the more likely someone else will watch, because many people assume if a listing has a bunch of watchers, it must be good LOL
This tactic may help with search placement, but whether that translates into conversions probably still depends on how desirable the item is.
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I just imagine the amount of time it would take to watch an items from multiple accounts. And then doing that same thing for hundreds of items. That’s a lot of “inventory gardening”. The increase in sales would need to be enormous since that time could be spent listing more items which (to me) is a better investment of time.
Putting a lot of time into search placement is probably smart for people who specialize in like 10-50 products that sell multiples. Like if you sold new metal hinges you bought from a factory. Onvce you make your listings, then all your time is spent just making sure you;re the main hinge seller.
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That makes total sense Jay. I agree with you on the oddball items where there may only be one page total of that type of item. But if you could figure out how to rank better in jeans, for example, you could apply the same tactics in new listings.
I managed to take a listing that was ranked 3000+ out of 6000+ to rank 260 with keyword tweaking. I don’t drive myself nuts with it, but on days where listing is not going to happen, it is interesting to tinker with.
Plus I look awesome in my tin foil hat.
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If you get concrete results, then its real.
321Antiques’ original question is if he could discover a tried and true method of writing titles that would consistently get him higher in search. So instead of constantly tweaking, you do it once “correctly”.
Is this possible? If so, I’d love to see what a “perfect” title looks like.
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Me too. I honestly don’t think there is a method to the madness. I think cassini is ever evolving. I also think that people give it too much credit.
I know I have ranked first page on items that haven’t sold and I’ve sold things I’ve had up for years with under 20 views. I’ve tried free shipping, best offer, watching items… Everything sells for the most part.
I made tens of thousands of dollars my first year with horrendous photos and titles. I sell items everyday that should be thrown out…
I think there are ways to rank higher with your title and keywords, but I also think by the time you crack it… The algorithm will change.
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you might want to look at this site: https://title-builder.com/
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My opinion is to list things quickly, don’t overthink it, and just add the keywords and information necessary for someone who wants to find it quickly.
In the example of “Jeans” above, if I wanted a pair of men’s black jeans by Jordache with a 40″ waist and 34″ inseam, I would search and narrow down the results by brand, colour, size until I found the item I want – I wouldn’t scour through 1000’s of “jeans” listings to find it.
I believe most people narrow down their searches to a specific requirement – and then they only have a few selections (if any) available.
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Yes, I’ve tried Title Builder and the free third party Terapeak Title Builder. Seemed like a good reference for relative keywords.
I make consistent sales month after month, but never really liked the idea of “just wing it, and hope for the best.
Because internet shoppers are quick, fast and only takes 1 second to scroll past your listing to keep shopping, I can see why having the most important keywords in the beginning of the title is important because in the app, portrait view, the last half of our titles are missing anyway (for android anyway)
Therefore.. I used to have all my shoe sizes at the very end of the title, but recently changed it to the third for this reason. I just think someone would be more inclined to browse an item that has the actual size right up front, even if they filter. Just my theory.
Another thing I noticed with the android app (and I believe chrome also) is that if you select two or more shipping options the default shipping cost you will see in search results will be the FIRST shipping option you choose, not the CHEAPEST.
Example:
– You and 3 other sellers have the same identical hat
– The other 3 sellers have First Class Shipping ONLY
– You offer 2 shipping options (Priority SELECTED FIRST and First Class SELECTED SECOND)
– You are all selling for the same exact priceIf someone searches for your hat, the search results would look like this:
Hat#1 – 19.99 + 4.11 Shipping
Hat#2 – 19.99 + 4.11 Shipping
Hat#3 – 19.99 + 4.11 Shipping
Your Hat – 19.99 + 6.59 ShipYour listing will appear to be the most expensive even though you are the only one actually OFFERING 2 OPTIONS!
The only way a buyer would know you actually offer a cheaper option is to click, then check your options.
If you select First Class FIRST and Priority SECOND, then your item will be ADVERTISED in searched results, lowest price first.
Jay, I noticed a bunch of your listings have FedEx option selected first, so you have the much higher shipping cost ADVERTISED upon a search.
This is where business policies come in handy, you just swap them in bulk. Come on lazy Ebay programmers! Advertise our lowest shipping option for crying out loud.
Im actually going to try changing a few listings to first selected shipping option – 1 Day Express..(like $40 ship cost) for a baseball hat… wait 10 minute… search my hat… and see if search results ADVERTISE my hat as:
$19.99 + 40.78 shipping
(when in fact I have 4.11 First Class Shipping offered also)Sorry, hope you are not totally glazed! I’ll let you know
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Yes, its definitely true. I just changed my shipping to:
– USPS Overnight 1 Day
– First ClassWhen I searched my hats, the search results page all show
19.99 + 41.59 shipping
19.99 + 41.59 shipping… so just make sure you select your cheapest shipping option first, thats all… 🙂
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I would just like to offer a thought about listing titles.
It has been recommended that the brand or company name come first. But, I have noticed that there are some items that may not be searched for by brand or company name. For example if you type in Chevrolet Model Car and then click on sold you get the following results
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=model+cars&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xchevolet+model+car.TRS0&_nkw=chevolet+model+car&_sacat=0Some of the listings have the company or brand name as part of the first 2 words while some of the listings have Chevrolet as part of the first 2 words of the listings.
I think the advice given about trying to think like a customer when listing is really appropriate. For example, if you are selling a vintage purple lamp with all of the trimmings from maybe the 70″s and you see a company name, is there more of a likelihood that the customer will type in the company name in the first few words or that the customer will type in Vintage Purple Lamp in the first few words?
As for rankings, while they are very important, if an item ranks high but no one buys it or if the number sold is less than or equal to the number selling, it does not appear that the ranking status will make a difference. I think (for eBay purposes) ranking status is most important when the items sold cause a seller to compete in an arena of a name brand marketplace.
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