Search fundamentals and Best match

December 10, 2008

eBay held a webinar yesterday in conjunction with ChannelAdvisor covering the fundamentals of appearing in search along with hints and tips for Best Match.

eBay emphasized the difference between Search and Best Match - Search determines which products are selected based on the keywords a buyer searches for. Sellers need to understand what terms buyers use and include popular alternatives in 55 character title. (eg motorcycle/motorbike). Good keywords, along with selecting the best category and item specifics, will avoid your item being filtered out of search results before they’re sorted by Best Match.

Once a set of search results is found they are then sorted with Best Match. For auctions the only criteria for Best Match are DSRs (4.4 or above to avoid demotion) and Ending Soonest.

Fixed price items are sorted in Best Match on a combination of factors which vary by category. Best Match responds to recent buying patterns so it evolves according to which combination of sorting criteria is working best for that particular category, including Recent Sales, title relevance, 30 day DSRs and price.

Recent Sales is the most important factor but does vary by category. Where few multi-quantity items are listed then the title and price become more important. Time ending soonest is not a factor for sorting fixed price items in Best match. If Recent Sales, DSRs and the title can’t distinguish between listings then price becomes the deciding factor in determining the sort order.

The price used in Best Match does not include P&P but reasonable charges will help keep DSRs high and avoid demotion. If any of your DSRs fall below 4.4 then both auctions and BINs are demoted.

Don’t split sales across multiple listings - from January you’ll only be allowed one fixed price listing for each product line you sell. Gaining sales on a single listing over the Christmas period will put you ahead of any competitors still running multiple listings for each product and in a months time they’ll have no listings with large numbers of recent sales.

Recent Sales boosts will be lost when you relist if you: Increase the start price; change the category; change the title; change the item condition. You can add to the item description, but not change existing description.

Ideas for driving sales include using Best Offer or MarkDown Manager for pricing promotions and using Featured First and Featured Plus to increase visibility.

One final tip which is a new one to me, Item Specifics are used to determine which products are returned in search results. If you’re selling a shirt and you specify “Denim” as the fabric but don’t have it in the item title it will be included in searches for “Denim Shirt”. However when Best Match sorts the search results it does not use Item Specifics. This means a shirt with Denim in item specifics may not be considered as relevant as one that has Denim in the actual title. Although Item Specifics are useful for appearing in search it’s still the keywords in the title that are the most important.

eBay Search and Finding has changed beyond all recognition over the last year but the fundamentals remain the same: Use good keywords, fill out all available fields including item specifics, select the most appropriate category and price competitively, provide top quality service to your buyers and pretty much everything else will take care of itself.

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under News | 32 Comments 

eBay seller Meetup in London this Thursday

November 17, 2008

Are you in London and fancy a few pints with other eBay sellers this Thursday evening? If so make your way over to the Walkabout pub in Putney for 7.30pm, where the first monthly eBay Meetup is to take place.

The event is being organised by Nathan O’Hanlon who has worked for eBay over the last eighteen months. He comes from a web development background and is no stranger to organising Meetups, the last group he set up was for web professionals, and is now the largest Meetup group in New Zealand with over 500 members.

This group will not be run by eBay, but is for sellers on eBay to share tips and tricks for trading on the site. For this the first Meetup the topics are Best Match, visibility, and how to maintain your listing; Selling items in bulk; Third party tool comparisons.

Doubtless there’ll be plenty of time for a few pints afterwards :-)

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Events | 23 Comments 

Top tips for trading on Amazon UK

October 22, 2008

ChannelAdvisor are holding a webinar in conjunction with Amazon.co.uk, focusing how third party sellers can take maximum advantage for Christmas sales via the Amazon Merchants@ online marketplace. The seminar will be hosted by Amazon.co.uk’s William Cook and ChannelAdvisor’s Max Leisten, and held on Thursday, October 30th at 2pm.

The webinar will detail all aspects of trading on Amazon from registration and listing processes through to best practices and advanced selling strategies.

They have also published “10 Christmas Strategies for Winning on Amazon” which you can download for free.

If you’re not already selling on Amazon it’s time to take a serious look at the site. Amazon is growing rapidly (41% growth in Q2 2008) and the run up to Christmas is the perfect time to maximise sales across all ecommerce platforms.

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Events, Selling Tips | 8 Comments 

Hammertap: Competing without lowering prices

October 9, 2008

Jen and Amy from HammerTap hosted a webinar this evening to give an insight on how to avoid a price war. This is of particular interest with eBay UK moving to Best Match where promoting the “best deals” often equates to “lowest price”. The webinar looked at ways to make your products stand out and appeal to buyers which, with Recent Sales search advantage, should help you to the top of Best Match results.

All things being equal the lowest price will win the price war, so the only effective way that sellers can make themselves stand out is to differentiate themselves from the competition.

HammerTap suggested four ways to take yourself out of competition with other sellers and differentiate your products:

  1. Change the product itself, make your product different to the competitions. This could be as simple as branding the packaging.
  2. Market to a new audience, e.g. Instead of selling a Wii to gamers, market it as a fitness product with the Wii Fit
  3. Add on value, e.g. Make your laptops stand out buy adding on a free laptop case or add a memory card with a PDA
  4. Bulk - Buyers will often want to purchase larger quantities, experiment with different quantities on a single listing.

Non-price competition is usually more profitable than selling for a lower price and avoids a price war. If you can make your product stand out from the crowd you can still attract buyers whilst retaining healthy margins.

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Selling Tips | 23 Comments 

Reduce ASQs with eBay seller FAQs

September 29, 2008

Did you know you can answer ASQs before they even hit your in-box? eBay sellers can create their own list of Frequently Asked Questions which are displayed to buyers when they click the “email the seller” link on your listings. Sellers can add up to 15 questions and answers in total: eBay suggest five of the most common, but these can be changed to suit your own needs.

Of course, if the question’s asked that often, you probably should think about including the information on your listings, but for things that need reiterating (”no, you can’t pay with a cheque on an instant payment only listing”), things that need expansion, or things that just get asked anyway (”yes, my free postage really is free”), it can be invaluable.

You can find the section to edit your FAQs from the link above, or under My eBay > Preferences > Ask Seller a Question. I’ve no doubt plenty of eBay old hands know about this already, but hopefully it should help a few people - and next time I’ve lost the link, I won’t have to spend quite so long looking for it.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Selling Tips | 51 Comments