posted on October 12, 2010 12:41:00 PM new
I just got off the phone from eBay and learned something about their search features that everyone should know and consider when listing if you want your item to get good search rankings.
Impressions to Sales ratios matter. This is most important when you decide to list 30 day vs. Good Til Canceled.
If you have one of a kind, or individual listings that don't sell after 30 days, it is best to list them as 30 days... not GTC.
If you have inventory of an item and it is selling like hotcakes, it is better to list it as GTC so that you rack up the impressions and sales ratio.
If you have inventory of an item and it is slow, you should move it to 30 days or end it and relist so that you start your impressions back to zero which helps your rankings vs low ratio.
Basically, eBay is figuring your ratio of impressions to sales. If you have a good selling item that is getting many hits and is also selling well, then you want the impressions to rack up and keep the sales going. This will keep your item ranked high.
If your item is getting hits, but no sales your search ranking will drop for this item. It is better to restart your impressions by canceling or moving your item to renew after 30 days.
Hope this makes sense...
[ edited by shagmidmod on Oct 12, 2010 12:43 PM ]
posted on October 12, 2010 03:01:21 PM new
Basically, eBay is figuring your ratio of impressions to sales. If you have a good selling item that is getting many hits and is also selling well, then you want the impressions to rack up and keep the sales going. This will keep your item ranked high.
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In Antiues and collectibles,many are one of a kind,so it is not possible to get many hits and sell well,if it is sold,it is removed from Ebay!
And if it gets many hits and sell well,it is probably a new item and probably a hot electronic item and then there is plenty of competition,the only edge is lower cost!
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There is no 'Global savings glut',only wild horses and loose bankers.
posted on October 12, 2010 06:05:25 PM new
hwa- it really affects collectibles only when you have a bunch of competition of similar items in the best match search. if you are selling a widget that there are only 3 others, you likely don't have to worry about it... but if you sell post cards and you have one of the Empire State building, yours may get drowned out with tons others.
posted on October 12, 2010 06:48:26 PM new
well,in this economy,one does not need another empire state building postcard or another pair of shoes for their doll or another cute coffee mug.
So,I would hold off my Empire State building postcard and look for something else to sell.
Or just park it at Epier,Ioffer or Bonanzle.
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There is no 'Global savings glut',only wild horses and loose bankers.
posted on October 12, 2010 09:02:06 PM new
While they SAY this is the way Best Match is supposed to work, I wonder if they have taken another look at it in the Collectibles categories. REcently a photo seller posted on the Power Seller board that the photo categories were displaying nudes (and most of them were more porn than art) on the first several pages of results. Of course those items had more sales than OOAK photographs! The Search team started working to correct this. I have noticed that lately the FP seem to be at the top when they are newly listed or renew and auctions near expiration. OOAK items will never show sales until they are sold ...DUH!
FWIW, Empire State building never sells but I always sell Times Square and quite a few Statue of Liberties.
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posted on October 13, 2010 07:16:53 AM new
I was told that FP does start fresh at the top and then works its way back... but if you have an inventory of items that are actually selling you will see it linger towards the front. My understanding is that FP items that are near expiring will also jump back towards the top. Not sure if that is true.
Finally, I was also assured that auctions still get a bit of a boost over FP. Not that this is good for me b/c I no longer am running auctions for the most part. I just don't see any benefits to paying more listing fees and getting lower final prices on auctions. I have seen some items I have been selling for years that sell good at fixed price for market value, and then I see the rogue auction someone starts low and it ends up selling for 30-50% of fair market value.
I also was told that including more Item Specifics will get you up higher in Best Match.
One thing I found interesting is that I was told Item Specifics are included in keyword search. For example, if you sell clothing you don't need to put the size in the title if you include it in Item Specifics because if someone searches for a "large" tee and you include the proper size in item search, your item will appear in the search.
What bothers me about this is that we have to pay extra for subtitles, but subtitles are not included in keyword searches. Seems a bit backwards... but free Item Specifics is just as good.
posted on October 13, 2010 11:58:18 AM new
There are too many listings on Ebay!
Gold has gone up $23 today,so I did a search on 24k gold on Ebay.
Thousands of gold listings come up,many are not pure 24k gold,you have to wade through many items to find what you want.
May be item specific help,may be go to a gold website and buy gold at spot price and use the search time to flip burger at Mcdonald! to pay for the savings you hope to get on Ebay.
I dont even know you can buy Canadian Gold Maple peices which are not really gold??
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There is no 'Global savings glut',only wild horses and loose bankers.
posted on October 13, 2010 03:01:59 PM new
Au contraire, hwahwa
"The Canadian Gold Maple Leaf is the official bullion gold coin of Canada and is produced by the Royal Canadian Mint. The brainchild of Walter Ott, it is one of the purest gold coins of regular issue in the world,[citation needed] with a gold content of .9999 millesimal fineness (24 carats), with some special issues .99999 fine. That is, it contains virtually no base metals at all—only gold, from mines in Canada.
The coin was introduced in 1979. At the time the only bullion coin was the Krugerrand, which was not widely available because of an economic boycott of apartheid-era South Africa. Coins minted between 1979 and 1982 have gold content of .999."
posted on October 13, 2010 04:39:14 PM new
well,take a look at this auction-
http://cgi.ebay.com/FIVE-1-TROY-OUNCE-GOLD-CANADIAN-MAPLE-LEAF-COPY-BARS-/220679540573?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3361868f5d
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There is no 'Global savings glut',only wild horses and loose bankers.
posted on October 13, 2010 06:45:53 PM new
Shag, thank you for all that information.
Almost everything I sell is different and I try to fill out Item specifics as fully as possible but I always wondered if I was wasting my time.
It seems I was not!
posted on October 13, 2010 06:46:26 PM new
see,it just prove my point,go to a legit place which sells real gold coin,real gold bullion,gold bars and pay spot price.
Then go to flip burgers at McDonald or pour coffee at Starbuck to pay for the premium.
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There is no 'Global savings glut',only wild horses and loose bankers.
