I'm wondering how my customers would find me if they simply went to auctionwatch withinout knowing my URL. Can they search for the name of my store? I was able to find it by searcing for items I know are in my store but didn't see a way to search for the store itself.
posted on March 8, 2003 06:35:12 AM new
Well, I just did a power search for green thumb and got nothing. So, they search on the items in your store not your store name. That would be a good addition to the search. A long time ago, all of the stores were listed on the store search homepage. That was cool because you could just browse.
posted on March 8, 2003 11:05:56 AM new
he he he... here's a good one:
I went to Search Stores tab, clicked Browse Categories - and there's a category with a typo in the headline:
COMPUTERS & ORKING
Sounds like something to do with Computers and pigs or something.
Guess it is supposed to be Computers & Networking - but it didn't show that way.
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I'm going back to see if I can figure out what my Store is categorized under. Wonder if this categorizes by item in store or by store description. (Cover me... I'm going in...)
Greg Williams
Retro Bargains
www.retrobargains.com
posted on March 9, 2003 07:20:49 AM new
Retro: When you go into Collectibles for Stores (leave search space blank), you will get a list of Collectibe catagories. Click on ours: Advertising and you will get a list of other Categories, ie., Airline. Click on that and you will get individual airlines: ie., Delta...note that none of my Delta airline ads is listed in that category. Basically, the categories listed in the Search are not connected to our categories. Makes no sense.
posted on March 9, 2003 10:04:22 AM new
Yeah... I've noticed that... don't understand the metrics involved with the search engine and the categories. When you KNOW something is there and you search and can't find it there's a problem.
Further, as you discovered, when you click down through the categories and can't find items that YOU know are there... there's a bigger problem.
There I go again being cynical... lol
Seriously, I know that it is probably a nightmare trying to keep everything working, but seems that the items that are most important... like finding items for sale... would be higher on the fix agenda.
AW: What is the basic principal behind the search engine in the stores? How do you determine what is in what category for the search engine? I think this would help store owners to setup and make their items more visible.
Greg Williams
Retro Bargains
www.retrobargains.com
posted on March 9, 2003 03:41:44 PM new
Thanks for all your replies! While overall I don't have many positive comments to make regarding Ebay's stores, which is why I came here, I could actually find my store through their store homepage. If I remember correctly, stores were ranked by the number of items they contained and listed accordingly.
posted on March 10, 2003 01:08:43 AM new
Yeah... I can't say I care much about store ranking based on quantity of items. The best little store house in Texas might only have 15 quality items they sell... does that mean they should be on the bottom? Absolutely not.
Of course not everyone can be at the top, or the bottom. depending on your vantage point.
Why rank them at all? Especially when you can't even LOCATE them in the first place here. LOL
Here's the plan... we get seen first... then we'll figure out the ranking thing.
If I'm not back in 10 minutes... start without me.... (I probably got ranked at the bottom).
Greg Williams
Retro Bargains
www.retrobargains.com
posted on March 12, 2003 08:31:20 AM new
In making the ranking comment, I was only stating how Ebay lists their stores. Having a small store, I was never near the top, so I'm not a big fan of ranking, either. Us little people have a hard enough time competing with the power sellers. I would prefer alpha, personally, which would put me somewhere in the middle and make finding me easier for my customers.
Regarding store ranking -- it is done by the number of items that appear in the store. The featured stores that show up are done at random. There is nothing extra that you will need to do in order to have your store featured on the Store Search.
Greg -- I am not sure if this covers your question about store search, but the best way to locate an item is to include the searchable terms in the description. When you perform a search, selecting "title and description" will bring back a more comprehensive return of matching items.
posted on March 12, 2003 12:18:39 PM new
Thanks Sonya - That does work, I was able to locate a few of my items.
I'm still confused with the Browse Categories portion though.
How does that work? Baylor45 and I both have collectible vintage advertisements in our AW stores - but, clicking down through the categories none of our items show up.
What information does the Browse Categories feed on to display results?
Thanks,
Greg
Greg Williams
Retro Bargains
www.retrobargains.com
The Browse Category feature appears to not be working properly. Engineering is aware of it so once a solution has been found, we'll post in here to let you know.
