|
Choose a Topic |
|
|
|
Getting Started |
|
|
|
Growth Strategies |
|
|
|
Shipping |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
For more on Best Match and how to get the best exposure for your listings, attend a special seller webinar with eBay experts, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 11:00 AM Pacific Time.
The goal of Best Match, eBay's default sort order, is to help buyers find just what they're looking for from sellers they trust. For you as a seller, this means getting your listings in front of the buyers most interested in your products. Delivering great value and service to your buyers is key to getting and keeping a good position in Best Match.
How Best Match works
Multiple factors considered—no silver bullet
To show buyers the most relevant and popular items for their search criteria, Best Match considers a number of factors to sort results including:
For all categories and listing formats:
- Seller track record
- Item cost, including shipping cost
- Item title relevance
For Fixed price listings in most categories:
- Listing performance score (sales as related to impressions the listing received)
For Fixed price listings in Art, Antiques, Coins & Paper Money, Collectibles, Dolls & Bears, Pottery & Glass, Toys & Hobbies, Stamps, Sports Mem, Cards & Fan Shop, and Entertainment Memorabilia:
- Time recently listed
For Auction-style listings:
- Time ending soonest
Auction-style and Fixed Price listings intermingled
When a buyer does a Best Match search, Auction-style and Fixed Price listings are sorted separately according to the most relevant criteria for each format and category, and then intermingled to show buyers a good mix of both types of listings on each page of search results.
Listing performance score
In most categories, Best Match assigns a score based on the listing's sales in relation to the number of impressions it received. An impression is counted whenever a buyer sees a page that includes the listing. A high listing performance score = a high sales to impressions ratio.
New Fixed Price listings get impressions upfront
To provide a "jumpstart," newly listed and single-quantity Fixed Price items that don't yet have a sales history are given some impressions upfront based on the performance of other similar listings.
5 top ways to make Best Match work for you
No single factor guarantees success
The weight given to these factors is always being fine-tuned and improved and may even vary by category. There's no "silver bullet" for getting your listings on top. Follow these 6 best practices to maximize your exposure.
- Focus on factors that give you an extra advantage. Avoid those that can result in demotion.
- Become an eBay Top-rated seller. As a reward for consistently providing great service, eBay Top-rated sellers get an exclusive increase in exposure in Best Match that can make a significant difference. Plus, buyers see this badge next to your listing in search results and on your item page.
Note, Top-rated seller status does not guarantee your listing will appear above a more relevant or more competitively priced listing from a seller that's not Top-rated. But all things being equal, you'll have definite advantage.
- Stay at or above eBay's minimum standard for all sellers. If you fall below, both your Fixed Price and Auction-style listings will be lowered in search results.
- Use your Seller Dashboard to keep close tabs on your status and learn what you can do to improve.
- Free shipping can also give your Fixed Price listings a boost in search results. Note, Auction-style listings are not given an advantage in search for free shipping, but regardless of format, free shipping can also improve your Detailed Seller Ratings (DSRs) for shipping cost, an important factor in the requirements for Top-rated seller status. Excessive shipping, on the other hand, causes your Fixed Price and Auction-style listings to be lowered in search.
- Price competitively
- The price of your item is another key factor for Fixed Price listings. The introduction of listing performance scores-sales in relation to impressions-is creating an even more dynamic marketplace on eBay. When it comes to price, it's rarely a good strategy to "set it and forget it." Keep a close eye on how price is impacting your status and make adjustments as needed to stay on top.
- Quick tip: Watch your closest competitors. For example, if you're an eBay Top-rated seller, look at what other Top-rated sellers are charging for similar items.
- Manage your sales to impressions ratio
- Remember that a key goal of Best Match is to show those listings that are most relevant to a buyer's search at the top of search results. When listing performance scores are used as a factor to rank listings, buyers are essentially "voting" with their purchases on which listings are most relevant.
- It's not just gross sales that determines relevance, but the number of sales in relation to the number of times a buyer is shown the listing (impressions). A listing that's been shown to buyers 100 times and resulted in 10 sales is more relevant and will have a higher performance score than a similar listing with 10 sales that's been shown 1,000 times. To stay on top, you want to maintain a high ratio of sales to impressions (listing performance score).
- Strategies you may have used successfully in the past to get your Fixed Price listings to show up in more buyer searches may no longer be efficient. Remember, an impression is counted every time a buyer is shown a page with your listing. You could be racking up impressions but not sales.
- Track your sales to impressions ratio in the Search Visibility tool available in your Seller Dashboard.
- Use Featured First efficiently: Featured First is a listing upgrade available only to eBay Top-rated sellers that gives listings the opportunity to appear at the top of the first page of search results.
Featured First can be a very powerful way to boost sales. In some situations, it can also result in large numbers of impressions that convert to sales at a lower rate and impact your sales to impressions ratio.
- Some sellers are successfully using Featured First by creating a duplicate 35¢ multi-quantity Fixed Price listing without Featured First to create a good listing performance score "naturally." Featured First for these sellers is being used as an advertising placement to drive extra sales, while the listing without Featured First is building a higher listing performance score.
- Bottom line: Test to find out the most efficient strategy for your products and category.
- Get Best Practices specifically for Collectibles and Toys categories where Best Match uses "time newly listed" is a primary factor for Price Listings instead of listing performance score—Art, Antiques, Coins & Paper Money, Collectibles, Dolls & Bears, Pottery & Glass, Toys & Hobbies, Stamps, Sports Mem, Cards & Fan Shop, and Entertainment Memorabilia
- Optimize keywords in your title
Title relevance is more important than ever for successful Fixed Price listings. Very relevant keywords get your listings in front of interested buyers, and that means more impressions converting to sales. On the other hand, general keywords can increase impressions with a very low rate of sales—and lower your position. There are no hard-and-fast rules about which keywords are more or less efficient—it depends on many factors including the category and type of product you're selling.
- As a general rule, include all the relevant information about your item and exclude irrelevant keywords. For example:
Inefficient: Apple logo t-shirt iPod laptop mac iPhone computer nano
Suggestion: Apple logo t-shirt size M new with tags NWT
Inefficient: Opal/Cats Eyes Beads to Bracelet,Necklace,Ring,Pendant
Suggestion: 5 strands 8mm pink cats eye beads
- Be careful of including too many brands, or listing all possible uses of an item. For example:
Inefficient: 58mm Lens Hood for NIKON CANON SONY MINOLTA PENTAX FUJI
MARDI GRAS VALENTINES CHRISTMAS EASTER HALLOWEEN TOWEL
Suggestions: Put the brand names or uses in the subtitle or split into multiple listings, each with only two or three brands or uses. Experiment to find the combination that works best for you
- Tips for testing: Test two or three keyword combinations to learn which ones work best. On the other hand, splitting your listing into too many test variations can limit what you learn and hurt your sales if none of the variations has a chance to build up a high listing performance score.
- When to relist, when to create a new listing
- In general, when you have a high-performing listing, it's best to relist. Your listing performance score will carry over.
- If you have a listing that's not performing, or want to test another variation to see whether you can improve performance, you can get a temporary boost in exposure by creating a new listing. Fixed Price listings that don't yet have a sales history are given some impressions upfront based on the performance of other similar listings.
- Keep in mind, the temporary boost in exposure is not a real solution for a Fixed Price listing that doesn't work. Think about what might be the reason for the listing's poor performance and change something. Lower the price. Try a different category or different keywords in your title. Or try listing Auction-style.
For more on Best Match and how to get the best exposure for your listings, attend a special seller webinar with eBay experts, [title, date, and link].
Get more information and best practices for Fixed Price listings in Collectibles categories: Art, Antiques, Coins & Paper Money, Collectibles, Dolls & Bears, Pottery & Glass, Toys & Hobbies, Stamps, Sports Mem, Cards & Fan Shop, and Entertainment Memorabilia
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Spotlights
|
Must use Buy It Now and PayPal.
Getting Started
