I always try to word my items so that they will appear in the first few pages but find that they end

[jeanv1119]

My items always end up appearing many pages away from first pages behind commercial sellers and even overseas sellers. How can I improve their rankings.  I thought they would appear according to the time and date the item is advertised.

[kopenhagen5 · Accepted solution]

eBay's best match is a complex algorithm and favours listings with many sales.

However for many buyers it is irrelevant as they select to show cheapest first or ending soonest.

I first select Aust only then cheapest including postage first.

Then I scroll past all the listings with a price range (1.00 - 30.00) and start looking at any listings that don't appear to be Asian sellers.

[jeanv1119 · Accepted solution]

Thank you very much.  So it seems that no matter how I write my ad, the algorithm will choose commercial sellers first.

[kopenhagen5 · Accepted solution]

It will choose sellers with more sales on that listing, offering free postage and of course some sellers pay to have their listings featured.

But like I said, if you are competitively priced, buyers choosing to search cheapest first, your listings will be further at the beginning regardless of sales history.

[11dustyattic]

As others have said, it's complex. As a general rule of thumb, I find activity helps, increase sales, run a few cheap auctions occasionally, continually get more listings up, continually improve your listings by either altering price or making the listing more attractive by adding in extras or using better key words in the title etc. You're trying to beat the competition so if it's clothing for example, you would have to be competitively priced or sell niche clothing. 

I wouldn't lose any sleep over trying to beat foreign sellers. I also just search Australia only and I assume the majority of buyers do that when they find my listings. Why buy international when a domestic seller has what you want? 

Your sales look to be steady which is great. Just keep on trying to get more sales through and one day you'll notice your listings have magically jumped up the rankings. When you're looking at where your listing appears, are you filtering to Australia only? If not, do that and see where you are then

[south.coffee · Accepted solution]

Looking at your item headings you are missing out on precious search index results. As buyers search by words you need to list key words in your descriptions and use every single character in that space.

Remove all superflous words and don't use caps.

Agave succulent plant native tropical green monocots rockery pot large Samsung iphone Apple

Popular keywords push your listing further up the index in the example above the last three words will assist, if you were selling electronics.

[11dustyattic · Accepted solution]

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@south.coffee wrote:
Looking at your item headings you are missing out on precious search index results. As buyers search by words you need to list key words in your descriptions and use every single character in that space.

Remove all superflous words and don't use caps.

Agave succulent plant native tropical green monocots rockery pot large Samsung iphone Apple

Popular keywords push your listing further up the index in the example above the last three words will assist, if you were selling electronics.

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Yes, key words are really important. I only add descriptive words if there is space left after every applicable key word

An example of how important key words are, I listed a music book with cover art by Ida Rentoul Outhwaite, chose to put her name in the listing title and leave the music score person for the description, because U know Ida's work is popular. 

But the same applies for clothing, key words for style, maker if notable, features (low rise etc for jeans), any key applicable key words that people might put in a search, colour obviously, but yes I agree key words are 'key' 😉

[digital*ghost]

The thing about best match is you can't really ever know what order the search results are in for anyone else. There are probably some consistencies, but your listings will appear higher (or even lower) in search results for different people, because eBay take an individual's search history into account - they also take what they never click on into account.

If you consistently search for your own items, and (presumably) never click on any of the search results, or even click on competitor's listings to see what they do differrently, the algorithm doesn't connect the fact that they are your listings, and automatically assumes you have more interest in your competitor's items and will start to prioritise them in search based on aspects of those listings you click on. If those competitors do free postage while you do not, for example, eBay will presume you are more interested in free post items. 

Titles are best written based on relevancy - i.e. to match how a buyer searches for things, with additional relevant keywords towards the end. 

[south.coffee · Accepted solution]

Another good way to check your listings is to log out of your account, clear cookies and search your items from a generic perspective, or use a different account.

Search engine results are weighted by many factors, but put the key word descriptors up front. It really pays to learn SEO and over time refine your product description.

[gumleaf_goodies · Accepted solution]

A quick look at your listings and the first thing I noticed about your clothing items, was that the size was not visible in the (possibly truncated) title. If I have to click onto to an item to detemine size, I don't usually bother.