eBay Sales are not moving

[1688store]

Hi,

we sell arcade gaming joysticks and components on eBay, previously we sold one joystick on the 28/8/2015, however after updating the listing using professional templates no sales. Any help will be much appreciated.

John Zhao

[saarzi]

Its been talked about for years on other forums how having a coded template, or a lot of HTML drags down your listing in the search results, and can even hide your listing. Apparently Ebay has trouble reading them and / or puts them in the "spamming key words / using unrelated words" pile (which ranks lower).

Whether or not thats true, I have no idea. But plenty of sellers have tested it and swear its happening. heres one. 

I have also read on Ebay pages (written by Ebay) that plain text will rank better - Ive been trying to find it again, but cant remember where it was - maybe it was an old page.

Ebay promotes templates because its looks smooth and professional and trustworthy, so gives higher conversion. Thats not to say the HTML / code wont rank you lower if thats the way the search engine works (not that it was programmed to do that). If it is happening, it could be a delicate balance between the two.

Test what works - take out the templates, see if sales go back up.

[harley_babes_hoard]

whenever you make chances to any page it is going to take time for it to be indexed again. The same as if I make a change to my website it takes time for google to index it again.

[digital*ghost]

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@saarzi wrote:

Its been talked about for years on other forums how having a coded template, or a lot of HTML drags down your listing in the search results, and can even hide your listing. Apparently Ebay has trouble reading them and / or puts them in the "spamming key words / using unrelated words" pile (which ranks lower).

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I had heard many similar things, but here is a thread from 18 months ago, started by robshelp (of Freeform2) who mentioned this issue.

In summary (for anyone not wanting to click to another thread 😄 ) :

"We can't be sure how search engines measure relevance but the presence of HTML and images is certainly not a handicap."

[lane-ends]

Pink writing is too small, keep in mind many people search on their phone, especially in tihs catagory.

Unfortunately fewer people read the descriptions now as that is an extra step on a mobile app.

other than that it comes down to demand.

What else is around, not just on Ebay?

[bakeandfry]

I had a look at one of your listings, first thing i noticed was 3 pictures of the arcade stick, each one having different coloured buttons, in the item description you say to add what colour buttons the buyer would like in the notes, fair enough, but for mobile use i have to pinch and zoom the description just to read it, and sometimes it can be difficult to navigate the writing, due to a slight movement of my finger, can you add a drop down box for selectimg different coloured buttons? Makes it easyer for mobile users.

[1688store]

Some mobile device is set to request desktop sites only, however that can be changed according to your mobile user manual.

[bakeandfry]

Sorry, i ment to say for mobile users that use the app

[1688store]

I've updated my listings according to everyone's advice, but still no sale in 12 days and how do I boost my sales like other sellers.

[digital*ghost · Accepted solution]

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@1688customarcades wrote:

I've updated my listings according to everyone's advice, but still no sale in 12 days and how do I boost my sales like other sellers.

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When you have a more specialised product, I think sometimes it can take a while to really get things up and running, as even if you're offering the best product on the market, if no one knows that's what it is, people will tend to stick to what they know, so I would personally work on building brand recognition and reputation. 

In the meantime, though, there's a couple of things that may help boost traffic and / or sales, these may not all be suitable for you, but hopefully even if not, it will lead to more ideas.

The easiest way to increase traffic is by diversifying range (particularly at different price points), so that people who are interested in arcade sticks could find you via other products. 

Another way to start getting some product / brand recognition is - if you can afford to do so - to get some independent product reviews from well known / respected tech or gaming sites that can guarantee (in as much as possible) that they will review the product (if nothing else, this can help build brand recognition, so it probably wouldn't hurt to have your brand name in item titles). 

You could always try promoted listings, as well (I just need to mention first, I have never used them myself, so can't tell you how well they work, and honestly I feel eBay gets enough money out of me so I would personally be reluctant to use them....but...) The way these are supposed to work is you nominate an amount (percentage of sale) that you're prepared to pay to get more visibility in search results in specific areas, but you only pay that amount if someone clicks on your listing from one of these extra placements, and goes on to buy it (within 30 days of clicking on it).  

[lyndal1838 · Accepted solution]

Give it  a chance.....it is not yet 3 full days since you first asked your question.

If other sellers of the same items are selling a lot more than you are then look at their listings and see what is different.

There is not other way to boost sales.