eBay have posted some guidelines regarding Best Match on the PowerSeller board this morning, so for that that don’t have a PowerSeller account the message is value, specific search and efficiency.
Value
eBay say that when two items have different sell through rates it’s generally because one represents a better value deal. Naturally Best Match is tweaked to surface the best value deals to the top as that increases the overall sell through rates on the site. Best value doesn’t always mean best price, it may be based on product, accessories included in the deal and service, but you can bet your last dollar that price is the over-riding factor for many buyers.
Specific Search
eBay say that most buyers are fairly specific in what they search for. Don’t worry if your item isn’t on the first page of search results for generic searches as (so long as you have keyword rich titles) buyers should still find your items from the kinds of searches buyers typically use.
Efficiency
eBay are starting to use search impressions (how often your item is on a search page viewed by a buyer) to order items in search results. Keyword spamming will increase visibility without a corresponding increase in sales reducing the items overall quality score and lowering it’s position in Best Match. Make sure your titles are relevant to the product.
eBay also said that a side effect of moving to a new system is some volatility immediately after switching over, and that’s why some sellers are seeing fluctuations in sales. They expect this to settle down within a couple of weeks at most and will be monitoring the site to ensure Best Match is running as intended.
My main takeaways from this are that a competitive price is critical, subtitles could be used effectively to increase conversion rates by calling out any accessories or service benefits in buying from you, and that as has always been the case on eBay, concise, effective and relevant titles are essential to ensure your products are found.
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