Selling on Ebay: How to Optimize Your Listings for Best Match

During the "Good old days" of ebay, the default search used to be "Ending soonest". Nowadays, the site-wide default search on ebay is "Best Match". Those not acquainted with the intricacies of ebay might wonder what the difference is. "Ending soonest" brings up the searched-for items in the order that they would end. So, if you were to do a search that returned many items, you'd be likely to see items that were ending in a few seconds or at most a few minutes. When "Ending soonest" was the site-wide default search, ebay offered a level playing field for all sellers; every item had an equal opportunity to be seen on page one of search results.

"Best Match" is different. The "Best match" algorithm is kept secret, and it favors some sellers' items over others. The Best Match algorithm serves to un-level the playing field to the extent that some sellers' items will never be seen by potential buyers. The purpose of this guide is to help you understand how Best Match works, and how to increase the likelihood that your items will appear high on the list in the best match search.

Optimize Your Ebay Listings Using the BayEstimator Tool by Ebay Research Labs:

Ebay Research Labs has created a little-known tool called "BayEstimator". This tool is intended to help users optimize their listings for Best Match. It helps sellers to optimize their titles and choose appropriate categories to list in. It can also provide valuable insight into keywords that can be added to item descriptions as well. I use this tool, and have experienced some frustrations with it. Nevertheless, using it does give you insights about how well your item will rank in best match search. You will need to read the instructions before this tool makes any sense. I recommend that you spend some time familiarizing yourself with this tool and using it in order to achieve higher rankings in Best Match.

Offer Free Shipping:

You probably don't like the idea of offering free shipping. I sympathize completely. Financially, it doesn't make any sense for anyone but ebay when an ebay seller offers free shipping. It costs the seller more, and it actually costs the buyer more too, considering that the seller will typically raise the opening price of the item to cover the costs of the "free shipping" PLUS the increased ebay and paypal fees. So, if you were to complain that it isn't fair, I'd be the first to agree with you. But, like it or not, Best Match does apparently favor sellers who are offering free shipping.

I recommend that you look at the first page of Best Match results for items that are similar to the ones you are selling. If the first page is dominated by listings that offer free shipping, you will probably have to offer free shipping to compete with them.

Other Factors Affecting Best Match:

There are quite a few factors that seem to affect an item's placement in best match. Here are just a few of them:

The recent sales history of similar items.

Seller's feedback rating and DSRs (Detailed Seller Ratings, the little stars attached to your feedback profile.)

How many watchers the item has

How many bids the item has, if it is an auction item

Ending time

Item's Price

Physical distance between the specified location of the item and the person who is searching for it

Keywords (or lack thereof) contained in the item's description

When you list ebay items for sale, many of these factors are going to be out of your control, but you can increase the odds in your favor. You can't control the feedback you get, but you can give outstanding service in the hopes that your ebay buyers will give you good feedback ratings. You can't control what has recently sold, but you can research sold items and use keywords similar to items that have had strong recent sales.

Does Powerseller Status Affect Placement in Best Match?

Some ebayers have suggested that powerseller status also affects placement in best match. I've been unable to confirm that one way or the other, but I wouldn't rule out the possibility. I can say that my husband enjoys "raised" status in best match search results, and he is not a powerseller.

Sources:

This article was written using a combination of personal experience, discussion with other successful ebay sellers, and research from a variety of sources. The following web pages are resources that supplement this article:

http://labs.ebay.com/raghavgupta/demoto/to?
http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2008/11/1226324253.html
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y08/m01/i29/s08
http://www.auctioninsights.info/ebays-best-match-made-simple.html