eBay

tommyjoetools · ‎08-16-2017

Have been TRS 100% w/ Free Shipping for years. Just did a general search for Snap-on sockets (I've got hundreds of 'em) and got 18,269 results. 3rd Listing from the top isn't even Snap-on, they just snuck the keyword in there.
4th & 5th spots belong to a guy with 37 feedbacks offering Free Shipping w/ Purchase of 2 or More Items and none of my listings are anywhere in sight.
So now, it looks like the only way to get top placement is to drop free shipping and give up my TRS status, so I can create a promotion with free shipping, if they buy enough stuff.

phcd1 · ‎08-16-2017

@tommyjoetools wrote:
Have been TRS 100% w/ Free Shipping for years. Just did a general search for Snap-on sockets (I've got hundreds of 'em) and got 18,269 results. 3rd Listing from the top isn't even Snap-on, they just snuck the keyword in there.
4th & 5th spots belong to a guy with 37 feedbacks offering Free Shipping w/ Purchase of 2 or More Items and none of my listings are anywhere in sight.
So now, it looks like the only way to get top placement is to drop free shipping and give up my TRS status, so I can create a promotion with free shipping, if they buy enough stuff.

Welcome to Cassini search. EBay thinks it knows better of what the buyer REALLY wants. I'm surprised that word was even in there. My searches very often show unrelated words to what I searched for.

dhbookds · ‎08-16-2017

Question is do people actually buy from such a general search as "snapon sockets"..... or would they search for specific ones and are yours attractive enough to be in the first couple of pages of those searches? You've sold a fair number (to me)......so they are being seen and purchased even tho they aren't on first page of the general search.

I would study the competition on the specialized search to see what, if anything, I could adjust to try for more sales.....rather than concentrate on the generalized one.

jmo

luckythewinner · ‎08-16-2017

@tommyjoetools wrote:
4th & 5th spots belong to a guy with 37 feedbacks offering Free Shipping w/ Purchase of 2 or More Items and none of my listings are anywhere in sight.
So now, it looks like the only way to get top placement is to drop free shipping and give up my TRS status, so I can create a promotion with free shipping, if they buy enough stuff.

There are dozens if not hundreds of factors that go into Best Match placement - things like distance from buyer to seller, price, sales history, negative correlations between search terms and words in the title, and time remaining just to name a few.

You are viewing the results of one generic search (that returns 18,000 results) and attributing another seller's placement to your guess about a single characteristic of his listings. IMHO that is probably not a very practical approach to solving your placement issue.

And don't forget, Best Match is only one of many sorting options available to buyers.