My items barely show up in a search, even when I've searched using almost exact wording as my title?

[09stellanicole]

I've been back on eBay after a few years time off.   It's very frustrating when I see 0 views, (pages & items.)  

I'm wondering if the only way to be seen now, is to pay for extra advertising and/or special sponsored placement.

Has eBay become too full for us small time sellers to have any success?

(One of my items when I finally found it, was listed amongst tortoise beads.  I rechecked my details in the listing and it was all correctly detailed.  There IS Bakelite mentioned-   but I just don't get it.

[09stellanicole]

Try "vintage necklace" and see how long (if you have the time) it takes to get to my item.  

I'm really not complaining; I'm trying to understand.   I thought that is what these posts were for.

[redlinear]

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@inhawaii wrote:

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@redlinear wrote:

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@inhawaii wrote:

I find it so ironic that the people who come here complaining about the search are NOT buyers having trouble searching for items to buy, they are sellers searching for their own items.  LOL

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Okay, find my item then

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I searched for: "ford powerstroke diesel rocker arm intake short" ... yours was at the top of the page.

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That makes perfect sense.  Those are being shown right now. More-so than other sellers.
They sat dormant for a while and in a very short time, last 10 days or so, I've sold almost all of them.
But, I think that search would look more like
"Ford 6.4 rocker arm"
or 
"Powerstroke rocker arm"  
    (and then sort and filter)
AND, there they are, within sight of anybody searching that way.
For the time being anyway..LOL

[inhawaii]

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@redlinear wrote:

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@inhawaii wrote:

Searched: "bird of paradise double matted" ... yours came up.

Searched: "brass bridle bit styled" ... yours came up.

Searched: "necklace vintage pink coiled beaded" ... yours came up.

Shall I go on?

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That seems strange to me.  Do shoppers actually search that way?  I mean does a buyer think to themselves "I'd like a vintage coiled pink beaded necklace" and enter that in an eBay search box?
I'd be more like search "vintage necklace" and just browse the page 

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It's up to the SELLER to figure out how the potential buyers will search for their items and list accordingly.

I would hope that anyone searching for simply "vintage necklace" would expect to see thousands of matches.

[redlinear]

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@09stellanicole wrote:

That IS what I do.   I start with a broader category, see nothing and keep narrowing it down to my exact title description.l

ty

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And you think the Search Results are manipulated?  (they are!)
Just wait till you start paying attention to your sorts and filters.  (that's worse!!)

[09stellanicole]

Thank you.

[redlinear]

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@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:

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@redlinear wrote:

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I'd be more like search "vintage necklace" and just browse the page 

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I agree with you, but then this seller's listing would be so far down in the search results that few buyers would have the patience to get to it, and he/she would have to promote.

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I think that comes and goes.   Up high for awhile, then buried, then back up high on the page around the 90 day mark.
Promoting seems to keep things nearer the top for a day or two longer.  And shortens the 90 day wait.

[redlinear]

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@09stellanicole wrote:

Try "vintage necklace" and see how long (if you have the time) it takes to get to my item.  

I'm really not complaining; I'm trying to understand.   I thought that is what these posts were for.

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Oh, I KNOW!!  ugh!!! 
I walk by a $500 in demand item here in my shop at least once a week and wonder "why is that still here?"
Try to find it like a buyer would.  And CAN'T!
Then go to my store and find it.
Then back to a normal search and NOWHERE TO BE FOUND
Then end up finding it way down in "results matching fewer words"
Even though it's EXACTLY what I searched word for word.
   I've learned that it's "just not my item's time to sell" or it's just not it's time to be seen.
 

[09stellanicole]

Yay!  I was on eBay since 2009.  Things seemed easier back then even though it's been a mere 3+ years that I had to take off (health reasons.)  I'm trying to get back on and have storage units with items.  It's a hassle to go through, get it up to my place, photo, etc. - you know!   I was told I was crazy to go back on-line because of the physical & time-consuming work it involved - I was told just to give it "all" to charity but I was stubborn (need the $, too) and though a LOT /was/is given to charity, there are items I'd love to "sell."   Also, to add to the problem is my whole house was cleared and packed up in a very unorganized way- making me search through it all!

I truly appreciate your response; at least someone understands what I'm asking.  Take Care & Thank you.

[09stellanicole]

thank you for answering.

[eburtonlab · Accepted solution]

Try to find it like a buyer would. And CAN'T!
Then go to my store and find it.
Then back to a normal search and NOWHERE TO BE FOUND
Then end up finding it way down in "results matching fewer words"
Even though it's EXACTLY what I searched word for word.

I have seen that happen. Not often, thankfully, but it does certainly happen.

I suspect that there are some inconsistencies with how eBay treats certain combinations of keywords that often appear grouped together. Sometimes it seems that a group of keywords can be treated as an entirely independent keyword, distinct from the individual keywords that comprise it. So searching for the individual keywords out of order may not match the "group" keyword. Either that or the keyword substitution feature has some serious one-way mapping issues, where cap matches hat, but hat does not match cap. I do not have enough data to draw a firm conclusion, though, because the problem seems pretty rare, as far as I can tell.

If you notice that happening when you search for your item, I would suggest looking at some of the results that appear in the search proper above those "matching fewer words" results, if there are any appropriate matches, and to try making your title more closely match one of those successful listings in terms of keyword order. That may bypass the grouping issue.

That same strategy may help with the "Price plus shipping: lowest first" sort order filtering issue as well.

[09stellanicole]

Thank you; does promoting help you.  Someone else mentioned it does "a bit."

[09stellanicole]

thank you so much

[redlinear]

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@09stellanicole wrote:

Thank you; does promoting help you.  Someone else mentioned it does "a bit."

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Yes, a "bit"
I've figured out there's a NEW LISTING bump in sales (but it comes a few days after I create new listings).
And there's another bump somewhere around 90 days. 
Searches happen every day,  and somebody's stuff is seen, and bought.
Sometimes my stuff is near the top and seen, and bought. (new and 90 days and then I don't know).
  Promoting keeps the items in view a day or two longer.  And it shortens that 90 day thing.
BUT, I tend to only promote old stagnant listings. 

I thing "seen" in a search result to be my item in the 1st page.  Nobody goes past the 1st page

[09stellanicole]

I actually have used the exact titles as others when I've had the same product- lol (Fabrice pin) and I still ended up much further down the brooch's listings.  I've changed the title a bit now.   Since then, when I checked, my brooch is seen closer to the top "periodically."   I did notice that the one I copied was sponsored.  I may just have to try adding some $ to my listings that are in saturated categories.   thanks for your help

[09stellanicole]

Absolutely not-

No need to go on @inhawaii - 

that is how, and sometimes the only way, I can find almost all of my items, eventually - by picking out the most unique/unusual words shown in my title.   Believe it or not,  there are times when even using the unique words doesn't bring up the item.

Within the title,  I also do always use the most obvious words that a buyer would use in a search

-  i.e.

"vintage necklaces,"- as suggested by redliner   or

"wall hook for coats" and

"wall art mixed media" DeBris

using the simplest and most obvious descriptions are there, too.   I am going to have to change around the wording but it is in there.

-   Perhaps, my age, etc. is not only making it harder for me to list and sell on eBay,  but has taken a toll on my communication skills.     What a change three years can make.      Thanks, everyone       -   I'm good for now