Please explain search results / can't find my items

[springvalleywi]

I sell a variety of Lands End stockings every year. I can't figure out why my items don't show when I search for them. Using the search for nearest items first and the search words:

Lands End Stocking all show up.

Lands End Stocking Wool all show up.

Lands End Stocking Wool and Material wool box checked only 6 items show up.

Lands End Stocking (no wool in title) but wool checked in material box same 6 items show up.

So if my potential buyers try to wade through the endless pages by checking the Material box/Wool they only see 6 of my over 100 stockings. All of my auctions have "wool" in the item specifics.  I just went and checked a handful so that is not the problem. There is no excuse why this should be happening.

[itsasimplelife4us]

Thanks for posting. Very well explained. I am using dynamic promotions and cannot find ANY of my listings. Sales are much lower than last year and I am trying to understand.

[inhawaii]

Please share one of the item numbers that are not showing up in a search.

[springvalleywi]

126188549861       Angel with Trumpet Stocking mono Mommy

[44012]

I was able to find many of your items. I searched by sorting highest price+ shipping first.  I usually don't sort that way but I was able to find many of your stockings. They are so pretty BTW.

The search and sorting has always been wonky. Drives me crazy but generally can work through it to find what I am looking for.

[reallynicestamps]

they only see 6 of my over 100 stockings.

Possibly.

But how high in the Search are those six listings?

And which Search is the customer using? Most use Best Match. Second is probably Lowest Price.

Your customer can find one stocking and notice that you have more  then click on ->See Other Items on the right or ->Christmas Stockings and Hangings on the left.

If you had a Store, this might be even easier but with 125 listings it is more economical to use the 250 FREE listings you get without a Store. Stores do not have any advantage for positition in Search.

There are some 1300 listings for "Lands End Stocking Wool " currently on eBay, why should yours be any higher than another seller's?

The first 100 listings (using Lowest Price First) have 90 from a single seller with over 10,000 happy customers. You have 616 positive FB so far. Might that be a factor?

I use Promoted Listings to move my items up in Search, but only at the minimum 2% additional fee.  I find that while PL does bring more eyeballs, it does not bring more sales of the PL items. Actually PL items have a slightly lower rate of sale than non-promoted, but, and this is a big but, my sales overall have gone up. YMMV.

[springvalleywi]

Did you search using the same terms that I did?

[springvalleywi]

 The first  two scenarios they show up right away of course (nearest first). The other 2 searches I scrolled through all of the results and the other 100+ could not be found. They are not being shown. I should not have to count on a buyer clicking on "see seller's other items.  As for my feedback if all my buyers would leave it I would be at about 1500. The other seller with 10,000 is definitely a high volume seller. I have been doing this long enough to know how they operate. I'll leave that comment as it is. Why do I not see my own auctions? No one can answer that so my statement that my auctions are not being seen still stands!

[springvalleywi]

I just searched "time ending soonest". Over 1200 results and only spotted 3 or 4 of my stockings!!

[chapeau-noir]

Another wrinkle in search is that you won't always be shown your own items.

[springvalleywi]

Just searched "best match" "lands end stocking wool" with "wool" chosen as material.  over 1100 items. four stockings out of 100+ were on the very last page. Power seller dominated every page of 120 results with only 3 or so other seller's items shown per page. That is absolute bloat!!

[springvalleywi]

Unchecked the "wool" material box and I saw maybe a dozen of my listings out of 100+