Title lenght - Ebay recommends 55 instead of the 80 characters in the listing title?

[itolduandso]

In case you didn't notice, Ebay seems suggest 55 characters for the title.

https://pages.ebay.com/ag/en-us/sellerinformation/growing/bestmatchtips.html

That's new to me. I know 55 characters looks better on the mobile device etc... 

Still wasn't aware there is an actual recommendation to use less than 80 characters.

Or is perhaps Ebay suggesting use maximum 55 characters for your keywords (including brand name I guess) and use the rest for item-specific attributes like size, color and condition.... 

[itolduandso]

When I look at some other Ebay pages suggesting good listing titles, my later assumption seems to adding up. For example this is a good title (according to Ebay at least):

Canon PowerShot SD1400 IS 14.1 MP Digital Camera - Black Body

The keywords are 50 characters and the attributes are about 10 characters. So maybe that's exactly what they mean.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

The limit was 55 characters years ago. I think you might be looking at zombie ebay pages....pages that have never been updated. 

[itolduandso]

Well Best Match was introduced just recently, it's not something that is old. That's what the page referring to. Maybe it's an error there.

[turtles-trading-post]

eBay's website is so full of ancient garbage... I recently came across a page about Turbo Lister... describing it as a current offering.  And the links to it were dead ends.

I use the full 80 characters.   

[this*old*attic]

@itolduandso 

Best Match is NOT recent, it’s at least 10 years old or so.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Way more than 10 years. Here's a page from 2008 that discusses update to the Best Match algorithm.

https://pages.ebay.com/sell/June2008Update/faq/#10

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

The limit was 55 characters years ago. I think you might be looking at zombie ebay pages....pages that have never been updated. 

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Yes, definitely. A glance at the linked page shows that it has an ancient page design and refers to "When selling multiple items at a fixed price, it pays to choose a longer duration, such as 10-day, 30-day, or Good 'Til Cancelled."

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@nobody*s_perfect  Yes. That clinches it. Hopelessly out of date, an ebay zombie page. 

[richard1rst]

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@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

Yes. That clinches it. Hopelessly out of date, an ebay zombie page. 

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Well then - the next time some programmer is sitting around looking for something to do just to look busy to justify their salary maybe they could consider deleting or at least updating outdated information.

And leave us alone.

[ckimodog]

This is an old old post.  You need to use all 80 characters to be as descriptive as possible about selling your item, not only in your title, but in your items description.  Less info=more returns, more problems, less money. 

[coolections]

If you expect to use more than 55 characters you are doing it wrong. That is too many and your item will be buried in search. Also no one in the world would ever look up your item with that many characters. Keep it simple. IMO your title should be no more than around 40 characters max. Only use words byers would type when they search an item.

[thejo-52]

Actually when I have been listing lately it stops me at a very short title and I have to wait to add to the title until I press go on my new listing.  I thought this was a huge glitch and I just adjusted my way of doing the title.  Hmm very interesting  The real problem with that its so short sometimes it doesn't know what category to go to.  Anyone else?

[downunder-61]

I agree, less is more in most cases.

[turtles-trading-post]

As I said earlier I use all 80 characters. Here's a paragraph from an article I wrote on a stamp site:

For me, I found a standard format for my listing titles. Maybe not perfect, but it’s a plan! My format goes:

Username- State- City, State 2 character abbrev Year – Description

(and I'm consistent on that order - someone can go through my listings easily!)

TurtlesTradingPost- California- Los Angeles, CA 1912- Flag Cancel Local Postcard

And that’s exactly the 80 characters allowed for a title! Use every bit!

Then in the body of the auction text, I will use the abbreviation “Calif” for California as well. So no matter which of three ways someone searches, I have it covered. With the above listing, if someone is searching for “California Postcard”, “flag cancel” or the year, they will find my auction.

I start off with a variation of my user name. That's my branding!  In the postal history category I mainly list in, the big sellers all do this so I've joined them.  I have found myself typing in a portion of someone else's user name to find their items.  

Also in this category one of the "Item Specifics" is indeed "State"..  but I've found that many sellers fail to use this.  I collect New Jersey post marks and when I click "New Jersey" in the search, I get results.  But when I add  (NJ,n.j.,jersey) into my search, I get double!  

I see sellers start off their listing line with their internal inventory number!  That's not something any buyer would look for.  If you need it attached to the listings, put it in the body of the auction.   Another funny one was a seller who titled all his listings  "US - Good Cover Lot #1 (and onward, he had over 200 of these!) Nobody is ever going to look inside his auctions!    I only found him because I was looking for large lots of merchandise to buy for listing!  I found him because he had "Lot" in his titles...  his lot's were 1 item.  In my world  Lot means a large group of items!