Using the | symbol as separator to increase readability in listing title

[vic_119]

Hello all, 

I am trying to understand what the best practices are on eBay when it comes to preparing a title for your listing. I see the use of symbols such as @, " & >  are generaly sanctioned by the search engine but is it  also the case for the | symbol?

Some offers on eBay use it to increase readability in the title (ex: Dyson V10 Animal Cordless Vacuum Cleaner | Iron | Brand New In Box) and it doesn't seem to impact their ranking too much. 

So, good idea or not?

[whorunbartertown]

I don't use symbols. I believe eBay doesn't read them but they take up space in between your words. I used to worry about confusing potential buyers with my word choice or confusing word order but it doesn't seem to impact my sales. I would be willing to bet that most buyers don't read the title beyond the briefest glance.

[soh.maryl]

Don't know much about titles, but why not just use spaces as separators? 

[inhawaii]

I've used them before.

I don't think there are any pros or cons ... other than they take up valuable title space.

[toysaver]

I sometimes use the / symbol to separate descriptive words in the title.   The best practice IMO is to use as many characters as possible that accurately describe the item.  If the item is often misspelled I use both spellings.  

[laststopgeneralstore]

No, don't use anything other than just words & keywords. None of these(, . ; ' : |()[]) No need for any symbols. Think of how a buyer searchs for something. They aren't going to take the time to put a comma in. For example, I just listed some aeropostale shirts but I didn't take the time to use the "é" in it because it just simply doesn't matter. Also make sure to capitalize the begining of each word as it help for buyers to read. Just make sure that your title structure & keywords are good.

[1786davycrockett]

Anything wrong with just using a single "dash" mark (eg, " - " )? 

Most of my listings are relatively easy to comprehend simply by using a single " - " to separate data.

And, because of the use of single spaces on either side of the " - ", it is not misunderstood as a hyphen.

Easy does it.

[bashort]

I try to put the most pertinent information at the left then fill the rest of the available space with whatever words that I think that a buyer may use in search, sometimes I use every available space, never use any special characters.

[stainlessenginecovers]

The only time I use something is when I'm scrambling to squeeze in the 80 characters; like using w/ for 'with' 

[onlinecentral]

I occasionally use a tilde, which is a typographical symbol that resembles a wavy line ~ .
It is located left of the 1 on a qwerty keyboard.

[katzrul15]

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@onlinecentral wrote:

I occasionally use a tilde, which is a typographical symbol that resembles a wavy line ~ .
It is located left of the 1 on a qwerty keyboard.

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Use as well.  Try to avoid symbols though.

[gosimus]

@vic_119 

< is it also the case for the | symbol? >    

That symbol is called a "vertical bar", which seems pretty obvious, but it's also known as a "pipe", which I prefer because it's not obvious.  I prefer the word virgule to slash or slant, too.  That's just how I am.