How do I get more views on Ebay?

[Johnny1975]

I've listed a few items on ebay and at first I was getting about 30 - 40 views per day, but now it's gone down to 5 or so.

Everything about my listings is fine, my titles, photos, etc. I've heard of something called rolling blackouts that ebay does, where they deliberately relegate newcomers in the search results.

So how do I work around this and increase my views?

Thanks.

 

[SamStones]

Have you tried adjusting title keywords and gallery images?

 

[Rockpapercopy_biz]

Hi, check if your seller performance has been updated recently - this can have a major impact on the number of impressions. If you're still in top ranks, research what people are typing when searching on ebay - there are spacial tools you can use. Then use the most popular phrases [that reflect what you are selling] in your product titles and descriptions. That should greatly improve your visits. Also why not share your items on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook etc - try it too, it works for websites, it will work for you!

 

[Johnny1975]

Hi, check if your seller performance has been updated recently - this can have a major impact on the number of impressions. If you're still in top ranks, research what people are typing when searching on ebay - there are spacial tools you can use. Then use the most popular phrases [that reflect what you are selling] in your product titles and descriptions. That should greatly improve your visits. Also why not share your items on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook etc - try it too, it works for websites, it will work for you!

Hello. My seller level is Above Standard, but I've only had 1 sale, so I don't have a bad reputation but I also don't have much of a selling history. I suppose it's like being 18 years old with no debts but also no real credit history. I believe it was updated 2 days ago.

I've just made a couple of changes to the title based on the advice given in the selling reminders, although whenever I've called Ebay they've said that my titles are good. I don't think there's anything more I can do to improve it.

My guess is that there's nothing I can do and that it's just part of being a beginner. I suppose it's going to be a bit of a struggle until I get a sale here and there and then Ebay will make me more visible overall. That's how it seems anyway.

 

[BigRightHand]

Hi,

Your views are probably going down because you are not getting sales on your listings. One of ebays main algorithms for how it ranks its listings is sales per views. The algorithm will see that you have been getting poor sales per view and will push you further down the listings, hence less views after your initial burst of views.

What are you prices like compared to your competition?

 

[Johnny1975]

Hi,

Your views are probably going down because you are not getting sales on your listings. One of ebays main algorithms for how it ranks its listings is sales per views. The algorithm will see that you have been getting poor sales per view and will push you further down the listings, hence less views after your initial burst of views.

What are you prices like compared to your competition?

Yes it seems that way. I guess it's a catch 22 situation that I just have to crawl my way out of over time. My prices are quite high.

Would it be correct to assume that they also relegate people who have a low watchers-to-views ratio on a product, and a low sales/views/watchers-to-number of products ratio (in other words, lots of products, not much action)?

I was thinking of just waiting for a sale, and then immediately relisting, and also add just one more item, and then wait for each of one those to sell, and then relist and add just one more. Would that be the way to go do you think?

 

[BigRightHand]

Ebay, Amazon etc want there customers to get the best price possible for products, which makes happy shoppers, so if you are higher priced than the competition and the items are exactly the same (if thats the case in your situation?) you are going to struggle. Im not saying you wont get the odd sale, but the online markets are tough places to thrive and are price driven.

Im not too sure about the watchers question, but the sales per views is definately a biggy.

As for relisting after a sale again im not too sure. I was once told that if you relist an item within 7 days of ending, ebay remembers your placing in the order of listing and slots you back in there or thereabouts. Good for people with high ranking listing but not in your case. That could well have changed as that was something i knew of a few years back and ebay is always changing.

 

[MBE1]

BigRightHand has pointed out your major problem, ebay penalise you if your listing gets views but not sales, as a newcomer your competitors will be watching you carefully and clients will prefer to buy from established sellers.

It is just some pain you have to go through.

 

[Johnny1975]

Thanks BRH.

So, if I was to list a few items that are very cheap for me to buy, and I price them so that I make next to no profit (aka cheaper than everyone else, hopefully), if I then get some sales, will that affect my overall visibility on all items? I mean, will ebay reward me by making all my items appear higher up in the search results? Because if so, I'd be more than willing to do that, and it would be very easy.

 

[BigRightHand]

Hi,
No it will only rank you highly on the items that are doing well with, ebay really does gear itself towards the end user rather than the seller. What you can do is try to cross promote from your successful listings to your less successful ones with the higher margins and try getting sales that way.

 

[Johnny1975]

Hi,
No it will only rank you highly on the items that are doing well with, ebay really does gear itself towards the end user rather than the seller. What you can do is try to cross promote from your successful listings to your less successful ones with the higher margins and try getting sales that way.

Ok, I could do that. And what if I sell my main products as low as possible, and then relist them right away after a sale but at a slightly higher price, but still low enough to attract another sale, and then gradually increase the price more?

 

[MBE1]

Ok, I could do that. And what if I sell my main products as low as possible, and then relist them right away after a sale but at a slightly higher price, but still low enough to attract another sale, and then gradually increase the price more?

That can give you two headaches, firstly any competitors might lower their prices to match, reducing the earnings for everyone, and secondly your clients can see what you previously sold for in the past, and might hold off buying in the hope the price goes down again.

Personally I would suggest set the correct price to make a profit at, on ebay there are plenty of busy fools who only realise they are selling at a loss come year end accounts.

 

[Rockpapercopy_biz]

although whenever I've called Ebay they've said that my titles are good.

Ermmm.. with all due respect to ebay, no-one will actually have a long hard review of your titles on ebay team while on the phone with you - they probably confirmed the titles are fine, as they are not breaking any of their rules. Make sure to analyze the titles and descriptions and improve them regularly. Consider amending the titles slightly each time you re-list the item to test what works best. Good luck!

 

[Johnny1975]

Yes I suppose they just meant that my titles are good enough. However I do think they're good. But yes I'll change them from time to time if I need to.

I listed a cheap item yesterday and put it on auction and I've had 1 bid, and no reserve price, so in a couple of days I've definitely got a sale. If I were to relist it but change it into a totally different item (one with a big profit margin) would that be ok or does ebay frown on that?

 

[MBE1]

Yes I suppose they just meant that my titles are good enough. However I do think they're good. But yes I'll change them from time to time if I need to.

I listed a cheap item yesterday and put it on auction and I've had 1 bid, and no reserve price, so in a couple of days I've definitely got a sale. If I were to relist it but change it into a totally different item (one with a big profit margin) would that be ok or does ebay frown on that?

All you are saying is listing another item for a different price, which is standard day to day practice.

 

[Johnny1975]

All you are saying is listing another item for a different price, which is standard day to day practice.

What I'm saying is, listing something cheap, then when it sells, relist it, but change all the details so that it is a different product, but with the same selling history, so it will automatically appear higher in the search results.

 

[Sheng]

Shouldn't you look into other platforms? eBay isn't what it used to be. There's just many more seller, including those from China that offer at super low prices. And above that, eBay is less popular. Lots of visitors have moved to Amazon and niche platforms like Etsy.

 

[MBE1]

What I'm saying is, listing something cheap, then when it sells, relist it, but change all the details so that it is a different product, but with the same selling history, so it will automatically appear higher in the search results.

I haven't used ebay for several years for selling, but doing what you describe would IMO lose any benefit from previous sales records, but you can always clarify with ebay themselves to know for sure.

If this worked everyone would be doing it, and ebay would have stopped it by now.

 

[Chris34]

Ebay is changing all the time and what works one year is totally wrong the next year.

Don't keyword stuff your titles. You need keywords that are perfectly matched to your product, not generalised keywords.

The best way to test if you have the correct keywords is to type the keywords you intend to use into the Ebay search bar and see what results it brings back. Ebay will only bring back the results that are most likely to convert for those keywords, so if your product doesn't look like those products in the results then it's pretty pointless including them keywords in your title.

As a example type in 'bag' into the search and look at the results. Now type in 'holdall' and look at the difference. The results are completely different. So if you have a holdall type of bag then it's pretty pointless including the word 'bag' unless there is a good number of searches for 'holdall bag', if there isn't then the word 'bag' would have a negative effect on the listing because as we can see it is a poorly converting keyword for a holdall.

One important thing to note here is that you need to be typing in keywords that people actually search for. If nobody searches for 'holdall bag' well Ebay will still return all the listings that have 'holdall bag' in the title if you searched for them keywords. However it doesn't mean that you should use them.

Check out 'Term Explorer'. Term Explorer will give you the average search volumes for keywords on Google. If people search for 'holdall bag' 100,000 times per month on Google then you would use those words. However if it's only searched 250 times then on Ebay it would not be worth it. Term Explorer is Free for your first 5 or so phrases per day.

Another thing to note is that if you had two similar holdall bags, well you could list one with one combination of keywords and list the other with a different combination of keywords. By doing this you can compare the results and see which combination works best.

There are many many factors to consider though, not just keywords and price.

As an example I have spent the past 4 years perfecting my photos. Two years ago I got a canon bridge camera and a basic lighting setup, spent about £250.

Since then I have been getting better at my photography to the point where I am starting to think they look quite professional. So you would think that would be a good thing right? Well everything you do seems to have a negative effect. In this instance it was an Ebayer who messaged me last week to complain that they didn't like the fact I was using catalogue photo's that looked like they have been taken from elsewhere on the net and wanted me to take my own photo's.

So it now seems like my photos might be too good and for some reason some Ebayers don't like it. So now I am looking at going back to chuck it outside on a dry cloudy day on some nice garden table and take a quick photo.

Ebayers are pretty dumb customers. No matter how many times you write the word 'new' in the title and description they still seem to believe that everything on there is second hand, so a photo that looks like a catalogue photo doesn't do the product justice. A photo that looks second hand but in tip top condition seems to work better.

I do wander how these people survive everyday normal life.

Sorry to go on but it's never straight forward, there are lots and lots of things to consider. Even keywords in the right place in the title can have an effect, not from Ebay's search point of view but from the view of the buyer. Will they see the word 'NEW BOXED' at the start of the title or at the end of the title? Should you use capitals? As I say you can go on an on...


Chris.