Author Topic: BEST MATCH .................. should you be scared ?? (Read 25176 times)

bnwt · « **on:** September 04, 2009, 10:35:58 AM »

when now doing a search for any particular item if you look at the 'Sort by' options you will see that Best Match has been added

as of Sept. 10th Best Match will be the default when people search for items

today I did some experiments to see where my items would appear when searching

IT IS FRIGGIN' TERRIFYING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I sell leather goods so I did a search for leather handbags, even after refining my search to show just 'leather' as opposed to 'faux leather' the first 500 odd listings were dominated by three different chinese sellers selling faux leather handbags. I might add they all had appalling feedback as is so often the case

how is it they appear top of the list ??

if this is any indicator of what Best Match is going to be like I can see shoppers giving up in disgust

just for the record my first item appeared at about 700th .......... I can't fathom how things are positioned, for example I have the same bag available in black and brown both were listed at the same time on the same day yet the black appears at around 800th, the brown at around 1700th

vacuumdog · « **Reply #1 on:** September 04, 2009, 11:16:01 AM »

Seems to me you are trying to work out how eBay do things.

You know you've got no hope, don't you?

But you are right with the search for best match, it doesn't best match any of my searches.

*CountessA* · « **Reply #2 on:** September 04, 2009, 11:34:39 AM »

BNWT, those results terrify ME as a buyer.

Bellagina · « **Reply #3 on:** September 04, 2009, 11:20:52 PM »

Hmmmm... actually, I must be lucky - what I am selling, not too many chinese sellers are interested in, so my listing position actually IMPROVED in "best match "option. at least on some of my listings.

What exactly are ebay's criteria supposed to be for listing position?? It is odd how some of my items list way up, some drop to middle.

bnwt · « **Reply #4 on:** September 05, 2009, 07:51:23 AM »

further research has added to my concerns

I have done searches for a variety of things like, cookware, sunglasses, jeans etc etc

it seems that junk sellers get prime positions and yes a lot of these are from overseas

they also all seem to have less then perfect feedback and DSR's that I would not be proud of

best ???? .............. best by whose opinion ??

cueperkins · « **Reply #5 on:** September 06, 2009, 08:07:12 AM »

best by who's opinion?.....Not mine bnwt....I went over and did a few searches for things I regularly buy.....and you're absolutely right....page after page of Chinese listings...so I click on Australia only...and get page after page of anything but what I'm looking for

The complete overuse of the term vintage for instance, (used by powersellers to waste our time clicking on their listings for 'Brand New' items)......since when did VINTAGE, mean 'Vintage Style', Vintage Look', Vintage Design' ????.......Vintage is generally something that is used to describe an approx era...i.e. 1950's vintage.......it refers generally to 1940's - mid 20th Century to maybe the early 80's....not five minute old mass produced powerseller garbage. so, all they have to do is include the word Vintage, and they spam every listing even moreso

And as for finding REAL collectible items...they are so few and far between and what there is, now so overpriced, it's not worth looking anymore. .......it takes ages to sift through pages and pages of listings, hoping to find just one or two that you might be interested in. I also notice that this new listing format is taking FOREVER to load...some listings I clicked on yesterday took so long, I clicked back out of them...

I said a while back, that Ebay had discriminated against me as a seller/collector, then they made their forums so punitive, they're not worth using...and now they've made buying so stressful, time consuming and unsatisfying that very soon, I'll also no longer be a buyer. In 18 months they've managed to alienate me in every way, shape and form.....and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

*Yibida* · « **Reply #6 on:** September 06, 2009, 04:34:12 PM »

Quote from: *Cupie* on September 06, 2009, 08:07:12 AM

best by who's opinion?.....Not mine bnwt....I went over and did a few searches for things I regularly buy.....and you're absolutely right....page after page of Chinese listings...so I click on Australia only...and get page after page of anything but what I'm looking for

The complete overuse of the term vintage for instance, (used by powersellers to waste our time clicking on their listings for 'Brand New' items)......since when did VINTAGE, mean 'Vintage Style', Vintage Look', Vintage Design' ????.......Vintage is generally something that is used to describe an approx era...i.e. 1950's vintage.......it refers generally to 1940's - mid 20th Century to maybe the early 80's....not five minute old mass produced powerseller garbage. so, all they have to do is include the word Vintage, and they spam every listing even moreso

And as for finding REAL collectible items...they are so few and far between and what there is, now so overpriced, it's not worth looking anymore. .......it takes ages to sift through pages and pages of listings, hoping to find just one or two that you might be interested in. I also notice that this new listing format is taking FOREVER to load...some listings I clicked on yesterday took so long, I clicked back out of them...

I said a while back, that Ebay had discriminated against me as a seller/collector, then they made their forums so punitive, they're not worth using...and now they've made buying so stressful, time consuming and unsatisfying that very soon, I'll also no longer be a buyer. In 18 months they've managed to alienate me in every way, shape and form.....and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Yep...what Cutie said...total waste of my time, I'm amazed the Chinese sellers list and relist and relist again.... at what point has the value of the item been met through Obey fee's and not worth the sale anymore?...

*smee* · « **Reply #7 on:** September 06, 2009, 04:37:53 PM »

yibs as I understand it sellers from that part of the world do not pay listing fee's only final value

*Yibida* · « **Reply #8 on:** September 06, 2009, 04:42:09 PM »

Quote from: smee on September 06, 2009, 04:37:53 PM

yibs as I understand it sellers from that part of the world do not pay listing fee's only final value

Hi smee... surely at some point a rational person would get sick of relisting time and time again with very little profit to show for it?... even though there are no fee's.... And their feedback !..don't get me started on that...

bnwt · « **Reply #9 on:** September 07, 2009, 01:04:12 PM »

7 Top tips to game Best Match with Recent Sales

http://tamebay.com/2008/10/7-top-tips-to-game-best-match-with-recent-sales.html

*Yibida* · « **Reply #10 on:** September 07, 2009, 09:48:32 PM »

What a Load of Codswollop !!... It's working exactly as intended !...to drive out the remaining small Aussie sellers.... insanity reins supreme !...

***Reporting Issues with Stores Traffic***

04 September 2009 | 10:00AM EST

We are continuing to work on restoring accurate reporting for Stores traffic and expect to have it resolved in the next few weeks. <= Yeh piz off the small sellers some more

As noted previously, the problem is in the tracking and reporting system only and actual traffic continues to function properly. <= function properly?...Yeh detour small sellers

Thank you for your patience and we apologise for any inconvenience. <= You are the inconvenience Obey !

Regards,
The OBey Team ~~~or else.

Centuries · « **Reply #11 on:** September 07, 2009, 10:54:49 PM »

... I'm amazed the Chinese sellers list and relist and relist again.... at what point has the value of the item been met through Obey fee's and not worth the sale anymore?

I suppose the Chinese make quite a profit on the postage they charge in many instances.

As for the Best Match-----Debacle!

bnwt · « **Reply #12 on:** September 09, 2009, 01:50:10 PM »

I GIVE UP

trying to get a grip on Best Match I have been watching where my items are positioned in a particular category

for the last few days I had three items that made it on to the first page of the search ... I checked several times a day and every there they were A, B & C in that order

this afternoon I checked again and now I have nothing on page one and when I looked on page two I found my items were now placed B then C then F and finally A was last

I am bracing myself for tomorrow

Liisa-Sx · « **Reply #13 on:** September 09, 2009, 03:42:28 PM »

Another thing sellers have noticed as well.....

eBay is tracking your computer ID as a seller, does their system give you some of your items if you search from your computer for your items?

Yes.

That's why It's suggested using someone else's computer when running the searches. But it is completely possible to give the seller a false sense of assurance about your own items when viewing them from your computer.

You might see one thing, I might see another.

Best match is supposed to be purely random with no guarentees calls to Ebay have confirmed this... I do not see the point in it at all really.

The "Best Match" feature is a fraudulent, paid-for sham.

*CountessA* · « **Reply #14 on:** September 09, 2009, 04:05:36 PM »

Liisa, that's worrying...

BNWT, give me the search items I should use, and I'll check to see how your items are positioned when I search on this computer.

*CountessA* · « **Reply #15 on:** September 09, 2009, 04:18:42 PM »

Using the search terms "Genuine leather wallet purse", the Chinese items are flooding the results. (You're on the first page, but #32, by which time a huge heap of Chinese cheapies have already received better placement.)

Liisa-Sx · « **Reply #16 on:** September 09, 2009, 04:43:15 PM »

I also did a search for your "Genuine leather wallet purse" you are 1,2 and 4 on the first page.

If I search for "Genuine leather wallet" and you are 7, 9 on page 3.

*wheels* · « **Reply #17 on:** September 09, 2009, 05:38:20 PM »

bnwt, I know you've probably done a lot of research, here's another article and free e-book download that may help.

I don't search by Best Match, I search by Ending Soonest and I imagine a lot of other buyers do the same. Have you had a difference in sales since Best Match was set as the default?

bnwt · « **Reply #18 on:** September 09, 2009, 06:49:44 PM »

countessa

what do you see when you search for - mens leather wallets -

bnwt · « **Reply #19 on:** September 09, 2009, 06:53:42 PM »

when I search for - genuine leather wallet purse - I first appear at # 32 & 33

this is most interesting

different people get different search results

Liisa-Sx · « **Reply #20 on:** September 09, 2009, 06:57:31 PM »

If I do a search for "mens leather wallet" you are (#16 page one), and (#70 page three) I stopped looking for more after page 5.

bnwt · « **Reply #21 on:** September 09, 2009, 07:09:40 PM »

now just to even confuse things totally when I do a search for - leather wallet purse - leaving off the genuine, which is not a common search term I have noticed

my items do not appear until about half way down page two and the order that they are shown in is utterly and completely different to when the word 'genuine' is used

let's all hope it works in our favour

*CountessA* · « **Reply #22 on:** September 09, 2009, 08:37:03 PM »

Using the search term mens leather wallets, you appear #29 on the 3rd page.

Bellagina · « **Reply #23 on:** September 09, 2009, 10:08:43 PM »

Hmmmm.... so what happens when someone searches "tupperware forget me not"??

I'm still having really good sales each day, but most of what I am selling now is going to repeat buyers.
It'll be interesting to see what happens tomorrow......

bnwt · « **Reply #24 on:** September 10, 2009, 02:45:55 PM »

the results that are now showing compared to what was appear yesterday have been totally scrambled

also just to add to the sheer insanity today ebay issued the Best Match Tool

Tool is the correct word ............ it's a complete "tool" http://tools.ebay.com.au/bestmatch/

the results it is showing me are not even slightly like what appears in the actual search ........ I rang them, poor guy had no idea either

some_other_bozo · « **Reply #25 on:** September 10, 2009, 03:13:52 PM »

I have 3 main areas of interest as a buyer on ebay...all are now absolutely swamped with foreign garbage BINs.

Bravo Ebay...(slow claps)....bravo.

BOZO

*CountessA* · « **Reply #26 on:** September 10, 2009, 04:57:06 PM »

Bellagina, you appear #15 on the first page, using the search terms tupperware forget me not.

Bellagina · « **Reply #27 on:** September 10, 2009, 05:25:02 PM »

Thanks for that countess.... I tried to search for BNWT's leather wallets, but I don't know the feedback score to actually be sure of her selling ID, and gave up after clicking on lots of non-chinese listings but not seeing BNWT as the seller on any of them ( through to page 5 or 6).

bnwt · « **Reply #28 on:** September 10, 2009, 06:43:39 PM »

bellagina

lucky for you there is only a single page of tupperware forget me nots .......... I had never heard of things before

it concerns me particularly for items like leather handbags ( did I mention I just spent several thousand dollars of some New York designer stuff ) when there are thousands of listings and the chinese flooders dominate the first 10 pages

the buyers will give up looking

*FluffyDuckee* · « **Reply #29 on:** September 10, 2009, 07:03:50 PM »

So then you will be forced to pay for advertising or 'position' BNWT. More money for ebay. I wonder if this is part of the plan.....

Bellagina · « **Reply #30 on:** September 10, 2009, 11:16:10 PM »

I actually checked out what was happening with the listing of the kind of things i sell, trying to work out exactly HOW ebay decides who goes where...

Now, I am proud of my 100% and 4.9 4.9 4.9 4.8 DSRs.... so i was thinking OK - store owners with more thousands of feedback get higher - but no, there was one or 2 above me who had not made triple figure feedback yet...
*shrug*
go figure.

BTW, what is your feedback score BNWT - I'd like to have another go at finding you!

Liisa-Sx · « **Reply #31 on:** September 10, 2009, 11:54:32 PM »

An interesting experiment for best match rankings.

http://www.auctioninsights.info/best-match-tips.html

Honestly, could ebay make it any harder for sellers? Very soon we will all need to return to University for AAB, ADIT, B.A.Econ. degrees, etc for all of Ebays WTF BS.

bnwt · « **Reply #32 on:** September 12, 2009, 04:43:49 PM »

so just when you thought Best Match had completely mystified you

this afternoon I went to a friends place and did a search for my favourite search 'mens leather wallets'

the order in which things appear was totally, utterly, wholly, absolutely different to how they appeared when I searched at my place

my next experiment will be to get three different people to do a search at the same time

bnwt · « **Reply #33 on:** September 14, 2009, 08:06:52 PM »

I spent an hour on the phone today with an ebay rep who was equally mystified as I am about why my 'mens leather wallet' listings move no further towards the front of the search then page 8

he went away and did some research with the tech guys and called me back with some reasons why

it appears that auctions are given considerable precedent over Buy It Now because auctions are perceived to be a cheaper price

once he explained this to me it appeared quite obvious why my listings never moved forward .... people doing 3 & 5 day auctions hog the limelight and even if I might have just hours left on my Buy It Now item the auctions will always appear first

for the last year I have sold only Buy It Now .......... looks like I am about to have to do a rethink

and here I was thinking yipee only 40 cents listing fees ........... what I think in reality will be the case in the usual $1.34 (or more) auction fee + 10 cents to give buyers the Buy It Now option

*smee* · « **Reply #34 on:** September 14, 2009, 08:16:19 PM »

tags, it doesnt appear to work that way withd dvd's .... there appears to be no method whatsover ... in fact 1 search I did on a particular dvd number 1 on the list was a BIN with 24 days to go priced way over the odds with horendous postage charges .... go figure ??

Bellagina · « **Reply #35 on:** September 14, 2009, 09:13:10 PM »

It sure mysterfies me - I believe that when Best match was first touted, ebay hinted that feedback % and DSRs would be used to determine a listing's visibility. I can see no evidence of this at all- especially when you see that chinese sellers with lower feedback scores, list higher?

*CountessA* · « **Reply #36 on:** September 14, 2009, 09:47:18 PM »

The day I want to buy from a huge mass of Chinese sellers is the day I will go to www.amazon.cn. In fact, I HAVE bought from www.amazon.cn. It was an excellent buying experience. I was LOOKING for Chinese things.

If I'm buying on eBay, I want to buy from reputable sellers. The flooding of Chinese fakes in eBay does not lead me to have confidence in Chinese sellers on eBay. I'm sure there are exceptions. I am, however, too wary of fakes to look for those exceptions.

Just let me see items from Australian sellers if I'm doing a search in which I have NOT ticked worldwide, hmm? eBay? Please?

:amazon:

bnwt · « **Reply #37 on:** September 14, 2009, 10:17:51 PM »

Bellagina

you are correct feedback scores & DSR's are part of the equation as are price & postage charges ... there is also perceived popularity - that is to say if thousands of people let's say have searched for the brand name Quicksilver - the word Quicksilver is worth points

so is the number of hits a particular listing has had as well as the number of people watching the item

but I can now see that auctions score extra well ................... I have listed some test auctions in 'mens leather wallet' and sure enough they are moving up the list as time goes by ........ unlike my Buy It Now items that remained stalled at page 10 and beyond

*smee* · « **Reply #38 on:** September 14, 2009, 10:42:10 PM »

here is a prime example ...
how can this .....
BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA - DVD NEW
Feedback: 46,056 | 99.5%From United StatesWatch this item AU $38.43
+AU $5.99 16d 20h 8m

be listed ahead of this
BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA - NEW/SEALED - R4
Feedback: 799 | 100%Watch this item AU $22.00
+AU $3.00 11h 36m

the one listed first is A) more expensive b) higher postage c) located in a different country d) has longer left to run e) seller has 99.5% positve compared to 100% f) the only better stat is the first seller has sold more items ...... guess we now know what the criteria is !!!!

oh and by the way the dsr's are worse too ....
seller 1 = 4.9, 4.8, 4.6 , 4.8 .. seller 2 = 5.0, 4.9, 4.9, 4.8 !!!!!

Bellagina · « **Reply #39 on:** September 14, 2009, 10:55:43 PM »

Yep smee.... not right at all, to my mind.

Now I have to try to think how to get more "hits" on MY listings, to move them up the ranks.....

bnwt · « **Reply #40 on:** September 15, 2009, 07:31:01 AM »

Smee

I agree as did the ebay rep. there were some items that defied logic as to why they received higher placement ... it could have been that the US version had received more hits or had more watchers ........ who knows the true machinations of ebay search engine

the more I think about it I was foolish to get excited that Buy It Now listings fees were being reduced to 40 cents

would ebay seriously make a pricing change that's going to reduce their income ??

although it does baffle me that after all propaganda about wanting sellers to use Buy It Now ebay would give auctions higher search placements

some_other_bozo · « **Reply #41 on:** September 16, 2009, 12:20:12 PM »

It now takes 4 or 5 extra clicks to refine my searches for the items im interested in. This is apparently to make it easier for buyers???

shyer · « **Reply #42 on:** September 16, 2009, 01:25:06 PM »

Hi All,

I found this forum because of best match problems. I did also find these, you do need to read the whole book.

www.auctioninsights.info/bestmatchbook

http://tools.eBay.com.au/bestmatch/

It is one of the more stupid eBay changes 90% of buyers do not know how to change sort order. And 201% of buyers are fed up with junk or multiple listings. Best match makes it worse as number of views of ad and watching ad as well as ad heading and sales from multi items buy now all influence page ad is on. This means the more single batteries or sticky tape roll are sold sorted first over large packs the more they come first. Even cheaper is preferred over quality. IE gold plate is page one solid gold is 10 pages later.

I think we are also stuck with best mismatch, hopefully buyers will soon learn to use "items ending soonest", " Price " etc to suit their needs. In the mean time I expect less sales and lower bids. Also re listing and NOT changing you title will move you up the list as sales, clicks and watchers over last 30 days of that exact title will count to more points and thus further up the list.

If you re list you can change description completely , after months when you are at top of list drop featured plus, you can only move BIN / start price down not up . And still keep all re list "points". You can not change one letter in heading though.

MISmatch
fooey

*Yibida* · « **Reply #43 on:** September 16, 2009, 01:38:40 PM »

Welcome shyer, I think you'll find this forum right up your alley....I agree the search is difficult at best...

bnwt · « **Reply #44 on:** September 16, 2009, 02:46:49 PM »

Shyer

thanks for those tips

although you are incorrect about there being 90% of buyers who don't know how to use the various ebay search options ......... I'd say more like 99%

also here's a great experiment to try at home

do a search for 'red leather handbag' ............ then refine the search to show just leather do not select - faux leather or synthetic

what percentage of the results do you think will be real genuine leather ??

50% on a good day

tellomon · « **Reply #45 on:** September 16, 2009, 02:57:49 PM »

"Info Glut" is real.

This thread is PROOF.

Lurkers dont like you. Why should Members?

(J/K)

tellomon · « **Reply #46 on:** September 16, 2009, 03:00:46 PM »

Should I be required to issue some such "Public Apology", kindly slip me the appropriate crib notes in advance.

THX!

*CountessA* · « **Reply #47 on:** September 16, 2009, 03:43:15 PM »

Hello, Shyer - welcome!

cueperkins · « **Reply #48 on:** September 16, 2009, 04:32:42 PM »

you're absolutely right Shyer.,.....when I search, I use 'ending soonest', or 'newly listed'....this best match business, puts you straight into spam listing land......oh, and also, if you buy in Oz....use Oz Only in your options...yet another button to press, to narrow down what you're really looking for....*rolls eyes* easier for buyers IS IT?...not !!!

Tello...play nice, or it's off to the 'Naughty Thread'....!!!

Bellagina · « **Reply #49 on:** September 18, 2009, 01:33:19 PM »

Ok, for the first time in ages, I logged into ebay using OH's puter, and did the search from there. (Not signed in) and of course it defaulted to Best match.... what a joke! Totally non-related items appearing high in the search pages, etc etc - but the hard part was trying to get it to default back to "ending soonest".

Now I think I'm fairly proficient with ebay ( been buying and sellling a while now! :-) ) but it was really quite difficult to do. And it took me a few tries to get it right as well.

So what hope has a newbie got?

GGGRRRRRRRR

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Author Topic: BEST MATCH .................. should you be scared ?? (Read 25176 times)

vacuumdog

cueperkins

some_other_bozo

some_other_bozo

cueperkins