Secrets of Success on eBay

[*FluffyDuckee*]

Yes Cupie. That is exactly my question to Phil in post 127.  I further clarify it by examples in post 129 and Brumby makes a similar comment in post 147.

I agree.  I see no relevance. 

That is why I am pointing out that the majority of people posting on the Ebay forums, such as you, myself, Roo, Brumby use posting ID's but do not use them for schill bidding for the reasons outlined by Brumby and myself. 

[Bazza]

Cupie, I think Phil just has a 'thing' about posting ID's in general. And he has a point, although I wouldn't think it is particularly prevalent. Basically an unscupulous seller can keep prying eyes away from their selling account (and shill accounts if applicable) should they choose to use forums.

Like you though, I think posting ID's and shill accounts are two seperate entities.

[*CountessA*]

There have been instances of some sellers using posting IDs, as has already been pointed out. I wasn't yet a member of the eBay forums at the time that the Darth Vader helmet incident occurred, but from what I have heard, it was hilarious. It was - if I understand correctly - an instance of a seller who was NOT a Powerseller trying to get interest in his/her item... and ending up using a secondary ID to back up him/herself in the thread. Is that right? Can someone who was there confirm or clarify?

Some Powersellers openly admit they have other posting IDs. I believe at least two have said they use those posting IDs to make controversial posts which they fear might adversely affect their selling.

Some sellers have said they do fear auction-bombing - and I know most of us have heard some of the stories about such cases. It's probably because of the feeling of anonymity that some eBay members feel able to maliciously target a particular seller if they decide to take exception to that seller. (I'm not speaking about any seller in particular; I'm speaking generally about what can happen and what has apparently happened to some.) That feeling of anonymity means people don't feel prevented from going their length. It can be quite incredibly nasty. It can virtually destroy someone's business on eBay.

Some sellers stand by their decision not to use any other IDs for posting. They are people who have decided to handle any situation strongly; they're usually people who are aware of their rights as per the legislation, and they're people who think beyond the box of eBay. Do you agree with me that the whole experience of selling on eBay does not necessarily equip someone for selling outside its artificial environment? Outside eBay, for instance, eBay's expectations and rules and guidelines become irrelevant; all that matters is providing desired commodies and/or services, in a timely fashion, for a price that creates and maintains a market, with service that meets a general buyer's usual expectations. (Some of the expectations whipped up within the eBay environment are in my opinion unrealistic. Some will disagree with me.)

I don't have a problem with people using a posting ID - unless it is to prop up their own argument with a second nom-de-plume, and unless the second ID is created specifically to create hurt or harassment or pursue a nasty course of malice. But if sellers are using MULTIPLE IDs, rather than just one posting ID, I do - I admit - wonder why.

[*smee*]

unless the second ID is created specifically to create hurt or harassment or pursue a nasty course of malice

do you mean like Mrs Dodgers ?

 

[MrsFluffyDodgers]

 

[*CountessA*]

Mrs Dodgers is careful of her little fluffy daughter's virtue! That is a noble enterprise.

[Centuries]

Mothers have an obligation to protect their offspring

[*Brum6y*]

Thank you nice horsey, you have reiterated my point exactly. 

BTW - are you really a horse? 

 

Only in spirit .. with (hopefully) a little bit of horse-sense.

[Philip.Cohen]

Sorry, but once again my comments have been misinterpreted. This is why I like to use AuctionBytes as my primary commenting tool: I can always edit my post to make what I intended to mean clearer, if necessary.

Regardless, I never here said that posting IDs were used to shill bid.

What I said was I thought posting IDs were used by sellers to hide behind so that they could comment on any matter they wish without risking any damage to their selling ID. What other purpose is there? When I was posting on the eBay forums I used my one and only ID; I never felt the need to hide behind a “posting” ID, but then I am predominantly a buyer..

[Philip.Cohen]

With respect to beckertime buying his own Best Offers for the purpose of creating the impression that stuff is moving by this form of sale, I am probably wrong; his completed listings are simply awash with “red” entries; in the past two days only four Best Offers have been successful out of a total of [far too many to contemplate trying to count]. See:
http://completed.shop.ebay.com.au/beckertime/m.html?LH_Complete=1&_trkparms=65%253A13%257C66%253A4%257C39%253A1&_ipg=&_sc=1&_sop=13&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14&_pgn=1

[Philip.Cohen]

Qualification: Since I last looked at beckertime’s completed listings (about 36 hours ago) there are approx 165 new completed listings. Amongst the sea of “blood” there are eleven “successful” listings: five Best Offers and six auctions (auctions in the spreadsheet). Needless to say all six auctions are awash with the usual group of very regular “underbidders”. 

Please, does anyone still hold the opinion that, on the balance of probability (or beyond reasonable doubt, even), this Diamond PowerSeller, touted by eBay as a success story, is not an outrageous habitual shill bidder?

[Philip.Cohen]

An other interesting seller in the spreadsheet is “kd_art” an artist obviously trying to make a living from his personally produced artworks. However, he is apparently not have much luck at making genuine sales. He has tried just about every device except BIN and Best Offer.

If you look at the spreadsheet you will see that he has tried $1 starts with shill bidding, $1 starts with reserves and shill bidding on the US site; and he’s now using private listings with undoubtedly the same shill bidding to try to entice genuine buyers. Nothing works. But he is a good example of another seller desperately trying every trick to obtain what is probably a quite reasonable price for his goods, but without much success I suspect. Times are tough for people selling such items.

[Philip.Cohen]

One more feedback posted for beckertime:
Number; Sold for; End date: Feedback date
200395035603; $1,750.00; 25-Oct-09; 31-Oct-09

[cueperkins]

What I said was I thought posting IDs were used by sellers to hide behind so that they could comment on any matter they wish without risking any damage to their selling ID. What other purpose is there? When I was posting on the eBay forums I used my one and only ID; I never felt the need to hide behind a “posting” ID, but then I am predominantly a buyer..

That's what confused me, I read your comment as written and I agree, but Posting ID's are used for a bit more than that I'm afraid Phil.  Or have we all forgotten the 1000 headed hydra who demonstrated time and time again, how easy it is to sign up under dodgy ID after dodgy ID, for the sole purpose of harassment and stalking?.....  At one point he opened an ID called Farqueueshane.....dead set....and then set out abusing Shane...lmao...  but he's not the only one who uses posting ID's to wage war on other members is he?. 

In fact, it's a common practice to open a flame ID just for that purpose.....so, whilst some sellers might be able to use the excuse of needing a posting ID to protect their seller account, there's a fair few who invent new ID's just to disrupt and abuse other sellers and members.    Actually, the very fact that Ebay enable anonymous trolls to sign up under dodgy ID's is the very reason legitimate members feel the need to have a posting ID in the first place.  One perpetuates the other.

And therein lies the differentiation.  At present, you can sign up a posting ID legitimately, using the same name as your main account, but a different email.  As I've said before, many ISP's allow 3-5 accounts, so it's quite easy to set up a LEGITIMATE posting ID that Ebay can in fact trace back to your original account. 

It's the ones who use TOTALLY FABRICATED information that are the issue here..... e.g. get yourself a g-mail account under the name Joe Bloggs.....Sign up to Ebay as Joe Bloggs of 35 Nowhere Street, Lakemba NSW, and as long as the Post code matches the suburb...bingo you have yourself a fabricated dodgy Shilling or fraud ID and instant access to a Nation Wide pool of potential victims.

In this case, it isn't so easily traceable because they are using fabricated info....this in itself sends up red flags in terms of their intentions....but Ebay turn a blind eye don't they?.   Nevertheless, these are the types of memberships that need to be seriously curtailed because this is where the fraud and deception lives...and this is why it would be better if Ebay allowed only 3 accounts per member.   Taking it a step further, perhaps if they also made it so members had to have a legitimate ISP, not a g-mail, or hotmail account, that too would also close the loopholes fraudsters and stalkers use because it is traceable back to the individual.

I have never had a posting ID or a fabricated account, (although I've been accused of having many...lol) and I sold on ebay for 7 years before the 'innovative disruptions'.   I never posted before the rebellion, because anyone with a strong opinion is indeed instantly attacked and auction bombed.....happened to me years before, so I never again posted on the toxic ebay forums until 2008 when Ebay got rid of all sellers who refused to be extorted into Offering Poopal.

Again, as I've said, limiting members to only three accounts, requiring paid ISP's and verifying all sellers, would put a stop to so much fraud, deception, harassment and stalking on ebay it isn't funny.....but Ebay have no incentive to do it.....they make money out of it, and then cry 'Venue' when the shite hits the fan.

Venue be damned, they are a 'Service Provider' and that is already an established fact - see Evagora v Ebay.

So...there are three reasons why people have alternative ID's

1) Those using Posting Id's to protect their seller account from unwarranted attack (but probably using their real name and address details)
2) Those using Posting ID's with fabricated details for the sole purpose of trolling, flaming and harassment, and which are therefore untraceable.
3) Those using Fabricated ID's with dodgy details, for the sole purpose of illegal activity, and once again, not traceable by authorities very easily.

It's the latter two that need to be seriously curtailed...because as I said, that's where the fraud, deception and harassment lives.

[Philip.Cohen]

Just to stir the Best Offer pot a little more:

Buy It Now: Now, I am not saying that all “successful” BINs are shams; what I am saying is there is no way you can know one way or the other; this device is totally opaque, so it is possible for desperate sellers to buy their own BINs to create the perception that their stuff is moving.

Best Offer: Prior to the expiry of the listing (or activated BIN, if applicable) the mechanism is somewhat opaque, if any offers have been made, a “History: [number of offers]” link at the bottom of the “Other Item info” box leads to a “Purchase History” page which shows an “Offer History” that lists the User ID [sic], Offer Status (presumably other than “Accepted”) and Date of Offer. No value of offer.

After the acceptance of an offer, if there was more than one offer, the Purchase History then shows the value of the offers of the “under-offerors” only, and the value of the accepted offer is displayed on the primary Item View page, but no details are supplied about the actual buyer. If there is no “History: [number of offers]” link at the bottom of the “Other Item info” box, then it’s either been a BIN or there has been only one offer, that which was accepted.

In either case you get no details of the buyer, not even the masked alias; you’ll have to hunt for that, over the next month or so, in the feedback Forum. See, eBay makes it so easy, I really don’t know what anyone is complaining about.

I have not bothered to try to read eBay’s spiel about “Best Offer” as the constant spinning of the great majority of the statements out of eBay makes me feel giddy to the point of being sick. I worked it out by looking at actual examples. How’s it sound?

[*smee*]

With respect to beckertime buying his own Best Offers for the purpose of creating the impression that stuff is moving by this form of sale, I am probably wrong;

Phil I admire you for finally seeing logic and coming to this conclusion

what I dont admire is that you have tried to bury it in amongst the trees you have posted 6 of the last 7 posts trying to bury it ...

I see by your last post that you again just cant give up when one of you theories is put to the test and it doesnt hold water .....I can see what you are trying to do here .......
you are very good at playing with smoke and mirrors and at blinding people with BS !
I am very very good at restoring their sight !
do you really want to go there ....  ??????

I personally was prepared to let it rest when you admitted seeing the light , but if you wish to continue .... as they say at the olympics  "let the games commence"

The Ball is in your court !

[*CountessA*]

This is my perception of Best Offers with relation to this topic.

There is no advantage at all to a seller submitting a best offer to himself using another ID, unless - and this is an incredibly wacky possibility - unless he didn't want to sell an item after he'd listed it, and preferred not to actually cancel the listing for some reason, and had a reason for not using the BIN button with his other ID.

In other words, it's a convoluted scenario with no discernible advantage or purpose.

1. If the seller wanted to create an impression that his items are moving (let's assume the seller has multiples of the same items up for sale, all the time, and he DOES want to create an impression of movement to entice watchers), there's no need to make himself an offer; he could hit the Buy It Now button rather than make himself an offer - but even so, I'm not sure that a real sense of movement is created. (See below *)
2. If the seller wanted to create an impression that lots of people are making bids on his items and that an interested watcher should rush in now, that doesn't hold water since the offers are visible to the seller, not the buyers. (Just checking - am I correct on this?) It should be remembered that Best Offer is applicable ONLY to BIN items, not auction listings.
3. If the seller wants his final value fee credited, he can indeed make an offer on his items with another ID, then accept the offer with his selling ID, then offer a mutual cancellation to his other ID, accept the mutual cancellation with his other ID, and get his final value fees. But he won't be reimbursed for his listing fees, even if he relists - if he is offering a fixed price BIN item. If the seller were continually making offers on his own items and then going through an Unpaid Item Dispute, he'd end up with significant losses due to continually having to pay listing fees without sales. There would be no point to this.

It should be understood that there is NO REIMBURSEMENT or CREDIT of the Listing Fees - except in the case of items in the Auction format. The link to the appropriate eBay page is here. The item must either be unsold or the seller must have gone through the Unpaid Item Dispute in order to qualify to get a free relisting.

* Now imagine that the scenario of the seller wanting to create the impression of his items moving is correct. Well, I can see that the auction format is ideal for this purpose. You can certainly create a sense of movement by shill-bidding on your own items. But as far as the BIN items are concerned... is there an advantage? How many buyers check on the completed sales of a seller? Not many. It's not instantly visible by doing a search for an item - it requires spending more time digging. It's something that I can't actually imagine would pay off - because the VISIBILITY of the ITEMS MOVING is not in-your-face as far as the buyer is concerned.

Shill-bidding on auction listings is real.

But I am dubious about whether sellers do, on a large scale, hit BIN on their own items, and I'm highly sceptical that sellers would give themselves Best Offers.

The only suggestion made so far which at least gives some interesting perspective on a possible reason for BINning one's own items is this Best Match malarkey.

That's worth checking in terms of seeing how sales affect positioning in Best Match. A seller MIGHT, I suppose, consider the lost fees and time spent with other IDs worth it, if his items hit the front page and crowd out the competition.

[Philip.Cohen]

I wish you all would all stop getting so excited about a few words about Best Offers in a few of my posts. The Best Offer scenario was never put forward as anything but a possibility, never a fact.

Unfortunately, unlike auctions, it is not obvious in the search listing whether or not there are multiple offers on Best Offers; you have to look at the actual View Item page for such info. So I did so. It did not take long to pick out the few islets of green in the oceans of red.

BeckerTime’s current “fixed price” listings appear to be all “BIN or Best Offer”. Amongst that sea of “red” that represents his 658 completed listings of the past 14 days, 26 are marked as “Best Offer” sales.

Funny, but not one of them apparently had more than a single offer. Now, I am not a statistician but I am sure that even my friend Tradguy would think that that was statistically odd. Also, all these “sales” mostly appear in groupings, frankly, too convenient to be coincidental.

Also, I omitted to mention before that unless you recorded the original asking price on a Best Offer there is no indication of how much less was the accepted offer than the original asking price. More deliberate eBay obscurity (or stupidity)?

[shyer]

good afternoon shyer , the absolute most important factor in best match is key words in your title .... agreed ? 

Initially partly yes smee look at this article BNWT has provided.

http://tamebay.com/2009/11/best-match-secrets-part-2-how-products-are-sorted.html

And this text.

Currently eBay consider the best value to be the rate at which an item sells. This is measured by popularity – the ratio of the number of sales an item attracts compared to how often it appears in search results.

Free post, TRS and all other metrics are small change in my experience compabed to the sales/view ratio

[*smee*]

very good shyer but how about if you are going to link then link to thr full story ..... here is the link to part 1 which will clearly show what I was talking about ....
http://tamebay.com/2009/11/best-match-secrets-part-1-getting-found.html

and keep your eye out for this

Tomorrow, in the final part of Best Match Secrets, we’ll look at five top tips to get your items ranked highly in Best Match

I am prepared to wager London to a brick on that buyimg your own BIN listings isnt in the top 5000 let alone the top 5 tips

[shyer]

I am prepared to wager London to a brick on that buying your own BIN listings isn't in the top 5000 let alone the top 5 tips

I'll collect London will have to arrange pick up of key to city, thanks.

While he DOES not specifically state buying your own BINs will move you up ladder. 3 of his 5 of his suggestions are ways to improve your sales / impressions ratio. Buying your own bin does that very effectively in a multioffer and relist item. His other tip of high satisfaction is a factor is not at issue and he acknowledges that free postage is a minor factor.

 Thus the single MOST important factor (times 350%) in his experience is???? That's right sales to impressions ratio.

[gr8-expectations]

according to my calculations smee you owe shyer a major world capital city and gawd knows what else to others i think u better tone it back a bit while ur ahead lol

[*smee*]

http://tamebay.com/2009/11/best-match-secrets-part-3-5-top-tips-for-best-match.html


here is the link Shyer .... 3 of the 5 points ??????

[Philip.Cohen]

Always bear in mind that Chris Dawson from Tamebay is in bed with eBay in a big way. He is based in the UK and is a seller of computer equipment. A very professional seller with a very professionally presented eBay shop. He therefore should have a good understanding of how “Worst Match” works from his contacts on the inside of eBay.

But, his eBay Shop, “mountcomp” (http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/Mount-Road-Computers ) is experiencing the same problems that many other professional sellers in the UK are experiencing: few islets of green in the great oceans of red. (At least he does not appear to be bidding on his own stuff—there simply aren’t any bids most of the time.) Buyers clearly don’t like the deviousness of the absolute anonymity of the form of bidding alias still being used in the UK and the cretins running eBay in the UK are too stupid to understand why.

Chris has paid me the compliment of refusing to publish my comments on his blog (he moderates all comments before they appear), and he clearly does not like my criticism of shill bidding on eBay, particularly my criticism of the blatant shill bidder, “beckertime” (see my debate with him on his tamebay forum at http://tamebay.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3042&start=0 )

[shyer]

here is the link Shyer .... 3 of the 5 point ??????

Key to London was one point of 5
 
Yes point 5 free post is a minor point.

Point 3 popularity is a point all on its own.  

point 2 while saying long listings ends with sentance "This becomes particularly important when considering popularity." IE long listing useless unless popularity at high score.
Again point 4 finishes with sentance "Best Match will take account of this with the sales/impression score so whilst listing a non-branded handbag with “Prada” as an Item Specific may initially get you an increase in impressions, buyers looking for a Prada handbag are unlikely to buy and ultimately your listing will sink to the bottom". IE down your popularity and down the list you go.

Point NOW me I just tried it with a multi item 9 bin on new listing with seller account not used for 6 months was a bottom of last page 21 views 1 watcher after 2 days. Got friend to "purchase" and then under best match sort, shot to top of page with JUST one "sale"

[cueperkins]

Interesting in practice isn't it?

[*smee*]

item number ?   

[shyer]

item number ? 

Sorry smee I am 100% confident you are a decent person, but I have had my auctions interfered with some 5 times, from forum trolls . Once was from some one Else's honest mistake exposing my IDs to a troll.

If you do not believe me try it yourself with a new ID. It is experimenting not hurting anyone . I even remember when ebay had the test auction category, for just that testing.

[*smee*]

Shyer I have tried it myself .... not buying my own stuff ... but ways of improving my listings up the best match list .Trust me I have never ever ever bought my own items (why would I they are shite  ) but my listings always appear up near the top .... why .... coz I use proper relevant keywords to how buyers search for starters  and I fall under the category of a good seller

I just did a search on Gold chain
it gave me a list of 2582  at number 3 on the list item number 190347530310 page views 13 sales 0..... at number 7 on the list item number 1803600063134 views 1618 sales 60 at conversion rate of about 3.7% ...... at 12 on the list item 200396156664 views  458  sales 63 a conversion rate of of about 13.7% ......

[*smee*]

another search .... hotel for dogs dvd .... gives a list of 19 most of which are BIN's with multiple copies ...... the only one which has sold a single copy is 220494506795...... none of the listings above him have sold a single copy  and that item is at number 17 on the list ............. the reason why he is down the list is he has put some sort of a code in the description that no one will use in the search engine ........ its all about key words and being a good seller ..... his feedback is lowest at 98.5% and most of his DSR's are low ....... I  rest my case your honour !!!!!!!!

OH heres the link       http://shop.ebay.com.au/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3984.m38.l1313&_nkw=hotel+for+dogs+dvd&_sacat=See-All-Categories#item33567f2b2b

[shyer]

Hi smee your link only works for you. ONLY ebay knows sales in last 90 days we are limited to last 30 days and non private auctions. ONLY ebay knows number of times a search threw up an item even it was never viewed on page 20. Even You, I and others searching "hotel for dogs" changes those ratios as we are not buying. blu ray items all condemed to bottom as fewer buyers for blu ray.

Top item for me in " hotel for dogs" is 190348647592 he sold same a few days ago as a relist that sale counts . How many did he sell over 30 days ago ?. second item is auction getting close to finish time. Third is 150371257260 how many items has seller sold in last 90 days?? Fourth is USA seller.

Time only matters for auctions BIN order is mainly. best result of sales divided by number of times search said yes. Viewed or not page 1 or page 101 (never viewed) of search. As was quoted before if you are not selling prada DO NOT USE you will get lots of search results, no sales and unuseable sales/searched ratio.

If I search "hotel dogs" number 3 has changed he has mispelt for for as "fo" and has **** and ~~~~ in title never searched charaters. But seller must have had sales in last 90 days. There is a small random multiplier and other elements in play. The only thing is for a seller to experiment for their items to find what works for them.

[*smee*]

. The only thing is for a seller to experiment for their items to find what works for them. exactley what I have been saying Shyer .... exactley what I have done ... and I have shown examples ...... but the bottom line is unless you use common searchable relevant key words in your title and unless you have good dsrs and % positive feedback you can set up dodgy sales all you want and it aint going to help.

[*smee*]

As was quoted before if you are not selling prada DO NOT USE you will get lots of search results, no sales and unuseable sales/searched ratio

that is a very very silly statement because if you used the word Prada in your title and you werent selling Prada your listing would last about 8 seconds under the keyword spamming policy 

[*CountessA*]

One thing I can throw into the ring here is that search results under "Best Match" are different for various people. Remember when BNWT asked us to test this? We found that all of us had different results...

[*smee*]

I heard something about that but never saw results ... This is countess were you all searching using exactley the same wording ?

[*CountessA*]

Exactly. We searched for the same words, entered in the same way. We reported on the results: all different.

[*smee*]

do you have a link to that thread please ?  or did you come to any conclusion as to why your list was say different to BNWT was it based on proximity to seller or anything ... there must be a reason ... actually I think I do remember now wasnt it something like leather wallets you were searching ?

[*smee*]

Countess will you do me a favour please ... do a search on..... hotel for dogs dvd........ that exact wording and I am confident you will get the same list in the same order as my link ..... the link Shyer said doesnt work for others but it does ....

[Philip.Cohen]

I have learnt nothing from this debate on “Worst Match”, but then I am (or used to be) predominantly a buyer so I really don’t need to understand it, and I also have set my preferences otherwise.

I know this much, “Worst Match” is simply another devious mechanism designed by eBay to give an advantage to those sellers who contribute the most financially to eBay; those of you who do not fall into this group of an ever-decreasing number of sellers may as well go and fly a kite.

[*CountessA*]

Hotel for dogs dvd - search result screenshot attached.

[*CountessA*]

Best match search results are in this thread.

[*smee*]

I am sorry I cant open that screen shot ... ??? can some one please tell me if the search is the same or not ????

[*CountessA*]

Smee, the link you gave will not help clear up this dilemma. After all, it's a link to a results page that will sort itself (assuming that we're correct in saying results differ for each person) according to that person's results - not to the same results that you have.

Could you list the sellers you see in that result in order from the top, and I'll check whether it's the same?

[*CountessA*]

videogames_heav...
santaclause09
gamesmarket
devoteddvd
aussie_gamers
m_eleven10
moviemars-au
moviemars-au
moviemars-au
the_music_shop_...
duckys_bargins
devoteddvd
marcstep29
oz_garage
dvdorchard
the_music_shop
chatswoodyan
chatswoodyan
chatswoodyan

[*smee*]

19 results found for hotel for dogs dvd [ Save this search ]
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   Price  Posting to 6056 Time Left 

 Hotel For Dogs -DVD R4 NEW
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0 Bids hotel for dogs
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AU $15.00 +AU $5.50 1d 12h 43m

 Hotel For Dogs New DVD
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 Hotel For Dogs (DVD)
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 Hotel For Dogs DVD NEW
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 HOTEL FOR DOGS = NEW+SEALED R4 DVD = Emma Roberts
Feedback: 61,611 | 100%Watch this item  AU $16.95 +AU $4.95 24d 16h 44m

 HOTEL FOR DOGS - DVD NEW
Feedback: 49,525 | 99.5%From United StatesWatch this item  AU $16.83 +AU $5.99 24d 19h 58m

 HOTEL FOR DOGS - DVD NEW
Feedback: 49,525 | 99.5%From United StatesWatch this item  AU $16.83 +AU $5.99 24d 19h 59m

 HOTEL FOR DOGS - DVD NEW
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 HOTEL FOR DOGS BLU-RAY BRAND NEW
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1 Bid HOTEL FOR DOGS STARS EMMA ROBERTS DVD
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 Hotel For Dogs Blu-Ray (BLR)
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 HOTEL FOR DOGS (NEW & SEALED R1 DVD)
Feedback: 10,266 | 99.8%Watch this item  AU $35.99 +AU $8.00 12d 12h 9m

 Hotel For Dogs DVD NEW
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 Hotel For Dogs New DVD
Feedback: 35,870 | 99.9%Watch this item  AU $19.95 +AU $5.35 2d 22h 9m

 HOTEL FOR DOGS DVD (New)
Feedback: 110,328 | 99.7%Watch this item  AU $19.99 +AU $5.90 16d 7h 9m

 HOTEL FOR DOGS ***NEW(P:DWL2111-28.12)
Feedback: 10,130 | 98.5%Watch this item  AU $18.13 +AU $4.00 28d 4h 31m

 HOTEL FOR DOGS ***NEW(P:DWL2111)
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 HOTEL FOR DOGS (BLU-RAY) ***NEW(P:PBD3639)
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[*CountessA*]

That seems to be in the same order (cross-matching the seller feedback numbers with the names, since your cut-and-paste didn't include seller names!).

What happens if we experiment with something that has more results? This is quite a small sample, and the results might well have stabilised for all. If we find the same consistency in a search that returns a much larger result, then we'll know that this is something that has changed since BNWT first posted concern about it.

[*smee*]

Of course its the same Countess we are using the same search engine with the same perameters (spell check) the results must be the same !!!!

[shyer]

Hi smee,
your link worked once I signed out of ebay and I then got 19 items . My comments still stand, and the tamebay article devoted one full point to sales to search ratio and two other metrics only worked fully with sales to search ratio result maximised. That to me is, key to city of London and I always liked Adelaide .

Back to topic I did not use "DVD" in my search if I want a Toyota corolla, I do not include the words car, automobile, metal polluting coffin or horseless carridge. OK my error but if I sort by movies is that not DVD , yes in the real world , no according to don deceitfull.

[*smee*]

I know exactly why different people got different results on BNWT's searches .....

[*CountessA*]

Tell me!

(Ah - perfect example for this emoticon:  - finally I have the opportunity to use it.)