BIN list. that doesn't come out in search with 5 keyword, but do come out - alone - with just 1 more

[mypaperstuff]

Hi there,

I'd like to have your input about that strange situation that I currently encounter on ebay.ca 

I have this listing that is active right now : https://www.ebay.ca/itm/224480646635

that does not come out with these 5 correct keywords : 

25 rare pokemon lot nm

... but do come out - alone - when I add just 1 more keyword, like this : 

25 rare pokemon lot nm volcanion

Have someone experienced something similar or have an explanation for this weird search result display? Is there a way to correct this? I've never seen that before.

Thanks,

[femmefan1946]

It's been my observation (and anecdote is not data) that if you run the same search multiple times in a limited period, you will get different items each time.

As if the logarithm  decides that you didn't want any of the items in the previous search(es) and shows you other ones from the well of 25 million listings daily.

BTW0"rare" is not usually considered a useful keyword.  And you have 82 FREE keystrokes so you could write out "near mint" .

The first four words are generally thought to be what is seen by the 50% of shoppers on their phones.

But basically your "25 rare pokemon lot nm" title is not specific enough.

The first four words are generally thought to be what is seen by the 50% of shoppers on their phones.

[msau4301]

Not sure if it has to do with the new "Updates happening to item specifics & category structures" - see other post about this. There seems to be tons more items grouped all together. For example I sell vintage Barbies and that is now listed under "Dolls & doll playsets" - it used to be broken down so much further, even by year! There's about 127,000 listings (when I checked a few minutes ago) under my category, but the more info you put into search the more it narrows down. Let's hope prospective buyers put the right info in to find us!!

Just so you know I did a search for you and said just "Pokemon card lot" and I saw your Volcanion card near the top of the search.

The category structure changes have just been the last couple of days (I think October 12th) so hopefully they will be improving things again for us soon! (Both as buyers and sellers the changes are making it harder to find stuff! At least from what I've seen!)

[ricarmic]

My thoughts:

-put the most important search words in the first 5 as much as is possible

-don't use special characters like "-" any more than necessary. In this title they aren't required and I am not sure they don't cause search problems.

For example I'd list your lot something like:

Pokemon Black Star Rare 25 NM official cards includes Volcanion   (or something like this, I don't know what terms are "important" to Pokemon collectors)

Original (Pokemon Card Lot 25 OFFICIAL Cards - ALL Black Star Rare - Incl. Volcanion - NM)

[mypaperstuff]

"Just so you know I did a search for you and said just "Pokemon card lot" and I saw your Volcanion card near the top of the search."

msau4301, this reply is very useful.

So that can analyze this further, could you tell me how many results you have for these 3 queries? (on ebay.ca)

Here are my numbers.

Pokemon card lot : 15 217

25 Pokemon card lot NM : 76

25 Pokemon card lot NM volcanion : 1

Your answer is may well shed some light on the situation...!

Thanks so much,

[msau4301]

Hello,

I tried to look up the ones you mentioned. I realize that since I looked at your original Volcanion card (and I always have my searches set with "Best Match", they are showing me your  listings before many others! Again I think this is because I looked once so they assume I am interested in your items!

I couldn't find the specific ones you mention (ie Pokemon card lot: 15 217/ 25 pokemon card lot NM: 76 but the 25 pokemon Card NM Volcanion along with several other of your listings (I know by your user paperstuff) you were showing several times in the first 20 of I think was 1,500 items. 

It shows me that many times eBay shows you items not only based on what you look for but who you looked at!

[pjcdn2005]

I know very little about pokemon but if you are checking to see how your card comes up in search, you would use key words that a buyer would use.  How likely is it that buyers would use a specific number (25) or rare or even lot? 

To be fair, I tried searching with other key words in your title and didn't have much luck but I think that might have something to do with the category and the title.  I think that you were/are selling 25 individual cards that are all the same..is that right?  In that case they wouldn't be considered a lot and they definitely wouldn't go into the category for a lot of mixed cards.  When I searched for 'black star pokemon volcanion'  the only way that I could find your listing is if specifically went into the mixed lot category. I see that you have already sold a lot of these cards so obviously something is working for you but you might want to try taking the word 'lot' out of the title and changing the category to individual cards....assuming that you are selling inviduals.  The number of cards in item specifics should be the total number of cards a buyer would receive so that number might be preventing the listing from showing up in the individual card category.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

---

@pjcdn2005 wrote:

I know very little about pokemon but if you are checking to see how your card comes up in search, you would use key words that a buyer would use.  How likely is it that buyers would use a specific number (25) or rare or even lot? 

To be fair, I tried searching with other key words in your title and didn't have much luck but I think that might have something to do with the category and the title.  I think that you were/are selling 25 individual cards that are all the same..is that right?  In that case they wouldn't be considered a lot and they definitely wouldn't go into the category for a lot of mixed cards.  When I searched for 'black star pokemon volcanion'  the only way that I could find your listing is if specifically went into the mixed lot category. I see that you have already sold a lot of these cards so obviously something is working for you but you might want to try taking the word 'lot' out of the title and changing the category to individual cards....assuming that you are selling inviduals.  The number of cards in item specifics should be the total number of cards a buyer would receive so that number might be preventing the listing from showing up in the individual card category.

---

@mypaperstuff 

In many categories the sub-category  for lots/mixed lots has been removed as an available option. Because of Item Specific changes it has made the process of listing in lots extremely difficult to much more time consuming than it was in the past.

The precursor to that was removing Mystery Lots. Yes, that used to be a thing!!!

-Lotz

[pjcdn2005]

They still are 'a thing'.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

https://www.ebay.ca/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-items/chance-listings-policy?id=4311&st=3&po...

[pjcdn2005]

That policy has been around for years. Mystery lots are still allowed with some restrictions.

6000+ listings in this one category.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/220/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=mystery+lot&LH_TitleDesc=0

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

There are very few in that link  that would qualify as "mysteries"!!  Most of them do have the word mystery included in the title. Mostly semantics. Mysteries back then were more of a surprise in every package kind of deal. You read the listing. You committed to buy. You waited for it to arrive. Now if it's not to your liking or poor reading skills you file a NAD'd. 

-Lotz

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

@pjcdn2005 

Even typing in Mystery Lot Electronics brings up Pokeman cards. Not really the same!!

-Lotz