SEO and How many hits do your ads get?

[argosy33]

Dear Experts,

I've been trying to sell a number of items.

What I've noticed is that my ads get very few hits.
As a result, most of my items do not sell.
Even after a number of weeks.  😞

In my case, I've seen only 6 hits on an item for an entire week!
No wonder it didn't sell.

-----

Today I spent 55 minutes waiting for an Ebay CSR to come online.

I asked why, when I searched for my own items, that they
were not appearing in the search results.

ie
honda accord mirror switch 1996
honda accord power window switch 1996

(not the ones we discussed, but this example now shows the symptom)

I'm currently in Canada. The CSR was in the USA.

Turns out that when he searched for the items, he found them
between 8 and 10 listings from the top.

But as I searched, from my place in Canada, I did not find them at all.
In one case, I only got one hit, and it was not even my item.

I tried with both ebay.ca, and ebay.com.
Logged in and not.
Using both my Linux and Windows machines.
Using a number of different browsers on each.
Same. No or obscure results at my end. Very weird.

The CSR kept telling me that he saw my listings with the same search terms.
That it had to be my fault somehow.

But he failed to acknowledge what I was telling him.
That my searches were NOT finding my own listings, even when I typed in
exactly what he told me to. And even with all the other variations.

I've worked in IT since the 1990s, so I'm quite familiar
with fixing software bugs. What's odd is that there is
no way for me to type up and submit a detailed report for the
engineers, including screen shots.

Including wait time, the call lasted about 1 1/2 hours.

----

What I've been discovering is that Ebay does NOT (seem to) index or
search on the listing's body. This is so unlike Google and any
other search engine. Type in an obscure phrase from something
you read, and Google will return a few hits.

Ebay only seems to search on the title, and the metadata, which
is the fields that you fill in, such as
Year:
Manufacturer Part Number:
Brand:

Sigh. So here I've taken the time to write copy, with a lots of good
keywords in it. But the search engine does not look at those words at all.

----


So, my questions are:


How many actual hits do you guys get on your items?

And, what is your hit to sale ratio?  
10:1?
200:1?


What are your secrets to getting your items found in the search?
And, to get people to click on the link?


Thanks a lot!

[argosy33]

BTW, one of the ads that the CSR and I were searching for was my
ad about the Salsa bicycle handlebars.

Current title:
Two Salsa Road Handlebars: Moto Ace Bell Lap, Short and Shallow


Tonight, when I search using these terms, the results do not return my ad at all, anywhere.

Salsa Moto Ace
Salsa  bell lap
Salsa Short and Shallow


Interestingly, when I use the actual title:
Two Salsa Road Handlebars: Moto Ace Bell Lap, Short and Shallow

I get only one result, and it is completely different!
Salsa Moto Ace 44cm Alloy Road Bicycle Bars Short and Shallow Drop Handlebars

eBay item number: 291359935742

How about the rest of you?
Using the same terms, do you find my listing?
If so, what country are you in?

Any other details are appreciated.

Thanks a lot!

[pierrelebel]

"As a result, most of my items do not sell.  Even after a number of weeks. "

Frankly, the problem may be with your high expectations.

There are over 800,000,000 listings on eBay (that is eight hundred million).

There are not that many buyers.

The last reliable statistics I have seen is that a fixed price listing will sell in fourteen weeks on average.  That would suggest some items in high demand will sell faster while those with low demand may take longer.

Over the years I have seen many items take years to sell.  I had one stamp that sold a while ago that had been listed in my store for ten years.  It took a while to find the "right buyer".

There is no point comparing eBay and Google searches.  These sites serve different purposes.  The "Best Match" search engine on eBay is meant for buyers (not sellers) to find the items they are looking for, based on several factors including their recent purchasing and bidding history.

"And, what is your hit to sale ratio?  10:1?  200:1?"

Again, there is no "cookie cutter" answer to that question.  Much depends on the nature if the item, its rarity factor and demand for the product.  I have seen fixed price listings sell on the first hit (minutes after listing), while others accumulated thousands of hits over the years but no buyer.

Finally, I took a look at one of your listing.  #251806258107.

I see nothing but problems.  In your title you use trade names that have nothing to do with the actual item for sale.  You are using keywords in a way not allowed by eBay.  You can only use a trade name if it is the item you sell, not something similar to it. Since your item is homemade, you cannot use those trademark names in your title  Finally, checking the size of the item, how do you intend to ship it?  Did you check if Canada Post will accept it?  Other carriers?  How did you determine the shipping charge?

[argosy33]

Hmm. Over 80 hits, but only one response so far. 

Did anyone else try the queries? It's just cut and paste.
What were your results?
Could you find my items, or not? 

Thanks a lot!

[reallynicestamps]

Since I just started listing and re-listing items that had been On Vacation, it looks like my items average about 15 visits per month.

In vastly different categories (high end postage stamps, cheap vintage SF books, dress patterns)

However, that is unimportant.

Read what pierre said.

Not what you want to hear. What you need to hear.

Selling 'inspired by" is selling counterfeits. And that is not allowed by eBay or by VeRO.

[pjcdn2005]

Yes, I found your items using each of those search terms.

I get different views on different items as some are more popular than others. I find that multiple listings tend to get more views and more sales once one or two of the items listed have sole.

If those search terms you are using are not the actual brand name of the item you are selling, that is keyword spamming and not ebay 'legal'. It can also be a problem if the manufacturer notices the listings and has ebay take them down.

[treasure.hunter.d]

---

@argosy33 wrote:

Dear Experts,

I've been trying to sell a number of items.

What I've noticed is that my ads get very few hits.
As a result, most of my items do not sell.
Even after a number of weeks.  😞

In my case, I've seen only 6 hits on an item for an entire week!
No wonder it didn't sell.

-----

Today I spent 55 minutes waiting for an Ebay CSR to come online.

I asked why, when I searched for my own items, that they
were not appearing in the search results.

ie
honda accord mirror switch 1996
honda accord power window switch 1996

(not the ones we discussed, but this example now shows the symptom)

I'm currently in Canada. The CSR was in the USA.

Turns out that when he searched for the items, he found them
between 8 and 10 listings from the top.

But as I searched, from my place in Canada, I did not find them at all.
In one case, I only got one hit, and it was not even my item.

I tried with both ebay.ca, and ebay.com.
Logged in and not.
Using both my Linux and Windows machines.
Using a number of different browsers on each.
Same. No or obscure results at my end. Very weird.

The CSR kept telling me that he saw my listings with the same search terms.
That it had to be my fault somehow.

But he failed to acknowledge what I was telling him.
That my searches were NOT finding my own listings, even when I typed in
exactly what he told me to. And even with all the other variations.

I've worked in IT since the 1990s, so I'm quite familiar
with fixing software bugs. What's odd is that there is
no way for me to type up and submit a detailed report for the
engineers, including screen shots.

Including wait time, the call lasted about 1 1/2 hours.

----

What I've been discovering is that Ebay does NOT (seem to) index or
search on the listing's body. This is so unlike Google and any
other search engine. Type in an obscure phrase from something
you read, and Google will return a few hits.

Ebay only seems to search on the title, and the metadata, which
is the fields that you fill in, such as
Year:
Manufacturer Part Number:
Brand:

Sigh. So here I've taken the time to write copy, with a lots of good
keywords in it. But the search engine does not look at those words at all.

----


So, my questions are:


How many actual hits do you guys get on your items?

And, what is your hit to sale ratio?  
10:1?
200:1?


What are your secrets to getting your items found in the search?
And, to get people to click on the link?


Thanks a lot!

---

Just an FYI

Searching on the .ca site I found this item 251790374204 as the number 40 search result with no refinement from  the key words you offered as your first selection in your post. Everything ahead of you was either US or China save one that was Mr. Elmwood.

Cheers

thD

[paisley_daze]

I tried searching on ebay.ca for Two Salsa Road Handlebars: Moto Ace Bell Lap, Short and Shallow.  Got zero results.  I checked "include description" - still nothing. 

It does seem odd.  I have a very small store and I do find that some items will hang around for quite a while - over a year - and then suddenly sell.  The number of views is not an indicator I've found.  It just takes the right person coming along ........finally.  A lot of my items are vintage so it takes that one person who clicks with it.  I know when I list an item, I'm in for the long haul. 

The only advice I would have for you is to include some more generic terms In the description like "bicycle", It could be that your descriptions are too specific.  Also spell handlebars as "handle bars" as some people might spell it differently.  Beyond that, I'm stumped.  Good luck.

[snidley7]

Check out your item # 251808128461.  It shows shipping to the US only, and no shipping to Canada.

So if you are doing a search, and your current location is set to Canada, you will not see any results.

You can change your location if you set the "sort order" to "price+shipping highest first".  Once you change the sort order your postal code will appear in the top right hand corner.  Click on it to change it to a US address / zip and try the search again.

I am pretty sure this is why the US rep could see your listings, however you could not see them yourself.