@rose-dee wrote:
@mjwl2006 wrote:
Best Match is complicated. Overall status is only one determine factor. Relevance is a bigger one, I think.
To close this point, "Best Match" was irrelevant in the case I mentioned because all other factors were equivalent, including item and item pricing, except that my own FB count and sales volume were higher than the other seller. How does being better result in far poorer visibility in this promo?
No one knows how Best Match really functions, or even if it is as complicated as eBay would like us to think. Still, the only factor that differed was the other seller's new store format. This apparently accounted for her listings appearing 9 times in the top 15, while my first listing only appeared at #16.
There was one other difference: she is located in Ontario. I'd hate to think that location alone was enough to push 9 of her items to the top above my one, below the screen break, but who knows? Does "Buy Canadian" mean "buy from someone in a major centre"?
It's useless bringing this sort of thing up with Raphael. This is not a technical issue that can be answered, but something connected with the inner workings of search on eBay, which, as we've seen from many past inquiries will never be revealed.
I simply pointed this out as something Canadian sellers might want to be aware of when hoping this promo will boost their sales.
I will share with you and the other members what I have gleaned on Best Match criteria over the years: a seller's standing is much less important that what ebay determines to be their relevance to the search terms. As in: to the victor go the spoils.
Allow me to provide an example: A Tale of Two Sellers.
Seller A has feedback at 100 per cent and glowing reviews that make her sound like she's next in line for the Nobel Prize for e-Commerce sales. Seller B has 98 per cent feedback and reviews that make him sound like Jack the Ripper. Both are selling the same items for basically the same price and both are located within the same country. Who ranks higher? The one who has more recent sales, more views and more watchers. Ebay REWARDS sellers for past sales of an item by placing them higher in the next search for that item because they assume that seller with that item is more relevant than anyone else.
If Seller A had a sales slump due to, for example, closing their store for vacation while Seller B continued to see regular purchases during that same time period, Seller B will rank higher in Best Match even if all his buyers weren't happy. Ebay rewards the successful sellers with more sales. This works in to ebay's favour because it means more Final Value Fees. As much as we like to think a squeaky clean seller profile and good price will place us top in Best Match, the reality as I see it is that ebay gives that boost to sellers who sell, regardless of how happy their buyers are. To a point.
This is why we all see weird trends: suddenly selling six items in a row to only German buyers, or randomly three consecutive people want something that has just been sitting around for two years. A sale an hour ago means you're hitting top of Best Match on that search now.
I doubt very strongly it has anything to do directly with your Old Store format as you surmised earlier in the thread, when you first raised your disappointment with the Best Match position for your items. I expect that any correlation if one is to be found would be that buyers may back away from Old Store style formats when they arrived instead of looking around a lot and boosting ebay's criteria for relevance.
I know there are plenty of Old Store Format loyalists here but I personally find the appearance of the Old Store so unappealing that I back out and leave as soon as possible when I stumble into one. While I am normally not a fan of change, I opted for the new format as soon as it became available because I think it is an improvement, and when I see old stores now, all it makes me think is that the owners didn't bother to take ten seconds to upgrade. I cannot be alone in that thinking. Sorry if it causes offence.
To recap, Best Match is more concerned with relevance (more views, more watchers and, most of all, more sales) than seller standing. Of that, I am certain. For all the good it does to people like me who twitch over feedback and defects. That being little to none.
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