eBay

brandeentertainment · ‎12-29-2013

They should give all sellers free subtitles for months of November and December so sell to tell buyers Things like Possible slow delivery times in december or to Upgrade to Expedited or Xxpesspost to ensure Delivery time is met.

Good idea/Bad Idea/Already tried before

pierrelebel · ‎01-01-2014

"The Name You Can Trust" has been registered by me in 1987, well before eBay was born.

You are entitled to your opinion that subtitles on eBay do not sell items.

I know differently.

mr.elmwood · ‎01-01-2014

Pierre, I have noticed that I'm has a lot of "opinions". I'm also does not know who you are. More's the pity.

Pierre! I keep forgetting. Elaine says HI! Annie says HI!

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brandeentertainment · ‎01-01-2014

Well I did not know that t all thanks everyone for the heads up ... Would love it if they just did it every year around x-mas would make my life easier as the stuff I sell Nov/Dec are the best sales of the year but I would love to be able to Boldly bring to buyers attention during this time of year buyers may expeirence shipping delays etc blah blah blah ..

Anyways Never stop learning on here ... Awesome..

i*m-still-here · ‎01-01-2014

Pierre, just helping.

Free Shipping might be one of a few comments in a subtitle that could help a little, but in most cases buyers would have to be blind to miss that Green Banner.

IF subtitles are free add-ons II'm sure the seller will get his money's worth. as long as the seller remembers to remove them when they re-list if they're not listing on the French Canadian site.

I suppose one would have to run a controlled to study to know if subtitles help sell items.

i know that they help eBay pay it's employees.

For example: Mr. Elmwood, your subtitles are interesting, but it's also possible that they give your buyers reason not to look any further than a quick glance. That is, if they don't like what they read in your subtitle you've already lost the sale. Could go either way for you.

Mr. Elmwood: Who, then, is Pierre Lebel? I only know him as an accomplished eBay seller of Postage Stamps who also knows eBay rules and regulations as humanly possible and maybe better than some computers.. (Not a small accomplishment either!)

rose-dee · ‎01-02-2014

@i*m-still-here wrote:

I suppose one would have to run a controlled to study to know if subtitles help sell items.

Actually, I expect eBay has already done that math thoroughly, determined that subtitles help to sell, and that's precisely the reason they charge extra for them!

Likely the rationale for the free subtitles on .ca is to promote more listing on that site -- a nice incentive since subtitles are up front advertising that require no clicking for buyers to see. If used in the right way they can be effective in drawing attention to your listing or in differentiating you as a seller in screen after screen of look-alike items. I love them, and have found them to be helpful in getting items sold faster, but I just can't bring myself to pay for them all the time.

I'm going to try .cafr for a few listings and see what I can do. There's nothing better than a freebie, as long as it works well across eBay.com in particular -- well worth experimenting.

Personally I like Pierre's "the name you can trust" in his subtitles. I think it's unique, and enticing in a folksy sort of way, i.e. let's click on this item and find out who this guy is who is actually putting his real name on the line for everyone to see.

That sort of willingness to be out in the open about one's identity is an affirmation of trustworthiness in itself because it is rare on eBay where most sellers prefer to hide their identities until a sale is made. I think it ties in well with Pierre's "Me" page too, which makes one feel there's a real person with a real life behind the eBay frontage.

tobyshitzu · ‎01-02-2014

the free subtitles on cafr were intended so there could be a french title and a searchable english title. Virtually no one uses it though, they used to run promos for free listings on cafr if you put a certain phrase in the subtitle. That was back when listing fees were expensive and there would be hardly anyone take advantage of it. They abandoned doing any more with it and left it unusable for catalog items.

Things have changed drastically when items lined up in order and people paid for the subtitle, bold, gallery options to try and make theirs stand out. Id say complete waste of money now that ebay uses other criteria to determine whos listings show up front. Even using cafr to get more searchable title space isnt the same advantage now that search pulls info from the rest of the listing

pierrelebel · ‎01-02-2014

"Actually, I expect eBay has already done that math thoroughly, determined that subtitles help to sell, and that's precisely the reason they charge extra for them!"

I totally agree with you.

Knowing eBay the way I do, and how they are the best at 'mining" the data available to them, there is no question in my mind that their research shows subtitles generate more sales for sellers. The "free" subtitles a few Canadian sellers get on the French eBay.ca site is a bit of an exception. Those who want to take advantage of it should, and those who do not believe in their value should move on and ignore them.

tobyshitzu · ‎01-02-2014

They used to charge separate for gallery. They knew that increased sales so they made it free (or more like forced everyone to pay for it by increasing the fees). Then they gave everyone enhanced photos free. I hardly see that they still charge for subtitle as any evidence they think it increases sales, if they thought it increased sales on ebay we'd all be forced to use it. Sure isnt many that pay for it, $1.50 is nothing on large multi quantity listings if it makes a difference.

bb_cool_stuff · ‎01-02-2014

If options do not work for you - do not use them.

I seem to recall eBay offering Free Subtitles on a promo, though that could be years ago.

Did not really make a difference in my sales, but that could be due to my category.

If the option works & results in increased sales, Great !

rose-dee · ‎01-04-2014

@bb_cool_stuff wrote:

Did not really make a difference in my sales, but that could be due to my category.

If the option works & results in increased sales, Great !

Yes, you're right, 'bb', there are probably cases and categories where subtitles are more helpful in encouraging sales than in others. But sometimes I think they are used in a less than effective way.

As I was trying to point out in an earlier post (gone now), I see a lot of sellers using subtitles as just empty space to be loaded up with keyword gobbledygook. I think this is the wrong way of looking at them, because I agree that changes in eBay's search functions has made subtitles as search attractants more or less irrelevant.

I believe subtitles should instead be looked upon as marketing or promotional tools, a means of directly appealing to buyers or making a listing stand out in the crowd and encouraging click-through. Think of them in the same way as promotional banners in a storefront, that the buyer can see without going inside, but that might entice the buyer to do just that.

It makes no sense to use subtitles everywhere, for every listing, mostly because the likelihood of increased sales across the board doesn't justify the cost. I'd say they are best if used in a targeted, strategic manner, but I've seen that they can be effective in increasing click-through and resulting in a quicker sale if done properly. I only use subtitles occasionally, usually for higher-priced items that I want to highlight. Otherwise, I won't spend $1.50 that rolls over and over with each GTC -- that would be throwing away good money.

I think 'toby' has a point about successful selling features becoming free features. Yet I don't agree that eBay has more or less forced higher fees on sellers as a result -- it seems to me that we sellers have benefited from several concessions over the past year (including features that are now free) that can be considered as enhancements to selling. Many here might remember when even main titles were restricted to just a couple of dozen characters. I expect to see subtitles added to the list of free features soon.

pierrelebel · ‎01-04-2014

"Did not really make a difference in my sales"

Some sellers use free subtitles for different purposes.

While not worth the price if one had to pay for them, I have used free subtitles (in tens of thousands of listings over the years) in a continued campaign of name recognition. That will only work if you have or expect a large number of repeat customers, folks who will regularly come back for more because they know who you are, they know your name or trademark.

I will never forget that buyer who had been a mail customer back in the late 1980's who placed a nice order for multiple items a few years ago on eBay because he had enter my name (first and last) in the search engine at eBay. All my listings from eBay.cafr came up! Priceless!

rose-dee · ‎01-04-2014

@pierrelebel wrote:
"Did not really make a difference in my sales"

Some sellers use free subtitles for different purposes.

While not worth the price if one had to pay for them, I have used free subtitles (in tens of thousands of listings over the years) in a continued campaign of name recognition. That will only work if you have or expect a large number of repeat customers, folks who will regularly come back for more because they know who you are, they know your name or trademark.

I will never forget that buyer who had been a mail customer back in the late 1980's who placed a nice order for multiple items a few years ago on eBay because he had enter my name (first and last) in the search engine at eBay. All my listings from eBay.cafr came up! Priceless!

Yes, I meant to add up there that free subtitles make all the difference in the cost efficiency equation! I'm definitely going to give it a try if, as 'pococomputing' pointed out, eBay might have now fixed the issues around language consistency.

When you mention your repeat buyer entering your name in a search engine, it made me think of my own reason for having a store with a specific name. I've been seeing for years now (via Omniture) that people are actually entering the store name in searches, not just on eBay, but through Google and other search engines all over the place. Although the name is not exactly a simple one, marketing research has shown that two types of brand names are especially memorable: either very easy, straightforward but slightly unusual names, or an odd, more difficult name that people have to make an effort to remember, and that therefore "sticks" in their minds.

I maintain that that advantage alone is worth the cost of having a store (i.e. a brand), but then I tend to see a lot of eBay through a marketing perspective. Your reminder about .cafr free subtitles was also priceless!

tobyshitzu · ‎01-04-2014

If you put whatever is in the cafr subtitle directly in the body of the listing, they'll come up in search the same way if its unique and not something that will bring up piles of peoples listings The advantage of more searchable words that was once there is gone

rose-dee · ‎01-04-2014

@toby**bleep**zu wrote:
If you put whatever is in the cafr subtitle directly in the body of the listing, they'll come up in search the same way if its unique and not something that will bring up piles of peoples listings The advantage of more searchable words that was once there is gone

'toby' -- I'm interested -- does this mean for example, that a particular word that you might use in a main title would be just as searchable now if it's somewhere in the body of the listing, say at the top as a title in a listing frame from Auctiva? I'm very curious to know because I'm having a specific problem with eBay on this very subject.

I'm wondering how you know this information? Are you certain about this?

rose-dee · ‎01-04-2014

Haha -- How funny that they turned you into 'toby "bleep" zu" when I quoted your post!

I guess they've never heard of cute little lapdogs.. This is what happens when you give computers completely free rein.

tobyshitzu · ‎01-04-2014

Paste

Another Treasure from The Fashion Archaeologist

into the search box and see what happens

recped · ‎01-05-2014

Toby is talking about a Cassini factor that rarely gets mentioned.

If you do a search and it returns no or very few results eBay will display a section called "More items related to" what appears here mostly is the results of a Title and Description search of the same search terms the buyer used in a basic search.

Because few buyers search Descriptions I think a lot of sellers don't bother to use keywords in their descriptions and concentrate only on Title keywords. Of course searches that return lots of results don't display this section so there is no advantage.

I know when I'm researching my items there are often only a handful of results even with a fairly broad search so I do see that section quite often and I assume my buyers are seeing it often as well.

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.

rose-dee · ‎01-05-2014

@recped wrote:
Toby is talking about a Cassini factor that rarely gets mentioned.
If you do a search and it returns no or very few results eBay will display a section called "More items related to" what appears here mostly is the results of a Title and Description search of the same search terms the buyer used in a basic search.

Because few buyers search Descriptions I think a lot of sellers don't bother to use keywords in their descriptions and concentrate only on Title keywords. Of course searches that return lots of results don't display this section so there is no advantage.

Yes, I understand what you mean here. I did the search using the words that 'toby' took from the description in one of my listings, and got two completely different search results depending on whether I clicked on that little "Include Description" box. I think you're right that most buyers wouldn't think to click that box.

Yet the problem is that in the particular search I did, my items (vintage/antique patterns mostly) got mixed in -- down the page -- with some really goofy and weird-looking movie DVDs that contained the word "Treasure". When I tried the same thing using just "Fashion Archaeologist" (without checking the "Description" box), the list contained exclusively books and other items relating to archaeology.

My real problem -- and it's a serious one for me -- is that eBay has told me I can't make use of a particular term in my listing titles (or, I presume, subtitles) which is critically relevant to many of my items and which I know (from Omniture) that my buyers use as a search term. EBay tells me I can use that phrase in my descriptions and/or item specifics, but not in my title, and they assure me that eBay's searches will pick it up if a buyer enters the phrase in the search box.

On reflection, and after reading your post, I'm no so sure it's that simple. By the way, the person who finally told me this was higher up the chain of command at eBay than the usual east Asian telephone crowd, and had full command of English, so he understood my issue well.

I have no choice in the matter now, because I'm probably being "watched", and eBay will take down listings containing that term. However, almost all of my competitors are using it in their titles, so you can imagine the harm it will do -- the buyers who are usually searching by that term won't find me easily anymore.

I am trying not to admit I'm livid with eBay about this, but I am. It's hard enough selling from Canada when all the competitors are in the US, but even harder when eBay hands them an automatic advantage. I will be doing some monitoring and reporting of my own, which will probably get me into further trouble. Go ahead eBay, keep bashing us on the head. Eventually we'll have to give up and crawl away.

Sorry, but I'm depressed about this and I really see no solution (unless someone else has any ideas).

i*m-still-here · ‎01-05-2014

Did you say what the term is?

If so I couldn't find it in your post.

Some sellers make good use of the word "faux."

rose-dee · ‎01-05-2014

@i*m-still-here wrote:
Did you say what the term is?
If so I couldn't find it in your post.
Some sellers make good use of the word "faux."

The term itself is unimportant. The principle is whether a recognized term or phrase used by buyers for search purposes, once removed from the title/subtitle, will in fact be just as searchable if placed elsewhere in the listing, particularly for a Canadian seller if the search is done on .com.