eBay's Gold Standard:The Ultimate GuideThis series of articles was originally published by Jenny Hock at www.ListSmart.io/articles

What iseBay's Gold Standard?The Gold Standard is eBay lingo to describe listings that demonstrate the best practices to achieve maximum visibility and conversion.

There are 28 aspects to a Gold Standard listing. But not all are of equal importance our analysis of over 15 million eBay listings and 5,000 eBay sellers revealed.

eBay’s listing features were NOT created equal

Focusing on the most heavily weighted listing aspects, we have quantified the performance impact of Item Specifics, Title, and Images across multiple categories.

Know who is who on eBay holds the key to success!

Boosting your eBay Listing:TITLEListing Titles influence buyer choice so use it to grab buyers’ attention.

As an extra reward, while a good title can boost search rankings, a poor quality title can make your listing fall off the search radar.

As a rule of thumb, use all 80 characters to describe exactly whatyour item is, even if you repeat the category name, and include things like Brand, Colour, Fabric, Condition and even MPN (Manufacturer

Part Number).

Boosting your eBay Listing:TITLE

Avoid synonyms in your title as eBay already maps synonyms in the keyword search.

Boosting your eBay Listing:TITLE“purse” “handbag”

“bag”

Don't use special characters or words that don't describe your item - that's so 2005

Boosting your eBay Listing:TITLE

“WOW”“L@@K”

What’s so special about Top Performing eBay TitlesTo dive deeper into the anatomy of Top Performing eBay Titles, we analysed the Top 2% Listings in each category based on sales performance.

The Number ofItem Specifics Found in Top Performing eBay Titles Varies Widely Across Categories. FOR EXAMPLE :Top performing “Vehicle Parts & Accessories” listings use 1,033 different item specifics in titles while top performing “Stamps” listings use only 6 different item specifics in their titles. HOWEVER……

The most common attributes ofTop Performing Titles in each category are...

The results show that “Brand”, “Type” and “MPN” are the three most common item specifics found in top performing titles across the 30 analysed categories.“Type”, for example, is common to 27 of the 30 analysed categories.

FOR MORE DETAIL VISIT : www.listsmart.io/article/mining-ebays-gold-standard-listings-part4-effective-titles

Comparing title content to Item Specific content of Top Performing Titles

eBay allows you to use up to 12 images for free but make sure all provided are high quality images

(ideally at least 800 pixels on the longest side, to allow for zooming in)

Boosting your eBay Listing:IMAGES

Do your Product JusticeMake sure you show off the multiple angles of your item - front, back, side, etc.

Use a white background and refrain from any text or image overlays- Keep It Clean & Simple!

Boosting your eBay Listing:IMAGES

What’s The Optimal Image Count?ListSmart has mined data from over 12 million eBay listings and from over 5,000 sellers to determine the optimal image count to net the highest average sales in every category.

Boosting your eBay Listing:IMAGES

The Optimal Image Count Varies Across eBay Categories

Our analysis showed that 8-10 is the ideal image quantity to net the highest average sales.

Boosting your eBay Listing:IMAGES

BUT…The optimal number varies across categories.FOR EXAMPLE :In the Music category, listings with 4 images have the highest average sales whereas Garden & Patio listings require an average of 12 images for the highest average sales.

Boosting your eBay Listing:IMAGES

Item Specifics are the structured attributes displayed under the images and pricing information on a listing and are used for search ranking and as navigation filters on eBay.

Boosting your eBay Listing:ITEM SPECIFICS

eBay define which Item Specifics apply to each category, but sellers can create their own custom attributes as well(they just aren't used for search or filtering - only for display on the listing)

Boosting your eBay Listing:ITEM SPECIFICS

Not all Item Specifics have equal importance for visibility and conversion results. Focus on the ones used for filtered navigation (in the left browser panel) in your listing's category - and try to use a value from the list presented in the filter.

Item SpecificsDo Not Weigh Equally

Boosting your eBay Listing:ITEM SPECIFICS

The Many Ways To Get To Your ProductProduct Identifiers are extremely important so be sure to include these. In any case, eBay has started to mandate MPN, Brand, EAN, UPC and/or ISBN for many listings.

Including as many identifiers as possible can help ensure buyers are able to find your item if they're searching for it specifically.

Boosting your eBay Listing:ITEM SPECIFICS

What Are The Top Selling Item Specifics?ListSmart mined data from over 8 million eBay listings, the top 2% of listings (by sales) in each category on eBay UK over a one month period to determine the 5 most common Item Specifics in 29 eBay categories.

Boosting your eBay Listing:ITEM SPECIFICS

* Product Identifiers (EAN, UPC, MPN, ISBN and Brand) are excluded.

The 5 Top Selling Item Specifics

Top Selling Item Specifics: The FindingsIn the studied categories, “Type” was the #1 most common Item Specific among top selling listings in 19 of the 29 studied categories. Followed by “Sub-Type” and “Material”."Style" is important in categories where Type isn't as relevant (like Clothes, Shoes and Accessories).

Boosting your eBay Listing:ITEM SPECIFICS

The Top Navigation Filter : “Type”

"Type" is one of the most used navigation filters, and essentially a way to more deeply categorise an item.Yet of 70k listings in Laptops and Netbooks, for example, 45,973 listings did not populate “Type” with an eBay value (i.e. from eBay’s pre-defined list of values in the Laptop category)

For more detail visit : www.listsmart.io/article/mining-ebays-gold-standard-listings-part3-item-specifics

Boosting your eBay Listing:ITEM SPECIFICS

Include a detailed and professional description of the item, including any detail that you may not be able to elsewhere.FOR EXAMPLE :Are you offering express one day shipping? Say so!

Boosting your eBay Listing:DESCRIPTION

According to eBay, 40% of purchases are "touched" by mobile. eBay has limited the character count for mobile to 800 characters so make sure to include the most important information within that allowance.

Keep it simple! eBay is enforcing an active content ban, including JavaScript, Flash, plug-ins and form actions in descriptions from June 2017 onwards.

Is Your Listing Mobile Optimised?

● Fast & Free Shipping● Top Rated Seller

Status● Promotions● Strikethrough

Pricing● Click & Collect

Don’t Forget Adding Other eBay Features To Get Ahead!

If you can offer free shipping and get the item to buyers within 3 business days, then your listings will be designated as "Fast & Free". This has been proven to boost conversion, and can also increase visibility in search results.

Offer 0-1 day dispatch time, free shipping, and 2-3 day delivery time.

Boosting your eBay Listing:FAST & FREE SHIPPING

Offer Premium Service for Top Rated Seller Listings to maximise listing visibility (as well as the 15% Final Value Fee discount) :

● Provide a 1-day express shipping option.

● Provide a free postage option.● Dispatch in 0-1 working days.● Offer a return policy of 30 days

minimum

Boosting your eBay Listing:TOP RATED SELLER STATUS

We believe promotion offers can give a boost in search ranking as well as encourage higher Average Order Value.

Boosting your eBay Listing:PROMOTIONS

Use eBay’s Promotions Manager to select suitable promotionsThere are several types of promotions offered in Promotions Manager. Consider using eBay's Promotions Manager to offer order level promotions (e.g. "Free shipping on orders £50 or more") or upsell offers (e.g. "10% off accessories with the purchase of a tablet").

Boosting your eBay Listing:PROMOTIONS

If you are able to demonstrate a valid markdown, use strikethrough pricing then strikethrough pricing can help drive conversion.

Your eBay Account Manager or eBay Support should be able to help determine if you're eligible for this feature.

Boosting your eBay Listing:STRIKETHROUGH PRICING

From a buyer's perspective, the more the merrier when it comes to delivery options.

Make sure your items are eligible for Click & Collect at Argos, as that could be the deciding factor between your listing and the competition.

Boosting your eBay Listing:CLICK & COLLECT

What else to think about for Maximum Visibility?

● Impressions & Recent

Sales

● Seller Rating

eBay’s Best Match algorithm considers the listing performance score - or the number of views (impressions) compared to the number of recent sales for a listing.

If you have listings with a high volume of views and low number of recent sales, there must be something about your listing that is deterring conversion...

Observe YourImpressions & Sales

There may be listings with very low impressions and also low sales.● Are these listings in the correct

category? ● Perhaps buyers aren't finding your

listing because there aren't enough item specifics provided?

● Maybe the title isn't relevant enough?

All of these relate back to the Gold Standard.

But What If You Have No Views?

Feedback and defect rate can significantly impact your search rankings. Be sure to monitor this for items that generate a high volume of negative feedback or low DSRs.

Also, don't neglect your customer service offering. Providing exceptional customer service is key.

Keep An Eye On Your Seller Status

For more detailed insights into the eBay Gold Standard listing optimisation visit:

www.ListSmart.io/articles