The Camera & Photo category is a mixed-bag when it comes to the listing type the Best Match algorithm prefers for the various sub-categories.
According to my analysis, you should lean towards the fixed price listing type for the following sub-categories in order to have the best exposure in the Best Match search results:
- Camera Accessories
- Photo Albums, Display and Storage
You should stick with the auction-style listing format when posting in the following sub-categories:
- Camera Parts & Repair
- Darkroom & Developing
- Film Cameras
- Manuals, Guides & Books
- Projection Equipment
Listing Type Influence on Best Match Rankings: Business & Industrial Category
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As the chart below indicates, most of the sub-categories under Business & Industrial favor the auction-style listing under the the Best Match search algorithm. The notable exception is the Packing & Shipping sub-category which provides a statistically significant boost to the fixed-price listing format. The Fuel & Energy sub-category also seems to lean towards providing an advantage to the fixed-price listing format in the search results.
Review the methodology in the first post of this series.
Things get interesting as we examine the Baby Category for the impacts of listing type (auction style or fixed-price) by category and sub-category under Best Match.
As a whole, the Baby category favors the fixed-price style listings, however the sub-categories vary widely – (three of them favor fixed-price style listings and three of them favor auction style listings).
The following sub-categories appear to favor auction style listings in the Best Match search results:
- Baby > Bathing & Grooming
- Baby > Keepsakes & Baby Announcements
- Baby > Toys for Baby
The following sub-categories appear to favor fixed-priced listing styles under eBay’s Best Match search results:
- Baby > Baby Gear
- Baby > Feeding
- Baby > Nursery Decor
See the original post in this series to review the methodology I used to conduct this analysis.
This is the second post analyzing which listing type is favored by the Best Match algorithm for a particular category or sub-category.
This post analyzes the antiques category and finds that the Best Match algorithm strongly favors auction style listings for the Antiques category in general and the sub-categories. Specifically, my analysis indicates that auction-style listings have a statistically significant favorable effect on the following sub-categories:
- Antiques > Asian Antiques
- Antiques > Decorative Arts
- Antiques > Ethnographic
- Antiques > Furniture
- Antiques > Maps, Atlases & Globes
- Antiques > Rugs & Carpets
- Antiques > Silver
- Antiques > Other
Also of note is the fact that the Architectual & Garden appears to favor fixed-priced auctions, although the analysis is not statistically significant.
Methodology
Here’s the methodology I used to determine which category favors traditional style auction listing types and which favor fixed-price auctions.
I calculated the ratio of auction style listings to fixed-priced listings on the first page of results for each category. Then I compared that to the ratio of auction style listings to fixed-price listings category wide. If the difference was in excess of 25%, I considered the category to provide a significant advantage to auction style listings. If the difference was in excess of -20%, I considered the category to provide a significant advantage to fixed-priced style listings.
Some other details:
- The category or sub-category needed to have more that 1,000 listings to be evaluated.
- Auction style listings that also feature a Buy It Now price were considered to be auction style listings in this evaluation.
- The first page of the listing results was limited to 25 listings.