Oct
14
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
Oct
13
Listing Type Influence on Best Match Rankings: Business & Industrial Category
Filed Under Best Match | Leave a Comment
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.
Oct
9
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.
Oct
8
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.