Review: The Best Match Formula
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The Best Match Formula
By: “J.M.”
Published: 2009
57 Pages
It’s difficult to keep up with the pace of the internet’s changes in traditional media. That’s one of the reasons why I have a minor addiction to eBooks. It’s one of my main strategies for staying, not only current, but a step ahead of those sellers who compete with me on eBay. I’ve bought scores of them, sifting through the stuff I know (some of it actually originating from my published work) looking for that one idea that I haven’t thought or heard of in order to help me keep my edge. The Best Match Formula is one of those eBooks.
Terapeak (read my Terapeak review) has made their “Title Builder” eBay keyword tool available free to the public. It’s pretty simple to use.
Simply start typing a keyword and the tool will automatically suggest twenty related keywords to include in your listing title. The tool details how many listings (from a sample of 100 recently closed listings) include the keyword in the title and the average, maximum, and minimum price items including these words in their title sold for.
Unlike the keyword tools provided by eBay, Terapeak’s Title Builder will provide data from eBay sites beyond eBay.com. It currently supports the UK, French, Australian, Canadian, and German sites as well as eBay Motors.
Here’s a link: http://data.terapeak.com/titlebuilder/
Download my free Best Match Book and learn the secrets to getting found in eBay’s search results.
There’s an interesting post on the eBay Tech Blog that discusses how the search engineers at eBay test their Best Match algorithms to evaluate the relevance of the search results returned for a particular query. They actually pay people to sit down to test the search engine and grade the appropriateness of the results on a four point scale. Over two million searches were evaluated in this manner so far this year. The tests help eBay “understand whether one search algorithm is better than another; second, they help [eBay] understand where a search algorithm doesn’t work and needs to be improved (for example, maybe it doesn’t work well in the collectibles category, or maybe it only works well for short one- or two-word queries); and, last, it helps [eBay] understand what users want.”
We refer to the process of gathering this data as relevance judgment, that is, collecting human judgment about the relevance of search results. The basic task goes like this: we present a judge with an eBay item, and a search engine query, and we ask the judge to assess how relevant the item is to the query on a four-point scale. For example, suppose the query is ipod nano 16Gb and the item is a brand new Apple 6th generation iPod nano 16Gb. The judge might decide that this is a “great result” (which might be, say, our top rating on the four-point scale), click on a radio button to record their vote, and move on to the next task. If the item was a car that had an iPod adapter in it, the judge might decide this result is “irrelevant” (say the lowest rating on the four point scale). If it were a Samsung mp3 player, it might be “partially relevant” (say the second-to-lowest), and if it were a used Apple iPod nano 2nd generation that’s missing its headphones, the judge might say “relevant” (it’s not perfect, but it sure is an Apple iPod).
Despite all of the criticism of Best Match, relevant search results are a worthy goal of the algorithm and I’m glad to see that eBay is taking an active vice passive approach to evaluating their work. Since impressions without sales impact an eBay item’s Listing Performance Score, sellers concerned about their Best Match rankings should cheer this effort. Now how do I get one of those jobs evaluating relevance?
Get Found in eBay’s Product-Based Search Results
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In our last post, AuctionInsights introduced eBay’s “Product-Based” search results.
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The product page is the page that appears when a buyer clicks on a product box in search results. The product page shows buyers common information about the product at the top of the page, the number of items available for purchase, and highlights the best value available for that item.
In order to be included in the product page, an item needs to be listed using product details (pre-filled information) from eBay’s catalog:
When you create a new listing or relist an item, you’ll be asked to select a product or category. You’ll also be asked to search for the product in our product catalog using identifiers, such as the Universal Product Code (UPC), manufacturer’s part numbers, or manufacturer and model keywords. If the identifier matches a product in the catalog, you’ll be asked to select the product in the catalog. You’ll also be given the option to include product details and a stock photo for your listing.
Ensure you select the appropriate item condition in the product details. If the item you are listing is new, your item might appear in the first buying tab presented to buyers under the coveted “value box.”
Price apparently matters more than anything else for “Buy it Now” items vying for exposure in the buying tab. In the screen shot below, the GPS unit claiming the top position is offered by a seller with a 96.6% positive feedback rating. I won’t even mention the fact that the item sports a 6-word description and the “new” item is described as “refurb” in the 3-word listing title. All this seller did to gain the top position was offer the cheapest item.
Auction style listings get their exposure the old fashioned way – “Time: ending soonest.”
Obviously, the “Value Box” is the “Money Spot” for the seller who can find him or herself in that fortunate position. In order for an item to be featured in the Value Box, it must meet the following requirements:
- Offered by an eBay Top-rated seller
- Fixed Price format (Buy It Now)
- New item condition
- Priced competitively
So, there’s more incentive to be a top-rated seller for you aspiring eBay entrepreneurs!
Have you noticed any other tricks to improve your exposure in the product-based search results? Leave your tips below.