Understanding eBay's 'Best Match'
Have you ever given much thought as to why some listings rank more highly on eBay than others? Nope, it’s not just because they are closing the soonest, or because they were listed by a PowerSeller. It is all to do with eBay’s complex algorithm which we know as ‘Best Match’.
When you, or any other buyer logs onto eBay and starts searching for an item, Best Match is the default sorter, and because over 80% of buyers don’t change this, it’s very important that we sellers understand exactly how to make the Best Match algorithm work for us.
eBay has spilt a few, but not all of their secrets to cracking the algorithm, and because we adore our members so much, we thought we would let you in on what we know about Best Match and hopefully get your listings sent to the top of the search results.
eBay has manipulated Best Match to favour sellers offering the best product and service possible. This comes in light of their recent endeavour to make eBay as smooth and pain free (and hopefully even more convenient) as an offline retail experience. Therefore, Best Match favours listing with:
- A high recent sales score. This is based on the assumption that most buyers will always find the best deal, and therefore, when a seller’s recent sales score is high, it must be the result of the seller offering excellent products at the best price.
- Free shipping
- Relevant keywords. Remember to list the most important details in your item titles
- High detailed seller ratings (DSRs)
- The best price. You only need to undercut your competitors ever so slightly to help to boost your rank
- Buy It Now options, either in addition to an option to bid in an auction, or on its own. It has long been considered a best practice for sellers to offer a combination of the two as it provides buyers with wider options buying options. Note that if you are selling items such as rare collectibles which will yield more profits in an auction, it is the best idea to skip this step.
- A high number of bids. Best Match assumes that auctions with a high number of bids must be offering a good deal, and therefore favours them by pushing their ranking towards the top of the page.
- Use of the best keywords and listing titles possible.