What is Best Match?Best Match is a way of ordering items that shows buyers the most relevant listings first, based on what they’ve gone on to buy after searching for similar items in the past. Factors such as recent sales/popularity of multi-quantity items, relevance of keywords in the item title, value and Detailed Seller Rating (DSR) scores all have a bearing on where listings will feature in the search results.
Why Best Match?Displaying items based on the end time of the listing (‘time: ending soonest') isn’t always the most useful way of sorting search results. Buyers are interested in good value listings from trusted sellers more than when listings end – especially so for fixed price items, which can be bought at any time.
What's the difference between the way Buy It Now and auction items are sorted in search results?Buy It Now (or fixed-price) items are sorted based on recent sales history – how many have sold from a multi-quantity listing – as well as, relevance of keywords in the title, value, and DSR scores.
We sort Items in the auction format based on ’time: ending soonest’ and DSR scores (items demoted if any DSR is lower than 4.4).
What can I do to get my listings to appear at the top of search results?We calculate Best Match based on a number of factors. The following is relevant for Buy It Now listings
Number of recent sales: The more sales that are made from a multi-quantity listing, the higher that listing appears in search results.
Keyword relevance: This is based on the items that buyers clicked on and bought when doing the same search in the past.
Price/value: The better value a listing is, the more buyers it is likely to get, and therefore the higher its recent sales score.Sellers who price items low and try to make up for it with high P&P costs will score poorly in the P&P DSR, and will feature lower as a result.
30-day Detailed Seller Ratings (DSRs): If any one of a seller’s 30-day DSRs is lower than 4.4, their listings will be demoted in search results.
Listing duration: We recommend listing items with longer durations to help you increase your recent sales score while minimising insertion fees and listing maintenance overhead.
Which factors influencing Best Match are weighted the heaviest?In general, recent sales history is a very important factor. How all factors are weighted relative to each other varies by category and over time. Best Match responds to recent buying patterns, so it’ll evolve according to which combination of sorting criteria is working best for a particular category. This means that any breakdown we give could change.
We’ll be keeping a close eye on Best Match to make sure that the most relevant, good-value and reliable items get the most visibility and lead to the highest number of completed purchases.
In the meantime, if you are a seller, it’s a good idea to experiment with different title keywords and formats to see what works best for you – but make sure you don’t lose your ‘recent sales’ score in your multi-quantity listings.
How do my recent sales affect my listing’s position in the search results?If you list items using the multi-quantity format, and there are sales from your listing in recent days, you’ll build up a popularity score that will help boost your listing’s position in the search results. The reverse is also true: if your listing has had poor sales performance compared to similar listings, it’ll appear lower in the search results. You can use Featured First or Featured Plus to help kick-start sales.
If I make changes when I relist, will I keep my popularity/recent sales score?Your popularity/recent sales score will revert to zero when you relist if you
change the title of the listing
change the condition (eg: from ‘New with tags’ to ‘New without tags’ or ‘Used’)
What happens if I make changes to an active multi-quantity listing after there’s been a sale on it?Your popularity/recent sales score will revert to zero when you relist if you
change the title of the listing
change the condition (eg: from ‘New with tags’ to ‘New without tags’ or ‘Used’)
How do I use SMP automation rules while ensuring that I retain my popularity/recent sales score?The optimal way to use SMP automation rules is to mirror the functionality of a multi-quantity Good 'Til Cancelled (GTC) listing as follows:
Create a product with the right quantity available to sell
Create a template with any quantity and duration except GTC.
Assign automation rule – ‘Relist continuously whether it sells or doesn’t sell’
As stock arrives or gets depleted (outside of eBay sales), modify the quantity available in the Inventory product. eBay sales will update the quantity automatically.
This is will retain your recent sales score and keep the listing alive until the quantity is sold out.
Will it still be possible to sort a mixture of auctions and BINs by ‘Time: ending soonest’?By default, search results on eBay.co.uk are sorted by ‘Best Match’. To change the sort order, hover your mouse over the text ‘Best Match’ that appears immediately above the search results, then choose an alternative order from the list that appears
You can also customise search results so they’ll always appear as you want them to. Do item specifics matter in Best Match?Best Match sorts the results after they’ve been returned for a search query – it doesn’t determine which listings are returned. Your item is more likely to be returned in a query if
the item title is well written and has relevant keywords
you fill out the item specifics form when listing
you give a thorough description of your item
You list in the correct category
Filling out the item specifics form can make it more likely that your listing will be returned in the search results. But it won’t be a factor we’ll consider directly when we sort the search results that are returned.
Even so, bear in mind that describing your item fully and accurately will have a secondary positive effect on your listing’s placing in the search results: you’ll score well in the DSR for item description, which can help prevent your listing being demoted in Best Match.
How do Featured Plus and Featured First work together?Featured Plus and Featured First both appear in the Featured Items area of search results.
On any given page of results, we show as many Featured Plus listings as would naturally appear on that page. For example, if Best Match selects three listings for a page that have the Featured Plus upgrade, all three of those listings will move up into the Featured Items area on that page. But if no Featured Plus listings meet the Best Match requirements, there won't be any Featured Plus listings in the Featured Items area on the page.
On page one of results, we show a maximum of two Featured First listings, and on subsequent pages, we don't show any. If there are more than two listings with the Featured First upgrade, then the ones shown are picked at random.
The same sort order applies to the Featured Items section as to the rest of the search results. So in a Best Match sort, Featured Plus items could appear higher than Featured First items if they’ve had more recent sales or are of better value.
