Seller Update

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We are opening the recent sales reset rules on the 15th of September 09 to enable you to revise your listings in preparation for the upcoming changes:

• Re-evaluate your listing titles and avoid key word spamming in order to get the right search impressions
• Review your listings to make sure they are in the right category
• Changing your item condition will still result in a recent sales reset
• Review your listings to make sure that your products are listed in the most appropriate format - especially if you list in the Women’s Clothing category.
• Take a look at our checklist to ensure you make any necessary changes.

What is Best Match?
Best Match is a way of ordering items that shows buyers the most relevant listings first. Auctions are sorted by Time Ending Soonest and Detailed Seller Ratings (DSRs) . Listings from sellers not reaching the new minimum standards will get demoted.

Fixed Price listings are mainly sorted by Sellers DSRs and popularity which is the new recent sales over search impression ratio. Additionally factors such as the item title, price and free shipping all have an impact on where Fixed Price listings will feature in the search results.

Why are eBay making improvements to Best Match?
We’re constantly refining and improving Best Match to ensure that the most relevant, best-quality listings from sellers providing the best buyer experience are promoted within search results.

When are the changes effective?
Improvements to Best Match will begin to roll-out from September. We’re going to introduce the improvements to Best Match to a small percentage of traffic soon. We’ll increase the amount of traffic that can use new Best Match features in September as tests show a positive impact. 

What do I have to do to prepare?
The best practices that make sellers' listings successful in Best Match remain unchanged:

• Seller Ratings performance: eBay Top-rated sellers are promoted in Best Match
• Number of recent sales
• Relevant Title, no keyword spamming
• Price/value
• Free P&P
• Listing duration

With the introduction of Search Impressions, titles will be more important than ever in getting the best position for Fixed Price listings. Sometimes a title that brings you a short-term gain in visibility - could without gaining sales - result in getting a lower ranking for your listing.

We highly recommend sellers check their listing titles now to take full advantage of the improvements to Best Match

What is the listing performance score?
The listing performance score is based on the listing’s recent sales in relation to the number of recent search impressions it received. An “impression” is any time a buyer sees a search results page that includes the listing.

For example, in the new Best Match, a listing with 100 recent impressions and 10 recent sales will score higher than a similar listing with 1,000 recent impressions and only 10 recent sales.

What counts as an impression?
Every time a buyer sees a search results page, an impression is counted for each of the listings on that page.

I also list on other European eBay sites. Will my listing appear in a similar position in search results when I list on other European sites?
Across the European sites, the strategies for success are the same:

• Seller Ratings performance: eBay Top-rated sellers are promoted in Best Match
• Number of recent sales
• Relevant Title, no keyword spamming
• Price/value
• Free P&P
• Listing duration

However, the exact position in a search is relative to all the other items returned in the search query. As all individual sites have different items available to them, the exact position in search will differ by country.

How do multi-variation listings work with Best Match?
As with all Fixed Price listings, Best Match looks at a number of factors: seller track record including detailed seller ratings (DSRs), recent sales and buyer satisfaction rating, title and item value, free P&P.

In a multi-variation Fixed Price listing, Best Match also looks at the variation information to determine relevance. Each variation has its own Best Match score. Which score is used depends on how the buyer searches. The position of the listing in search is based on the highest Best Match score of the variations that match the buyer's search.

Will this change with the updates to Best Match coming in September?
In September, Best Match will assign Fixed Price listings a “listing performance score”—the listing’s recent sales in relation to the number of impressions it received. For multi-variation listings, sales for all variations will count for the listing’s recent sales.

Does including variation information in my listing title help my position in Best Match?
No. For multi-variation listings, Best Match looks at the variation information as well as title to determine relevance. That’s why we recommend saving all 55 characters of your title for other differentiating information.