I almost choked on my toast when I read this
You may have seen an article online earlier this week on the topic of ‘Words that bump up your selling price on eBay’. It appeared on several news sites in different guises, slightly re-worded and by different authors – mostly going by the name of ‘Sarah’ – and was also picked up and published by the Mail Online here
The gist of the article was that ‘a carefully chosen word could net sellers a larger profit’ and this was gleaned from a study of 68,000 eBay listings pored over by Birmingham City University researchers.
Once I had recovered from the shock of learning that Birmingham City University researchers are actually paid to do this, I read the article in full and I have to say that whilst it’s absolutely true that title keywords do indeed have a huge bearing on the success of your product listing, I found myself almost choking on my toast when I reached midway through the article and read this. I quote:
“Users paid nearly three times as much for ‘on-ear’ headphones as ‘in-ear’ headphones (£25 to £71/$36 to $104).”
I’m almost embarrassed to point out the obvious here and that is that ‘on-ear’ and ‘in-ear’ headphones are two completely different types of equipment and so of course will command different price points.
‘On-ear’ headphones sit over the ears and are secured on top of the head whilst ‘in-ear’ headphones sit inside the ears like plugs and are about one tenth of the size. ‘On-ear’ headphones are generally more expensive due to their size, padding, sound quality and trendiness. So, basically the two products are not really comparable in my opinion – errr…because they are completely different!
The same goes for the next piece of valuable research published in the article.
Apparently a high value search term within ‘Cars’ is ‘Mercedes-Benz’ commanding a price of £4251.00 compared to ‘Clio’ which comes in at £235.00
Well the last time I looked, and assuming that we are talking about actual ‘cars’ being sold here, as the article wasn’t crystal clear, of course a listing with Mercedes-Benz in the title is going to command a higher price than a title including the word Clio.
A Mercedes-Benz is generally going to be worth more than a Clio! It’s not the fact that the keyword is included in the title that bumps up the price, it’s the fact that it’s simply a Mercedes-Benz! Or have I got the wrong end of the stick here and is the author suggesting that I perhaps advertise my Clio disguised as a Mercedes to achieve a higher price?
Reading further, I learned that “…grammatical errors such as missing apostrophes and internet speak were found to have a negative impact on the price products sold for.”
What a surprise! I could hardly contain myself with this ground-breaking news. Even a complete eBay newbie with standard common sense should understand that they have more chance of selling their product if they spell the name of it correctly and don’t list their item as if they’re having a text conversation with their BFF. Ooops, the irony!
Anyway, having torn the article apart in front of a bewildered husband and disinterested teenagers over the breakfast table, I swiftly moved to the comments section because the comments, particularly in the Mail Online are always good for a laugh.
I knew exactly what to expect and I wasn’t disappointed.
“One you’ve paid your 10% final value fees, your paypal fees and your listing fees you won’t have a lot left – Ebay stopped being a place to make money years ago!!”
“How to make more money on eBay… this is a joke right?? in the year 2000 maybe, now its a buyers market only..”
Yes, a nice smattering of snarky comments, interspersed with a woman from Santa Monica USA complaining, then actually naming and shaming a buyer who purchased a handbag from her, complained about it, got a refund and didn’t send the bag back. I’m not sure how she expected the Mail Online to help though.
Anyway, some of the comments were not so much about the actual article, but about the eBay site itself and probably mostly written by those who have never sold anything on eBay in their entire lives but have to comment on everything because they’ve got nothing better to do (like start their own successful eBay business). But of course it is their right to have an opinion.
So, why would I bring comments like this to your attention?
Well, because they’re not really a true reflection of eBay in 2016 and I thought I’d address this today.
First the keywords issue. Those Birmingham City University researchers are correct in some ways, so their research wasn’t entirely in vain – your keywords do matter, however price is not the most important point here.
Your title keywords are the reason your products will be found easily in the search results. In other words, if your keywords are not relevant to what buyers are searching for then your listing won’t show up. Your title keywords should always be super relevant and apply exactly to the product you are selling.
For example, if you are selling in-ear headphones, there’s no point in adding the keywords on-ear headphones to your title just because they command a higher price, because they are not relevant to the product. So, yes you may reach a few more potential buyers with those keywords, but those buyers are not looking for in-ear headphones which is what you’re selling.
They are looking for on-ear headphones which you’re not selling – therefore that’s not of interest and so a wasted click that doesn’t convert into a sale.
Too many clicks with no sales registers with eBay’s search engines and your listing will be deemed ‘not a very good match’ in searches and it won’t show up in the search results. So, by using non-relevant keywords you can actually harm your search ranking.
Next the issue of ‘eBay’s had its day’ and ‘eBay takes too much in fees’ and so on.
Well, eBay is not perfect but let me ask you this:
Where else can you set up a brand new business in as little as a couple of days with no staff, no overheads such as rent, electricity and rates, no contract and no initial advertising costs?
Exactly. Now I’m not saying it’s as easy as 123. I’m certainly not saying you can get rich quick on eBay – absolutely not. However, in 2016 it is still one of the most viable places to start your own online selling business from scratch with absolutely no experience.
In fact, due to the abundance of new tools available, I believe that it’s actually easier to sell successfully on eBay now than it was ten years ago – how about that?
So, with this information in mind and it having been provided to you by someone who actually knows what they’re talking about – that’s me – I’d very much like you to prepare for the launch of my brand new eSeller Profit Academy which I will be releasing very soon.
Not only will you learn the truth about eBay title keywords in full but I’ll teach you in a series of easy to follow logical steps, exactly how to set up and sell in demand products with your own eBay business – all from scratch.
There’s not long to wait now but to ensure you don’t miss out when I officially release the details, please make sure you register your interest here today
As always I wish you the best of success,
