2008 eBay Changes – Search Visibility
February 19, 2008
Having your eBay listings visible to potential buyers is a must for anyone who is trying to sell on eBay. After all, if the buyer can’t find your listing, how in the world do you expect them to make a purchase from you?
The eBay search results that we are familiar with show the items ending soonest first as the default setting. This is all about to change come March 2008. eBay’s Best Match search results will become the default sort method site-wide and will include the following:
- Increase exposure for sellers with Detailed Seller Ratings (DSRs) 4.6 and above and at least 95% customer satisfaction in the last 30 days.
- Decrease exposure for sellers with low customer satisfaction or Shipping & Handling DSRs.
As you can see, eBay listing search visibility is now going to be tied to customer satisfaction. Per eBay:
“Customer satisfaction is reflected in a combination of DSRs, Feedback and fewer complaints filed of an item being “significantly not as described” (SNAD) or “item not received” (INR).”
eBay seems to mean business when it comes to having satisfied buyers. Apparently the eBay buying experience has sunk to such a low that eBay is keeping those that sell on eBay on a short leash when it comes to customer satisfaction.
The last 30-day timeframe seems to be what eBay is really concentrating on to determine what kind of a seller you are. This can be good and this can be bad.
Let’s assume, for a minute, that you have a really bad month when it comes to DSRs for whatever reason. This will cause your last 30-day DSR ratings to tank and you will pay the consequences by loosing visibility in search, getting caught up in eBay Safer Payments, and anything else that eBay is going to link with your last 30-day DSR ratings.
However, since the ratings for the last 30-days are the ones that count, you should be able to easily pull yourself out of the hole you are in, assuming buyers can find the items you are selling and you are able to satisfy them so they give you high DSRs.
Clearly, the best strategy would be to never get one’s self into a “customer satisfaction hole” in the first place. That would be the “obvious” statement of the day! 
So, eBay will be tying the visibility of your listings directly to the satisfaction of your customers. Or, rather, the satisfaction of your customers as relayed to eBay via the DSR ratings.
If you have buyers that just don’t understand the concept of DSRs and how important it is to rate sellers truthfully and accurately, the eBay seller is going to suffer. This could become a big mess, but we will assume that most eBay buyers are competent and honest enough to give accurate seller ratings.
Of course, with the new, enhanced Best Match rolling out site-wide next month, the item display/sort algorithm will still take into consideration the same things that it does today, including the item end time. eBay is just adding additional factors into the mix and you may, or may not, see your listing exposure change as a result of these new factors.
What does this all mean to those that sell on eBay? It means that you need to step up your customer service a notch and do everything within your power to make sure that you have happy customers. Obviously, there is only so much that is in your control, but you have to excel at what you have control over.
Selling on eBay is getting a bit more interesting with the new changes that are rolling out. Ultimately, the goal is to have a better buying experience, which should result in more customers for the eBay seller. Looks like it is time to put your nose to the grindstone and perfect your techniques on how to sell on eBay.
Image: pinkmoose
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eBay has certainly evolved since I began selling there now and then about 8 years ago. I’ve been just on and off selling, so haven’t made it my full time job. However, the idea does sound appealing. I look forward to reading more good things here!
Hi Ann,
Welcome to Lizard Wisdom!
eBay has definitely evolved over the past years. Some would say for the worse. We would say that every company has to evolve to survive and you are never going to be able to please everybody when you make changes.
Having said that, eBay certainly has made some big changes this year and it will be very, very interesting to see how they all play out!
well you can clearly see how to knock your competitor out of the loop by buying comething from him and then giving him a bad rating – - down he goes on the list and your stuff stays on top – - could be done with multiple “personalities” or friends – - not a good plan… the feedback system is a hostage situation – should present all feedback and no vindictive comments when disputes are settled…
I agree. I’ve always delivered feedback ASAP based on what occurred. I’ve never withheld feedback until I get a good note from someone. I figure, if they buy from me and pay promptly, it deserves recognition and acknowledgment. I also always give feedback when I receive an item, whether I’ve gotten feedback from the seller or not. I never hold the buyer or seller hostage over feedback and I don’t appreciate it when others try to do it to me.
My feedback is honest and truthful.
Hi Ann,
Thank you for your comment!
eBay feedback is certainly a touchy subject. Everyone seems to have their own method of dealing with feedback, and each has their own reason for doing so.
It begs the question what would happen if eBay did away with feedback all together? Of course, they would have to have some sort of a system to show which are good sellers and which are bad, so removal of feedback is highly unlikely.
However, in the current form, are we seeing a true representation of feedback? Makes you wonder…
Hi Bob,
Thank you for your comment!
What you describe could definitely happen. Of course, if most eBay sellers are like us, we are WAY too busy to be playing the game of buying from your competition to just try and knock them down a peg or two. And who is going to spend the money to do this?
Just a thought…
Hi
I’ve just started a business account on eBay. The problem is that I am selling something a bit unusual. Distant healing. What I can give is healing for many illnesses with good results but many are skeptical. I’m not sure on how to attract enough people to prove that I can help them. I’ve listed my business under health and beauty and alternative health with a low fee to try to attract people but so far with no success.
Hi Heather,
Welcome to Lizard Wisdom!
You are going to have a hard time selling your product on eBay. This is going to be something that people are going to want to talk to you about and get some reassurance that it will work for them. eBay is probably not the ideal venue to sell your product.
You might want to try a stand alone website where you can really go into depth about the products and services you offer. Of course, you will have to know what you are doing with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and you might even want to do some pay per click advertising through Google, Yahoo and Microsoft to drive the traffic to your site.
It is going to be a challenge to get your message across to a large enough audience. However, if you feel that there is a large enough potential customer base, then you ought to give it a shot. eBay just probably isn’t the place for what you are selling.
Hi again
Thank you for your help. I didn’t feel that eBay was the right place for this either. How do I advertise on Microsoft, I am on Google and Yahoo at this time? The healing that I do has moved very slowly into America but as I have said everything is so slow. I will persevere with my work and if anyone is interested to try it, send me an e-mail. Privacy honoured.
Hi Heather,
Microsoft’s paid search is called Microsoft adCenter. We don’t have any experience with them, but if you are currently using Google Adwords and Yahoo Search Marketing, Microsoft shouldn’t be that hard.