We would like to thank everyone who attended the DIT webinar and asked us some really interesting questions. We had so many that we, unfortunately, didn't have time to answer them all. So here is a quick Q&A post to answer all the questions we didn't manage to get to and go over the ones we discussed in the webinar too.
- Which elements are most important for SEO success on eBay?
Hard one to answer, you need to do a good job on all of them. Whilst having a rich keyword title and best practice Item Specifics, if your ratings are not great you still won’t be ranking as high you potentially could
- I understand how SEO on eBay works and that sales history and feedback is key but as a new seller with zero sales history how can I build these quickly?
Sales velocity and building feedback are key. Ensure you are ready from day 1 to promptly answer questions and aim to exceed your seller’s shipping time expectations. Look to list cheap, popular products that are likely to sell quickly. Also consider using promotions such as Sponsored listings to boost your ranking – you can ease off the spend as they start to place higher, naturally.
- Will my listings rank reasonably high if I focus on what is required but don’t have time to do the rest?
Given that many sellers only complete the minimum ‘required’ Item Specifics and a handful of recommended ones, investing the time, wherever possible, to complete more Item Specifics will contribute towards helping your listings to rank higher in search and be found more easily by buyers, increasing your potential sales. It is an opportunity to gain an advantage over your competitors that could reward you significantly for the time invested.
- If titles are supposed to be a certain length, won’t adding words for the sake of it harm your listings rather than boost performance?
No, optimising your titles up to the full 80 characters in line with the best practice we covered during the webinar is the way to go here. Sometimes, it’s as simple as adding an additional keyword or Item Specific to your title.
- Is there a database or tool to check for items/products images and barcodes to use instead of creating my own?
If you are creating listings manually, the eBay listing wizard will show if the item is already in the eBay product catalogue and you can use those details but you should still add your own. For help with Barcodes / GTINs, you should speak with our partners, GS1 - www.gs1uk.org. Optiseller can also help by verifying that the GTINs you are using a valid and identify where you are missing any on your listings.
- Is it possible to see a publisher tool where I can enter all my products details and share them with sites like eBay and others?
What you are describing here is a middleware or listing tool, through which you can manage multiple e-commerce channels, including eBay. They enable you to manage your product data and orders in a single place. There are many tools out there that can do this job, with a wide range of functionality and pricing.
- Can I deploy insurance on shipments and returns?
When shipping higher value items, it is worth considering using a service that includes insurance to cover some or all of the value of the item. If you choose to offer a pre-paid returns service, you can also include insurance should you wish to do so. If you are not providing a pre-paid return, it is up to the buyer to choose a service.
- What about sales of foodstuff, like honey or syrups?
By populating Item Specifics, including good quality images and everything else we covered, your products will rank higher and be seen as more trustworthy to a potential buyer. This applies in every category.
You can sell food items on eBay but must ensure that you include all ingredients, especially highlighting any ingredients that may cause an allergic reaction (e.g. containing nuts). You should also carefully manage use by and expiry dates to guard against poor feedback. Before listing any food items, we recommend that you read eBay’s food policy: https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-items/food-policy?id=4295
- Are food items any different... is there a do and don't regime to follow?
As above, particularly the eBay policy for food listings
- Can I link to other cloud-based items details pages within my product description page?
No – eBay does not allow active content on listing pages including links to pages/sites outside of eBay.
- Why does eBay allow certain sellers to use branded/watermarked images, such as "ToolStation" and "BuyaParcel" etc... They still rank highly in search results?
Sales history can play a major part in why the listings are still ranking highly despite using branded/watermarked images. However, while there's no specific penalty in search for watermarks, it does lower google quality scores so eBay pushes less external traffic to these listings. Additionally, user research shows that buyers dislike watermarks and logos as they make the seller look less professional.
- The 'Theme' section of the Item Specifics, if you are not selling an item with a particular character/theme, such as plain leather shoes, which is what my company sells on eBay, what can be entered in?
Always best to use one of eBay’s drop-down values wherever relevant, which could be “MODERN” in this case. However, you are also able to enter your own free-text value that best describes the item.
- I use Codisto... is that better to use than directly doing the work on the back end of eBay?
This really depends on your individual situation and other systems/channels being used. It’s worth checking with Codisto (or other 3rd party listing tools) what the best way is to update your eBay listing is so that you don’t risk any changes you made being overwritten.
- Can you give some advice on how to generate product reviews? Some products have them and some do not! What should sellers put in place to enable product reviews to be left?
Not much you can do here, eBay will ask buyers to leave reviews as part of the feedback process but there isn’t anything you can do individually to increase the uptake.
- Are there any recommended keyword finder tools that are good foreBay? Similar to Jungle Scout, Helium 10, Uber Suggest?
Try Terapeak, which is free for business sellers with a Shop subscription.
- When you first start on eBay and have no ratings, how do you build initial trust?
First of all, ensure all that descriptions, Item Specifics, delivery times etc are completed and your product stock quantities are updated as frequently as possible.
You may want to consider starting by listing small, easy to ship items, cheaply just to build volume of listings and positive feedback. Also, using a listing template with your logo and business details will portray a professional, trustworthy business and help to differentiate yourself from private sellers.
Most importantly, ensure from day 1 that you are on top of customer service and can meet shipping expectations. It’s worth contacting buyers after they receive your item(s) to politely ask for their feedback as well.
- Hi, thanks for some great info. I am used to maintaining our 'Fast N Free' badge but now the new '3-day delivery' label is used, how do I get this?
Please see our recent blog post from last month for more details on this:
https://optiseller.com/blog/ebay-new-shipping-badges/
We hope you found this helpful and we appreciate all of the interest we have had in eBay SEO. If you want to check out our first DIT webinar, watch it here.
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