What eBay Do Not Want You To Know About Best Match

Best Match is the system according to which listings are returned in response to searches to ensure a better experience for eBay buyers. eBay introduced the Best Match search method in 2006 testing it in regional markets and finally making it site-wide in 2007.

While there was initial seller resistance to the system it has proved to be a workable and fair system.

The first thing to note is that Best Match is not the same as Google Search, which is entirely based on matching words and phrases, uniqueness, arrangements of words and paragraphs, internal website links and external links. eBay Best Match draws on word matches to a much lesser extent and instead brings other criteria into play.

eBay gives advantages to sellers whose deliver a high level of customer satisfaction according the Detailed Seller Ratings, so that sellers with high seller ratings (calculated over the previous 30 days) receive more exposure in the listing. Usually about half of all sellers meet this criterion.

The flip side of this arrangement is that
1. sellers with more than 5% dissatisfied buyers in the 30 days preceding the search and
2. sellers who have low ratings according to the Shipping & Handling Charge Detailed Seller Ratings

get lesser exposure on eBay best match search result. Decreased seller ratings will mean decreased visibility.

Everything else being equal, including price, and time ending, the seller rated lower in either or both of these ratings will be sorted lower that of the other seller. Buyer satisfaction is not the only feature of eBay Best Match.

Keyword relevance is important (although not as important as it is for Google Search). Historical buyer behavior on eBay for similar searches may also affects your search result ranking.

If your listings are not ranking high in eBay search results, you should address all the following factors and try to improve them through competitive pricing and better service. The factors to address are:
• Keywords
• Item specifics
• Price and shipping costs
• Feedback
• Detailed seller ratings
• Shipping & handling detailed seller ratings
• Return policies

Also make sure that the form of listing, the auction end time and the all-round presentation of the listing is user-friendly and logical. Bear in mind that the philosophy underlying Best Match is “relevance”. Make each and every piece of information you key in regarding your product entirely relevant. Do away with superfluity.

Nobody knows exactly how eBay Best Match works. If your listing is not “working”, i.e. not attracting buyers, then before blaming Best Search you should “rethink” every details, descriptions and photos of your listings too.

If a product is search for, found and bought then this will reflect in the rankings. If a product is rarely searched, sometimes found and rarely bought then this will be factored into relevance calculations and therefore might display higher on the page in subsequent searches.