#ebay pricing

Ever feel like a zombie who has been buried alive?

When your eBay item is relegated to page two or three of search results, that’s what it feels like.

I wondered why my Nintendo DS Professor Layton games weren’t getting more hits so I decided to plunge into eBay’s listing analytics software. Digging a little deeper, I searched for my own items and found that I wasn’t appearing anywhere near the top of the eBay search results pages.

eBay has a good help center with tips for sellers who want to improve their position in search results. Here’s what eBay has to say:

Offer good prices and reasonable shipping

Provide good service

List in the right format and the right categories

Write accurate and relevant titles

Write clear item descriptions

Include great photos

State your terms clearly

The thing that popped out to me was pricing, including my shipping fees. My base price was good. It was a buck or two less than most others. However, my flat rate shipping of $4 might have been a problem, so I switched both games to free shipping.

The change immediately upped my position in search results. I’ll be very interested to see if this helps generate more interest and a few bids. Photos don’t mean very much with video games, so I only have one photo with these auctions. However, maybe a second photo would improve my search results position even more. Of course, a second photo costs a little.

Also, when I started these auctions I should have realized how many other eBay sellers are trying to get rid of the same DS games. I’ve sold a lot of items where there weren’t that many other listings. In those cases, getting on the first page of search results is not a problem.