With so many different Marketplaces to choose from, it can be difficult to know where to focus when it comes to where to place your products. Amazon is the obvious choice for most sellers, but as we mentioned in our article on the importance of Marketplaces, Amazon should be a channel, not the whole business. eBay and Wal-Mart round out the giants, and once you are firmly established on Amazon, they are the next logical step. Most people think only of Wal-Mart and ignore eBay. Many white label sellers believe eBay isn't for them. We disagree.
eBay was started by Pierre Omidyar as a way to provide easy access to open markets. It started as garage sale, or better yet, an auction, with people offering broken items, antiques and collectibles, and other used pieces. Many still view it in this light, which is why it is ignored.
But in 2022, eBay is a serious contender, with 110 million unique monthly visitors, many of whom use eBay as their only online shopping destination, and is the 3rd most visited eCommerce site. With so little attention given to the site and so many eager buyers, how can a forward looking company take advantage before the secret is out? Start with showing your product to the right people at the right time with SEO.
List It
Amazon sellers are already familiar with SEO. Take keywords about a product, place them in the correct place, and an algorithm determines what the product is and who needs to see it. The listing setup on eBay is vastly different than Amazon though, and getting SEO correctly requires a bit of a different approach.
Every listing on eBay is generated by completing a one-page form. In that page, you have to insert your keywords in a way eBay recognizes and still makes sense to the shopper. Unlike Amazon, there are no "back-end" keywords. We'll take you through a listing and show you common mistakes and how to improve.
Title - We picked a listing of Nike shoes. Listing creation starts with the title, and that is the first location for a search engine optimized listing. eBay gives us just 80 characters for the title, so we have to be smart about this. This listing starts out strong, with the Brand Name first followed by what it is. Then we run into an issue.
They have used sz in place of size. They have done this as a way to save room, even though 2 characters are left and it could have been spelled correctly. Even if they had no characters left though, the use of sz is not a good idea. First, no one is searching for sz as a stand in for size. Also, they have used a - to show the range of sizes they have available (7.5 - 14). Again this is wasted space, because later on, we get the opportunity to tell eBay all the size we have available. Next, we see a string of numbers. Again, this is wasted space, because this turns out to be the MPN (Manufacturer Part Number) which again, we get a space for that later on. Finally we see IN HAND, meaning the person has it ready to ship and is not drop shipping or buying then selling. If this needs to be said, the description might be a better place for it.
Removing everything wrong in this title, we would be left with 31 characters. How might we make it better? If we were writing this, we would turn it into "Nike Air Jordan 1 Retro High OG Bred Patent Mens Red / Black Basketball Sneakers"
Most shoppers will not use the apostrophe when searching for a possessive. We add in the colors (red and black), uses (basketball), and other names (sneakers). While these might typically be a collectible item, there are some people who may wear them, and we want them to be able to find these as well.
Subtitle - Don't use it. We've experimented with it and have achieved no difference in sales.
Custom Label - SKU. This is where the MPN number should have went. If you have a SKU you want to use, this is the place. UPC comes later.
Category - Pick the correct category for your product. If you feel it applies in more than 1, pick another.
Variations - This is where we get to input our sizes. Other variations can be placed here as well such as color, design pattern names, storage size and more. The eBay algorithm will pick this up and not show your product if the variations available do not match the search. If you offer bandanas in red, green or blue, and someone searches for pink bandana, you will not show because your color variations do not match the search. This is important to reduce wasted ad spend if you are using Advanced advertising (See our article on eBay advertising)
UPC - If a product has a UPC, place it here. This does not come into SEO much, but eBay can use it to a very small degree.
Condition - If you are a white label seller, choose New. With this here, New is not necessary in the title, since anyone search for filtering for new will get this result because it is chosen here.
Images - Next are images. Just like Amazon, images tell a big story in a small amount of space. Way too many sellers skimp here. It is common to see a product with bad lighting sitting on a couch. Take advantage of the fact that a white background is not required and make the listing stand out. Selling shoes? Place a basketball beside them. Selling bandanas? Place one on a model's head.
We also recommend the other images be infographics or lifestyle photos about why your products are the only real choice. Here is a great article from Venngage on how to make amazing infographics and another article on lifestyle photos. The Gallery Plus option should remain unchecked.
Item Specifics - This section changes depending on the category selected.
Brand - Your brand name.
Size - Since we listed the sizes as a variation, this would be left blank. If only one size were available though, it would go here.
Style - If a product comes in different designs, choose the most relevant design here. You can type in your own or choose from a list.
Color - Most colors are pre-loaded, but if a product is multi-colored, you can type in your own.
Department - Gender or age distinctions can be made here.
Type - This is asking again for the type of product being used. We have now mentioned the words sneakers and shoes, so look for another word which applied. In the case of shoes, it could be heels, flats, high tops, etc.
After this, there are hundreds of boxes which may appear, depending on the category. We won't go through them all, but there are two guidelines. First, if the box is irrelevant, leave it blank. Second, if it is relevant, try to find a word that has not already been used (like we did with type above).
Item Description - This is where we can really communicate with shoppers. Before starting this, do some keyword research to know key phrases that customers might search for when looking for a product. Look for ways to naturally weave those phrases into the description.
Many sellers throw in a block of text here. As we mentioned before, shoppers love images. so more infographics and lifestyle photos make sense here as well. The first step is to click HTML (don't worry, you don't need to know HTML to do this). Next, use this free HTML tool to design easy templates that give you a splash of color. The tool allows you to easily copy and paste code into the description block.
Now What?
After the item description section, eBay will take you into the price and availability section. Everything in this section to the launch button plays no role in SEO. Since most sellers start on Amazon, we often make comparisons to help those new to eBay understand the concept. But if you are considering eBay as your next Marketplace, realize that they are different and require different tactics to achieve success. If working with someone who already has the knowledge to optimize Amazon, eBay and other Marketplaces sounds like the right move, consider ARSN Digital to help grow your sales.
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