eBay has finally made my life harder as a buyer (it started with DSR’s) by defaulting to Best Match when I search for something. I like the old search, how dare eBay tell ME how relevant the items are to my search.

It’s here, its default and as a buyer I don’t like it. As seller it means that my goodness is rewarded, however annoyed my buyers are at eBay changing their default view.

Who moved my eBay items? Adapt or perish!

So, how do we de-code eBays mind? Lets hope we are better at mind reading than eBay’s Best Match.

What you DO need for Best Match:

- Powerseller Status (this might be a conspiracy theory)

- Keyword Relevancy (for example on searching for Harry Potter Lego, the first items had the three keywords first….get you some valuable keywords)

- 100% Feedback (all of the first items shown in my research had 100% feedback, if your competitor is beating you on feedback, start beating yourself with a stick. Annoy more than 2% of your customer base in 30 days….bye bye sales)

- Supply and Demand (something in short supply, and high demand will bode well)

- Bargain-ous (The word is made up, but finally some old skool values, if your a bargain compared to the average sale price, your OK)

- Good DSR’s (Oh hell, who cares about those annoying little stars which prevent me from leaving feedback in a hurry? Best match cares, it likes good seller performance – 4.8 = survival)

- Honest Shipping (Free shipping, fast shipping at a fair price)

- A decent finishing time (another timeless classic I was afraid we had lost)

How you can perish on eBay:

- By upsetting eBay (any policy violation, name calling, kicking the eBay mascot ‘snuggles’ will kill you in Best Match)

- Bad Keywords (check out the uncommon keywords at BayEstimator)

- Fiddling with stuff (eBay likes consistent history, for example price, shipping, hair colour etc)

- Bad seller performance (hiccups can kill you, check out the DSR calculator)

- Selling in the wrong category (school kid error, stop it!)

- Being far away from your buyers (eBay, you have missed the point of international trade, but the closest guy/gal gets it. No way you can affect this one)

On another note, it has took me far to much time to find an item I wanted for my wedding this evening. Eventually I found it on the 30th page. Until buyers start being more relevant with their searches, best match is about as useful as a chocolate teapot.

Be like water my sellers, adapt, change and hope eBay doesn’t algorim itself into an early grave.