- eBay Cassini: The monster that nobody knows
- What is eBay’s search algorithm?
- Prices
- Sold History
- Titles
- Images
- Increase CTR
- Unique (Collage / Watermark)
- Number of Pictures
- Alt Tag Keywords
- CTR + Conversion Rate
- Shipping + Handling
- Time
- Shipping Price
- Store Activity + Customer Service
- Daily Uploads
- Customer Service
- Fast Response Rate
- Newly Listed
- Seller Level and Quality
- Number of Item Specifics
- Mobile Friendly
- Loading Speed
- Images SEO in The Description
eBay Cassini: The monster that nobody knows
The first thing that we want to go through before we go to the 15 tips that we created for you is that eBay’s search algorithm is a hidden monster.
Nobody knows how this algorithm works; only eBay developers do.
So we need to understand that this is a secret algorithm, and everything that you will find in this article is from Lior Pozin’s experience of over 10 years of researching and applying many different strategies.
What is eBay’s search algorithm?
eBay’s search algorithm the eBay Cassini, is the system that shows your listings on the search results.
When you list a product to eBay, this algorithm the eBay Cassini is the one who decides your listing rank and where it should be on the search results.
Prices
One of the essential things on the eBay Cassini Algorithm is the prices.
We know that it’s hard for us as sellers or dropshippers to get low prices because it depends on the product and our suppliers, but you can always list your product at very low prices and when you get your first sale, and you understand why it’s essential, you increase your price step by step.
You can do it manually, or you can use automatic systems like AutoDS.com, for example.
Sold History
One of the most important criteria for our eBay listings is how many sells they already got.
As much as many sells we will get, we will be promoting more on eBay’s Cassini. The good thing about the Sold History is that you can check it very quickly.
You can go to ebay.com and write any title, and you will see that the first listings will always have sales history. The sold history is critical.
So first, try to get some sales history and only then increase your prices because this is critical for your search ranking.
We would even say that you should never remove products with sold history. Always try to improve them, maybe replace them with a different product that you still think that can sell for you.
Because if you already got sales history, it’s always better to improve this listing instead of removing it.
Titles
The title is one of the most critical things here as same on google, and in any other search algorithm and the title should be relevant to your product.
It’s recommended to put there up to 80 characters, which is the maximum.
Always try to put as many characters as possible in your title. Always put on the title keywords that describe your product in the best way.
If you are selling a table, for example, try to put the table color, the type of the table, the table’s mat, and so on.
Your listing’s title is the first thing that your buyers will see when they search for your product.
Your product keywords are what eBay Cassini will see and will show your listing according to these keywords, so this is important.
Put there as many keywords as possible, but remember that it should be something that humans can read!
Don’t just stuff the keywords without any meaning; try to put something that has a sense.
Images
Increase CTR
Images are something which can increase your CTR, and we will explain on the next secret what is this and why it’s so important, but in general, it is how many people will click on your product.
The images will show your customers what they will buy from you.
Unique (Collage / Watermark)
What we recommend you to do about images that eBay Cassini likes is to make them as unique as possible.
So if you have your products, take photos of these products to make them look professional.
If you don’t have your products, for example, you’re doing drop shipping, add your store’s watermark, which dropshipping software’ like AutoDS can do for you automatically.
With one click, you can create a collage picture, try to combine many images and make something exciting for your customers.
This way, you will look different from other sellers, and eBay Cassini will like it, and your customers will also like it.
Number of Pictures:
The next thing is that the number of pictures also affects, so when you list images, try to put as many photos as possible that describe your product in the best way.
Think about you as the buyer as a customer you always want to see your product from many different angles and many different pictures.
Alt Tag Keywords:
If you have images in your description, always try to put keywords on the images ALT Tag. AutoDS does it for you automatically.
If you use any other tool or you’re working with eBay directly, just put keywords on the HTML alt tag of the images; it will also promote your listings on Google as well as on eBay Cassini.
CTR + Conversion Rate
This one is one of the most critical secrets because all that we talked about before, like images and titles, affect this one.
CTR is the click-through rate, which refers to the ratio of the potential buyers who click on your listings.
The conversion rate is the percentage of the potential buyers who buy from you after clicking on your listings.
So as many clicks you get from the total amount of searches of your product, it’s better.
eBay can see that your title is right that the image is good and that you bring people inside your product, but don’t mislead your buyers!
Always remember to put keywords titles and images that really describe your product, don’t just put a red background or something like this to get more clicks it will not help.
You need to get more clicks but without black hat techniques and methods like this.
Always try to make your listings that if someone is going into the listing, they will buy it or at least add it to their watch list.
eBay likes when the conversion rate is high, and the CTR is high.
As much as these two criteria are higher, eBay will promote you more.
Shipping + Handling
Time
Shipping and handling times are crucial for us as drop shippers.
Always try to put as much lower handling time as possible and as lower shipping time as possible.
When these two parameters are lower, you will be promoted much more over your competitors. Because maybe your competitors are lazy or they don’t have time, so they put higher handling time, for example, four days so that they can have more days to process the orders.
You should always try to put the lowest handling time so you will be promoted more on eBay’s Cassini.
Shipping Price
If you have a shipping price, always add it to the cost of the product.
eBay likes when you offer your customers free shipping; they don’t like it when you try to trick your customers and add it as an additional cost, it’s always bad for your search ranking.
So always use free shipping, low shipping time as much as possible, again, don’t mislead your buyers; it’s dangerous for your eBay account in the long term.
If you’re selling from China, so put enough shipping time if you are selling from the United States with two-day shipping, so put as much as less as possible days.
Store Activity + Customer Service
These two things are essential, and this is something that a lot of people are missing.
You might be busy, or maybe drop shipping is not your primary business, but you should be like the regular stores.
Regular stores always have activity; they always get new products, remove old products, things are regularly changing. The same should be on your eBay store.
So here are our recommendations:
Daily Uploads
Always make daily uploads, every day your store should get new products, your customer support should work your VA’s who upload products for you or maybe if it’s still you so you should do this every day, it’s vital.
You can do your most important eBay daily task, the listing of products, automatically, every day using AutoDS Finder. Just set the time, create your recurring uploads, and forget about it!
Customer Service
Try to initialize communication with your buyers; don’t wait for them to send you messages.
If someone bought something from you, send them an automatic message or send them manually a message to congratulates them for their purchase and start the conversation with them.
it’s essential, and we see that it will make a massive difference for your account.
Read More – 5 reasons why customer service is the most important thing for your eBay store (eBay 2019 TIPS!)
Fast Response Rate
It doesn’t matter if your customers still didn’t buy from you or already bought and paid you.
Always respond to their messages, try to respond as fast as possible because this is something that eBay likes and promotes that they want excellent customer experience and customer service.
So always try to initialize communication with your buyers and answer their messages as fast as possible and in the best way and the most professional way that you can do.
Newly Listed
When you list a product on eBay, you will see the newly listed tag on your listing.
This tag promotes you much more than your competitors because eBay always wants to allow you to get some sales history by showing your product to potential buyers.
You need to understand that the time when most of the buyers buy on eBay, and this is from our statistic in AutoDS, is 6:00 PM.
6 PM is the average, and maybe it’s different for some niches or some specific products.
So always try to list your products around 6 PM. even 1 hour before so you will get promoted.
More and more people will see you at this time because this is the time when most of the activity happens on eBay, and most of the people are buying on eBay.
Again this is from our experience and our statistics in AutoDS.
Seller Level and Quality
eBay promotes you not only by the parameters of the products that you listed but also by the seller activity and quality.
You always need to upload tracking numbers on time. Some dropshippers are not doing that. It’s dangerous for their accounts.
You need to have a low late shipment rate; it means that you always need to send the products on time, and you need to have a low defect rate.
If someone opens a case about you, try to respond as soon as possible even if you have a 3-5 Days window. You should respond to them as fast as possible.
If you don’t respond at all, it’s more dangerous and may lead to a permanent suspension.
Never let eBay close the case without your response and always try to respond as fast as possible.
Number of Item Specifics
The number of items also affects your eBay listings. Cassini looks at some things there and eBay in general.
If you have more item specifics, it means that you spend more time on your eBay listing.
eBay likes when you work on your listings, and you did not just throw them there without knowing what you do.
The more item specifics you have, the better, It is why we spent a lot of time in AutoDS to develop a feature that copies item specifics from your competitors and your suppliers automatically.
You should put as many keywords as possible that describe your product.
The main thing that eBay filters check is the item specifics, so you want to help eBay to find you so they can show you on the search result.
It is why we always recommend you to spend time and improve your item specifics as much as possible.
Mobile Friendly
Make sure that your listings are mobile-friendly. The vast majority of buyers are buying from their mobile phones.
It is where we spend all of our time during the day, and this became our new computers.
so make your listings mobile-friendly make sure that your templates are mobile-friendly.
Loading Speed
You want to use templates that are loading fast, eBay doesn’t want the buyers to wait a lot of time until the listing will get shown to them.
We don’t recommend you to use cumbersome templates with a lot of images and photos.
Use a maximum of one image in your description and very low templates. You need a small weight template.
Images SEO in The Description
If you have images in your description, put keywords in the alt tag of the photos. These keywords will also promote you in Google and on eBay.
Conclusion
Hooray! Now, you know the 15 Secrets of eBay Cassini. Are you ready to take your eBay business to the next level? Learn all there is to know about eBay dropshipping from these insightful articles:
- How To Dropship On eBay – Step By Step Beginner’s Guide
- 7 Essential eBay Tools Every Seller Should Have in 2022
- Top 12 eBay Dropshipping Suppliers To Boost Your Sales In 2022
