A good example of why we stress the value of presets (XPOST)

[thekloset]

*I'm going to cross post this over at K's too because *I* think its important and an excellent example with screeshots.

it dawned on me, particularly since GRIFF didn't get it (at ALL) when I read this that some of our members weren't here during the roll out of Item Specifics, and don't get, or don't fully understand the value of choosing a preset choice in item specifics.

community.ebay.com/t5/Weekly-Chat-with-eBay-Staff/Weekly-Chat-with-the-eBay-Community-January-28-2015/td-p/23560179/page/4

post 62

what the record guy is explaining is that once the space was deleted in speed, EXISTING filled in specifics *with* the space, are not in the drill down on the side bar, they became unspecified (or other). he points out this was an UNANNOUNCED Change---important because when tweaks were made later our categories, they were also UNANNOUNCED, and clearly, still affect people today who didn't notice or didn't fully update--I just saw a "florals" yesterday looking at something for someone.

you can see what he's saying right from griffs screen shots...its a great illustration.

it works the same way in the clothing categories, which is why Zoe and I beat the presets to death. they are not intuitive--if you type in Chicos, and ebay has it listed as Chico's, you wont be in that side drilldown, drastically affecting your visibility.

it is a fact that there have been similar, minor tweaks to our IS's since the initial rollout...plurals were dropped, colors were added, etc. while it seems like such a minor thing, if you have older or handtyped listings that still says "Blacks" for color, you wont been in that box on drilldown. of course your listings still show up on broad search...meaning, if someone types in Black Chicos Top, it should come up, but if someone type in chicos, chooses the black shade, you are beat-because you aren't Black, you are Blacks--and the words aren't interchangeable. it is equally a problem for those of you who THINK its the right thing to type your own in...if, for example, your chico's top is actually Black and Red, and that's what you put for color, you will not be found on drilldown by the buyer who picks black OR red....your buyer will see you if the type it into the search bar, but not on that drilldown. (its fine to type it in, as long as its exact to what ebay has as a choice)

frankly, while most buyers probably look for something by typing into the big search bar, its human nature to narrow the 293,938 returned result by using the sidebar-be it size, color, whatever. so a strong title AND preset item choices are extremely important-you want people to find your item, regardless of how they choose to construct a search.

I hope that all helps to clarify and helps you sell better. its an important topic that is often misunderstood, particularly if you weren't around at the beginning.

[zoesam]

Wow, that's scary that Griff doesn't understand. It most certainly DOES impact search results & Kloset is completely correct.

*I* still have old templates that have the colors in plurals, but of course I change them before listing. It's very easy to slip through without an exact match.

It SUCKS that they made that change to the records category without telling the sellers, I'm gonna have to post that over on my EBAY music board. It shouldn't be AS big of a deal if you are selling rare records, only b/c the buyer is probably searching for the name of the record & there won't be 200K results, but it IS a big deal in clothing!

[thekloset]

i was stupefied myself.

i'm also hilariously laughing that "he just found out YESTERDAY" about enforcing the text in pictures and demotions.

YESTERDAY!

what a POS.

[Deleted]

Well put, Kloset!

The IS are one of the main reasons I think using the SYI form at least occasionally is a good idea.


It is updated before any secondary listing programs. So I noticed the lack of “s” on colors there within a couple days of the change and was able to go bulk edit my listings to the new un-plural IS.

[Deleted]

I always use the dropdowns and rarely type anything in, except the brand if it isn't listed.

I often cringe as I select orange for a coral item, or geometric for a colorblock item, I feel like I'm just asking for a snad. Of course I put the correct color/print in the title, but we all know buyers don't always read.

[RetroMonde]

Are you saying that a year or so ago, IS may have said "reds" but they changed it so now it says "red" but it didn't update the old IS's, so when I'm resisting older stuff, I need to go thru my older listings one by one and fix them? Frick... what a time suck. I hate doing item specifics; that's what the darn title KW's are supposed to be for. It just seems like I'm entering the same info over and over.  

Sandra 

[zoesam]

Jan 30, 2015 8:24:55 GMT RetroMonde said:

Are you saying that a year or so ago, IS may have said "reds" but they changed it so now it says "red" but it didn't update the old IS's, so when I'm resisting older stuff, I need to go thru my older listings one by one and fix them? Frick... what a time suck. I hate doing item specifics; that's what the darn title KW's are supposed to be for. It just seems like I'm entering the same info over and over.  

Sandra 

Yes.  Not "may have been", they were. All the colors were plural & now they are all singular.  I just did it when I relisted, so I didn't do them all at once.  Much easier to do 5 or 10/day.  

[zoesam]

Jan 30, 2015 7:04:15 GMT @odyssey said:

I always use the dropdowns and rarely type anything in, except the brand if it isn't listed.

I often cringe as I select orange for a coral item, or geometric for a colorblock item, I feel like I'm just asking for a snad. Of course I put the correct color/print in the title, but we all know buyers don't always read.

You can always create a custom IS for those situations. Still choose from the dropdown, but create a custom one that's called Shade or Color Detail or whatever & put in coral. Just don't do it INSTEAD of the main IS's.