posted on July 3, 2003 10:17:07 PM new
I may not be as smart as the rest of you (but at least I am not condesending about what I THINK works)because seems to me, different things work for different people at different times and although there are strategies, this internet market is static and unreliable. I do feel most buyers do not browse by Catagory (unless they are very well versed in doing so and know exactly what they are looking for and in - and what percentage is that?) so what you get in the Title is way more important than the catagory.
Any thoughts, anybody?
(Am so tired and bored of listing already. Will probably miss the holiday stay-at-homers by not doing so right now. Maybe I'll stay on this thang all nite.)
posted on July 3, 2003 10:32:17 PM new
I hate catagory listings - way too broad. I search for keyword in the title. On rare occasions if I am searching both title and description I may limit is to a catagory to narrow the results but if you look at the multitude of different catagories pople imagine to be the correct one for some items, I would think that a catagory search would be pretty useless.
Mario Andretti - “If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough.”
posted on July 3, 2003 10:36:59 PM new
Thanks, Neon. I hardly ever search by category, too. But Lane was saying his reasoning for listing so many of one item, was to try out different categories. That didnt make sense to me.
posted on July 3, 2003 10:37:36 PM new
It even pays to look for items that can be misspelled. I can't remember when I searched a catagory unless it is in the jewelry catagory and then I go by designer. What I do is go into the signed catagory and just search the designer. It weeds out the ones you don't want or care about.
posted on July 3, 2003 10:46:45 PM new
There are thousands of different ebay categories now. Anyone that searches only by category is doing themselves a grave injustice. I like Lane Family is full of hooey.
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Sargent Stadanko
Senior Investigating Officer, Internet Fraud Unit, International Web Police.
posted on July 4, 2003 06:30:28 AM new
I don't search by catagory initially, but I do as a secondary method to narrow things down. On the left side of the browser, after you do a word search, ebay shows you the matches in specific catagories.
For example, I just looked up Schoolhouse Rock. I got 79 matches. If I was looking for Schoolhouse Rock music, I click on the "Music" catagory under entertainment. Now I have it narrowed down to 5 auctions that may have Schoolhouse Rock music. If you had a CD listed in the wrong catagory, you missed out in this case.
posted on July 4, 2003 06:41:42 AM new
Lane, I am sure you are trying to impart your knowledge here,but I feels' kinda talked down to when you disagree. Are you a lawyer? :-0)
posted on July 4, 2003 06:44:47 AM new
Rob
I do the same with searching. But as other's pointed out, you can miss things that way because people post in the wrong or different categories.
posted on July 4, 2003 07:49:05 AM new
I rarely buy, but when I do I do a keyword search and then narrow it by category if I need to. Like when I was trying to buy my kid an American Girl doll... it was so hard to find the auctions that were just dolls, and not clothing for them. In the end the prices were the same as retail so I ordered one direct.
BUT, as a seller... one of the items I sell is wienermobile banks. I used to put them in the advertising or bank category and they didn't sell that often. But I saw someone else had gotten good money in the toy truck category, so I tried it there. The selling price doubled what I normally asked (and didn't often get). So I listed in that category and it did it again. I have had a lot of luck selling this particular item in that category, though I don't know how it qualifies as a truck.
And my ET stuff wasn't selling, until I put it in the metaphysical category. Then I was able to sell some, not alot, but more than in the toy category.
So in my opinion, keyword searches are the most popular... but some buyers must be browsing the categories as well. And sometimes if an item is placed in a different category than it normally goes in, it will do better.
posted on July 4, 2003 09:00:19 AM new
deltim, well said and I agree with you.
I have counters on my auctions and many times if the hits seem low or there is no bidding activity I move the item to another category, sometimes with surprising results.
