Little tip for selling your boat on Ebay

[oGaryo]

The boat's just sold and looking at the amount of exposure on Ebay I guess it's no surprise why.. over 6000 page views in 28 days and 160+ folk watching the advert with 7 offers plus loads of enquiries... Just a little tip I thought I'd share with you to put some hidden boaty related words at the end of your listing to maximise the number of hits you receive.

To understand what the jeffin L I'm on about, go to my now expired listing here click just after the (advertised elsewhere) wording at the end of the advert, keep the left mouse button held down and drag the cursor down the page to highlight what appears to be blank space... it'll reveal a few buzz words that will make sure your ad pops up when someone searches on them so long as they have the 'include description' selected in the search (most folk do this)

Sometimes peeps haven't made their minds up what to buy, doing this helps them decide once they've found your advert with a picture that grabs their attention as the one shown in the search results. If they never stumble upon it, they'll never enquire obviously.

hope that helps if you're considering selling your boat on fleabay.

oh yes, to hide the list of buzz words, just checnge the font colour to white once you're done entering them.

 

[lanerboy]

very clever gary will have to remember that one

 

[Glyn-2008]

Now I really like that, thanks Gary, could be useful for all sorts of things.

 

[Bubblegtt]

Thanks for the tip and I will use that when I put my car on ebay in a couple of months

 

[Bru]

Your sales success might also have something to do with offering comprehensive information neatly and clearly laid out without stupid fonts and silly coloured text and the links to a bunch of youtube clips showing both fun and practical aspects of the boat

A very good example of a very good advert (ebay or otherwise) which a lot of sellers could learn from IMO

 

[lovezoo]

What a naughty boy you are - anyone who tries this should be prepared to have the advert pulled by ebay if they spot it.

 

[oGaryo]

What a naughty boy you are - anyone who tries this should be prepared to have the advert pulled by ebay if they spot it.

crickey, you're right I've done the white on white text thing a good few times now and never been asked about it by the Ebay plods but a quick search on their policy reveals it is in deed frowned upon, see here 4th bullet point down in the not allowed section under keyword spamming..

It would seem I'm not the ebay messiah after all, I'm a very naughty boy

 

[oGaryo]

Your sales success might also have something to do with offering comprehensive information neatly and clearly laid out without stupid fonts and silly coloured text and the links to a bunch of youtube clips showing both fun and practical aspects of the boat

A very good example of a very good advert (ebay or otherwise) which a lot of sellers could learn from IMO

thankyou

 

[CobraYellowfin]

Can I suggest something else?

CLEAN THE BOAT!

I had been looking at eBay for some months before I bought my little 'YellowFin'
(Four Winns 180)
Can't tell you how many pictures I saw of filthy boats!
It is simply amazing that some people won't Spend a couple of hours to present the boat properly

Ok... Rant over

Andy

 

[paultallett]

Gary..... Thats pure Jedi mind tricks!! Respect!!

 

[Mistroma]

I remember that this trick used to work many years ago until search engine operation was improved. They actually penalised this behaviour by downgrading these pages (i.e. Pushing them way down listings instead of putting them at the top). In fact, they probably ignored the worst pages completely.

Very old idea and I can see why eBay wouldn't want people to use it. Listings wouldn't be boosted in Google or other search engines. Don't know about searches within eBay so it might work there (but be frowned upon if spotted by eBay).

Of course, eBay is such a big source of stuff for sale that Google etc. might not be filtering their stuff in same way they used to handle individual small web-sites trying to use these ideas.

 

[Chrusty 1]

Gary..... Thats pure Jedi mind tricks!! Respect!!

Don't talk daft!........Whoever heard of a Jedi called Fat Gary?

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

crickey, you're right I've done the white on white text thing a good few times now and never been asked about it by the Ebay plods but a quick search on their policy reveals it is in deed frowned upon, see here 4th bullet point down in the not allowed section under keyword spamming..

It would seem I'm not the ebay messiah after all, I'm a very naughty boy

The reason that ebay don't like it is because google don't like it - and ebay do not want to be penalised by google...

Cheers
Jimmy

 

[lovezoo]

The reason that ebay don't like it is because google don't like it - and ebay do not want to be penalised by google...

Cheers
Jimmy

Its nothing to do with google - ebay don't like it because they want people to actually find what they are looking for when they search on ebay, rather than 100 listings for brands you have never heard of.

If for example you were looking for a Rolex watch, you want to find Rolex watches, not listings for Chinese watches that say "not Rolex, Gucci, Cartier" etc at the bottom, which is what would happen without that rule.

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

Its nothing to do with google - ebay don't like it because they want people to actually find what they are looking for when they search on ebay, rather than 100 listings for brands you have never heard of.

If for example you were looking for a Rolex watch, you want to find Rolex watches, not listings for Chinese watches that say "not Rolex, Gucci, Cartier" etc at the bottom, which is what would happen without that rule.

I get the point about ebay controlling their own searches - but google is the higher power here, and they actively penalise sites that try to manipulate their own spidering, including hidden keyword stuffing achieved through the manipulation of foreground and background colours.

Cheers
Jimmy

 

[lovezoo]

That is very true, but I doubt that ebay have more incoming searches from Google than they have searches on their own site.

 

[matt13]

Gary I wish my advert is as succesful as yours. Ive got 8 days left on ebay and it has only had 199 views with 6 watchers and no questions.

Its been on the market for nearly a year and I have tried to give it maximum exposure, shes been up with 2 different brokers (at seperate times), I also created a weebly webpage a few months back where I also did what you did and put relevant words at the bottom of the page to boost SEO but google does not show this site at all. However if you Google 'Karnic 2050 for sale' its top on the first 4 results and the first 2 google images are of my boat, page 2 of google, which granted most people do not see are of my youtube videos of the Karnic. I reduced the price twice, the only very low offer I have received was from a guy who had seen the boat on youtube and messaged me via that.

Quite surprised with the lack of interest for a very well maintained, cracking little sportsfisher. Not sure what else I can do, im hoping that the final reduction in price will stimulate some interest so for you to sell your boat in such a short time is great!

 

[Lakesailor]

Here's an opposite view.
I have my little simulated clinker GRP boat for sale at present. Not on ebay as it happens but on "other" free sites. I'm not bothered about selling it really, but if I don't use it a lot it's pointless hanging on to it.
It seems that people looking for fishing-type boats expect them to be absolute pants and be able to bid you down on the price.
If it's clean and tidy and doesn't need any work doing it seems to put them off.

I've had viewings. They know the price. There's nothing wrong with the boat.
It's prhaps the "get it for a song and do the work and flog it" brigade.
Perhaps I should break something and give them a negotiating tool.

 

[old_salt]

The boat's just sold and looking at the amount of exposure on Ebay I guess it's no surprise why.. over 6000 page views in 28 days and 160+ folk watching the advert with 7 offers plus loads of enquiries... Just a little tip I thought I'd share with you to put some hidden boaty related words at the end of your listing to maximise the number of hits you receive.

To understand what the jeffin L I'm on about, go to my now expired listing here click just after the (advertised elsewhere) wording at the end of the advert, keep the left mouse button held down and drag the cursor down the page to highlight what appears to be blank space... it'll reveal a few buzz words that will make sure your ad pops up when someone searches on them so long as they have the 'include description' selected in the search (most folk do this)

Sometimes peeps haven't made their minds up what to buy, doing this helps them decide once they've found your advert with a picture that grabs their attention as the one shown in the search results. If they never stumble upon it, they'll never enquire obviously.

hope that helps if you're considering selling your boat on fleabay.

oh yes, to hide the list of buzz words, just checnge the font colour to white once you're done entering them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All the hidden text:-
monterey bayliner sportsboat yacht sailing crew oars dinghy outboard diesel cummins yanmar honda anchor cruiser sealine searay sea ray cranchi fairline ship targa sterndrive bravo bavaria doral houseboat jetski inflatable princess sunseeker barge watersports powerboat speedboat waveline rya mercury marine four winns yamaha wellcraft chapparal evinrude jeanneau jenneau chrus craft cobalt regal mariner maxum stingray waterski doughnut ropes sea lake mariner deckboat bassboat planing hull

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Would it make any difference if you put all that in clear text anyway.
and what would it be?
Extra cost or ebay agro or in clear would it not work?.

 

[Spi D]

Its nothing to do with google - ebay don't like it because they want people to actually find what they are looking for when they search on ebay, rather than 100 listings for brands you have never heard of.

+1

I, not you, know what I want to find.

I really dislike redicolous attemps to manipulate me