eCommerce & Marketplaces 2 min read Sajid Aslam

How to Write Better eBay Product Titles

Eighty characters, all of it working. A structure that holds up across most categories.

Structure of an effective eBay product title

Short answer

Brand, then model, then what it is, then the attributes buyers filter by — size, colour, quantity, compatibility. Use all eighty characters on terms people type, and leave out anything that is marketing rather than description.

Eighty characters. Every one of them is search surface, and most sellers waste a third of them.

A structure that works

[Brand] [Model] [Product type] [Key attribute] [Size/Colour/Qty] [Compatibility]

Example:

Bosch GSB 18V-55 Combi Drill Cordless Brushless 2x 4.0Ah Battery Case

Every word there is something a buyer might type. Nothing is decoration.

The order

Front-load the terms most likely to be searched. Buyers scanning results read the first few words; truncation on mobile cuts the end.

Brand first if the brand is how people search for it. Product type first if it is generic.

What to include

  • Brand and model. The most searched terms in most categories.
  • What it actually is. "Drill", "dress", "bearing". Obvious to you, essential for search.
  • Size, colour, quantity. Attributes people include in a search.
  • Compatibility. "For iPhone 15 Pro", "Fits Ford Focus MK4". Enormous in parts and accessories.
  • Condition, if it is a selling point — "New Sealed", "Refurbished".

What to leave out

  • Marketing words. "L@@K", "RARE", "WOW", "BARGAIN", "MUST SEE". Nobody searches these.
  • Punctuation as decoration. Asterisks and exclamation marks consume characters.
  • "Free P&P". That is a listing setting, and it already appears in the results.
  • Your shop name, unless people search for it.
  • Unrelated brands. Against policy, detectable, and risks the listing.
  • Repeated words. No benefit; eBay does not count density.

Practical rules

Use the buyer's vocabulary. Your supplier calls it a "gasket set"; buyers search "head gasket kit". Search eBay yourself and look at what completed listings are called.

Check the autocomplete. Type the product into eBay's search box and see what it suggests. That is real query data, free.

Do not duplicate item specifics pointlessly. Specifics drive the filters; the title drives keyword matching. There is overlap, but a title that just lists specifics reads badly and helps less than a title that reads like something a person would type.

Write for mobile truncation. Most buyers are on a phone and will see roughly the first 50–60 characters in results. Everything essential goes early.

Testing

Search your own title and see whether your listing appears. Then search the terms you think buyers use and see whether it appears for those.

If it does not appear for a term that clearly describes your item, either the term is missing from the title or the relevant item specific is blank. Both are cheap to fix, and the listing checklist covers the rest.

Worked examples

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