Optimising eBay Listings
What Cassini actually rewards, and why copying web SEO tactics onto a marketplace listing does nothing.
This is an implementation example, not a client case study. It describes how this work is actually carried out — the method, the sequence and the reasoning. No client is named and no result is claimed, because inventing either would make it worthless as evidence.
eBay's Cassini does not rank listings the way Google ranks pages. It weights relevance, seller performance and — heavily — the listing's own conversion history. Applying web SEO instincts to it is why a lot of listing optimisation produces nothing.
- Project type
- Listing optimisation across an existing catalogue
- Sector
- Online retail
The challenge
Listings written for a human browsing a shelf, with titles full of marketing words and half the item specifics blank. They are invisible in filtered search and carry no conversion history to build on.
The objective
Listings that appear in the searches buyers actually run, then convert well enough that Cassini keeps showing them.
Approach
Start from how buyers search rather than how the product is described internally. Then treat conversion rate as the compounding factor it is — a listing that converts gets shown more, which gives it more chances to convert.
Implementation
Titles
Eighty characters, and every one of them is search surface.
- Lead with what the item is, in the words buyers use
- Include brand, model, size, colour, quantity — the attributes people type
- No marketing words. "L@@K", "RARE" and "BARGAIN" consume characters and match nothing
- No keyword stuffing with unrelated brands, which is against policy and detectable
The test: would a buyer type this? If not, it is not doing work.
Item specifics
The most under-used lever on the platform.
Filtered search is how a large share of buyers browse, and a blank specific removes the listing from that filter entirely — regardless of how good the title is. Fill in every specific that applies, including the optional ones.
Photography
- Well-lit, on a clean background for the primary image
- Multiple angles, including anything a buyer would want to inspect
- Honest about condition on used items, because a surprise becomes a return and a return becomes a defect
Description
Answer the questions that otherwise arrive as messages: dimensions, compatibility, what is included, condition detail. Every question answered in the listing is a message not sent and a sale not delayed.
Price and postage
- Priced against actual sold listings, not active ones
- Free postage where the margin supports it, since it is a filter buyers apply
- Returns accepted — it is a ranking and conversion factor
Conversion is the compounding part
Cassini weights how a listing performs. Impressions to clicks to sales. A listing that converts gets shown more; a listing that does not gets quietly buried.
Which means the highest-leverage optimisation is usually not the title — it is whatever is stopping people buying once they arrive.
Technology
- eBay Seller Hub
- Terapeak
- Listing templates
Decisions worth explaining
Item specifics prioritised above title rewriting
A blank specific excludes the listing from filtered search entirely. That is a larger effect than any title improvement can offset.
Titles written from buyer vocabulary, not product naming
Internal product names and marketing language match nothing. The title's only job is to intersect with what people type.
Conversion treated as the primary optimisation target
Cassini rewards listings that convert with more impressions, so conversion improvements compound in a way title tweaks do not.
What it produces
Listings that appear in the filtered searches buyers actually use, with the conversion barriers addressed so visibility compounds rather than decays. No ranking or sales figures are claimed — nobody controls marketplace search results.
What it teaches
- Item specifics beat titles, and almost nobody completes them properly.
- Marketing words in a title are wasted characters.
- Conversion is the compounding variable; impressions follow it, not the other way round.
- Accepting returns is a ranking factor as well as a service decision.
Related services
Related guides
eCommerce & Marketplaces
eBay Product Listing Optimisation Checklist
Everything worth checking on a listing, ordered by how much it affects whether you get seen.
eCommerce & Marketplaces
How to Write Better eBay Product Titles
Eighty characters, all of it working. A structure that holds up across most categories.
eCommerce & Marketplaces
Common eCommerce Listing Mistakes
The mistakes that cost visibility, the ones that cost sales, and the two that can cost you the account.
eCommerce & Marketplaces
How eBay's Cassini Search Engine Ranks Listings
Cassini does two jobs: deciding whether your listing appears at all, then deciding where. Knowing which one is failing tells you what to fix.
