Re: Google Shopping Attributes and Ebay listings

mediafromthepast · Posts: 43

I recently posted several items for Google Shopping and found out that so far,6 of the items that were processed,were not processed correctly,that happened after I got a lot of advice from Ecrater sellers..
I never understood why Google Shopping makes is SO DIFFICULT to post a simple item on Google Shopping,but all of the EBAY-and AMAZON items are posted on Google Shopping with no problems.. It looks like Ebay,and,Amazon don't have to go through all of the "Hoops,n,Hurdles" just to post a simple item..(like a $2.00 magazine) Google will just put what is written on the Ebay listing feed.. No Codes are needed..NO ISBN.TGINS,etc..Just a Title,and,Photo..
This Google Shopping problem has always been a challenge for me,and it still is..What a mess.
Thank you all for your help..
I think I will just do without GS.

SammysSupplies · Posts: 1631

I think the search results can be messed up with hyphens, like this item: http://mediafromthepast.ecrater.com/p/23116705/blake-lively-vogue-usa-february-2009, I think that Lively-Vogue-USA-February is read as one word, which would make it very hard to find. If you list it with the hyphens on eBay maybe they take them out when submitting to gs. Same thing with all caps, gs does not like it, maybe ebay changes when submitting Looking at the items that do show up, all hyphens have a space next to them. Of course we are all just sellers trying to help one another, you can always ask staff.

tigercreekgifts · Posts: 6293

The hyphens in the product URLs are put there by ecrater since spaces are not considered as valid characters for a URL. So if you type a title like this:

Red Coral Gemstone Necklace

In the URL the browser will fill in the spaces with hyphens instead like:

red-coral-gemstone-necklace

Since capital letters also do not matter in URLs as they are not case sensitive.

Now if you created a product title on ecrater and put hyphens between each word, or the seller creates their titles with no spaces but a bunch of odd characters between each word it will cause problems, like the listing associated with the URL Sammy provided.

Something like this:

Black-Collectors-Star-Wars-Shirt with Red/Green/Blue Colors

now that would cause a problem with search as ecrater's search would read that as:

blackcollectorsstarwarsshirt with redbluegreencolors

Because ecrater's search function is very picky and sensitive. If you type in Dollhouse you may get 438 results but type in Doll House as two separate words and you may only get 131 results. You can also accidentally mispell a word by one letter and the ecrater search will return no results for some mispelled words but not all. I wish they would fix that because other sites see, to know what you meant to really type in and they say did you mean Stares or Stars. But I imagine it would also cause some problems with google shopping results because in this case google will remove all the - and / that you place in your titles and just run those words together and as usual, replace the spaces with hyphens so the URL may look like this:

/11245889/blackcollectorsstarwarsshirt-with-redbluegreencolors

and google would only return results for your product if someone searches for all those words all ran together like word salad and no one is going to search for something without typing in spaces between each keyword.

SammysSupplies · Posts: 1631

No, this is the title: Blake Lively-Vogue-USA-February 2009 Not the webpage address and GS stated that they think all caps is spammy, I have no idea how much editing eCrater does when submitting, but it would make sense to just do thing the right way instead of relying on other to do it.

tigercreekgifts · Posts: 6293

SammysSupplies · Posts: 1631

Which is what I said.

tigercreekgifts · Posts: 6293

And to the OP, it does not matter if you decide not to comply with google shopping, you are never going to get sales either way unless you change those titles and remove those hyphens as no one will be able to find anything of yours in search. So remove the - between your title words or you can leave them as is but if a year passes and you only have 1 sale, you'll will know why.

tigercreekgifts · Posts: 6293

mediafromthepast · Posts: 43

THANXXXXX VERY MUCH for all of the help,,FRIENDS!!
(I didnt expect it)
Its funny because when I use to sell on Ebay,I posted ALL of my items this way,and,im sure that they were posted on Google Shopping this way.. I guess that there is some sort of a PASS that Ebay,and Amazon have for posting on Google Shopping... Oh well,Thats the way it goes... THANXXXXXX again friends... No further,follow-up posts are needed for me on this subject..
THANXXXX
Chloe

mediafromthepast · Posts: 43

At one point in time I DID have a few Google ADWORDS accounts..
They were VERY SUCCESSFUL at getting all of my items listed on the Google Ads Platform (up-to-the Ying-Yang) The only problem was,I DIDNT get any business because of those listings..
The bottom line is,Even if I Do,or Dont learn how to use the Google Shopping Data upload system,the end result will be The Same.. that is,Eventually,I will STILL need a Google Adwords account in order to get my Google Shopping Products listed on Google Shopping,so,I figure,I will just drop Google Shopping altogether,and just List the items on Google Adwords.. I already have an account with Adwords,anyway.. I figure that the costs will be the same..
I want to THANK you VERY KIND FOLKS for taking the time to help me with this problem.. You are Very much Appreciated!!
XoXo-Chloe-out

tigercreekgifts · Posts: 6293

Oh you don't need an adwords account to get your products listed in google shopping, you just have to fill in attributes correctly and remove any odd characters from your titles as like I said before, here in ecrater those hyphens and slashes will make all the words run together and mess with your search and sales. Once you have been selling on here for a while, ecrater will add a new function to your admin section allowing you to pay higher marketplace fees to get better placement in google and it's WAY cheaper than adwords.

I mean, you can still use adwords to get better placement for your items in google organic search but the attributes are for google shopping. I pay a higher marketplace fee and some of the money I pay ecrater from that, they give it to google to give me better placement and let me tell you, my sales have skyrocketed lately, and you can choose which level of payment you want to make. The traditional 2.9% marketplace fee which gets you regular placement or 5.9% 8.9% or 12.9%. But you have to stay here for a while to get this feature. I pay 8.9% and my stuff went from being 4th place on the first page of search results or 2nd place on the 2nd page of results, to almost always being in the 1st to 3rd positions on the front page of shopping.

Also, some of my items are showing up in organic search better than before and in image search, items that were never shown there before. Google has even placed a few of products in the featured box at the very top of organic search, you know the blueish gray box with sponsored ads? And I didn't even pay for adwords to get that. So if you stick around and give google shopping a chance, they do tend to favor merchants who have constant sales and they will occasionally put one of your items in a featured spot for free that usually costs the seller 5 to 60 cents per click. They have even used some of my photos as a display photo for their category choices when searching for a product on google shopping that has many types available. Like they used my photo for my crystal bead hoop earrings for their crystal earrings category.

Seriously, give it a try. It doesn't work good for all sellers, many have complained about it not doing a darned thing for them mainly because you have to work your A-double-S off to get that kind of result, but some sellers have awesome luck with google. They are bringing me so much business right now it's unreal. But whatever you choose to do, I wish you good luck and hope you have many sales. You seem determined and seem to know exactly what you want for your business.

tigercreekgifts · Posts: 6293

By the way, not to intrude but may I make a suggestion?

I noticed in your terms page on your store you state that you do not ship to Hawaii or Alaska. That is a requirement here on ecrater and you can actually get suspended for not shipping there or for denying orders. Because ecrater automatically allows shipping to those two states and you cannot turn that off so if someone orders from you in Alaska or Hawaii and you refuse the orders you can get suspended until you remove that info from your store.

You have the option to charge a higher price for those two states, even if you use the matrix or flat rate shipping, so you can still accept orders from there just change the shipping price to be a little higher if you desire. But the only shipping method that charges higher rates based on zones like Alaska and Hawaii is regular priority mail and parcel post too I think? But first class and priority flat rate and media mail are the same for all destinations right now.

I mean your customer is the one paying for the shipping, so if they are willing to pay whatever you ask, then why deny them buying from you? They pay what you ask, and you stick their order in the mail, the USPS or FedEx or whatever, handles the rest for you.

SammysSupplies · Posts: 1631

Well, eCrater is not eBay and it doesn't work the same way. You don't have many items listed and it won't be much of a chore to update your listings. Just remove all the hyphens or make spaces before and after them, and make spaces between all words. Any change excites google bots, that always helps.

mediafromthepast · Posts: 43

THANXXX for the Email,'Tiger"
I'll remove the Alaska-Hawaii restriction..
I didnt know that info regarding Google Shopping..
I'll look over my listings tomorrow and make the changes..
Thanx,again
Chloe

mediafromthepast · Posts: 43

THANXXXX Sammi!
I'll make the changes.
Chloe