The 80-Character Constraint
eBay gives you 80 characters for a title. That's it. Unlike Amazon, where you can pack 200 characters with keywords, eBay forces you to make every character count. Most sellers either waste space on filler words or stuff so many keywords that the title becomes unreadable to humans. Both approaches lose sales.
The goal is a title that Cassini's algorithm can match to buyer queries AND that a human scanning search results immediately understands. These two goals aren't in conflict — a clear, well-structured title performs better on both. The trick is knowing which words to include, which to cut, and which belong in item specifics instead.
Start by counting characters in your current titles. If you're under 70, you're leaving discovery potential on the table. If you're over 80, eBay is silently truncating your title in search results, hiding your most important words.
The Winning Title Structure
The structure that consistently converts follows this pattern: Brand + Model/MPN + Key Descriptor + Size/Color/Variant + Primary Use. The first three or four words matter most because they're what buyers see when scanning results on mobile, and Cassini gives slight extra weight to early title words.
Example: instead of 'Great running shoes sneakers athletic footwear gym' (keyword stuffing), write 'Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 40 Men's Running Shoes Size 10 Black'. The second version tells both the algorithm and the buyer exactly what the product is, includes brand and model for high-intent searches, and specifies variant details that match filtered queries.
Notice what's missing from the good example: filler words like 'great', 'quality', 'new', and redundant terms. Buyers don't search for 'great' — they search for specific brands, models, and descriptors. Every filler word displaces a word that could earn you a sale.
Use Item Specifics, Not Title Space
Many sellers cram size, color, material, and condition into the title because they're worried buyers won't find them otherwise. But Cassini filters on item specifics, not title words. If a buyer filters for 'Size 10' and 'Black', they'll see all listings with those specifics filled in — regardless of whether the title contains those words.
Move every attribute that has a dedicated item specific field out of your title. Size, color, material, style, condition, and brand all have specific fields. Reserve your title for the terms buyers actually type into the search bar: brand, model, product type, and defining features.
This frees up precious title space for higher-value keywords. A title that reads 'Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 40 Running Shoes' (with size and color in specifics) leaves room to add 'Road Racing' or 'Cushioned' — terms that capture additional search intent without sacrificing clarity.
Test and Iterate
Title optimization isn't a one-time task. Use eBay's Terapeak and your own listing analytics to see which search terms drive traffic and sales to each listing. If a high-value term isn't in your title, test adding it. If a term is in your title but never drives traffic, replace it with something better.
Run controlled experiments: change one title element at a time and watch impressions and click-through rate over two weeks. Resist the urge to rewrite everything at once — you won't know which change drove the result. Small, measurable iterations compound into significant visibility gains over a few months.
Remember that the best title is the one that earns the click AND the sale. A title optimized purely for impressions that disappoints on the product page will hurt your conversion rate, which Cassini penalizes. Balance discovery and clarity, and you'll outperform sellers who optimize for only one.