How to Improve Sales and Search Rankings on Gameflip

AngaBlueSoftware Engineer

17 February, 2022

Gameflip is an online marketplace, similar to eBay, that connects sellers and buyers looking for in-game items and digital collectables. With over 6 million users, Gameflip offers a huge audience and set of potential customers for sellers looking to flip their game items for cash.

However, in order to efficiently sell large volumes of items in competitive sections, you must master the art of being on the front page of Gameflip search results.

The Importance of Gameflip Search Rankings

Gameflip's in-built market search is by far the primary way potential customers can find your products. This is because once a customer finds what they believe to be a good deal, they're unlike spend extra time flicking through endless pages of other listings.

This is especially pertinent in saturated Gameflip markets such as Rocket League items, where hundreds of sellers are competing to sell the in-game currency, credits to thousands of buyers. On any given day, there can be over 5,000 listings for credits, meaning in order to sell products, your listings need to be seen first.

Tailoring Listings to Improve Sales

The easiest and quickest way to boost sales on Gameflip is by improving your listings. Listings are what entices a buyer to purchase your products, so they need to be interesting, informative and clear.

Custom Item Thumbnails & Images

The first thing a potential buyer will see before even clicking on your listing, let alone reading the title is the thumbnail. While it may be tempting to use the default Gameflip thumbnails for convenience, your listing will simply blend into a sea of identical and boring offerings. Instead, consider making your own, or finding custom thumbnails to use on your listings.

While using a custom thumbnail certainly sets you apart, here are some tips to make sure that you differentiate yourself in a positive way:

• Use bright colors to attract attention, but not too many to avoid overwhelming your customers.
• Keep text to a minimum. Remember, thumbnails aren't very big, so any text can take up valuable real estate on your image.
• Include an image of the product in the thumbnail. Buyers like to see what they're getting before they buy it, so it is essential that you make the picture of the product the primary focus of the image.
• Add a logo or store name to your thumbnail. Gameflip doesn't show your store name when searching for items so it can be hard for buyers to identify trustworthy sellers or stores they have bought from before. Using a name or logo helps bring back repeat customers who recognise your name.

Accurately Title your Listings

Right away, titles should include the following key elements:

• The name of the item you're selling.
• Any notable attributes that may be of special interest to a buyer. For example, in Rocket League, these may be Special Edition or Paint.
• The quantity for listings where you are selling anything more than 1 of an item at once.

Informative Descriptions

Descriptions are powerful tools that can drastically affect your sales on Gameflip if used correctly. When writing descriptions, you want to try to answer any questions a buyer may have before they even ask them. Including details such as how the item will be delivered, how quickly it will be delivered and any details on item quality of minor attributes.

You can also boost your search hits by including common names for the item that aren't already in the title. This ensures buyers can still find your item even if they don't use the name in the title.

Remember to Add Attributes

Attributes are the small tags attached to your listing that provide categorisations and extra information. Attributes include:

• Game
• Category
• Platform
• Tags (special game-specific attributes, such as Paint, Certification, Type, Rarity etc)

These tags are used by Gameflip and buyers to filter and search for items. If your listing is missing a relevant tag, it will be excluded from searches and you will miss out on extra sales. Make sure you add all relevant tags and attributes to your listings to cover as many search filters as possible.

The Power of Recent Listings

One of the most influential factors in determining the search ranking and visibility of a listing is how recent it is. On Gameflip, newer listings always perform better. Newer listings will of course be featured at the top of Most Recent sorting and are almost always at the top of Recommended (default) sorting. Don't believe me? Go to Gameflip and select a category. Any listing you pick on the front page will be posted a matter of minutes or seconds ago.

If you pay close attention, you'll notice many top sellers will delete and repost all their listings daily, or even more often. Long time sellers do this to capitalize on how Gameflip promotes newer listings and pushes old ones to the bottom. While this may seem tedious and a lot of unnecessary work, the results speak for themselves.

In order to reduce the amount of manual work, many sellers use bots and scripts that interact with the Gameflip API to automatically post listings. This allows sellers to:

• Post very quickly. An automated listing can be posted in 2 or 3 seconds with minimal or no user input.
• Create consistent listings. As mentioned earlier, ensuring that your listing features an informative description, accurate title and useful attributes is key to improving search rankings. Automated scripts can generate these tags for sellers to reduce inconsistencies.
• Automated listing bumping. Bumping, or deleting and reposting listings improves search rankings. Sellers who automatically bump their offers have more time to fulfil orders and interact with customers.

Automated Gameflip scripts and bots can be purchased cheaply and are worthwhile investments for any seller looking to move more than a few items a week.

Creating a Trustworthy Profile

The world of in-game item reselling is notoriously shady as many scammers use the anonymity associated with pseudonyms online to swindle buyers out of cash. While Gameflip is a very safe place to buy items due to their requirement for sellers to verify their identity, their buyer protections and refund program, some first-time buyers may be wary of buying in-game items for cash.

As a seller, you can build trust with a buyer in a number of ways:

• Verifying your account. An account verified by Gameflip is far more trustworthy than an unverified account as it shows you are a real and genuine person behind the store.
• Building a strong, positive reputation. Gameflip's reputation system not only affects search rankings but also improves trust with buyers. Creating a large set of positive reviews will improve your rating that is shown to all buyers. The best way to build up a good rating is by selling many small items that can be quickly delivered.
• Maintaining your online status. Using the mobile app, Gameflip allows you to set an "Online" status that appears on your posts and profile. This will entice buyers to shop with you to get faster delivery.
• Using cohesive and professional-looking artwork. Make sure you add a professional-looking profile picture and banner to your profile to ensure you look the part to customers.

Using these tips, tricks and tools you should be well prepared to sell on Gameflip like you've been doing it for years. Every bit counts, so be sure to squeeze as much out of the means that Gameflip provides to promote your listings. Good luck and happy selling!