In case you're not sure what "keyword spamming" is, it means using words that aren't appropriate for an item in the title and listing. For example, if a seller is offering a watch that is similar to a "Gucci", (in other words, a knock off), he might use the word "Gucci" in the title, and describe it as "cheaper than Gucci", in his listing. His hope is that folks looking for a real Gucci will see his listing and somehow, magically, be coaxed into bidding on his watch instead.

Go to eBay keyword spamming to see a recent example of how a seller of a Nokia phone tried to 'cheat' by mentioning Siemens, Sony, Ericsson, Panasonic and Samsung, in an attempt to get bidders to look at his Nokia instead.

This practice was rampant on eBay in the early days, but no longer. eBay will definitely cancel an auction immediately for keyword spamming. Supposedly, for repeated infractions the seller will be suspended. To read eBay's rules:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-keywords.html

Can you get away with this practice? Realistically, yes – at least for a while. After all eBay has millions and millions of listings, and the chance of the staff finding yours, unless it is prominently featured, is slim. If you are very successful, though, you can be sure of gaining attention from your competitors, at least one of which will certainly report you to eBay. So, keyword spamming in your title is definitely a short term strategy.

However, there IS a way to “legally” compare yourself with your competition inside your listing, and that is to use a comparison chart or table in your eBay description. In this example, a seller in the ultra-competitive diet pill category is favorably comparing her product to three others. Assuming that she is telling the truth about her statements, eBay has no problem with her listing. This is definitely a strong sales tactic.

So, keyword spamming is a short term tactic of dubious value, and has no place in a long term eBay business plan.