Auction 411

TITLES
The best and most successful auctions are the ones that are written with a powerful title and informative descriptions. These titles and descriptions are no different from regular forms of advertisement — they need to be able to pull in the customer, grab their attention, give them enough details to make an informed decision and then finally, be able to close the deal. If you master writing effective titles and descriptions, then you’ll be turning a profit in no time!

Titles are the first words your customers will read about your product. Actually, it could be the only thing they see as they peruse through the ebay listings, since 90% of all buyers search the titles, not the descriptions. You have only 55 characters (letters) to use to capture the buyer’s attention, so make them count.

First, you need to know your eBay product (See, I wasn’t kidding when I said you should do your research). Enough so that you know what are the most common words people will be using when searching for your product. Once you have pinpointed which words those are, include them in your title. Official names, nick names, year manufactured, color, size, condition are all common types of keywords used in effective titles. We suggest creating more than one listing for each product so that you can test more thoroughly which titles work the best for your product — this is what we call A/B Testing, which we will go over more in depth later (for now, just think of title 1 as “A” and title 2 as “B”).

One of the best things for you to do is to also think like a copywriter. Ask yourself — what are words that will attract buyers? Attention getting words like — Free, New, Bonus, Extra, Deluxe, Rare — as long as they also give an accurate description of your product! The better you know your product, the easier it will be to come up with these words. Also, remember to use common words. i.e. instead of using Argentine Musician, you should use Argentina Musician.

Still having a hard time finding words? Well, let’s cheat a little bit and use a thesaurus. There are also synonym finder programs or other reference books you can find out there on the web. We sometimes recommend using the thesaurus when you have an extremely popular item and you want to be able to distinguish yourself from the other listings a little bit more.

Here are some Don’ts: Don’t shorten the true titles of the products you’re selling! For example, if you’re selling an iPod Nano, be more descriptive in your title by writing out “Apple iPod Nano 4GB mp3 Player.” You want to be able to use all the words that buyers will be searching with to get as many tries at their click as possible. Don’t use too many superlatives, as those kind of titles may sometimes seem too good to be true — which can turn off the buyer and force them elsewhere (i.e. “Best” iPod Nano Deal Ever).

DESCRIPTIONS
Now that you’ve got the buyer to click on your listing with your outstanding title, it’s time to actually sell them on your product. This is where a well planned out description comes to play. Accuracy and details are the most important elements you want to start off with in your description. For example:

• Name
• Condition
• Unique Characteristics
• Age
• Original Use
• Measurements. Be as accurate as possible and maybe use a point of reference in your pictures (i.e. a ruler)
• Value (not to you, but the market value for a similar product)
• Included Accessories (adds to the value for the buyer)
• Be Honest about any known defects or damage

Tip: You might want to include alternative spellings or misspellings of your product in your description. When someone searches those misspellings, you’ll be one of the few listings smart enough to show up.

Unlike the title line’s 55 character limit, the description page gives you an unlimited amount of space to try and sell to your customer. The first thing to do is know that your new visitor wants your product and that you need to prioritize the information in your description to give you the best shot of converting that new visitor into a new customer. Each new line you type in your description should be viewed as another shot for you to convince your visitor to buy. This is where the research we asked you to do before comes in handy (again).

Secondly, if you can write your description as an authority figure of your product, your description will come off more genuine and the visitor will be able to trust what you have to say. Being an authority figure will also give you the ability to write in a unique manner where the visitor will be able learn some valuable insight on the product they are about to purchase. You will be able to stress how owning your products will benefit them, instead of some generic listing which lists just the product features. Remember to be positive and keep your description professional. We’re not looking for any warm fuzzy stories about how you won the teddy bear while taking your ex-girlfriend to the carnival. To-the-point is the name of the game here.

The last section of your description should be your Terms of Service (TOS). This is where you set the rules for your store (a.k.a. the fine print that people should be aware of). Some examples of some TOS stores include:

• Bidding Restrictions: “No bidders with negative feedback”
• Payment Options: “No Personal Checks”
• Shipping/Handling Charges or Options

Your Terms of Service should be clear and detailed, and also not so intimidating that you scare away the buyer.

Finally, make sure you proof read your description. Nothing is worse than reading a description with poor spelling or grammatical errors as that is a great indicator as to how professional your store really is.

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