eBay® PowerSeller Business Practices FOR DUMMIES®

Chapter 18. Writing Effective Listings

Why is it that some eBay sellers are successful while others can't seem to move their similar items? I get e-mails every week from sellers who just can't figure out why their listings aren't generating sales. For some reason, they're not moving items as quickly as they feel they should. And they sense that other sellers are highly successful despite those sellers' confusing and overly graphic ads.

This quandary sets the stage for the advice in this practice. Your item listings become your face to the buyers, and your auctions reflect your image. When you walk into a retail store; the dé cor projects an image. A visit to K-Mart (with the Blue Light special blaring from above) will give you an entirely different feeling from the one you get when you stroll into Nordstrom (when you're lulled into shopping paradise by the music of a pianist at a grand piano). This is your listings' goal: to make prospective customers feel comfortable spending their money with you.

Creating Unique, Eye-Catching Listings

As a seller, you may be tempted to adopt the selling style of other people whom you perceive as successful (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?). But have you done the research to see whether the "professional" you're tempted to emulate is truly a "success"? Heck, even the pros have been known to do it; in my early days on eBay I tried copying the style of a seller who listed hundreds of items a day. (Hey, learn by doing.) But no matter ...