1978 Kiss trading cards

1978 KISS ROCK BAND UNOPENED PACK


ended - Saturday, May 31, 2008

Auction grade: D-

Starting bid: $5.00

Final selling price: $5.50


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a set of unopened Kiss bubble gum trading cards from 1978.

Aside from not typing in all capital letters, the seller needs to find a way to add "trading cards" into the title. If there's enough room "bubble gum cards" would also work. No matter what, you always need to mention the actual item for sale in the title.

The actual description for this item is a lot worse than the title. One of my rules is to never mention yourself or your company before talking about the item for sale. It's fine to add it in the description to help the potential buyers decide to buy from you, but you never want to talk about yourself first. The buyer clicked on the item to learn more about it, not you!

So why does this description suck and need to be rewritten? Here are some items needing immediate adjusting:

1) Everything it typed in all capital letters (big no-no in the online world).

2) There's absolutely no spacing between sentences, making it hard to read what this person is trying to say.

3) The actual item information is very limited and the fourth and fifth sentences in that giant mess of text.


Here's all that the seller could say about this item for sale: "JUST PURCHASED A UNOPENED 1978 KISS ROCK BAND PACK.NEAT ITEM."

That's it. All of the other text deals with the seller taking about his company, shipping and payment information, and other items for sale. There's no information about this package of playing cards or even any basic information about Kiss.

The problem with being this basic and non-descriptive is that unless you're already a huge fan of the rock band, there's absolutely no desirability in this auction. Nothing in the text or picture wants to make you place a bid. It's a workout reading through the unorganized (and at times grammatically incorrect) text and it leaves you more depressed than anxious to buy the item for sale.

I know that this is a PowerSeller who apparently does quite a bit of business each month here on eBay. Almost all of this person's other auctions are listed in the same format, so obviously this person isn't going to be changing their ways anytime soon. After all, why go through the trouble of changing when you're already pulling in good business? The answer is in the form of a pair of questions: How much more money could you be making if customers weren't turned away by the fact that the auction is very basic and hard to read? Is it worth it taking the extra couple of minutes to present a much better looking auction that creates desirability and makes even more people want to buy from you?

If this were my auction, in the description I would first mention everything that I could about the actual trading cards in the first paragraph. After that would be a small paragraph either talking about the rock band or card collecting in general. If I had the extra time I would probably talk about both subjects and how the cards are an investment and appreciate in value. Finally, after creating that high level of desirability I would talk about my auction company. In this case, bullet points showing off the high levels of business and customer satisfaction rating would be excellent.

Remember, sell the product first and then yourself second. Most people don't shop by looking at eBay user names but by the title and picture of the items for sale. People are there to save money and acquire rare and hard-to-find items.

Had it not been for the clear picture of the unopened trading cards, I would have given this auction a failing score. Between the title not mentioning the actual item for sale and the horrible text in the description, this auction has a lot of areas for improvement.