Antique brooch jewelry

ANTIQUE BROOCH VERY DIFFERENT


ended - Thursday, May 29, 2008

Auction grade: D-

Starting bid: $0.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is some kind of antique piece of jewelry. Virtually nothing is known about this brooch as the seller didn't provide us with any useful information.

The auction's title is a start for the seller's lack of words or a description for this pin. Words like "jewelry", "pin", or even "fancy" have been omitted from the title. Instead, the seller chose a very simple title with only two main key words.

Here's all that the seller wrote for the description:

"ANTIQUE BROOCH VERY OLD AND IS VERY DIFFERENT THEN I HAVE EVER SEEN, REALLY NEAT BROOCH"

In addition to writing in all capital letters with a larger than average font and therefore insulting our (the buyers) intelligence, the seller failed to mention anything specific about this item for sale nor create any desirability for this piece of jewelry. The actual picture of this brooch also isn't that great as it's very hard to make out any details.

So with virtually no good information in the description and a bad picture of the item for sale, what could the seller have done to make this into an auction with a much greater chance of selling for a decent price?

First, the seller needs to learn how to take better pictures. When it comes to selling items online, it's critical to have at least one good picture that clearly shows off the details and/or any special features of the item for sale.

Second, the seller needs to learn how to do online research to find out basic information about the item for sale. This isn't rocket science and with only a few minutes of work it's fairly easy to find out even the most basic details about virtually anything. Doing so will help you think of different terms and key words to use in the title and auction's description. This may also help you think of a selling technique to help market the item, which brings us to our next point.

Third, this seller needs to create desirability for this antique piece of jewelry. Whether it means talking about how nice and stylish it'll look on a shirt or as pair of a decoration in your hair, you need to give the potential buyers reasons on why they should buy this product from you. Remember that eBay doesn't do any selling by itself. You're the one responsible for marketing and selling your items!

Fourth, and last, if you're unable to find out any specific information about an item for sale, make an educated guess. Let the buyers know that you're guessing, but tell them what you honestly think about the item for sale. NOTE - Be careful when using this technique and make sure you do research first. You can really make the buyers insulted if you're guessing is way off.

To me, it looks like the main decoration on this brooch is one of those thin and decorative, hand held Chinese fans. That kind of information would be good in the description and title.

It's a little surprising seeing a PowerSeller with this poor of an auction. Then again, many of the seller's previous auctions involve this poor layout and selling style. At least one auction earned the seller a piece of negative feedback because the seller wasn't clear in the auction. The title said one thing while the description said something else. To top it off, the seller's response to the negative feedback criticized the buyer for not paying attention in the auction.

The lesson to sellers is this: Pay attention to what you're doing!