Monday, July 28, 2008

German / Soviet POW story


WWII booklet/book! PRISONER OF WAR! STORY! NEAT!


Auction ended: Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Auction grade: D-

Starting bid: $0.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a book about being a Soviet prisoner-of-war during World War 2. There's just one minor catch with this book - it's written entirely in German.

For starters, this auction's title is very childish and does very little to sell the product or even capture your imagination. "STORY!" and "NEAT!" is just plain dumb when talking about a person's ordeals through one of the world's largest and costliest conflicts. This technique is also insulting to those people who have an actual interest in this subject. "German", "Soviet", and "Russia" would have been much better words in the title.

The auction's description is also horrible. At no point does this seller even try to describe this book or make an attempt at selling it. According to this seller, this is "a REALLY NEAT WWII BOOK" about "A STORY ABOUT A PRISONER OF WAR!" that is "INTERESTING READING!!!" and "READY FOR YOUR COLLECTION!!!" (in there twice, so it must really be important).

This is complete crap when it comes to marketing the product. You can easily tell that this seller has not done any product research and, apart from looking at the barb wire on the cover, knows nothing about this book or the author. When it comes to selling a non-fiction book, it definitely helps to have at least a little bit of background information about the person who went through the experience and wrote the story.

Apart from the horrible title and description, the seller did a good job with the pictures and low starting bid.

So can this auction be salvaged and turned into a winner? I honestly don't know.

The main problem with this auction and item for sale deals with the book itself. This is a book written in German (no English translation as far as I know). That problem alone is going to vastly limit the target audience here in the U.S. There are many people interested in P.O.W. stories, but the language barrier is something very hard to overcome. This seller would probably be best off marketing this book to high school and college foreign language departments, though it's probably too advanced or difficult for most of those students.

If I were to pursue this auction, I would just include it in a lot of other German or World War 2 books and other small items. It's easy to find basic information about the seller and talk about that in the auction's description, but that alone won't make the sale. If you're not knowledgeable about this author or subject, it's not worth it to take the extra time to educate yourself. You could be marketing other items instead.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

plush Oscar Mayer Wienermobile toy


OSCAR MAYER WIENER MOBIL PLUSH NEAT COME AND SEE


Auction ended - Friday, July 11, 2008

Auction grade: D-

Starting bid: $0.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a "gently used" plush Oscar Mayer "Weinermobile" toy.

For starters, the auction's title could definitely use some improving to help appear in more eBay searches. "WIENER MOBIL" is best off being one word and spelled correctly as "Wienermobile". There aren't that many items for sale related to this unique car, but it's still necessary to at least spell it correctly.

This seller is also unnecessarily wasting space by doing something like "COME AND SEE" in the title. Considering that this is a rather unique item for sale, a generic eye-catching phrase like that isn't really that useful. Now if this seller was selling something more generic such as clothes or a decoration, then a phrase like that could be more beneficial. In this case the seller could add more search engine relevant terms such as "toy", "car", "unique" or even "hot dog".

The auction's description is almost non-existent. The only new information that's not in the title is that this is a small toy and in great condition. Otherwise, what is written there is in one giant run-on sentence.

The description is the perfect spot to spend a few minutes and tell us potential buyers a little bit about this one-of-a-kind vehicle that has captured the imagination of many people throughout the last seventy years. A little bit of research can go a long way. Remember that you're not only educating the buyers and adding value to this item, but you're also adding more search engine key words and terms.

The description is also the place to use alternate spellings of this famous car. Not everybody searching for an item like this one knows how to spell it correctly, so in the description you might casually reference other spellings such as "Weinermobile" or "Wiener Mobile".

This seller's picture taking skills could use some enhancing. The carpeting is a good background, but the first picture is blurry and both pictures need to be zoomed. Too much of the background is showing in the pictures.

The last area of correction deals with all of the text relating to shipping, payment, terms of sale, and about the seller. To cut right to the point, the seller needs to learn to organize her thoughts and write clear sentences. The seller spends way too much time and energy trying to explain all the ways she can be helpful with shipping, but it gets confusing after a while. Rethink your thoughts and write a few sentences as clearly as possible. You can even use bullet points if necessary.

The last thing you want is for the potential buyer to reach this point of your auction and suddenly become sad or confused. This is when you want the buyer to be happy, pumped up, and ready to place a bid. If they see something that makes them think twice about committing to the sale, they're probably going to leave your auction. You did all that work to get them there, don't let them leave after making it all the way to the bottom of the auction!

"At this point in time I will only except PayPal, Money Orders and Cashiers Checks. I DO NOT except personal checks, so please don't ask!"

On a final note, it's "accept", not "except"!

Monday, July 7, 2008

D.R.G.M. tin railroad watch tower


Antique Bing Tin Tinplate Railroad Watch Tower


Auction ended - Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Auction grade: C

Starting bid: $69.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is an antique tin railroad watch tower.

The title for this auction looks pretty good. The seller seems to have hit most of the major key words and search terms based on the item's description. However, some really good key words are missing, but that will be addressed in just a bit.

The item's description is also pretty good. The seller seemed to do a reasonable job telling us some details about the item for sale. The description isn't exciting and doesn't really create that "must have" feeling, but basic details about the watch tower are there.

I would like to know how the seller can back up this claim: "Very unique hard to find piece." A statement like that implies that the seller did research into the product, but if that was true, then the seller would have mentioned more information about the history and approximate age of this vintage item. The seller would have also discovered more key words for the title.

So far the auction looks pretty good. However, this is the part where the auction takes a turn for the worse and the seller drops the ball on doing some research.

Basic Internet research shows that "D.R.G.M." stands for "Deutsches Reich Gebrauchsmuster", known in English as "German Reich Registered Design". This abbreviation was used on items manufactured in Germany between 1890 and 1945. The seller would have to do a bit more digging to find exact information about this particular item, but knowing the year range is a good start.

The other problem with this auction deals with the pictures. It's good that the seller took multiple pictures of this item. But if the pictures are blurry, from bad angles, and obscured by reflections from the flash, does it do any good to even use pictures? No, it will only waste your own time and money. The best approach is to invest in a small tripod and learn to take longer exposure pictures that don't use the flash. Natural daylight will provide an ample amount of light, and using a tripod will greatly help keep your camera steady and the pictures in focus. This seller may also want to make a designated picture taking area complete with a neutral backdrop. In addition to looking bad and unprofessional, having other items not for sale in the background will confuse some of the potential buyers.

Overall, this isn't that bad of an auction. Additional work on the seller's part will help increase the value of this railroad watch tower and bring in buyers searching for different terms. The extra bit of research is definitely worth it for items with high starting bid prices like this one.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Toy WW2 era cannon


VINTAGE WW 11 ERA SMALL WOOD CANNON 8-1/2 IN LONG NR


Auction ended - Thursday, July 3, 2008

Auction grade: D-

Starting bid: $1.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a wooden toy cannon. The seller claims that this toy is from the 1940's though nothing in the statement backs up this claim.

For starters, if you want to market something as being from the Second World War era, do not type it as "WW11". That is flat out wrong! "WW2" is fine along with "WWII", but do not substitute the I's with 1's. In addition to severely limiting yourself in the search engine, this is also insulting to the veterans who served in the war. If you're going to use that time period to help market your item, you could at least learn how to use a proper acronym.

In addition to correcting "WW 11", "IN LONG NR" could also safely be removed and substituted for words such as "toy" and "collectible". Don't waste space in the title when there are still search engine relevant terms not being used.

The auction's title has two main goals:
1) Get the auction into as many different searches as possible to maximize its visibility.
2) Be attractive enough to capture a buyer's curiosity enough for them to click on the link.

The auction's description is a complete pile of unorganized mess. The first sentence briefly tells us about the item for sale, though there really isn't any new information. It's just a repeat of what is already mentioned in the title. The only new thing is that we now know this is from an estate sale.

The rest of the description is the seller rambling on how he goes to auctions and estate sales for the purpose of reselling items. By doing so for apparently over thirty years he's accumulated a bunch of stuff, so now he's selling a bunch of it to make some room at his place.

Psychologically, this seller would have been better off not telling us his life story about buying items for dirt cheap and then reselling them to other people. By doing so the seller presents himself as one of those "shady salesmen" who just want to make a quick buck and move on to the next person. People are less inclined to buy from someone they see as a "middle man" versus a collector or a "regular" person selling some items from around the house.

In truth, there's nothing wrong with purchasing items for the sole purpose of reselling it. That's how many of the small retail stores operate throughout the country. Most people don't see any problems with this practice, and many of them support it without even realizing it.

Let's take a look at this seller's auction and how it shows off the "bad side" of reselling.
A) This seller types in all capital letters and cannot form complete sentences. This person also has problems using correct acronyms.
B) The picture sucks and the cannon looks like crap. It's really showing its age and needs to be refurbished.
C) This seller brags about buying items for wholesale, in auctions, and at estate sales.
D) This is a PowerSeller and many of his other auctions have this similar shoddy format.

So in other words, this person presents himself as only being out there to make a quick buck, likes to brag about how he can find deals, cannot type, and clearly doesn't take the time to take decent pictures or put together an even semi-professional auction. As a buyer, does that make you feel good about giving your hard-earned money to this person?

The best approach is for this seller to stop talking about the estate sales and other sources of cheap items. If that's your only way of acquiring items, then don't mention it at all. Focus instead on the actual item for sale first, and then our own policies after that.