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.

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!

Tour service brochure for Chicago's 1933 World's Fair

THE GRAY LINE, A Century Of Progress,World's Fair


ended - Thursday, May 22, 2008

Auction grade: C-

Starting bid: $1.00

Final selling price: $3.25


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a bus tour guide for when Chicago hosted the "A Century of Progress" themed World's Fair.

This auction's title can easily be rewritten to include more key words and avoid having a subtitle. For low cost auctions like this one, it's actually not worth it to have the subtitle because that directly cuts right into your profit (assuming the auction even sells). Save the subtitles for higher priced auctions.

"Chicago", "World's Fair", "Gray Line", "bus tour", "vintage", and even "antique" should all be able to fit into a new title, along with possibly adding the years of the fair itself.

The auction's description leaves a lot of room for improvement.

"This is a very good Print in very good condition for The Grey Line bus tour's of The World;s Fair Chicago."

- "very good" - redundant when used twice in a row like that

- "Print" - "print"

- "Grey Line" - "Gray Line" (just like how it's printed on the brochure)

- "bus tour's" - should be "bus tours"

- "World;s" - "World's"

- "The World;s Fair Chicago" - could be rewritten such as "Chicago's 1933 World's Fair"


Apart from that poorly constructed sentence above, there isn't any other information about this item or Chicago's 1933-34 World's Fair. This is a golden opportunity to add a little bit of extra information to A) add in a few extra key words, and B) educate and get the customer more interested in the fair and this item from that period in time.

The auction's pictures also need to be improved. I like how the seller made an official backdrop for the pictures. That part looks very nice and shows that the seller is trying to be professional. The unprofessional parts are how the seller shot in a widescreen resolution (16:9 or 16:10 instead of the usual 4:3 that most people use) for a tall and narrow item. It's fine to shoot pictures that way for wide items, but not for something like this. The seller also should have rotated the camera onto its side to take vertical pictures of the brochure.

Personally, I also believe that the seller is displaying too many pictures of this brochure. Old flyers and brochures typically have low final selling prices, so every extra item added to this auction (subtitle, extra pictures, etc.) just lowers your final profit. In this case I would just use the two main fold-out pictures that show the brochure in general. It shows the buyers enough information without them being able to read everything in the brochure and not placing a bid.

Overall, this auction can be trimmed down and improved to slightly increase the chances of having it being sold on eBay. I used the term "slightly" because sold individually, most old and vintage brochures like this one typically sell for very low prices, if they sell at all. This has a reasonable starting bid and a very low shipping price, but there still isn't much of a market for items like this to be sold by themselves. If this was my auction and I had other old brochures similar to this, I would just group them together and sell them as a lot (after I scan them and keep a copy of it for myself, first ;) ).

On a side note:

"I am liquidating a estate and have allot of very neat things"

- "a estate" - "an estate"

- "allot" - "a lot"

used Red Wings away Federov jersey

DETROIT RED WING JERSEY, VINTAGE FEDEROV # 91


ended - Sunday, May 18, 2008

Auction grade: C+

Starting bid: $14.95

Final selling price: $44.75


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a used road hockey jersey for Federov (# 91) of the Detroit Red Wings.

The title' for this auction doesn't look that bad. Apart from not having it in all capital letters, I would also add "road" and/or "away" in front of the word "jersey", and if there's still room available in the title, "hockey" is always a good word, too.

The auction's description needs to be rewritten so that it's easier to read and follow what the person is saying. The red lettering wouldn't have been my first choice for the color of the text, but I appreciate the seller using it for the spirit of the hockey team.

"I HAVE 2 OF THESE AND DECIDED TO SELL ONE."

I would have left out that piece of information. The seller already mentioned that this is in good condition. Not excellent, but just good. Now that we know that the seller is holding back one of these jerseys for himself, we also know that he's holding back the better of the two jerseys. Psychologically, as a buyer, I don't like the feeling of placing a bid on a used and most likely inferior item.

"WE HAVE A GREAT HOCKEY TEAM, BUT NOT MANY JOBS HERE. I WILL BE SELLING OTHER ITEMS ALSO."

Again, the seller is being too wordy about non-auction related material. This is the seller trying to use sympathy to sell this jersey. We all have our own problems and it's no secret that Detroit's economy has been going down the drain for the past many years. That's what happens when incredibly corrupt people are elected into the local and state public offices and nobody stands up to stop them from their evil ways. Detroit has been going downhill and seeing increasing crime and corruption ever since the 1960s. Again, this isn't exactly a new trend for the once great American city. I'm originally from that city and most of my relatives still live in the Detroit-metro area.

Getting back to the auction, this seller needs to stay on topic and focus on selling the jersey. It wouldn't hurt if the seller mentioned anything specifically wrong with the jersey (any dirt, tears, fading, etc.) and why it's only in "good" condition. The seller could have also listed a brief biography and some of Federov's stats from when he was with the Red Wings.

Even when selling on eBay, it's still necessary to get the buyer all pumped-up and eager to place a bid. I don't have that feeling when looking at this auction. The pictures are pretty good and it's nice seeing a classic Red Wing's jersey available for sale, but with the seller's bland attitude and text style there's no sense of urgency anywhere.

Overall, this isn't that bad of an auction and the price looks pretty good. With a few minor updates to the title and a general rewriting of the main body of text this should bring in some serious buyers.

vintage trinket / jewelry box

vintage painted box


ended - Thursday, May 15, 2008

Auction grade: D-

Starting bid: $1.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is some sort of vintage painted box. That's all that I can really say about it myself as the seller provided very little information about the actual item for sale.

The auction's title is virtually useless when it comes to search engine optimization. With the lack of key words and phrases, it's going to be blind luck that most people interested in this sort of item will actually find it from this seller. What good is taking the time, effort and money to create an auction if very little people are going to find it?

The auction's description is also very short and mysterious, providing the buyers with very little information about the item for sale. It's never a good sign when the seller types more information about their policies and other auctions than about the actual item for sale.

"6 1/2x31/2x2 inch box, Please look at my other auctions as I always have lots of neat stuff, I DO NOT ACCEPT PAYPAL"

For starters, the seller needs to space out the dimensions and make it easier to read. The version written above is garbled and cramped together, looking very sloppy and unprofessional.

We, the buyers, have no idea anything else dealing with this box. There's no indication of its age or origins, the material it's made out of, or even its overall condition. Nothing at all!

In the "Item Specifics" section, it's mentioned that this is a "trinket box". To me, that's an excellent key word that needs to be worked into the title and description. "Jewelry box" should also be used the same way in this auction.

Despite taking the time to take pretty good pictures of this painted box, the seller isn't even trying to sell it to potential buyers. The auction's description is a prime spot to write a small blurb about different ways the potential buyers can use and/or display this vintage box in their home. Don't just rely on pictures and a shoddy title & description to do that work for you. Take the time to at least try to make the advertisement more professional and enticing to potential buyers.

Looking at this seller's other items for sale, there's a definite pattern on the seller's lack of wording in both the title and description. True, this person has sold quite a bit of merchandise on eBay over the past year, but think of how much more could have been sold and for higher final selling prices. Obviously there's a demand for these older goods, but through proper internet marketing there is a great potential for even more sales.

One final note is that the seller is only turning away potential buyers by not accepting PayPal. That company may have some unfair policies and high fees at times, but you'll still come out ahead of the deal by offering customers as many ways of making payments as possible. This is especially true for those in today's fast paced world who would rather make an online payment and have their item shipped out that much faster.

Alpengeist roller coaster poster

Alpengeist Roller Coaster Busch Gardens Poster 1997 NR!


ended - Friday, May 9, 2008

Auction grade: B+

Starting bid: $0.99

Final selling price: $5.50


Up for sale in this eBay auction is an attraction poster for the Busch Gardens Williamsburg (now called Busch Gardens Europe) inverted roller coaster --- Alpengeist.

The title for this auction looks pretty good. Between using the ride's name, what it is, and the theme park's name, the title should help bring in quite a few different searches. The only change I would have made would be to take out "1997 NR!" and add "Europe" right behind "Busch Gardens". Unfortunately, "Williamsburg" won't fit, but the park's current name should squeeze in there just fine.

The auction's description looks decent, too. I like how the seller mentioned the poster's overall dimensions and that there are a couple of wrinkles. It's also good how the seller noted that the frame is not included in the auction. It would have been nice if the seller could have gone into a little bit of detail about the ride itself and the theme park. Free tools such as Google and Wikipedia make doing basic research like that simple and easy, and the extra key words and phrases in the auction's description will help in the search engine results, too.

My only major complaint with this auction deals with the picture. A large reflection (most likely the camera's flash) is obscuring the top of the poster, and the poor angle makes it hard to read the text and make out some of the details. Always be careful when taking pictures of items behind glass and plastic as it's very easy to catch reflections and flashes in the pictures. In this case, the seller would have been better holding the camera steady and using a longer exposure or higher ISO shot instead of using the flash.

Overall, this is a pretty good auction. The attractive starting bid is sure to draw in bidders of amusement parks and roller coasters alike.

posable Shrek toy

SHREK DOLL -- BRAND NEW!!


ended - Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Auction grade: C

Starting bid: $5.95

Final selling price: $5.95


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a fully posable Shrek action figure toy. The seller claims that this is brand new in the box.

For starters, the auction's title could use some extra work. The seller needs to add "toy", "plush", "NIB", "posable", and even "poseable". If the box was in perfect condition, then the word "mint" could also be added to the title.

It's interesting that it's written "poseable" on the box, yet technically that word is misspelled. The correct version is "posable". Dictionary.com confirms this information. It's also interesting that other types of posable Shrek action figures use the correct version of the spelling.

The auction's description isn't bad, but then again it's not outstanding and doesn't make me want to place a bid. The seller keeps calling it a doll despite recommending it for "action figure lovers" at the end of the description. The seller should have just stayed neutral and called it a toy or even a plush toy (only if it's soft). Dolls usually aren't fully posable like this one, and action figure collectors usually don't like it when people refer to their items as being "dolls". This is the same thing as when people refer to grocery store shopping carts as "buggies". It may not necessarily be wrong at times, but using an overgeneralization of a term just makes a person sound dumb.

It would have been helpful if the seller could have given us a rough measurement of the item's size. Is this one of those massive twelve inch tall figures, or is this one only half that size?

Sam Adams pint glasses

SAM ADAMS 6 PINT GLASSES WHITE ALE NEW


ended - Saturday, May 3, 2008

Auction grade: C+

Starting bid: $15.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a set of six Samuel Adams White Ale pint glasses. The seller claims that they are brand new.

The title for this auction is pretty good. Apart from not using all capital letters, I would also find a way to sneak the word "beer" into the title. If need be, "glasses" can be shortened to "glass." The eBay search engine considers the two words to be the same. If the seller were to change it to "pint glass", he should also put an "x" in front of the "6" and make it "x6".

There's a toss-up on how to handle the auction's description for this particular auction. The problem is that the target audience for these glasses is a wide range of adults ranging from those still in college to those in retirement who want to build or add to their collection of beer memorabilia. If the seller wanted to specifically market the glasses to the partying college crowd, then the large font and color in the description is appropriate. However, if the seller wants this auction to be for everyone or mainly for those older than thirty, then this description needs a serious makeover with the font and actual text.

For the sake of argument, let's assume that it's better to market this to everyone instead of just the college crowd. Naturally, the wider target audience leads to a better chance of making the sale at the end of the auction. In that case the seller needs to cut the font size in half. The color is fine as it's easy to read and gives this beer-related auction a fun atmosphere.

"Get one of these awesome Samuel Adams White Ale Pint Glasses for your house, dorm or party or collection!"

The first problem in this sentence is that the seller is encouraging the buyer to get one of these fancy glasses. The problem is that even in the title this is being marketed as a set of six glasses. The seller needs to rephrase that line of text to reflect the actual set of glasses instead of just one of them.

The other problem in this sentence deals with the sellers usage of commas to separate different ideas for the glasses. It might read better if it was written "house, dorm, party, or even your beer or pint glass collection."

"Set of 6 Brand New Never Used Logo 16 OZ Beer Pint Glass."

Here the seller is resorting to capitalizing the first letter of each word for effect. Perhaps a better idea would be to capitalize all of the letters in the most important word or phrase, and then using bold or italic for the other important words. This will look a lot better and keep the advertisement looking more professional than the format that the seller used. Also, since the seller is talking about the set of six (not "6") glasses, the word "glass" at the end of the sentence should instead be "glasses."

"Product Type : towels"

That needs to be changed!

The picture of the pint glass looks pretty good. We can clearly see the logo and the fact that the glass looks nice and clean. It would have been nice if the seller provided a group shot of all six glasses together. For many of these auctions involving lots or collections, people like to see all of the items included in the picture(s). For an auction with starting bid and shipping costs that high, the price of adding a second picture into this auction is minuscule.

Overall, this isn't that bad of an auction if we assume that the seller is mainly targeting these pint glasses for the younger crowd. If the seller expects this auction to be for everyone, then some changes are going to be needed in the auction's description to make it look much more professional. The high shipping cost makes me want to believe that the seller is going to be extra careful with wrapping and shipping the glasses.