Novelty Pepsi folding knife

HERE A NEW PEPSI NOVELTY KNIFE


ended - Thursday, April 17, 2008

Auction grade: C-

Starting bid: $0.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a small novelty folding knife with the Pepsi logo and slogan "The Choice of a New Generation".

The auction's title needs a lot of attention. Apart from being in all capital letters, this is also not nearly descriptive enough considering the age of this particular knife. A quick internet search for that slogan shows that it was first used by Pepsi back in 1984. Appropriate key words for the title would be "vintage", "classic", "1980s", and even "New Generation".

The seller has the right idea in the auction's description, just poor execution in its layout. I like how the seller described this knife and gave its dimensions, but the one giant sentence needs to be fixed. Adding in a few periods will make this auction a lot easier to read and understand.

"HANDEL" --- handle

The auction's picture isn't bad and you can clearly see the Pepsi logo and slogan on the knife. My only problem is that you can also see the seller's hand and all of the wrinkles to go with it. Next time place the knife on a table or towel and take the picture. Also, you may want to partially extend the blade so we can see it in the picture.

The final note to address in this auction is the extremely high shipping fee that the seller is charging. Those plastic novelty knives are very light weight and don't cost much to ship across the country. Seeing that the seller is based in Illinois and towards the center of the country, it should only cost a dollar or two to send it anywhere in the lower 48 states.

The main problem with this auction is that the seller is trying to force a profit for himself for a cheap item. Ripping off the buyers with extremely high shipping costs is not the way to do that. You'll only discourage them from clicking on the link to even view the item for sale.

When selling a cheap item like this on eBay, don't get discouraged if it doesn't sell for a high price. Most of those old novelty items still aren't worth much today unless you have something that is rare and in demand. Otherwise, expect to make almost nothing for a sale like this. This is still a good item to sell for two main reasons: 1) even a simple sale with no profit can increase your feedback score and possibly lead to more future sales, and 2) if you don't want to sell it individually, this could be offered along with another item or two as part of a package deal or freebie.

R2D2 statue / toy / model / robot

R2D2


ended - Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Auction grade: F-

Starting bid: $6.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a model / toy / robot R2D2 from the famous Star Wars movies. I honestly have no idea for the purpose of this particular version of R2 as the seller doesn't say much about its features.

For starters, the auction's title doesn't give us any hints. By only saying "R2D2", the seller is cutting himself out of most searches for people interested in similar items. By not adding any key words or phrases about the item the seller is already setting himself up for failure. Any words or descriptions about this item or his role in the Star Wars movies would work well in the title.

The auction's description has "sketchy seller" written all over it. It's a bad sign that the first text you see in the description is the seller telling us about the shipping charges and how this is for serious bidders only and the fact that he has the right to retract any bids from new bidders or bidders with negative feedback.

After the text about seller telling us on what he wants in a buyer (funny, I thought it was supposed to be the other way around) the seller throws in a brief sentence about the actual item for sale.

"This R2D2 is approx. 7” to 8” tall and 3” to 4” inches across. He is battery operated and seems to be in good shape."

So here we have rough dimensions from seller more concerned about protecting himself than actually selling a product on eBay. Now we know that this is a battery operated toy and is apparently in good shape. It's too bad the picture shows the item covered in dirt and generally looking like something he found in the garbage.

After this continues a lot more text about the seller making excuses for himself and giving us buyers more rules and expectations.

"I describe my items to the best of my ability, but I am not an expert on any of the items I sell."

How hard is it to describe a toy? This seller has a hard enough problem giving us an exact measurement on the item's height and width. We also know that the seller is hiding something from us in this auction. The seller told us that this is battery operated, yet he didn't mention actually testing it and letting us know what this can do when it's powered. Despite that the seller claimed that this is in "good condition" despite looking like crap in the picture. A mechanical item like this being in "good condition" implies that it works correctly when you insert the batteries and turn it on.

So therefore: A) the seller tried it and couldn't get it to work (otherwise its features would have been mentioned), or B) the seller didn't try it and is implying that it works just so he can get the sale. Either way the seller is not being descriptive enough in the auction.

"I just find really cool stuff at great prices and sell them on EBay."

This backs up statement "B" from above. This is proof that the seller just wants to make a quick sale. This is also a case where you're giving the buyers too much information. Never use a statement like that in your description!

"All sales are final"

Buyer beware.

"Do to a few EBayer’s who think its funny to receive a great deal on merchandise then slam the seller for no reason we ask that you leave us feedback first."

Aside from the numerous grammar errors, this isn't the best approach to take when dealing with feedback. Again, this shows how this particular seller is more concerned about himself and making the quick sale and keeping a good feedback rating rather than giving the customer a positive experience. This excuse will be invalid once eBay starts their "seller cannot give buyers negative feedback" policy.

"We ship fast, pack well, and over communicate."

I guess "over communicate" does not include telling us more about the actual item for sale. So far in this description we've had many of the seller's policies shoved down our throats, but very little about the seller actually trying to sell us this item.

In addition to everything above, the seller is still trying to hide something else from us buyers. In a statement about shipping, the seller mentions that sometimes items still get damaged in transit because of the shipping company. It's a rare event but has happened a few times to him in the past ("2 OUT OF OVER 1100" to be exact). For a person who has shipped over a thousand items to online customers, why is it that this seller only has a positive feedback rating of twelve? The seller's information shows that he has been selling on eBay with this account since only December 7, 2007 (Pearl Harbor, coincidence?).

The seller's unnecessarily detailed information about protecting himself tells us that either A) this is a brand new seller who just copied another seller's information (and did a sloppy job at that, too), or B) this seller has been here before and been burned by a few things, but is basically starting over with a new account and trying to keep the past hidden. This practice does happen on all of the major online auction websites and stores.

So after reading little about the item and going through all of the seller's other statements, are you, the buyer, still willing to make a bid on this item? Probably not.

If the seller actually wants to make sales and keep customers happy, then he needs to change his attitude and approach to selling on eBay. Focus on selling the item first and then selling yourself as a seller second. Don't give buyers a list of demands and expectations even before they know about the product. You'll just turn them away and waste time and money in the process.

Las Vegas Four Queens glass decoration

Neat Glass Laser Cube of 4 Queens Building in L.Vegas


ended - Sunday, April 13, 2008

Auction grade: B

Starting bid: $9.95

Final selling price: $9.95


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a neat little glass cube decoration of the Four Queens hotel & casino in the famous downtown section of Las Vegas.

The auction's title needs some adjusting to help draw in more potential bidders.

First of all, the seller needs to spell out "Four Queens" and "Las Vegas". Those keys words are just too important to leave abbreviated like they are in the title.

If this was my auction, I would take out the words "neat", "cube", "of", "building", and "in". The prepositions are just filler and can stay in the title if there's still room, but the others can go. Instead, focus on adding better key words such as "decoration" and "casino".

The auction's description isn't bad. I like how the seller mentioned the decoration being of the downtown Las Vegas hotel and casino, and I also like that he gave its rough dimensions. For the most part, the only other piece of information that I would like to know would be the age of this glass cube. Are these cubes still available for purchase, or where they discontinued years ago?

Overall, this isn't that bad of an auction. The picture is good considering these items are hard to photograph. Changing the title should help bring in some bids, but if that doesn't work the seller may want to lower the starting bid by a dollar or two.

Retro Kellogg's snack plates

NEW 2 VINTAGE KELLOGG RICE KRISPIES SNACK PLATES


ended - Friday, April 11, 2008

Auction grade: C+

Starting bid: $8.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a pair of retro-style Kellogg's Rice Krispies snack plates.

Despite being in all capital letters, the auction's title looks pretty good. All of the major key words are there and this auction should show up in quite a few different searches. The seller may want to change "KELLOGG" to "Kelloggs" (more people will search for it this way), and also find a way to sneak in the word "retro".

Technically this isn't a vintage set of plates (as the seller states in the description, they were released back in 2005), but rather vintage-style or retro.

The auction's description is adequate. The seller isn't very elaborate and only uses very simple sentences and sentence fragments, but the important notes are there. By not being elaborate and creative with the wording, the seller is missing out on potential key words and phrases that other people may use when searching for items. It would be helpful to know if the plates are plastic or ceramic.

The picture of the snack plates looks good. We can clearly see the retro design and it appears that the plates are in good condition.

The major problem with this auction is that the seller is being too greedy with the high starting bid and shipping costs. Google's product comparison shows us that online stores are selling the same retro plate (some even have it with bowl and mug combination packages) for similar or cheaper prices.

Remember that unless you have a rare or high in demand item, don't expect to make a fortune selling it on eBay or other online auction sites. Most people are there to bargain hunt, and if they can find the item for a cheaper price elsewhere, then that's where they'll go.

GI Joe aircraft carrier - USS Saratoga

GI Joe USS Saratoga Air Craft Carrier Military MINT


ended - Thursday, April 10, 2008

Auction grade: B+

Starting bid: $25.00

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a vintage GI Joe USS Saratoga toy aircraft carrier from the 1980's.

The title isn't bad and the seller has the right idea of using relevant key words, but some changes still need to be made.

First, "Air Craft" needs to be together in one word. It's an "aircraft" carrier, and that's how most people are going to search for that item.

Second, this may be in excellent condition, but the seller shouldn't use that exclusive "mint" term for an item that has been used. It's not even mentioned if this comes with the original box.

The problem is that on eBay and other online stores, mint is used to describe the highest state of perfection with an item. Those are items that are still sealed in their original factory packages and haven't been touched or used by another person. This can still be used to describe items where it's absolutely necessary to remove the item from the box just to take a picture.

Since this auction is labeled as "used", the seller can use similar phrases such as "excellent", "perfect", and "like-mint", but not "mint" by itself. Save that term for unopened and unused items.

Again, throughout the auction's description the seller keeps mentioning that it's in mint condition. It may be in perfect working order and in excellent condition, but it's not mint. Sorry. Again, like in the title, the seller needs to refer to this as an "aircraft" carrier, not "air craft".

I like how the seller mentioned the manufacturer and the overall dimensions, but this description would look and read a lot easier if it wasn't a mass of sentence fragments. Use a little spacing and make this neater and easier to read.

"moving satellites" --- The seller is most likely referring to the various radar dishes and other antenna on top of the aircraft carrier. I doubt that this carrier has any orbiting objects out in space.

Overall, this auction looks pretty good, and a few minor changes will help bring in extra potential buyers and help with the overall accuracy.

Like every other boy back in the 80's, I used to play with GI Joe action figures, too. I had a few of the larger aircraft including the Cobra Night Raven , Tomahawk, Cobra Condor Z-25, and later the massive Mobile Command Center and Crusader Space Shuttle with Avenger Scout Craft (my personal favorite.) It was always hard to compete with that spoiled kid down the street with the USS Saratoga in his basement (forgot his name as it was 20 years ago and when we lived in a different state). My Mobile Command Center was pretty cool, but it wasn't added to my collection until later when we found it accidentally marked down too much in a store ($20 instead of the usual $80+). This makes me wonder how many of those toys and other 1980's action figure playsets are still sitting in various boxes in the attic at my parent's house.

Charleton Heston autographed photo

Charlton Heston Signed 8x10 Autographed Signed COA Auth


ended - Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Auction grade: C-

Starting bid: $149.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is an autographed photo of the late Hollywood legend on and off the screen - Charlton Heston. The seller claims that this is a genuine autographed photo and comes with a certificate of authenticity.

The auction's title looks pretty good except that the seller said "signed" twice. One of those needs to be replaced with "photo" to help draw in more shoppers.

A more amusing note with this auction deals with its subtitle:

"Guaranteed authentic for life !!!!!!"

Unless they are destroyed or were originally signed with a pencil, autographs aren't known for fading or expiring. So therefore one would conclude that autographs that are declared to be authentic would automatically be authentic until it's no longer visible.

The auction's description needs to be rewritten so it looks more professional. Looking at the large font, all capital letters and misspellings, it's obvious that the seller quickly created this auction after hearing about the actor's death.

While I'm not going to criticize the seller for trying to profit on news about the actor (that's how many quick thinking sellers make a lot of money on eBay), I can and will criticize the auction for its poor look and layout.

The large font with all capital letters is annoying and an insult to fans of the actor and other sellers. It shows that this seller doesn't care about typing properly or taking the time to do things the right way.

"PLANET OF TEH APPES" --- Planet of the Apes

If you're going to mention some of his films, don't stop at just two films. Go for better search engine results and also mention other movies such as Ben-Hur, Midway, Earthquake, The Greatest Show on Earth, and even The Omega Man. Take the extra minute and do it right.

The other good parts of this auction deal with the actual photo and shipping charges. The picture clearly shows Charleston Heston and the autograph at the bottom of the picture. The free shipping is a nice add-on.

Personally, I believe this seller is being too greedy in the starting bid price. $149.99 seems too high considering: A) there are lots of other autographed photos and memorabilia now available, and B) apart from the autograph there's nothing special about this picture. Seeing the overly high starting bid and poor layout of the auction, this one almost needs that four letter "S" word as a warning. You know the word. SC_M.

Model railroad dummy engine

N SCALE GP 38 DUMMY MINT NEW IN BOX SOUTHERN PACIFIC


ended - Saturday, April 5, 2008

Auction grade: B

Starting bid: $0.99

Final selling price: $0.99


Up for sale in this eBay auction is an N scale dummy train engine for use with model railroads. The seller claims that the engine is in mint condition and new in the box.

For model railroads, the N scale is the second smallest size of trains that people will build and have running around their home. The trains and scenery pieces are roughly 160th the size of their real life counterparts. This is ideal for people who have a limited amount of space but still want to enjoy this hobby, or those who want to build large and elaborate train sets without it completely taking over their home.

The auction's title needs some adjusting to help draw in more potential customers. Aside from not typing in all capital letters, the seller can also remove the "NEW IN BOX" part and just replace it with the common abbreviation NIB. Being in all caps with the rest of the title, "NEW IN BOX" isn't going to catch the person's eye, and most people won't search for that phrase when looking for more train parts. NIB or just "new" will work fine in its place.

In addition with that, the seller needs to find a way to add "train", "engine", and even "railroad" as key words in the auction's title. Remember that the default way of searching on eBay is just by looking at the titles, so you want to take advantage and have your listing exposed to as many relevant searches as possible. It doesn't cost you extra, and the more people that find your auction then the more likely you'll get a few bids.

The auction's description also needs to be rewritten. The bold print in all caps with unusual spacing needs to go. The seller did a good job listing information about the engine, but this looks very sloppy and unprofessional. Information about the engine itself should go in the first paragraph (or by using bullet points), and general information about model railroads should go into a second or even third paragraph, depending on your knowledge and experience on the subject matter.

Apart from fixing the title and description, the rest of the auction looks pretty good. The picture of the engine looks very good and I like how the seller added detailed information in the "item specifics" section of the auction.

eBay picture taking equipment

TAKE GREAT PICTURES FOR eBay ~ PHOTO TAKING EQUIPMENT


ended - Friday, April 4, 2008

Auction grade: C-

Starting bid: $85.00

Final selling price: $88.95 (Buy It Now)


Up for sale in this eBay auction is some equipment to help take better, more professional pictures for online auctions. This includes a camera stand, two external lights, and an "item box".

The title that the seller is using is interesting, but it would still benefit from adding another key word or two. "pictures" and "photo" are fine, but the seller could still mention "digital camera" or just "camera" even though a camera is not included in this auction. A camera is required to use the equipment, so it's valid mentioning it in the title to help with the search engine results.

The item's description is neat, orderly, and easy to read, as you would expect from an eBay PowerSeller. Each item is described by itself, and the different colors give this auction flair. It's the seller's personal comments where I have my problems.

"Increase your sales, and your dollar amounts by taking better pictures - gair-on-teed!"

So if I write crappy titles, have horrible descriptions, and set unreasonable starting bids and shipping costs, I'll still increase my sales and dollar amounts by taking pictures with this equipment? If so, can I have that "gair-on-tee" in writing?

"Lighting is one of the main keys to success - background is the other. This unit provides professional results with minimal effort!"

Not exactly.

One of the real keys to success is to be able to find and capture the best angle(s). By the usage of forced perspective you can make items look larger than life and more exciting than just by using standard angles. Being able to properly present the item in the picture is more important than the lighting or background.

Check out more photography tips here.

"This unit will become a useful tool for all your auctions or online endeavors."

It probably is useful, but not if you are trying to sell items larger than 16x16x16 inches. Anything roughly larger than a pair of shoes (excluding the box) will need to be photographed some other way.

If such a tool is so powerful and critical for selling anything on eBay, I wonder how the seller managed to get a picture of the display model for this auction. When opened and spread apart, the entire display and additional lights and tripod is certainly a lot larger than 16x16x16 inches.

On a side note, the seller should mention that the camera in the picture is not included in this auction. Buyers can and will legally complain and demand a full refund if they don't receive a camera with the rest of the items. The same is true for the car in the picture.

Any time you include extra items in the picture and they are not included in the auction, you need to make it clear in the description that it's not included. It's considered fraud if you don't.

"Place your bid now before you forget, then set it on auto pilot until auction end - then check back to be sure you win t.he item."

A) Why place a bid and go through that process when the Buy It Now is only $4 more?

B) I'm sure other sellers would also like you to immediately place a bid before doing any external research.

C) Nice grammar.

Along with the seller's over-hyping of the photo equipment and the fact that not even a basic (a.k.a. cheap) digital camera is not included, I'll be very surprised if anybody places a bid for this auction. $85 + $14.95 is a lot of money considering you still need a camera and know how to take good pictures and write auction titles and descriptions that market and sell the item.

I gave this auction a low score because of not providing a disclaimer about the camera and car (very important) and for over-hyping the ability of this equipment. Just by using it you will not instantly become the next PowerSeller and make a fortune selling items on eBay. This is also overpriced considering its size limitations and lack of camera.

LOT of magic tricks

Lot, Tricks restaurant magician's magic kit. Jim pace,


ended - Thursday, April 3, 2008

Auction grade: C+

Starting bid: $25.00

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a small collection of various books and magic tricks for those who like to entertain others, ideally in the restaurant environment.

First of all, the title definitely needs some adjusting. "Tricks" should go right after the word "magic" (catch people looking for either: "magic", "tricks", or "magic tricks"). Jim Pace might be better off left in the description and have more useful search words go into the title. "Illusions" could also go into the title, eliminating the need for the auction's subtitle.

Using a subtitle is a good way of catching somebody's attention and adding a few extra key words, but there isn't much use for it in this example. All of the key words could easily have been added to the auction's title, and with this being a relatively low cost auction, the money spent on the subtitle could have been saved or spent on another auction.

For the description, I like the seller's attempt to try to sell us the products. He gives us examples on how he used the products himself to entertain people and leave them guessing and wanting more of the action. I like that part. It adds value and desirability to the items for sale. However, there are still problems that need to be corrected in the auction's description.

The first issue deals with the general flow of the words. The entire text is one giant paragraph where he jumps from one topic to another. This would be much easier to read and follow if it was broken apart into separate paragraphs or even bullet points.

If this seller wants to appear to be more professional, it would help if he would correct the numerous spelling and grammar errors throughout the description. It's obvious that he typed everything all at once and didn't bother to do any proofreading.

"The restaurant workers handbook by Jim pace" --- "The Restaurant Worker's Handbook" by Jim Pace.

"Beat,em Cheat,em and leave them bleedin" --- "Beat'Em, Cheat'Em, Leave'Em Bleedin'"

"alot" --- a lot (allot is a verb)

"Needle through ballon" --- Needle Through Balloon

"Comedy square knot" --- Comedy Square Knot


"To buy all this great magic fortheprice l $78.75" --- Ummm, yeah.


Those are just some of the specific problems in the description. Other problems include numerous run-on sentences and generally disorganized thoughts.

It's interesting how the seller was able to list supposedly retail prices for the items in this lot. Reading his biography, it turns out that this seller used to own a small magic shop. Could it be that the "retail" prices were actually the higher than average prices he might have used in the store, therefore making it look like this is a great bargain?

I myself am a fan of magic and the world of illusions. I know that most of the equipment and props sold in stores is generally very expensive and overpriced, and the real way to save money is by shopping online. Also, because of the availability of information on the internet, it's possible to find out how to do many magic tricks for free, thus lowering the demand and value for actual books and DVDs on the subject manner.

Even if the seller were to redo the auction's title and description to bring in more potential buyers, I'll be surprised if anybody places a bid. The $9 shipping charge is on the upper limit of being reasonable, but the $25 starting bid is a bit high to entice buyers to click the bid button.

LOT of NASCAR items

Toy Car Nascar Racing Lot of 3 Petty Cards Book(#6)


ended - Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Auction grade: C-

Starting bid: $1.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a small collection of semi-vintage, assorted NASCAR memorabilia.

The auction's title looks a little bit weird because it doesn't make much sense reading it from left to right, but the seller did manage to hit the major key words. This auction should have enough exposure, but by rearranging the words more people will click on the link and take a look at what's for sale.

The auction's description is where the seller really dropped the ball. The text and flow of words is horrible, and the seller failed to describe the items for sale.

"Lot of Three Neat Nascar Racing Items"

This part isn't bad despite the seller capitalizing the first letter of each word. On a side note, all of the letters in NASCAR are supposed to be capitalized. After all, it is an acronym for "National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing".

"Included are one Nascar toy car
A set of Richard Petty Cards
and a Nascar Collectible Book"

If you're going to do the trouble and pay the money for listing an auction, don't you think you could have done a slightly better job with the description than this? Let's look at this one line at a time.

"Included are one Nascar toy car"

First of all, if you're going to make a listing, use a colon followed by bullet points to separate the items. Otherwise, you'll end up with a sloppy and unprofessional statement like this.

Aside from the grammar problems, the seller failed to mention anything about the "toy car". Many buyers and fans of racing would like to know that this is a recreation of Dale Earnhardt, Junior's #3 ACDelco Chevy Monte Carlo car that he used when he won the 1998 Busch Grand Nationals Series Championship. (It took me less than two minutes to find that information chock-full of excellent key words.)

"A set of Richard Petty Cards"

So are these playing cards you would use in games like poker and blackjack, or is this some type of a NASCAR collector card set featuring highlights of the driver? The picture doesn't show us anything useful about the cards.

"and a Nascar Collectible Book"

Looking closely at the enlarged picture, this is a March 1992 Speedway Limited Edition racing memorabilia pocket price guide. When most people describe a sporting book as being a collectible, that usually means that the book focuses on a player, team, or entire sport for a season and gives you all sorts of facts, pictures, and other pieces of information. What we have here is a guide telling you how much certain memorabilia is worth. Being an outdated pricing guide that is nowhere near correct with today's values and prices for certain items, the book itself isn't exactly a collector's item.

"Email me if you want names or details of each box."

Is this referring to this lot, or is there something else that the seller didn't mention?

How about just taking the few extra minutes and listing everything in the auction in the first place?


Luckily for us potential buyers, this seller provided a large enough picture for us to see enough details about the items (except for the Richard Petty cards). The problem (aside from the problems already addressed above) is that showing items in a picture does not equal actually writing about them in the auction. The eBay search engine cannot look at the picture to see if something that somebody is searching for is in your auction.

For example, if somebody had their heart set on finding that 1992 Speedway Limited Edition racing memorabilia guide, they're certainly not going to find it from this seller. I found one available from a different seller, and it's only $0.49 (auction ends in twelve hours).


This seller has a lifetime history of over 6,000 positive pieces of feedback. Many of this person's other non-NASCAR auctions look neat and professional, so, obviously, they know how to sell on eBay and they've been doing it for a while. The seller admits that they don't know anything about racing by saying "I am not sure about these cars or the drivers" in a previous auction for a couple of die cast NASCAR cars.

I cannot say this clear enough: By not doing simple research you are leaving money on the table!

Take the few extra minutes and do some quick Google and Wikipedia searches and see what you can find.

Impossipuzzle puzzle

550 pc. IMPOSSIPIZZLE --BEANS


ended - Sunday, March 30, 2008

Auction grade: C+

Starting bid: $2.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a rather challenging type of jigsaw puzzle. This is known as an Impossipuzzle and is virtually guaranteed to keep puzzle fans busy for hours.

The auction's title is pretty weak and could benefit from another key word or two such as "puzzle", "game" or even "hard". The seller also needs to check their work and spell the item correctly.

The overall description isn't bad, but the flow of words and sentence fragments make it sound weird at times. For example:

"It is a fun but challenging puzzle to do" would probably sound better as "It is a challenging but fun puzzle to do."

"It is in good condition but used" should be something like "It was used but is still in very good condition."

"Winter is here, a nice way to spend your Long days." -- This is the wrong time of year to use this line. The seller has the right idea by giving the buyer a classic product usage scenario, but this is spring. As those waves of fresh warm air go rolling through the area it's time to get active and do things outdoors instead of staying cooped up in the house. This would be better suggested as a different type of birthday or "good grades in school" type gift.

The auction's picture looks pretty good and certainly gives the buyer a taste of what they're in for with a puzzle like this. The complicated and repetitive pattern is going to drive many people crazy as they search for the connecting pieces.

The last thing to touch on is the shipping price. I personally believe that $7.99 is a bit steep and that the seller is better off using a higher starting bid rather than guaranteeing money for themselves by hitting the buyers with high shipping costs. Most puzzles are very light weight and should only cost a couple of bucks to have it shipped economically across the country.


Overall, this isn't that bad of an auction, but a few changes with the title and description will definitely help with its exposure to more potential buyers.

Computer game bundle

Wheel of Fortune & Rollercoaster Tycoon PC Game *NEW*


ended - Saturday, March 29, 2008

Auction grade: D+

Starting bid: $0.01

Final selling price: $0.01


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a computer game double pack with Wheel of Fortune and the ever-popular RollerCoaster Tycoon 2. This is brand new and still in the factory sealed case.

The title for this auction looks very good. The one small modification to make is adding the number 2 to the "Rollercoaster Tycoon" computer game in the title. That is a series of amusement park creation games, so as you can probably imagine, it's very important to mention which one it is of the series.


The auction's description is where the seller loses a lot of credibility. It's nice knowing that Wheel of Fortune is a fun game, but you don't need to mention it twice and in that manner. The overall flow of text just doesn't seem quite right. Here's what the seller says about Wheel of Fortune:

"The original game, Wheel of Fortune: A fun Game, is a humorous time consuming game featuring the beautiful but friendly Vanna White .

Vanna must spin the wheel to bring your fortune to grandeur, if successful, it could bring you lots of money.

Play it and have loads of FUN!!!"

This makes me wonder if the seller has even played this version of the game versus just rewriting what might be written on the back of the package or what others may have said at a place like Amazon. There's nothing wrong with typing the official description as long as you cite the box as the source and put the words in quotation marks. The marketing company is using that text to sell their product, and you can do the same thing, too.


The next part of the description is where the seller loses even more credibility and respect.

"Rollercoaster Tycoon is the secound game on this CD package."

A) It's spelled RollerCoaster Tycoon (not that it really matters).

B) This is the second game in the series. The giant #2 on the package does have a meaning.

C) "second" is misspelled.

So what does that tell us about the seller?

This is a person who does not pay attention to detail and doesn't even bother to check their work.

The next part of the description is a flat-out lie.

"Ride game as you would at Six Flags Theme Park!!"

Yes, this version of the game does incorporate some of the Six Flags amusement parks and roller coasters, but you are not able to "ride" them in the game. The ability to ride your coasters in the first person point-of-view was not added until the third version of the RollerCoaster Tycoon series.


What bothers me the most is that this is an auction by an eBay PowerSeller who specializes in computer software and electronic accessories. The auctions all have the same feeling to them, though many that I checked weren't nearly as bad as this one. The seller needs to go back and redo this auction. This time putting a little effort into it.

The complete lack of attention to detail and proper product research led to the low score.

Hardcover children books

Lot of 5 Hard Cover Childrens Books.


ended - Friday, March 28, 2008

Auction grade: C-

Starting bid: $0.99

Final selling price: $0.99


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a small collection of five hardcover books for children. Seeing the titles, it looks like these are for early children or those looking to help their kids start reading.

The title isn't bad, but it'll need a few changes to help draw in more potential buyers. First, I would combine "hard cover" into one word (hardcover) and also remove the "s" off of "childrens". A lot more people will search for "children" rather than "childrens". eBay does not consider the two words as being the same, so you'll have different search results depending on which version you use.

The seller will also benefit from having the following key words in their title: "early", "young", and "kids". "Books" is the most important key word, and any other relevant terms describing the target age would be helpful.

The auction's description is where the seller gets sloppy and inconsistent with their work. Four of the five listed titles are either misspelled or missing a word. Surprisingly, it looks like all of the author's names are spelled correctly.

"The Wind in the Willow" should be "The Wind in the Willows"

"Danny the Dinosaur" should be "Danny and the Dinosaur"

"Songs of Shiprock" should be "Songs of Shiprock Fair"

"The Horroble Book" should be "Horrorble Book"

Check your work before you post an auction!!!

Despite the stupid mistakes with the titles, I like how the seller listed the books and their respective authors. I also like how one of the books has a short little description. That's also where the seller is inconsistent with this auction. If you're going to tell us about one of the books, then why not also write a sentence telling us about each of the other books? Remember that you don't want to have your customers go somewhere else to research a title and see what the book is about.

The picture is pretty good and all of the books are visible in the image. It's just too bad that the camera's flash is reflecting off of the bottom book. That can be corrected through proper camera techniques.

Overall, this isn't that bad of an auction. The main reason for the low score is from the seller being sloppy and not checking their work. The picture is pretty good and the low starting bid should entice some people to place a bid. The $4.50 shipping cost is a fairly reasonable price for five hardcover children books.

The only serious issue is whether or not to sell books like this on eBay. Unless you have rare out of print, first edition, or autographed titles, it's hard to make money by selling used books on eBay. The best approach for selling common titles is to sell them by the lot in either random collections (like this one), or by a common author/genre/theme.

Old baby doll carriage

Old Metal Baby Doll Carage


ended - Thursday, March 27, 2008

Auction grade: D

Starting bid: $9.99

Final selling price: $9.99


Up for sale in this eBay auction is an old, metal baby doll carriage / stroller. There's no indication of the age or general condition of the stroller.

The auction's title needs a lot of work. First of all, the seller needs to know how to spell "carriage" correctly. In addition to that, the following key words would be most beneficial for search engine results: "stroller", "child", "vintage", "antique", and a word I hate to use because of its general overuse in other applications, "buggy".

The current title is bland and looks unappealing, and the lack of key words will prevent it from showing up in most default searches.

The auction's description doesn't add much to the desirability either.

"Old metal doll stroller. The wheeles are wooden. I don't know much about this item."

So as a potential buyer, right now we don't know anything about the stroller's age, general condition (it looks really shoddy in the pictures), manufacturer, or even if a particular type of doll was made for a stroller of that size. If the seller's mother-in-law is somewhat of an antique dealer, she should have been able to provide some kind of information about the stroller. At least we know that the wheels are wooden.

I like how the seller used a ruler to give the buyers a sense of scale in the pictures, though the main picture doesn't load correctly for me. Also, the ruler doesn't line up anywhere near the end of the stroller in the second picture. I would have been nice if the seller at least gave us the stroller's basic dimensions (LxWxH).

Overall, I'll be very surprised if this item sells on eBay. The main problems with this auction are with the poor title and lack of information regarding the stroller. By not having any information and charging at least $18.94 ($9.99 starting bid + $8.95 shipping), it's going to be hard to make the sale.

20 toy military aircraft

Die Cast U.S.A. Toy Fighter Planes New 20


ended - Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Auction grade: C

Starting bid: $14.99

Final selling price: $14.99


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a small collection of twenty toy military aircraft. These are die-cast metal and look to be about 1/64th of their original size. I know that because I used to collect those exact toys a long time ago. I'm an aviation & military history dork :)

The title looks pretty good, but the seller will benefit by finding ways to add words and phrases such as "military", "bomber", "metal", "American", and even something like "LOT of 20".

The auction's description definitely needs some work. Here's exactly what it says:

"Up for your bids is this Really Neat set of 20 Fighter Planes. These are New, Never been played with. Just taken out of box to take picture. No broken parts. Absolutely a Must Have for the Military collector."

The first problem is the almost random capitalization of certain words. It makes no sense and I can only assume that the seller doesn't know how to write correctly. The same is true for the sentence fragments in the description.

My next problem is the way that the seller uses the generic "fighter planes" description for all of the aircraft in the collection. That is certainly not true. I know that the description on the box says "20 PC FAMOUS FIGHTER SET" and most people don't know or care that it technically isn't correct. This is just a seller trying to pass on some merchandise to the next person.

The description is another excellent place to use more key words talking about the different aircraft in the collection. Comments about the military would be useful as well as aviation in general. I'm willing to bet that there are some people that would enjoy setting up a display case with such aircraft, but they're going to have a hard time finding this auction.

The last problem that I noticed in the auction's description is when the seller mentions "No broken parts." That's a lie. Looking at the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter on the right side of the picture, the rotors blades are bent and broken. Those blades are plastic and it's very easy to bend and brake them with improper packaging. The winning bidder is going to be very sad when they examine that chopper and see the damage. This picture is evidence that it's already broken while still in the seller's possession, yet nothing is mentioned.

Just for fun, here's a listing of all of the aircraft in the picture: F-15, F-18, F-4, F-16, F-111, B-1, F-117, A-6, E-2, A-4, AV-8B, F-14, UH-60, A-10, B-52, SR-71, X-29, F-22, A-26 (not positive about that one), and a C-5. Five of them don't even carry any offensive weapons, and four others are bombers. That leaves the rest of them as fighter and attack aircraft.

That's just me being technical. From a selling point-of-view, if you don't know anything about military aircraft, then you would have a very hard time trying to identify the different aircraft in the collection. For this being a small collection of toys, that really isn't necessary. It would be better to leave that blank rather than guessing and incorrectly identifying some of the airplanes.

A final note is that there isn't any mention of the shipping costs. The seller only says that the shipping amount is the total weight and distance to your zip code.

Overall, this isn't that bad of an auction for toy aircraft. I know that I'm overly picky about certain aspects of auctions and items. The title isn't bad and the picture is pretty good. I like the way the seller neatly spaced out the different aircraft and all of them are visible in the picture.

I do believe that the seller is turning away business by not accepting online payments through PayPal or even Google Checkout. By making people mail you their payment and waiting days (even over a week at times) before the item is even mailed out will discourage people from making a bid.