Dale Junior remote controlled go-kart

REMOTE CONTROL DALE JR CART CAR WORKS NEEDS BATTERIES


ended - Friday, March 21, 2008

Auction grade: D

Starting bid: $9.99

Final selling price: $9.99


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a used Dale Earnhardt, Junior radio controlled go-kart. The kart has Dale Junior behind the wheel and ready to race around a driveway or other smooth surface.

As you can probably expect, the title needs work. First, the entire title doesn't need to be capitalized like that. The part that says "WORKS NEEDS BATTERIES" isn't necessary as those are low ranking search terms. The seller is better off with relevant key words such as "#8", "NASCAR" and even "go-kart". It's easy to use words and phrases relating to both the popular NASCAR driver and the actual toy car.

Looking at the description, it's obvious that the seller knows nothing about racing and Dale Junior, and this person has the typing skills of somebody in elementary school. I know that a lot of both buyers and sellers don't care about presenting themselves in a professional manner, but if you can't type, people will laugh at you and turn away from the sale. You're only hurting yourself in the end.

This item's description is a prime area to throw out a little information about the driver. As most race fans know, this is the old version of Dale Junior with his old number, sponsor and color scheme. In essence this is a collector's item that people are willing to collect. The problem is that many collectors are going to miss this auction because the seller failed to market it properly. A simple blurb about NASCAR and the driver will do wonders to the search results. It would also help to SPELL THE DRIVER'S NAME CORRECTLY!!!

This particular remote controlled car is a little bit different than the traditional and far more popular stock cars that most people sell online. This one has Dale behind the wheel of a go-kart (note - it's not spelled "cart") like he's racing in the Endurance Karting or other similar go-kart racing league. With this being different and rather unconventional, this is a great chance to draw extra attention to the auction. A special reference to this in the title and description will help draw in a few more potential buyers.

As a used item with moving parts, the seller needs to mention the go-kart's condition and say if there are any driving or control problems. All we know is that it works and needs batteries. We also need to know the size of the go-kart. There's no indication of the size or scale of the car in the description or picture.

In addition to fixing the title and description, the picture needs to be changed, too. This is a poor resolution picture showing the car from a horrible angle. It's very hard to see any details. The seller may want to put the controller in the picture, too.

For a used remote controlled car, I feel that the pricing for this one is a little bit too high. Considering that you'll be paying at least $20 ($10.49 + $9.95 for shipping) for the toy, that could be put towards a new remote controlled stock car. Most people are selling brand new 1/32 scale remote controlled NASCAR stock cars for around $22-25.

Overall, many parts of this auction need work and adjusting to help draw in more bidders. If you're going to go through the hassle and effort to pay for and list an item, you might as well do some research and try to draw in as many bidders as possible. Use online tools such as Google and Wikipedia to your advantage. A few minutes of research can go a long way.