Small collection of vintage video games

Vintage Coleco Adam&Atari


Auction ended - Thursday, June 26, 2008

Auction grade: C-

Starting bid: $10.00

Final selling price: $57.78


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a small collection of vintage video games as well as catalogs, newsletters, and programming and hacking guides. These games and guides are for old Coleco, Adam and Atari gaming systems.

For starters, this auction's title really needs additional key words such as "games", "video games", "guide", "book", "newsletter", "collection", and even "lot". Any combination of those additional words should help bring in more potential buyers.

The actual item description for this auction needs to be rewritten with a bullet point format. It's good that the seller listed all of the games and literature in this auction (everything listed counts as additional search engine material). The big problem is that the text needs to be spaced out better to make it easier to read. In this case, a set of bullet points for each gaming system would be perfect.

Just to play it safe, the seller is better off mentioning that this auction does not come with any of the actual gaming consoles. Some people will mistaking believe that they're supposed to be included, and it'll just end up costing time and money in the long run. When selling items like this, you're best off being clear about everything up front.

The picture for this auction is nice and clear. I like how all of the game cartridges are laid out up front with all of the newsletters and books in the background. It's a very professional layout.

Apart from the title and description, the only other part of the auction that bothers me is that shipping cost. $14 seems way too high for a bunch of lightweight cartridges and some newsletters. The high shipping cost will deter some buyers from placing a bid, and it will limit the final selling price.

Set of "Dragon Marine" accessories

Dragon Marine 1/6 lot #3


ended - Friday, June 13, 2008

Auction grade: F

Starting bid: $7.99

Final selling price: $7.99


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a small collection of apparent military gear or something similar to that. The seller calls this "Dragon Marine" lot #3.


The biggest problem with this auction is that the seller is not descriptive at all and doesn't even explain anything about "Dragon Marine". Was this a real military unit? Is this something from a past war such as World War 2? Is this a fictional / fantasy military such as GI Joe? What is "Dragon Marine"?

Depending on what this is will depend on the key words that need to be added to the auction's title. Right now, basic words such as "military", "weapons", and even "collectible" can go into the title, but more is still needed to attract even more potential buyers.

The auction's description is horrible. It's like this seller isn't even trying to sell this lot.

"you get all in picture....alot of neat stuff for diarama etc questions?"

Apart from misspelling "a lot" and "diorama", the seller completely failed in describing the item for sale and creating that "must have" desire that makes people want to place a bid. The seller makes the buyers figure out what's for sale and if they want to pursue it or not. It's hard to find an example of a lazier approach to selling on eBay.

So what can the seller do to improve the chances of this even selling on eBay?

The simplest approach is to describe "Dragon Marine" in the auction's description. If this was a real military unit, let us know a little bit about it. Copy some information from a website if needed. Remember that information in the auction's description is still searchable in the eBay search engine, but only if the user selects the "search title and description" box on the search results and advanced search pages. The search box on eBay's main page only searches through auction titles.

The auction's picture is clear, but the seller still needs to make a listing of the different pieces of military gear included in this lot. If the seller can look up basic information about "Dragon Marine", then the seller should also be able to research the weapons and other military gear for sale.

Remember, the less information that you include will lead to the fewer number of potential buyers that will find your auction. If the auction does sell, then it'll most likely be for the least amount of money you're willing to accept. The goal of any auction should be to attract the maximum number of buyers and increase the final selling price as high as possible.

1) Do your homework. Research the product and tell us about it in the description.

2) Let the buyers know exactly what is for sale.

3) Use as many relevant key words in the auction's title.

4) Keep the starting bid and shipping costs as low as possible to attract bidding.

Old valve seating tool

Valve Seating Tool


ended - Friday, June 6, 2008

Auction grade: D

Starting bid: $5.00

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is an old valve seating tool for use in engines. Nothing more is stated in the auction.

The main problem with this auction is the distinct lack of information and text in the title and description. Seeing how the auction's title is repeated in the description, this auction has a grand total of only six unique words. Unless this is an old tool that still works in today's engines and is in demand, this seller is going to have a very hard time having potential buyers find this auction.

The auction's title is in desperate need of a few more key words. In this case, words such as "engine", "old", "vintage", and even "mechanic" would work well to help this auction appear in more search engine listings.

This is all that the seller stated in the auction's description:

"Real Neat Old Valve Seating Tool"

Looking at the different combinations of words in the text that most people would use to search for an item like this, I can use most of my fingers to count out the different combinations. Considering this is eBay with many similar items for sale, that's a very low number of search terms to draw in the buyers.

The target consumers for an item like this is going to be limited. It's already established that those looking specifically for a valve seating tool will find this auction, but what about those mechanics and collectors who would like something like this but search for it with different terms? What if they're just looking for older or just engine tools in general?

This is where adding a little bit of extra text in the description is key. By typing out basic information about this tool such as the type of engines it can be used with (diesel, gasoline, etc.), if it was made to be used with any car manufacturer in particular, or even the different types of valves (intake, exhaust, etc.) it can be used with will definitely increase the chances of other buyers finding this auction.

Sure, some of that stuff may seem like common knowledge for most people, but remember that even basic information like that is filled with relevant key words and search terms. Don't underestimate the potential of typing out even the most basic information about items like this one. You never know how the potential buyers are going to search for a tool like this, so you're best off trying to cover as many angles as possible but without taking a long time to make the auction. Time is money, so if this is believed to be a cheap item, don't spend all day thinking of different search terms.

If you're going to take the time, cost, and effort to make an auction, you may as well try to draw in as many bidders as possible. If it involves spending an extra ten to fifteen minutes doing some basic research and then typing a description, then do it. You're just wasting time and your own money if you're not going to try to draw in the extra buyers.

Despite the title and description, the rest of the auction looks pretty good. You can clearly see the engine tool in the picture, and the shipping cost and starting bids are fairly reasonable. I don't know if other people are experiencing this same problem, but this is a very tall auction template filled with a lot of empty space in the middle of it. I had to do quite a bit of scrolling before reaching the bottom of the page.

It's surprising that a PowerSeller is able to make sales with other auctions as basic as this one. Many of this seller's other auctions have very simple titles and descriptions, but quite a few of the pictures are really poor. This seller obviously has many good items to sell, but if he put in a little more effort with the text and pictures, imagine how much more money he could be making.

My last suggestion to this seller is to set up an official picture taking area. Take a light brown or blue cloth and create a neutral setting for each item for sale. Taking some pictures on the deck, others on the kitchen counter, and even others out in the garage is unprofessional. Unless an item is very large or heavy, try to take all of the pictures in one official area and keep things consistent.