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!

1 gb mp3 player

Mp3 Multimedia Player 1GB Green


ended - Wednesday, April 23, 3008

Auction grade: D-

Starting bid: $4.87

Final selling price: $5.50


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a small, portable mp3 player. Not a whole lot of information is given about this particular mp3 player.

For starters, the title could use a little extra work. Key words such as "music" and "songs" would definitely help this show up in more search results. Also, if this is made by a known manufacturer, then that should also go into the title. If need be, the word "multimedia" can be removed as it's a less popular search term.

The auction's description is very short and doesn't tell us anything about the item for sale.

"Very nice mp3 player. Comes in a neat little case with the connecting cables, earphones etc."

Why go through the effort and cost of trying to sell something on eBay if you're not going to tell us about it?

The auction's description is your time to shine as a seller. This is your sales pitch. You've done the hard part and gotten somebody to click on the auction, and now it's your job to sell them on the item and finish the sale. Don't leave them hanging and wanting more information like this. This particular example shows a seller's lazy approach to trying to make a sale.

So what do you do if you don't know anything about the item for sale?

For starters, write down whatever is on the box. If the box mentions roughly how many songs will fit on the player, then make a note of it in the auction. Don't assume that your customers are totally up-to-date on the latest technology trends. If the box doesn't have any solid information, check out the manufacturer's website and look for information there. If that doesn't work then see what other online retailers are saying about the item.

For this mp3 player, we, the buyers, know practically nothing about it. The title says that it has a one gigabite hard drive and another part of the auction has it labeled as being new, but that's it. We don't know the manufacturer, which exact cables come with it, or even how long it lasts on average with a charged battery.

The stock photo doesn't exactly give us much information either.

What strikes me as being surprising is that this auction is being sold by an eBay PowerSeller. A person who should know about selling and how to market items properly has an auction this poorly constructed.

Overall, this auction gives me the impression of a seller trying to sell a cheap, knock-off mp3 player on an unsuspecting person. The bad stock picture, low starting bid, and lack of information all lead to that conclusion. If the seller is trying to sell an honest electronic device that performs and lasts just as long as the major competitor's models, then he needs to make a better effort at actually trying to sell the mp3 player.

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.

Camping knives collection

*Collection of CAMPING KNIVES *SWISS ARMY TYPE & MORE!


ended - Sunday, March 23, 2008

Auction grade: D

Starting bid: $9.90

Final selling price: $18.12


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a small collection of apparently used (explained below) small folding knives used for camping and hiking. This must be an extremely rare collection since the subtitle on the search results page says "Over 5000 years old! *All Authentic *NOT COPIES! Real!!"

Starting out, the auction's title actually isn't that bad. I would have thrown in the word "hiking" and downgraded some of the capitalization, but the title has a few good key words. Apart from the picture, the rest of the auction goes downhill fast.

As it is shown above, the auction's subtitle is a riot. I didn't know that we had the technology 5,000 years ago to make such tools. It's also good to know that these knives aren't copies and are very much real. The "All Authentic" part isn't exactly truthful as the folding knife with all of the add-on features is a Swiss Army-type knife and not a real one.

Rest assured, the seller does point out the look-alike Swiss Army knife by saying: "PLEASE NOTE: THE LARGE SWISS ARMY STYLE KNIFE, IS NOT A SWISS ARMY KNIFE. BUT IT IS ALMOST LIKE ONE. AMAZING QUALITY LIKE A SWISS ARMY KNIFE. *IT'S NOT CHEAP." This invalidates the "All Authentic" part of the subtitle.

Starting at the top of the description you will find phrases like "INSANE LOW PRICES!", "COLLECTION", and the ever popular, "Super Cool." Is this a cheap discount store or a professional eBay PowerSeller?

The seller then goes on to list the knives in the auction using her own random pattern and terminology. It would have been nice if the knives were listed in order as they are in the picture. Buyers like to know exactly what they're receiving, and it cases like this you need to point out each one exactly. The "UNIPRICE SKINNING KNIFE" and "*INSTA-OPEN KNIVES" were new terms to me and to Google.

"YOU FIVE KNIVES TOTAL." - A) Can you say that in English? B) By my count there are six knives in the picture and the description.

"PAYPAL, MONEY ORDERS, OR CHECKS IS ACCEPTED AS PAYMENT!" - It's good that they are accepted as payment.

"Recieved" - received

"inconvience" - inconvenience

"The shipping discount is 1 dollar off per action. If you don't agree with the shipping policy. Please refrain from bidding." - Ok, but do you discount for shipping multiple auctions? Also, the last two sentences would probably be much better if they were put together as one sentence.

"I sell used items, and problems can always be exspected." - So therefore these knives are most likely used. That kind of information needs to be made clearer for the customers. More importantly, if problems can always be expected, then why should anyone do business with you?

"I promiss good customer service." - Such a promise shouldn't be needed from a PowerSeller. At eBay, your feedback lets people know how well you handle such things like that.

"COMBINE SHIPPING DISCOUNT" - Combined shipping discount

"Hi everybody, My Name is Jan." - Howdy, Jan! It's nice to meet you!

"I list everything for only .99 cents." - Ummm, that's not true for this auction. If so, then the buyer needs a discount of $8.91. Spot checking a few of her sold items, some were listed with starting bids of $9.90, while others were only $0.69. That tells me that this seller cannot hit keys correctly on the numeric keypad nor does she even bother to check her work.

"No reserved. So everybody will have a fair chance to bid." - I like this strategy (honest!) as I'm not a fan of participating in reserve auctions myself. This would look better without the sentence fragments.

The shipping & handling price for these knives is too high. You'll just scare away potential customers when you charge fees like that. Scamming people with high fees is not the way to win back repeat business. The $1 off combined shipping discount with each add-on item isn't a deal to the customers when your fees are that high.


Overall, this is a very sloppy and unprofessional auction. The seller made absolutely no effort to correct the many grammar and auction errors throughout this entire auction. The region / culture for these knives is not Japan, and the seller needs to make it known for a fact whether these knives are new or used. The auction's picture is very good and the title isn't bad, but the rest of it needs a complete makeover.

What bothers me the most is that this auction is by a PowerSeller with almost 1,900 positive pieces of feedback in the past twelve months. Obviously, the seller does not care about the inconsistencies with the "I list everything for .99 cents except when I can't hit the keys correctly" starting bids or other problems. What's equally scary are the number of people who reward a sloppy and very unprofessional person like this with business.

With the Internet and free tools such as Dictionary, Google, and Wikipedia, it's ridiculously easy to do basic research and checking. Take the time to double check your work and keep things consistent. As a PowerSeller, you shouldn't have auctions that look this poor and childish.