plush Oscar Mayer Wienermobile toy

OSCAR MAYER WIENER MOBIL PLUSH NEAT COME AND SEE


Auction ended - Friday, July 11, 2008

Auction grade: D-

Starting bid: $0.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a "gently used" plush Oscar Mayer "Weinermobile" toy.

For starters, the auction's title could definitely use some improving to help appear in more eBay searches. "WIENER MOBIL" is best off being one word and spelled correctly as "Wienermobile". There aren't that many items for sale related to this unique car, but it's still necessary to at least spell it correctly.

This seller is also unnecessarily wasting space by doing something like "COME AND SEE" in the title. Considering that this is a rather unique item for sale, a generic eye-catching phrase like that isn't really that useful. Now if this seller was selling something more generic such as clothes or a decoration, then a phrase like that could be more beneficial. In this case the seller could add more search engine relevant terms such as "toy", "car", "unique" or even "hot dog".

The auction's description is almost non-existent. The only new information that's not in the title is that this is a small toy and in great condition. Otherwise, what is written there is in one giant run-on sentence.

The description is the perfect spot to spend a few minutes and tell us potential buyers a little bit about this one-of-a-kind vehicle that has captured the imagination of many people throughout the last seventy years. A little bit of research can go a long way. Remember that you're not only educating the buyers and adding value to this item, but you're also adding more search engine key words and terms.

The description is also the place to use alternate spellings of this famous car. Not everybody searching for an item like this one knows how to spell it correctly, so in the description you might casually reference other spellings such as "Weinermobile" or "Wiener Mobile".

This seller's picture taking skills could use some enhancing. The carpeting is a good background, but the first picture is blurry and both pictures need to be zoomed. Too much of the background is showing in the pictures.

The last area of correction deals with all of the text relating to shipping, payment, terms of sale, and about the seller. To cut right to the point, the seller needs to learn to organize her thoughts and write clear sentences. The seller spends way too much time and energy trying to explain all the ways she can be helpful with shipping, but it gets confusing after a while. Rethink your thoughts and write a few sentences as clearly as possible. You can even use bullet points if necessary.

The last thing you want is for the potential buyer to reach this point of your auction and suddenly become sad or confused. This is when you want the buyer to be happy, pumped up, and ready to place a bid. If they see something that makes them think twice about committing to the sale, they're probably going to leave your auction. You did all that work to get them there, don't let them leave after making it all the way to the bottom of the auction!

"At this point in time I will only except PayPal, Money Orders and Cashiers Checks. I DO NOT except personal checks, so please don't ask!"

On a final note, it's "accept", not "except"!

Toy WW2 era cannon

VINTAGE WW 11 ERA SMALL WOOD CANNON 8-1/2 IN LONG NR


Auction ended - Thursday, July 3, 2008

Auction grade: D-

Starting bid: $1.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a wooden toy cannon. The seller claims that this toy is from the 1940's though nothing in the statement backs up this claim.

For starters, if you want to market something as being from the Second World War era, do not type it as "WW11". That is flat out wrong! "WW2" is fine along with "WWII", but do not substitute the I's with 1's. In addition to severely limiting yourself in the search engine, this is also insulting to the veterans who served in the war. If you're going to use that time period to help market your item, you could at least learn how to use a proper acronym.

In addition to correcting "WW 11", "IN LONG NR" could also safely be removed and substituted for words such as "toy" and "collectible". Don't waste space in the title when there are still search engine relevant terms not being used.

The auction's title has two main goals:
1) Get the auction into as many different searches as possible to maximize its visibility.
2) Be attractive enough to capture a buyer's curiosity enough for them to click on the link.

The auction's description is a complete pile of unorganized mess. The first sentence briefly tells us about the item for sale, though there really isn't any new information. It's just a repeat of what is already mentioned in the title. The only new thing is that we now know this is from an estate sale.

The rest of the description is the seller rambling on how he goes to auctions and estate sales for the purpose of reselling items. By doing so for apparently over thirty years he's accumulated a bunch of stuff, so now he's selling a bunch of it to make some room at his place.

Psychologically, this seller would have been better off not telling us his life story about buying items for dirt cheap and then reselling them to other people. By doing so the seller presents himself as one of those "shady salesmen" who just want to make a quick buck and move on to the next person. People are less inclined to buy from someone they see as a "middle man" versus a collector or a "regular" person selling some items from around the house.

In truth, there's nothing wrong with purchasing items for the sole purpose of reselling it. That's how many of the small retail stores operate throughout the country. Most people don't see any problems with this practice, and many of them support it without even realizing it.

Let's take a look at this seller's auction and how it shows off the "bad side" of reselling.
A) This seller types in all capital letters and cannot form complete sentences. This person also has problems using correct acronyms.
B) The picture sucks and the cannon looks like crap. It's really showing its age and needs to be refurbished.
C) This seller brags about buying items for wholesale, in auctions, and at estate sales.
D) This is a PowerSeller and many of his other auctions have this similar shoddy format.

So in other words, this person presents himself as only being out there to make a quick buck, likes to brag about how he can find deals, cannot type, and clearly doesn't take the time to take decent pictures or put together an even semi-professional auction. As a buyer, does that make you feel good about giving your hard-earned money to this person?

The best approach is for this seller to stop talking about the estate sales and other sources of cheap items. If that's your only way of acquiring items, then don't mention it at all. Focus instead on the actual item for sale first, and then our own policies after that.

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?

Hubley die-cast Lockheed Electra

Twin Engine Hubley Airplane


ended - Saturday, April 26, 2008

Auction grade: B

Starting bid: $25.00

Final selling price: $37.00


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a vintage die-cast toy airplane manufactured by Hubley Manufacturing Company. Specifically, this is a Lockheed Electra from sometime in the late 1930's. It's not stated, but this actual die-cast aircraft was most likely manufactured in the late 1940's after World War 2.

Starting out, the auction's title could use some adjusting for better eBay search engine optimization. Key words such as "Lockheed", "Electra", "vintage", "model", and even "die-cast" can be added. If needed, "Twin Engine" can be replaced with a better search word or phrase. Then again, since the seller already paid for use of the subtitle, those additional key words can also go down in that part of the title. Maximize your key words and phrases to make your auction appear in as many relevant search engine results as possible.

The auction's description isn't bad. I like how the seller goes into brief detail about this die-cast model airplane. I would like to have seen the seller give us the airplane's basic measurements from nose to tail and along the wingspan. It also would have been nice if the seller could have done some research and given us the general age of the metal toy. My basic research shows that it was probably manufactured sometime in the late 1940's, but that's just my educated guess.

The other correction I would make to the description is when the seller talks about the item's overall condition. While the aircraft looks pretty good in the pictures, it still shouldn't be considered "excellent". The seller even admits it when he mentions the paint chips.

"The plane does have a few small paint chips."

Looking at the pictures, I would presume that some of the paint chips are missing, most likely from the aging process. In the pictures it looks very good, but I wouldn't go so far as calling it excellent.

The pictures are great. The seller gets extra credit from taking the time to show use lots of different angles of the aircraft with the main landing gear raised and lowered. There's just no sense of scale in either the pictures or the auction's description. Judging by the relatively low shipping cost, I would guess that the aircraft isn't that large or heavy.

Overall, a few minor changes in the title and description should bring in more potential buyers. I'm a little bit mixed about the starting bid. If this aircraft really is rare and in excellent condition, the actual value of it would probably be three or four times the price of the starting bid. That's another reason why the seller needs to do a little more research and sell the idea of this being a very old and antique collectible item.

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.

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.

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.