In this newsletter, I'm going to share with you some copywriting secrets that most marketers would kill for. Calvin Coolidge, thirtieth President of the United States, once famously said "Advertising is the life of trade."

And trade on eBay is no exception.

Good advertising involves more than a nice picture. Just because 'a picture is worth a thousand words' doesn't mean you should let it do all the talking. While your photo might initially be what initially catches people's attention, your words are what ultimately close the deal. Words can be powerful enough to convince a window-shopper to buy, yet they can also easily deter an enthusiastic would-be bidder.

On eBay, you have to apply your wording skills twice: in the title and the description. There is a big difference between an excellent title and description on eBay and a poor one. Look at the difference between these examples:

Example 1:

Title: 'L@@K! Brand new, gorgeous cake tin set.'

Description: This set comes with 4 tins - all different sizes. Found them at a sale. Lovely red color with white bits around the side. Will make a great addition to your pantry.

OR

Example 2:

Title: 'Royal Doulton 1920s shepherdess figurine'

Description: This lovely figurine was passed down to me from great-grandmother. I'm shifting to Alaska and can't, sadly, give it the home it deserves. Will someone please give it a good home?

• Made in 1923, Royal Doulton, London.
• Small chip from base, otherwise perfect condition
• Designed by G. Goodwin
• The shepherdess is wearing a brown blouse, dark blue skirt, covered by a pale grey overdress with orange accents. She is carrying a shepherd's crook in one arm and a lamb under the other
• Measurements: 6 3/4" tall
• Magnificent coloring and intricate detail.

Based on the information provided, which one would you buy? Your sales copy on eBay is made up of two components: the title and the description. Both are equally important for attracting bids, but they each require totally different writing techniques.

The Title

Your title is essentially a brief description of 55 characters or less that gives the reader essential information about your item. The title is like a newspaper headline: it aims to give the most important information in the shortest possible space.

So exactly is it that makes a good title?

1. Frontloading

Frontloading means that the important words are at the beginning of the sentence. Newspapers practice frontloading all the time to grab people's attention as their eyes skim over the page. eBay is similar in this respect. You only have a second or two in which to grab their attention.

This is an example of frontloading: 'iPod 60gb new Black + free leather case'.

This is not: 'Black new iPod + free leather case 60gb'.

Word order should be: Brand name, product, model identification, condition (if new or mint, otherwise not at all).

Word order for an unbranded item should have the most compelling characteristic first: for example '18 th-century grandfather clock solid wood with carved flowers'

2. Good keywords

Keywords are the important words - the ones people are most likely to search for. For example, if you are selling a 1950s metal wall clock, then good keywords would include 'retro', 'metal', '1950s', 'wall' and 'clock'. These are the words that you would use to describe it most accurately, and what people would be likely to search for.

In general, good keywords to include in your title are the words 'vintage', 'antique' and 'retro', plus dates, brand names, colors, model name, size and condition.

3. Facts

Spell out exactly what you are selling. For example, '5 piece vintage farm toy set'. This will capture searches for both 'vintage toy' and 'farm toy set'.

4. Abbreviations

Use abbreviations to indicate extras such as free shipping and no reserve price. These help to entice people to view your listing, without wasting too many of your precious 55 characters.

There is a whole bunch of abbreviations that sellers use to indicate these extras, all the while only using up only 2 or 3 characters.

You want to say:	Abbreviation:
Black & White	B&W
Buy It Now	BIN
Cartridge in the box	CIB
Certificate of authenticity	COA
Hard to find	HTF
Limited edition	LTD
Mint in box	MIB
Mint in Mint box	MIMB
Mint on card	MOC
Mint no box	MNB
Mint with both mint tags	MWBMT
Never been worn	NBW
No cover	No cover
New in box	NIB
No reserve	NR
Never removed from box	NRFB
New with tags	NWT
One of a kind	OOAK
Out of print	OOP
Still sealed	SS
Very hard to find	VHTF

 

5. Spelling/ avoid capital letters

Don't underestimate the importance of spelling! Your item may be practically invisible if your title is 'Doir sunglases' rather than 'Dior sunglasses'. If the spelling is incorrect, then your item will only show of category searches, rather than regular searches. Grammar isn't important (in fact it's a waste of space in your title), but spelling remains essential.

Also, go easy on the capital letters - they just make your listing harder to read.

6. Don't waste space

Don't use up valuable space with meaningless words like 'lovely, gorgeous, W@W!, L@@K!', and so on. These will not help sell your item. They aren't beneficial to search engines and they don't tell a prospective bidder anything.

The value of fonts

Lots of sellers on eBay use caps, bold and underline in their titles...whether they actually work is another question.

Everyone has their own opinions on font and background designs. Personally, I'm in favor of less is more when it comes to titles...

EVEN when eBay's statistics show that using different text types results in a higher sale price.

Why? Well ask yourself why eBay might show these statistics. Not only does it charge extra for these features (so it's in their interest to show positive results), but these statistics are skewed by power sellers who pay extra for these features - but, you must remember, also do a lot of other things to increase their sales as well. Whether or not it is actually the fonts that increase sales is actually uncertain.

So, my advice then is:

• Never use capitals. They are very difficult to read and, I think, ineffective in capturing the skim-readers attention. Try skimming some listings yourself to see which listings capture your attention and are easier to read.
• Use bold ONLY if there are no other bold listings near your listing.
• Give underline a miss: it just tends to make the listing harder to read.

The Description

The description tells the bidder all they need to know about your item to make a purchase decision. The best descriptions use bullet points to list the important information, so the information is clear and easy to read.

**Tip**

It's a good idea to type your description into your word processor first to help avoid spelling mistakes. Simply copy and paste the text over into the Description box in eBay.

Here's what you need to do to create a winning description:

1. Give a thorough description

An essential quality of an eBay seller worth his or her salt is that they give really good, accurate descriptions of the item they are selling. They know their item and the features that would be of interest to the buyer. They aren't vague or indifferent. They sound passionate about the item, and instil their enthusiasm and fascination for it onto the visitor.

A thorough description includes color and other detailing, age, condition, brand, size, flaws and faults, whether or not you have a manual, speed, accessories, and shipping and payment details.

Even if you have a photo, it is still important to state the color, detailing, condition and size of the item, even if you think the photo shows all of these things.

While photos are, in general, a fairly accurate representation, sometimes they can misrepresent your item in some way - even if you are not aware of yourself.

Perhaps the lighting in the photo actually makes your pale green rug appear beige. And while you might think the chip on the side of your vase is glaringly obvious in the photo, a bidder might just as easily miss it.

Similarly, size is not always obvious. And even if it is, some people are searching for an object of a very particular size. Even an inch or two may make all the difference as to whether the buyer can fit it between their two other widgets.

In sum, cover yourself in every eventuality by always including every detail.

**Top Tip**

Describe your item as if you don't have a picture. Then include a really good picture as well.

2. List any blemishes or faults

Listing faults and flaws is difficult to do, but an absolute necessity nonetheless.

All cracks, strange noises, chips, bits glued back on, touch-ups, missing bits, and stiff, stuck, or unmoving parts must be listed.

**Tip**

An item that smells funny can also be a cause for complaint. Remember to include funny smells in the description or you might find yourself in dispute.

As a responsible, trustworthy seller, the buyer must know exactly what they are going to get. After all, would you take the risk of paying $250 for a piece of jewelry, from someone on the other side of the world whom you had never met, only to find that, when it arrived, it was actually silver, rather than white gold?

3. Give branding and age information

Brand and age can make a huge difference to the value of items. Obviously, for some items this information will be less important than for others. Nevertheless, it's still good practice to put a rough estimate of age: for example 'this was my mother's brooch, it's at least 40 years old'.

For collectible items, brand and age make a huge difference to the value.

4. Dimensions

Size details are important to include, even though many sellers don't bother. Once again, the more details you include, the more attractive your offer - and the more trustworthy you appear.

5. The story

One thing I notice about the most watched items on eBay is that items with a story often get a lot of attention.

With almost monotonous regularity, there is often an item that reaches an astounding price, primarily because of the story rather than the uniqueness of the item itself.

Recently, I was intrigued to see that one of the 'most watched items' was a vial of sand. Rather inconsequential you might think. But the story behind it was heart-breaking and fascinating.

The woman selling the sand had lost her father and her husband all in the same year, and was hoping to get enough money to care for her and her son and start a new life. The item itself was unremarkable, but the accompanying story, which was at least a page long and included photos, captured the attention of hundreds. Accordingly, the bidding amount had grown enormous!

So, if your item has an interesting story behind it, then tell it. It doesn't have to be as dramatic as the sand example, but even adding the sentence: 'this was the only luxury item my grandmother kept during the depression: she sold everything else to make ends meet', adds a little bit of spice to your item.

This is a great way of differentiating your item. You will find that, if there are two other electric heaters for sale, exactly like yours, you will get a higher amount if you include the story of how this heater has accompanied you on your trips as a biologist to the arctic and to Greenland and Finland . And that it was used to keep two baby squirrels from dying of hypothermia etc...you get the picture!

6. Shipping and payment details

Not all sellers include shipping and payment details in their description - but that doesn't mean you shouldn't. The more details you include, the easier it is for someone to make up their mind to bid.

You don't want to leave any room for doubt in a potential bidders mind. If you haven't specified how much shipping will be, the buyer might well think 'but what if shipping costs $20? I'm only paying $45 for this bookshelf kitset, and I don't want to end up paying $65 overall'.

**Top Tip**

If you are selling items on a large scale, include a Frequently Asked Questions section. In this section, include questions about your product and your policies. If you find that you have been emailed 6 times with the same question from different prospective buyers, it might be a hint that you should include this question and the answer in your FAQs. This is a great time-saving technique!

Other description tips

• Use wording to motivate your viewers into actually bidding. In the description, include phrases like 'Limited Time Offer', 'Special Price', 'Rare', 'Unique', 'One-of-a-Kind'.
• List all your policies. This way, a customer can't complain that you didn't tell them.
• If you don't accept returns, say 'all sales final'. Be aware, however, that most people assume from those three little words that there will be something wrong with your item.
• Don't make your policies ferociously harsh. If you do have very strict policies, consider including a link to your 'about me' page that lists your policies, and then just put a note on the bottom of the auction 'My shipping and payment policies are strict. Please visit my About Me page for more details.'
• If you don't know anything about what you are selling, find out. Vague selling on eBay is just the same as a vague sales assistant. Imagine if you were looking for a tie for an important occasion and the shop assistant said: 'oh yes, those ties over their are a very nice color, but I'm not sure if they'll go with what you're wearing. No, I don't really know what this brand quality is like. People seem to like them though'. Would you be convinced? Or would you just move on to the next store?

**Top Tip**

Remember that a happy customer is one who receives the item in exactly the condition you described.

Work Book

• Practice writing a title and description for the chair you are sitting on - or any other object in the room.
• I've discovered that any time I spend rewriting and optimizing my title is time well spent. For your item, I recommend that you try at least 5-10 variations - or all the variations you can think of really!
• Try reordering and adding different details in each. For example if I was selling a black 1950s ceramic table lamp, if might try the following titles:
  • 'Vintage 1950s American-style black ceramic lamp'
  • '1950s shiny black ceramic table lamp'
  • 'Retro black ceramic table lamp in American style'
  • 'Vintage 1950s mint condition black ceramic lamp'

So experiment away! And don't forget to keep a detailed record of all your tests - what words you used and how many sales you achieved.

Useful Links

• http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/title_desc_ov.html

Look out for next week's newsletter on photographing techniques! It tells you everything you need to know about creating an irresistible photo - whatever shape or size your item!

 

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