Pay attention to your listing titles; they're a big part of selling success
A large amount of time and effort are spent on listing optimization by most eBay sellers, including things like market research and statistics, sourcing and pricing, photos anddescriptions, and listing terms.
One important aspect of your sales pitch, however, is often overlooked: the title of your auction listings. The title of your auction listings is central to:
- The chances that eBay buyers will bother to click on your auction when they see it in a list of search results
- The chances that eBay will show your item in the first place in a list of given search results
Remember in particular that eBay doesn't by default search item descriptions—only item titles. Buyers or prospective bidders have to check an extra box and re-run their search in order to get search results based on both titles and descriptions. Therefore, as a seller, your first line of attack in trying to find bidders/buyers is making sure that your title turns up in as many relevant searches as possible.
Correct Spelling, Correct Terms
The first and most important property of a good listing title is the fact that the followingaccurateinformation is included and correctly spelled:- Brand name/manufacturer (i.e. item make)
- Item type or typical market name (i.e. item model)
- Most common slang/"everyday speech" name (if applicable)
- Condition ("NIB" for "new in box," "MINT" or "NEW" for new without box, "LIKE NEW" or "LN" for nearly new, "EX" or "EXCELLENT" for great condition, "USED" or "REFURBISHED" for other conditions, "AS-IS" for AS-IS items)
The vast majority of items sold on eBay are originally searched for using a combination of these terms—make/model, common name (i.e. "mobile phone" in addition to "Apple iPhone"), and condition.
Additional Keywords, Compatibilities, Affinities
A great, searchable title doesn't just stop at these terms, however. A really powerful listing title also anticipates the other things that users might be searching for that are related to the item you're selling. Amongst these things are:- Compatibilities. For example, "PlayStation 2" in addition to "Silent Hill Video Game," "mp3 music player" in addition to "Creative Muvo," or "83-85 Taurus" in addition to "Ford Headlights, Part no...."
- Extra features. For example, "with accessories," "includes optional recharger," "all original," or "just rebuilt."
- Auction specials. For example, "free shipping," "warranty available," or "includes installation."
Read on to see a few before-and-after examples that will help to illustrate the types of changes that can turn poor item titles into effective ones.
Remember, you have a limited amount of space in your listing title. You want to include as much relevant information as possible that users are actually likely to search for. You don't want to include anything that isn't going to entice your user to click on your auction and/or that users are highly unlikely to search for in the first place. Consider the following examples:
Bad:
"Pair of bike tires"
Problem: This title doesn't help prospective bidders to know whether your tires are the right tires for their bike. Just as importantly, they can't tell what condition the tires are in. Most tire buyers want newtires, so if yours are new, be sure to say so! Also, most users won't simply search for "bike tires," but will search for the size or type that they need, i.e. "mountain bike tires" or "26.x2.125 tires," to save time and effort.
"Pair of bike tires"
Problem: This title doesn't help prospective bidders to know whether your tires are the right tires for their bike. Just as importantly, they can't tell what condition the tires are in. Most tire buyers want newtires, so if yours are new, be sure to say so! Also, most users won't simply search for "bike tires," but will search for the size or type that they need, i.e. "mountain bike tires" or "26.x2.125 tires," to save time and effort.
Good:
"New pair 26 inch bicycle tires for mountain bikes mtb size 26x2.125"
Solution: Now condition and size are included in the description. Both "bicycle" and "bike" as well as the less common "mtb" (for "mountain bike") have been worked in, so that users searching for any of these will find the auction.
"New pair 26 inch bicycle tires for mountain bikes mtb size 26x2.125"
Solution: Now condition and size are included in the description. Both "bicycle" and "bike" as well as the less common "mtb" (for "mountain bike") have been worked in, so that users searching for any of these will find the auction.
Bad:
"Extended phone battery for Palm Treo"
Problem: Once again, it's tough for a users to know whether or not this is the right item for their phone. Also, in this case, it's unclear just what "extended" means. How extended is it? And who makes it? Is this a standard option or a more risky aftermarket item?
"Extended phone battery for Palm Treo"
Problem: Once again, it's tough for a users to know whether or not this is the right item for their phone. Also, in this case, it's unclear just what "extended" means. How extended is it? And who makes it? Is this a standard option or a more risky aftermarket item?
Good:
"Extended generic 2400mah phone battery for Palm Treo 650 680 NIB"
Solution: Now it's clear that the part is an aftermarket part. Users searching for a battery for their particular phone (in this case, a Treo 650 or Treo 680) will now find the auction. The condition of the item is also clear, as is the actual size of the battery using standard battery size measures.
"Extended generic 2400mah phone battery for Palm Treo 650 680 NIB"
Solution: Now it's clear that the part is an aftermarket part. Users searching for a battery for their particular phone (in this case, a Treo 650 or Treo 680) will now find the auction. The condition of the item is also clear, as is the actual size of the battery using standard battery size measures.
Bad:
"Hand-made winter gloves"
Problem: There's almost no information here that will help someone to decide whether or notyour gloves match them. What about size? Color? Material? Gender? Most users will search for at least some of these types of keywords and if they do, your items won't come up in their results if your title is written this way.
"Hand-made winter gloves"
Problem: There's almost no information here that will help someone to decide whether or notyour gloves match them. What about size? Color? Material? Gender? Most users will search for at least some of these types of keywords and if they do, your items won't come up in their results if your title is written this way.
Good:
"New womens hand-made knit wool gloves, red size L large, warm!"
Solution: Now a woman buyer that begins by searching for "red womens gloves" will find your listing. Even better, if she searches for "red wool womens gloves size L" she'll find your auction—probably with very few competitors since the search was so specific and most listing titles aren't.
"New womens hand-made knit wool gloves, red size L large, warm!"
Solution: Now a woman buyer that begins by searching for "red womens gloves" will find your listing. Even better, if she searches for "red wool womens gloves size L" she'll find your auction—probably with very few competitors since the search was so specific and most listing titles aren't.
Bad:
"Great old strat guittar ca. '71, sings sweet, awesome!"
Problem: This title is nicely chatty, but the most important word in it has been misspelled and precious little other information is included in the way that users are actually likely to search for it. It's unlikely, therefore, to come up in any search by a user actually looking for this type of item.
"Great old strat guittar ca. '71, sings sweet, awesome!"
Problem: This title is nicely chatty, but the most important word in it has been misspelled and precious little other information is included in the way that users are actually likely to search for it. It's unlikely, therefore, to come up in any search by a user actually looking for this type of item.
Good:
"Vintage white 1971 Fender Stratocaster guitar all original, like new!"
Solution: The misspelling in the original has been fixed, and less likely search terms ("awesome," "great," "strat," "old," and "71") have been replaced with more likely search terms ("all original," "like new," "stratocaster," "vintage," and "1971"). The brand name has been added, as has a color. The repaired example is much more likely to appear in a search, not to mention more likely to be clicked when it does.
"Vintage white 1971 Fender Stratocaster guitar all original, like new!"
Solution: The misspelling in the original has been fixed, and less likely search terms ("awesome," "great," "strat," "old," and "71") have been replaced with more likely search terms ("all original," "like new," "stratocaster," "vintage," and "1971"). The brand name has been added, as has a color. The repaired example is much more likely to appear in a search, not to mention more likely to be clicked when it does.
Bad:
"52mm uv filter fits most cameras with 52mm front diameter lens"
Problem: The title gives a size but wastes space by repeating it. It isn't clear which cameras are "most" cameras (users don't search for "most cameras," they search for the camera they actually own). Little is said about workmanship or condition.
"52mm uv filter fits most cameras with 52mm front diameter lens"
Problem: The title gives a size but wastes space by repeating it. It isn't clear which cameras are "most" cameras (users don't search for "most cameras," they search for the camera they actually own). Little is said about workmanship or condition.
Good:
"New 52mm Hoya UV filter for Nikon Canon Pentax Olympus Sony"
Solution: Condition and brand ("new" and "Hoya") are now indicated. No space is wasted repeating the filter size. Instead of "most cameras," a phrase for which few users would ever search, the title now lists the five most common camera brands that users are likely to own; a clarification that 52mm refers to the size of the front lens element can be placed in the listing itself.
"New 52mm Hoya UV filter for Nikon Canon Pentax Olympus Sony"
Solution: Condition and brand ("new" and "Hoya") are now indicated. No space is wasted repeating the filter size. Instead of "most cameras," a phrase for which few users would ever search, the title now lists the five most common camera brands that users are likely to own; a clarification that 52mm refers to the size of the front lens element can be placed in the listing itself.
Pitfalls and Caveats
As you think about your listing titles, it's also important to keep a couple of caveats in mind, since failure to heed them can cause problems for you and your auctions later on:- Don't keyword SPAM. There is a difference between relevant keywords helping you to appear in search results and the insertion of irrelevant keywords inserted to add your auction to search results that it has no business appearing in. For example, don't list "iPod" as a word in your auction title if you're selling not an iPod, but another make/model music player—not even as part of a phrase such as "just like iPod" or "not an iPod." Doing so is in violation of eBay rules and counts as keyword spamming.
- Don't OMIT important details. If your item is broken and being sold AS-IS, or is merely themanual for a plasma TV rather than an actual plasma TV, this information is important enough to the user's decision to bid on your auction to appear in the title. Failure to note that an item is broken or that you are selling not an actual item but a manual, an accessory, a box/carton, etc. can result in decisions against you by PayPal if buyers should happen to file dispute(s).
- Don't overdo it/include the right information. It's one thing to list compatibility, but it's another to see an auction title like "Lens E-1 E-3 E-300 E-330 E-500 E-510 E-520 E-400 E-410 E-420" which gives little or no information about the actual item but far too many instances of compatibility. The same goes for "Sony Black PS2 PS 2 Play Station Playstation NIB NEW MINT EX," given that NIB, NEW, MINT, and EX all imply the same or very similar things and that virtually all PS2 consoles in existence are black. Though this amount of repetition and duplication may help a little bit in search placement, it's also likely to reduce the number of clicks your listing actually gets once users see it in search result. Instead, they'll click on the listing titled simply "NEW IN BOX Sony Playstation 2 (PS2)."
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