The Importance of Using an Accurate eBay Item Description

Hi Folks,

Gorgeous day up here in the North East of England. Been for a long walk this morning with my canine friend. Thoroughly enjoyed it and I know she did too because she's snoring now contentedly, as dogs do!

Rather than snoring myself (that'll come later). I want to talk about the importance of using an accurate, precise and clear eBay item description.

What you MUST do is describe your eBay item accurately and honestly. Well that's obvious I hear you say. It might be obvious to me and you but have a look at some eBay item descriptions and see what you think. Sometimes it is clear that what sellers are describing is wide of the mark. An example - 'item is in mint and good as new condition', but there may be a photo of the product which suggests it clearly is not.

If there are defects or faults you need to tell the buyer about, make sure you tell them. And tell them EXACTLY what they are. Don't skim or gloss and try to make out the item is in better condition than it is. Otherwise if you sell this on eBay and you have not described the item properly you will only get a dissatisfied buyer. They will then leave you bad feedback OR you will get the 'item is not as described' message from eBay. This will mean you will have to refund the item (once they've returned it, although some will try for a refund before they return it, but that's another story). Either bad feedback or making a refund and having to resell the product will cost you TIME and MONEY. Bad for your business. Don't get into this situation.

Another sign that your eBay item description is no good or not sufficient, is if you receive a lot of questions about the product. Again time consuming and avoidable. Questions are a sure sign that you have not described your eBay item properly. Give the prospective buyer as much information as you possibly can. Even more than you think is necessary. eBay buyers love to information, the more the better, you can never have too much detail for them.

I'll tell you how I do my eBay item descriptions in my eBay Shop.

What I have is to the top left a photo of what the item is. This works well because it looks better than a load of words and I think, well I know buyers love to see pictures of what is being sold. More the better. However I only use one photo in the actual eBay item description and further pictures in the photo section.

Then, still at the top of the page and to the right of the photo. I have a simple five or six point bulleted list (or as many as you might need). It describes everything I think an eBay buyer would want to know and it does this in a simple, easy to view way. I'm generally not a fan of eBay templates carrying all the bells and whistles. You know the ones you see with twenty three different colour schemes (I use three), flash graphics and moving banners etc etc. I find these off putting and would consider them a distraction from my product. Simple and clear works for me every time.

It is very very rare that I get a question about a product I am selling so this is proof that my simple system works, and I see no reason why I need to change it. If I do receive a question from a prospective eBay buyer, of course I answer it but then I go back to my description and add the information as required.

I hope you have found this information useful and it helps you with your eBay item descriptions. They really are so important.

Any questions please ask and feel free to leave a comment too.

Mark Davies