Gross Couple Dolls (Photo credit: Fu Man Jew)

Many years ago, when eBay was new, I was trying to figure out what the brand name of this doll I was trying to sell was and I was just browsing the doll category, hoping I would stumble on in. (That’s how small the site was back then, the entire doll category was so few listings you could browse it in under an hour.) I happened upon a listing the title of which was:

Really Ugly Doll

The doll in my hand was kinda ugly. Maybe this was finally it.

I clicked on it. There was no picture. I scrolled down to the description and the only text was:

Really ugly doll. Looks like it ate a crap sandwich.

…and that was it.

Doesn’t that make you want to buy it? No? Yeah, me either.

Close to no hits on the counter and no bids. I did a quick search of complete listings and there was this same exact listing, listed over and over again for weeks, never getting a single bid and certainly not selling. He just kept relisting it with this same terrible description and title, just throwing money away.

This is an extreme example of something I’ve seen a lot on eBay. Sellers list an item and do nothing in the description to convince you to buy it. In fact, some go as far as to make an item sound worse than it is.

If you want to sell what you listing on eBay, or anywhere for that matter, you’ve got to sell it with your words. There’s a difference between being honest, which you absolutely should be, and focusing only on the flaws to make your item sound undesirable. A good mix of flaw and features are what you need to make your item sound desirable while still making sure your buyers know what they are buying.

Have you ever received an item that was very different than the description lead you to believe?