eBay Listings That Keep Customers Attracted

This article was written by Marsha Collier of Entrepreneur.com

Attracting customers online isn't so different from attracting customers to a retail store. Here's a real-world example. Last week, I went to a mall to find a pair of jeans. Jeans used to be a simple purchase, but today they come in so many shapes, styles and sizes, it's hard to keep track of them all.

There was no one to help me through the maze of options in the store I first walked into, so I left empty-handed and went to another. There, I was immediately approached by a very helpful salesperson who explained all the varieties of jeans to me, and I bought a fancy pair of jeans at that store -- at retail price! (Now that I know my size and style, I can buy them for half-price on eBay(EBAY Quote).) But which store do you think I would return to when styles change?

Expanding my jeans shopping experience to eBay, the lesson is, any item sold on eBay deserves more than a title, a picture and a one-line description. How many times have you found an item through a keyword search just to click on it and find no further information? Plenty. It happens to thousands of prospective buyers every day. As a seller, if you're going to invest the money to list an item, give it a fighting chance for a successful sale.

An item's description tells the customer what to expect about their possible purchase. Mention size, manufacturer, material, condition -- basically, anything and everything to give the buyer more information about the item.

Lucky media sellers get the advantage of eBay's license of the Muze database, which supplies further details on books, movies, games and music. But believe it or not, some sellers don't even take the time to click their mouse to include it in their listings -- all you'll see in their descriptions is "New and sealed." Wow. What you should do is tell the customer what they'll get and what to expect. Then take some time to sell yourself -- tell them why they should buy from you.

If you're trying to sell multiple items on eBay, there may be many people who don't know the difference between the types of jeans (curvy, boot cut, cigarette, etc.), light bulbs (fluorescent, true color, watts, etc.), cell phone accessories or other products you sell. The variations are endless. The solution is one: Write solid descriptions.

When writing descriptions, it's also important to think beyond your listing pages. If you have an eBay store, consider using one of the blank pages that come with your store for a product FAQ page. Or at the very least, put the information on your "About Me" page. That way, you can provide information about all the products you sell, so customers will know which of your listings to look at.