It isn’t comfortable to single out sellers and point out their mistakes. But you need to know what not to do to maximize auction income. Sometimes, the most awful listings are swamped with bids -- just because the deal is so good.
Nevertheless, the more professional you are, the better you will play the game. Making careless and pointless errors isn’t very productive.1) There are three errors in one section -- This person was auctioning knives and had the following at the bottom of his listing...
Looks like a good idea, right? The problem was...i) “View My Other Auctions”-- he had no other auctions (at this time) so that page went nowhere and this made him look foolish.
ii) “Visit My Homepage” -- this was what I found when I clicked that link...
iii) As for his e-mail address, I sent him two e-mails and he never responded to either. Always answer your e-mail!
2) Your visitor is only a click away from leaving - My surfing started with this listing…
There were no pictures of these treats so I decided to follow the link to “Country Treasures,” as directed on the listing. The link led me to this page…
This was all the information on the page about pets. The rest of the page was about other items that were not related to pets in any way. It was also covered with the symbol for broken links for pictures. Further more, irritating “pop up windows” appeared frequently, windows that were ads soliciting my money for all kinds of stuff that I wasn’t interested in -- opportunities that had nothing whatsoever to do with pets.
The next page brought me to...
Notice the misspelled word. And still no pictures or details about the treats. However, I tried one more time. My next “click” took me to a totally blank screen. Not even an error message!
I know you won’t be surprised to hear that I didn’t buy any of her pet treats. Would the average buyer have followed all the way through to the fourth link? Not likely.
3) Pictures often make the difference between a sale and no-sale -- For some categories, pictures are an absolute “must.” With this listing...
... the seller received no bids at all. Jewelry demands pictures. So before you list any items at all, think about whether pictures are a necessity. If they are, provide them.
4) Always proofread your listing before submission -- Here is the absolute worst listing I have ever seen. Can you translate it for me?…
What is this listing? Here is the entire ad...
And here is the “photo”…
This item, whatever it was, listed for $25. You guessed it. The bids didn’t pile up in response to this listing.
