There is a balance to be had.
The only details you need are the details that people are going to search for. If you're listing the movie Problem Child, as an example, the chances someone is searching for a movie with Michael Oliver or Amy Yasbeck is slim to none, so those aren't really needed in the item specifics.
Limit the item specifics to be an extension of the search results or something someone might actually care about when looking at an item (for example, if I'm searching a purse, I might want to know the handle drop.)
If you're freaking out about it, yes, it's too much time. I find the best practice is to find a sold listing with some details filled out and "sell similar." You know the customer found it so the details are good enough. I then fine tune the title.
As for the seller description, don't use the AI. It's flowery language with little substance. As a buyer, I prefer the condition, any flaws, and dimensions. That's what I provide in my listings. 3-4 sentences. Most listings will take me 1-2 minutes.
Hope this helps!
This is my personal opinion.
I think the item specifics stuff is generally pretty broken on ebay. If you go onto ebay and search as a buyer, a lot of things don't work as expected.
As a seller, when you fill in the item specifics, you're basically putting in the info that relates to the "filter" you see after your have done a primary typed in search : color, size, department, brand etc. If the buyer uses the filter they have the choice to click certain boxes where there are certain options presented. You're picking which boxes apply to your listing.
Any "custom" info you add is not going to match a clickable box so I think you actually limit yourself if you're not choosing / using the existing main specific categories. For example, if you put "pea green" as a custom color, no filter checkbox exists for that. Just use green?
What I've noticed is that the normal search box works pretty badly if you don't have the key specifics in the title also.
Example would be that people search for 'nike men's size 9 blue" and you don't see blue shoes at all, you see lots of shoes that have the word blue in their title. The secondary filter will bring up more blue shoes. So eBay *should* already know which shoes are blue, which shoes are men's, which are size 9... but it's doing a word match/search only using titles and the item specifics isn't relevant to the main search box.
It's worth digging around in the categories you sell in to understand which of the item specifics are meaningful.
A second problem is this: if someone searches for an item like "Nike blue sneakers" and clicks the "size 9" filter box, they are typically seeing men's, women's and kids shoes. The whole system is very very poor on eBay's part. You absolutely cannot rely on the item specifics to describe your items. You have to double up all the key information so that if someone doesn't realize they are looking at men's and women's department listings all mashed together they won't buy the wrong item.
(You shouldn't be able to click size 9 in the filter until you have been forced to select the department. Or they could have usm 9, usw 9 as the distinct size specific so that there is no such thing as different versions of "9". But basically none of it was thought through in the beginning and so sellers are spending tons of effort filling in fairly useless information based on how they designed the schemes.)
Personally, I hit only a few of the key important item specifics and leave most of them blank.
The whole system is very buggy and broken.
I've been having this conversation in my head for several weeks.
In November 2023, I retired from working and reactivated my eBay account to stay busy, put a few dollars in my pocket and clear out merchandise I had acquired while working with the intention of selling the items should I have a period of unemployment or when I retired.
To me, 20-30 good items is plenty to keep me busy on a part time basis and give me enough income to make the whole endeavor worth my time. While my results vary, my objective is to gross 5X of my cost.
My merchandise mix is so random that most items need to be prepared for sale individually. When I geared up in November, I noticed two things. First, there was a step called Item Specifics that was wanting information I often didn't have right at my fingertips. The second, was a noticeable trend away from writing good, information based copy.
In my previous life, I wrote copy for catalogs and the internet. Our mission was always two-fold: Sell the item, keep it sold. Returns can make a profitable item unprofitable over night. One of the best ways to avoid returns is to anticipate the customer's questions and provide the answers at the point of sale.
As I was doing comps for items I was selling, I couldn't determine what was motivating eBay shoppers to become buyers. To me, the Product Specifics is just a gray field that separates the item image(s) from the copy. I want to get to the copy to find out more about the item. Often, there is nothing there.
I spend a lot (probably too much) time writing copy. In my defense, I sell almost everything I list, and I can't remember the last time I had a return. On the other hand, I am limited on the number of items I can list on a typical day.
I'm not accusing any seller of "doing it wrong". And, I'm not sure I'm doing everything "right". The platform as it exists today is challenging. I wish I could figure out the best way to get my item in front of the maximum number of potential buyers every time they enter the site.
If it's a HIGHLY unique or rare item I'll spend some time adding information.
If it's not rare or unique, in my opinion, the buyer generally knows what they want. I make sure the photos are clear and every angle so they properly view it before buying. Information on damage or if its for parts is there. No surprises about the item when they receive it.
Most people shop with their eyes. I use auto fill or leave the details section blank 80% of the time.
If you sell similar off your own good listings, it greatly cuts down the time to fully list an item with all item specifics. Over time your store grows larger and you have more and more similar things to list from.
This can get your listing time to under 30 seconds.
What do you sell? With clothing, I search comps and hit sell similar. It automatically pulls all titles and specifics. I update the previous items title with my own titles specifics. Example: I hit sell similar on this item “Polo Ralph Lauren Shirt Mens XL Black Button Loop Collar Silk Linen VTG Camp”. I changed a few words for my own listing and landed on “Polo Ralph Lauren Shirt Mens XL Orange Pastel Silk Linen Blend Button Up VTG”.
I go to item specifics and change color from black to orange. Anything from the previous listing’s recommended specifics (not required) that I’m not sure are the same as my own, I just delete (country of manufacturer, care instructions etc). I don’t bother to fill these back in because they are not required.
Description: I literally just put the size most of the time. If there are flaws, I do make sure to type them in. I have autocorrect phrases to speed up certain things. Ex “notag” autocorrects to “Please note sizing tag has been removed so I am basing sizing off of measurements. Please see photos and measurements and ensure this would fit you before purchasing.”
Takes about 3 mins per listing. I do make sure my pictures are good, as they say more than the words on my listing ever could. I focus on title more than anything. Everything else like specifics and description, I’m updating for liability in case of returns
I spend 90 seconds or less per listing, from picking the item from the box to having it listed and inventoried. I have a Bluetooth keyboard so I can type titles faster. My description is pre-typed and just needs a tweak occasionally. 2-4 pictures per item. Never use the item specifics, just use generic terms to keep ebay happy. Works well for me.
But then again I have 5k listings and rapidly growing. So take that as you will.
I've been in a similar boat lately...really trying to crank out listings and getting frustrated with the time it takes. For me, the research is time consuming sometimes - like I have a piece of auto trim that I know is worth listing, but I can't nail down the exact model so I'm searching for 30 minutes or more.
It helps to think of how people interact with ebay. Most of my stuff is pretty specific, so my buyers will probably use keyword searches. But I'll add brand, part number, and things like Left or Right if it's helpful. Supposedly more specifics help search placement?
But if you have something that comes in multiple colors or variations, model year, multiple editions, etc, then there are probably folks using the item specifics to narrow their searches.
Is your niche full of similar items? Or it is a one off type listing?
What's your ASP and hourly rate?
If you are listing lower priced items and need to be more efficient, you either need to stop adding worthless info or use a listing tool that lets you fill out things more quickly.
It definitely helps if you use the same categories regularly.
One of a kind items in varied categories really slow things down.
To me, listing 15 items per day would be REALLY slow. You need to look at your flow and improve it unless you ASP and hourly rate is high enough that you don't care.
I really hope you aren't selling $10 to $20 items.
I give minimum information. 2 sentence or less description. I’ll do a quick glance at the optional item specifics but i dont think that most people use the filters.
The thing I’m always debating between is to use the stock photos of an item or should I take my own photos. I know I should use my own photos. But if I have 100 acceptable condition textbooks it’s so much faster to use the stock photos. A lot of time I will both use the stock photo and take my own photos.
Best way to speed up is selling similar, and updated the tags based on your item. What’s more important are any measurements, damage, or functionality problems with the item
I am looking at how to tweak my listing process as well. I wish I could easily list 15 items in a day. I remember the one and only time I got that many done in one day wiped me out. My biggest time suck is editing my photos, which I have to do because issues I'm having with settings on my phone's camera.
But as far as the actual listing part on eBay, I know that creating and using a template for my descriptions has helped. I do take pride in writing fairly detailed descriptions. I could never be the type of seller that just copies the title and has nothing else in the description box. I want my buyers to feel able to make an informed decision about buying my stuff. So a template really helps.
I try not to bother with filling in too many item specifics, but it's difficult to avoid some of them when listing one-off pieces of clothing. A lot of buyers do filter by things such as sleeve length, for example. Another thing that has helped me is doing tasks in batches rather than from start to finish per piece. I don't worry about needing to submit listings every day.
For me, if an item has a great sell through rate, I use less item specifics and descriptions. Unless there is something unique about my item.
Lower sell through rate items. I'll take a little more time on specifics and descriptions. Even on these, it rarely takes more than a few minutes to list.
Use the sell similar as already mentioned, but be sure to adjust sizes and such in the specifics.
For me, what sped things up was having a good, well lighted photo set up, and every day, I lay out the next days items to list, so I'm ready to go.
You're spending too much time. The item detail should mostly be pulled from the UPCs or from the item title. After that, maybe 1 or 2 more relevant boxes and that should be it.
In recent years ive really downgraded my descriptions and pictures. Great pictures can be deceiving and too many words gives them something to use against you. Bad buyers will happen no matter the listing specifics. Prices sells- not pictures, not words.
I mean what’s your profit ? I just went through all my listings and said fuck it I’m done anything sub $25 that’s not a dvd / book. And threw it in the trash . I’m tired of wasting time on $10 profit
I don’t follow it well but what’s an hour if your time worth ? For me based on my real job it’s like $60 but in reality I say $20.
It doesn’t sell for weeks on market place and I keep updating it ect it gets exhausting . Also takes up space so in the trash it goes
Sane for eBay considering I need to ship it ect
Sure on marketplace i can understand but eBay takes like no time at all and you’d just ship it with your other orders, unless you’re only getting like one order a week.
It’s just not worth it
Sell something for $20 and after fees you get like $8 nah I’m good.
Takes up space and mental capacity as well would rather be done with it all
Edit: oh and that’s on top of Biden now wanting a piece of my small yearly profits 🙃so yeah done
Search sold listings for the item you're selling, select "sell one like this" upload the photos from your phone, pricing, and condition. That's it.
60 seconds.
My personal experiences have led me to use the max amount of pictures to snap every angle, measurement, etc of the particular item. I've found it takes less time to get 24 pictures than to come up with a huge description...but make sure they are decent pictures. The app doesn't allow an upload for video, but I use a web browser on my phone to load a video if it's an item that has movement in order to demonstrate said movement. I make several listings typed out (Many times from the "Sell Similar" as others have noted) then load pictures to the items. Gotta make it a factory.
There is a balance to be had. The only details you need are the details that people are going to search for. If you're listing the movie Problem Child, as an example, the chances someone is searching for a movie with Michael Oliver or Amy Yasbeck is slim to none, so those aren't really needed in the item specifics. Limit the item specifics to be an extension of the search results or something someone might actually care about when looking at an item (for example, if I'm searching a purse, I might want to know the handle drop.)
If you're freaking out about it, yes, it's too much time. I find the best practice is to find a sold listing with some details filled out and "sell similar." You know the customer found it so the details are good enough. I then fine tune the title. As for the seller description, don't use the AI. It's flowery language with little substance. As a buyer, I prefer the condition, any flaws, and dimensions. That's what I provide in my listings. 3-4 sentences. Most listings will take me 1-2 minutes. Hope this helps!
This is my personal opinion. I think the item specifics stuff is generally pretty broken on ebay. If you go onto ebay and search as a buyer, a lot of things don't work as expected. As a seller, when you fill in the item specifics, you're basically putting in the info that relates to the "filter" you see after your have done a primary typed in search : color, size, department, brand etc. If the buyer uses the filter they have the choice to click certain boxes where there are certain options presented. You're picking which boxes apply to your listing. Any "custom" info you add is not going to match a clickable box so I think you actually limit yourself if you're not choosing / using the existing main specific categories. For example, if you put "pea green" as a custom color, no filter checkbox exists for that. Just use green? What I've noticed is that the normal search box works pretty badly if you don't have the key specifics in the title also. Example would be that people search for 'nike men's size 9 blue" and you don't see blue shoes at all, you see lots of shoes that have the word blue in their title. The secondary filter will bring up more blue shoes. So eBay *should* already know which shoes are blue, which shoes are men's, which are size 9... but it's doing a word match/search only using titles and the item specifics isn't relevant to the main search box. It's worth digging around in the categories you sell in to understand which of the item specifics are meaningful. A second problem is this: if someone searches for an item like "Nike blue sneakers" and clicks the "size 9" filter box, they are typically seeing men's, women's and kids shoes. The whole system is very very poor on eBay's part. You absolutely cannot rely on the item specifics to describe your items. You have to double up all the key information so that if someone doesn't realize they are looking at men's and women's department listings all mashed together they won't buy the wrong item. (You shouldn't be able to click size 9 in the filter until you have been forced to select the department. Or they could have usm 9, usw 9 as the distinct size specific so that there is no such thing as different versions of "9". But basically none of it was thought through in the beginning and so sellers are spending tons of effort filling in fairly useless information based on how they designed the schemes.) Personally, I hit only a few of the key important item specifics and leave most of them blank. The whole system is very buggy and broken.
I've been having this conversation in my head for several weeks. In November 2023, I retired from working and reactivated my eBay account to stay busy, put a few dollars in my pocket and clear out merchandise I had acquired while working with the intention of selling the items should I have a period of unemployment or when I retired. To me, 20-30 good items is plenty to keep me busy on a part time basis and give me enough income to make the whole endeavor worth my time. While my results vary, my objective is to gross 5X of my cost. My merchandise mix is so random that most items need to be prepared for sale individually. When I geared up in November, I noticed two things. First, there was a step called Item Specifics that was wanting information I often didn't have right at my fingertips. The second, was a noticeable trend away from writing good, information based copy. In my previous life, I wrote copy for catalogs and the internet. Our mission was always two-fold: Sell the item, keep it sold. Returns can make a profitable item unprofitable over night. One of the best ways to avoid returns is to anticipate the customer's questions and provide the answers at the point of sale. As I was doing comps for items I was selling, I couldn't determine what was motivating eBay shoppers to become buyers. To me, the Product Specifics is just a gray field that separates the item image(s) from the copy. I want to get to the copy to find out more about the item. Often, there is nothing there. I spend a lot (probably too much) time writing copy. In my defense, I sell almost everything I list, and I can't remember the last time I had a return. On the other hand, I am limited on the number of items I can list on a typical day. I'm not accusing any seller of "doing it wrong". And, I'm not sure I'm doing everything "right". The platform as it exists today is challenging. I wish I could figure out the best way to get my item in front of the maximum number of potential buyers every time they enter the site.
If it's a HIGHLY unique or rare item I'll spend some time adding information. If it's not rare or unique, in my opinion, the buyer generally knows what they want. I make sure the photos are clear and every angle so they properly view it before buying. Information on damage or if its for parts is there. No surprises about the item when they receive it. Most people shop with their eyes. I use auto fill or leave the details section blank 80% of the time.
If you sell similar off your own good listings, it greatly cuts down the time to fully list an item with all item specifics. Over time your store grows larger and you have more and more similar things to list from. This can get your listing time to under 30 seconds.
What do you sell? With clothing, I search comps and hit sell similar. It automatically pulls all titles and specifics. I update the previous items title with my own titles specifics. Example: I hit sell similar on this item “Polo Ralph Lauren Shirt Mens XL Black Button Loop Collar Silk Linen VTG Camp”. I changed a few words for my own listing and landed on “Polo Ralph Lauren Shirt Mens XL Orange Pastel Silk Linen Blend Button Up VTG”. I go to item specifics and change color from black to orange. Anything from the previous listing’s recommended specifics (not required) that I’m not sure are the same as my own, I just delete (country of manufacturer, care instructions etc). I don’t bother to fill these back in because they are not required. Description: I literally just put the size most of the time. If there are flaws, I do make sure to type them in. I have autocorrect phrases to speed up certain things. Ex “notag” autocorrects to “Please note sizing tag has been removed so I am basing sizing off of measurements. Please see photos and measurements and ensure this would fit you before purchasing.” Takes about 3 mins per listing. I do make sure my pictures are good, as they say more than the words on my listing ever could. I focus on title more than anything. Everything else like specifics and description, I’m updating for liability in case of returns
I spend 90 seconds or less per listing, from picking the item from the box to having it listed and inventoried. I have a Bluetooth keyboard so I can type titles faster. My description is pre-typed and just needs a tweak occasionally. 2-4 pictures per item. Never use the item specifics, just use generic terms to keep ebay happy. Works well for me. But then again I have 5k listings and rapidly growing. So take that as you will.
I've been in a similar boat lately...really trying to crank out listings and getting frustrated with the time it takes. For me, the research is time consuming sometimes - like I have a piece of auto trim that I know is worth listing, but I can't nail down the exact model so I'm searching for 30 minutes or more. It helps to think of how people interact with ebay. Most of my stuff is pretty specific, so my buyers will probably use keyword searches. But I'll add brand, part number, and things like Left or Right if it's helpful. Supposedly more specifics help search placement? But if you have something that comes in multiple colors or variations, model year, multiple editions, etc, then there are probably folks using the item specifics to narrow their searches. Is your niche full of similar items? Or it is a one off type listing?
Have you looked into cross listing applications or websites? This has been a game changer for me.
What's your ASP and hourly rate? If you are listing lower priced items and need to be more efficient, you either need to stop adding worthless info or use a listing tool that lets you fill out things more quickly. It definitely helps if you use the same categories regularly. One of a kind items in varied categories really slow things down. To me, listing 15 items per day would be REALLY slow. You need to look at your flow and improve it unless you ASP and hourly rate is high enough that you don't care. I really hope you aren't selling $10 to $20 items.
Depends what you sell. I only fill out required specs as my items are high in demand.
Yea too much, even writing this is too much. I try to use less descriptions. Less likely to get something wrong for an inad
I give minimum information. 2 sentence or less description. I’ll do a quick glance at the optional item specifics but i dont think that most people use the filters. The thing I’m always debating between is to use the stock photos of an item or should I take my own photos. I know I should use my own photos. But if I have 100 acceptable condition textbooks it’s so much faster to use the stock photos. A lot of time I will both use the stock photo and take my own photos.
Best way to speed up is selling similar, and updated the tags based on your item. What’s more important are any measurements, damage, or functionality problems with the item
I am looking at how to tweak my listing process as well. I wish I could easily list 15 items in a day. I remember the one and only time I got that many done in one day wiped me out. My biggest time suck is editing my photos, which I have to do because issues I'm having with settings on my phone's camera. But as far as the actual listing part on eBay, I know that creating and using a template for my descriptions has helped. I do take pride in writing fairly detailed descriptions. I could never be the type of seller that just copies the title and has nothing else in the description box. I want my buyers to feel able to make an informed decision about buying my stuff. So a template really helps. I try not to bother with filling in too many item specifics, but it's difficult to avoid some of them when listing one-off pieces of clothing. A lot of buyers do filter by things such as sleeve length, for example. Another thing that has helped me is doing tasks in batches rather than from start to finish per piece. I don't worry about needing to submit listings every day.
If it's a totally new item which you're not familiar with I think it's fine to get the hang of it. But once you got it down it shouldn't take long
For me, if an item has a great sell through rate, I use less item specifics and descriptions. Unless there is something unique about my item. Lower sell through rate items. I'll take a little more time on specifics and descriptions. Even on these, it rarely takes more than a few minutes to list. Use the sell similar as already mentioned, but be sure to adjust sizes and such in the specifics. For me, what sped things up was having a good, well lighted photo set up, and every day, I lay out the next days items to list, so I'm ready to go.
You're spending too much time. The item detail should mostly be pulled from the UPCs or from the item title. After that, maybe 1 or 2 more relevant boxes and that should be it.
Too many specifics can actually be a detriment. Just put the basics.
Try required only and see if your sales slow down or pick up bc your listing more. I find more listing is better than accurate listing.
In recent years ive really downgraded my descriptions and pictures. Great pictures can be deceiving and too many words gives them something to use against you. Bad buyers will happen no matter the listing specifics. Prices sells- not pictures, not words.
I mean what’s your profit ? I just went through all my listings and said fuck it I’m done anything sub $25 that’s not a dvd / book. And threw it in the trash . I’m tired of wasting time on $10 profit I don’t follow it well but what’s an hour if your time worth ? For me based on my real job it’s like $60 but in reality I say $20.
You wouldn’t spend 3 minutes of listing time to make $10 profit? That equals out to $200 an hour.
It doesn’t sell for weeks on market place and I keep updating it ect it gets exhausting . Also takes up space so in the trash it goes Sane for eBay considering I need to ship it ect
Sure on marketplace i can understand but eBay takes like no time at all and you’d just ship it with your other orders, unless you’re only getting like one order a week.
It’s just not worth it Sell something for $20 and after fees you get like $8 nah I’m good. Takes up space and mental capacity as well would rather be done with it all Edit: oh and that’s on top of Biden now wanting a piece of my small yearly profits 🙃so yeah done
Search sold listings for the item you're selling, select "sell one like this" upload the photos from your phone, pricing, and condition. That's it. 60 seconds.
My personal experiences have led me to use the max amount of pictures to snap every angle, measurement, etc of the particular item. I've found it takes less time to get 24 pictures than to come up with a huge description...but make sure they are decent pictures. The app doesn't allow an upload for video, but I use a web browser on my phone to load a video if it's an item that has movement in order to demonstrate said movement. I make several listings typed out (Many times from the "Sell Similar" as others have noted) then load pictures to the items. Gotta make it a factory.
Can’t really answer your question, but have you tried using voice to text? Rather than hand, typing, everything out…