Ask Nick: Creating Good Auction Titles

Ask Nick · Joined: 15 Feb 2003 Posts: 9

The June 1 "Ask Nick" column asks about creating auction titles. Any opinions?

Hello Nick,
I know how important it is to have a good headline. I have been told there is software you can buy that will create your headline and the software is supposed to be real easy to use. Will you please give me your input on this, it will be appreciated. Once again thank you.
Warm Regards,
John

JC · Joined: 15 Feb 2002 Posts: 217

My opinion is you put as much info in the title as possible. If your opening bid is very low and you don't have a reserve put NR in the title.

Then again there's another school of thought that are equally convinced that putting "L@@K" or "WOW!!!" in the title is a sure fire buyer magnet.

okieman98 · Joined: 30 May 2003 Posts: 1

great info , in the news letter where can i find the program Deep Analysis

kjp55 · Joined: 18 Aug 2001 Posts: 1972 Location: East of Rockies

Does anyone have any background info on the concept of eBay's 45 character title line? Why not 40 or 50?

Ask Nick · Joined: 15 Feb 2003 Posts: 9

gailkate · Joined: 05 Jun 2003 Posts: 22

As a buyer - PLEASE USE your title! No waste on "wow" etc. If you have a reserve, say so in the title because there's an anger backlash if a buyer feels sucked in by a low opener and then finds a reserve. Also, if there's any relevance to date, give it in the title. Don't abuse "vintage" as anything older than 10 years. Finally, if you don't know diddly about your item, don't sell it with a lot of key words that don't apply. Yesterday I was searching American pottery and saw people shamelessly writing Hull? McCoy? Shawnee? on unmarked pieces. That's plain fraud.
What I love is a jam-packed title and then real information in the listing. Those sellers I bookmark!

sun818 · Joined: 24 Aug 2003 Posts: 597

I find that buyers (in my category at least) use search more than browsing. So, a title is extremely important. I don't advocate keyword spamming, but I think relevant related words, alternate spellings, words with and without spaces, etc are all acceptable. If you need ideas on what the keywords are, along with Nick's suggestion of Overture, Google AdWords is another resource for "keyword suggestions".

Wow, NR, L@@K is waste of title real estate.