Tips for Constructing a Winning Ebay Listing Description

The eBay listing Title is perhaps the most important component of an eBay listing as discussed in Tips for Writing a Winning eBay Title. The title's job is to get the attention of your prospective eBay buyer and entice them to click on your listing.

What happens they click on your listing title? That's where the listing description picks up. It is the job of the listing description to further grab your prospective eBay buyer's attention and get them to bid, buy, or add the item to their watchlist. There are entire books written on the subject of web copywriting and even some about eBay copywriting specifically. Although there is no single formula for a winning eBay listing description, following a few simple guidelines can keep your shoppers from clicking away from your listing.

Benefits versus features
You should first consider answering the basic question that every buyer has: What's in it for me? Often eBay listing descriptions are full of information about the product features, about the seller themselves, and the terms of sale, but short on benefits. Don't let that question go unanswered - provide the benefits of the product to your shopper. Features can often be turned into benefits by simply adding some 'you' wording. For example, 'cleans up easily' can be reworded as 'easy for you to clean'.

Short Paragraphs
Have you ever seen an eBay listing description that just was one huge paragraph? Paragraphs that are too long can lose your reader's momentum very quickly and cause them to click away. Break your listing description up into smaller paragraphs each consisting of 4 sentences at the most. Be sure to lead off with the benefits; they should appear in the first paragraphs.

Paragraph Headings
Along with shorter paragraphs, use headings above each logical paragraph. Have your paragraph heading give a good indication of what the paragraph is about. This will let your buyer's eyes scan down the page and pick out paragraphs of interest. For example, if you have a paragraph that describes shipping charges and constraints, you could make a heading called 'Shipping Information'. You might also consider bolding and/or italicizing the paragraph headings to make them stand out better.

Bulleted lists
Everyone loves a list! If you have a enough benefits or important points, consider putting into a list with bullet points. Lists like these will help your buyer quickly scan the important points in your list. Be sure to keep each list item succinct and relatively brief. If a list item becomes too long, consider splitting it up into two items or turning it into its own short paragraph.

Minimize fine print
Have you ever seen text in an eBay listing that is so full of conditions and restrictions that you were afraid to buy what they were offering? That is precisely what's likely to happen if you place too much 'fine print' in your listing description. Go easy on the terms and conditions in your listing description. Focus only on the terms and conditions items that are the most important and place them in their own paragraph, toward the very end of the listing description.

Font size and colors
There is a wide variety of fonts and colors you will see used on eBay listings. There is also a lot of varying opinions as to what constitutes a good visual font and color combination. The safest bet is to stick with dark text on a light background for your color. For your font, stick with one of the standard web fonts (Arial, Times, Verdana) with a 12 or 14 point size.

Following a few simple guidelines can help your eBay listing gather more bids. Use short paragraphs, avoid offensive fine print, and use lists and headings to let the shopper easily find their way around your listing.