Selling on eBay seems straightforward enough: you’ve got something to sell that someone else out there is interested in buying. The more people who want to buy, the better your chance of making big bucks. In fact, there is a secret tool available to those who possess not just a rare photograph of Dick Sargent signed by Dick York, but to those who are selling the 300th Linksys wireless router to go live today. In fact, this tool can be so successful at boosting the price of everything from rarities to an item that it seems everybody and his brother are selling, that particularly talented people might even be able to make a little extra money if they can prove they have a solid track record. That tool is called writing copy.

Any eBay auction, or any online auction at all, allows bidders to write up deliciously enticing copy that spells out exactly why someone should plunk down anywhere from .99 cents to several hundred thousand dollars to buy what you are trying to unload. Making a bigger profit on an auction site like eBay begins with the titles. This must be short and sweet and to the point, while also being a carrot you dangle to potential bidders that stick out more than the other dangling vegetables. Not an easy thing to do when you’ve only got about 45 characters to work with.

The title copy may inspire you to use some utterly meaningless adjectives to pump it up, but the most important thing to remember about writing this headline of what you are offering is to fill it up with as much detail as possible, including everything about the product that is vitally important for any potential bidder to know. This particular aspect of copywriting for an auction site doesn’t allow for a whole lot in the way of creativity; better to jettison the artistry in favor of as much factual material as possible. One thing you do want to be aware of when writing the title for your auction is the importance of keywords. Search engines will be going through the title line and so you want to make sure you’ve got the most searchable entries up there. Anything related to your product that could potentially be at the top of a search index should be considered mandatory.

Next comes the job of writing the description. First off, no more than 500 words should go here. In fact, under 300 is prime because you run the risk of boring your potential customer away if after 300 words he still isn’t quite sure why your Partridge Family lunchbox is worth more than some other guy who has a better picture. As with the title, you want to fit as much factual information as possible into the description. That means not forgetting such easily overlooked thing as color, size, model number, year it was produced. Honesty is the best policy; don’t call it retro when it is really old. And be VERY careful about saying something is in perfect or mint condition. Mint means mint; it doesn’t mean a very slight nick, or a barely torn page. It means that it looks like it just came out of the wholesaler’s UPS mailing to the retail store where you bought it. As far as being creative, it is better to go the route of looking creative than being written in an overly creative fashion. In other words, use different fonts, as well as bold and italic type to set off important aspects of your copy. Put spaces between your paragraphs; long, boring blocks of text will turn off bidders no matter how well written the actual text may be.

Finally, there is one surefire addition to your eBay auction description that is guaranteed to boost your traffic. Always be sure to place in a screamingly obvious place that you offer a money back guarantee. A no-risk bid is better than having your auction description written by the best ad copywriter on Madison Ave.