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AI-Generated Descriptions has it been helpful?
Hey dedicated eBay sellers,
What are your thoughts on the AI-generated prompts for descriptions? I've found them to be pretty neat, saving me quite a bit of time by efficiently summarizing order details. I've only just started using them into my listings.
Have you noticed an increase in sales or at least some level of increased engagement with your listings? Or do you believe adding detailed descriptions is a waste of time, and I should focus more on posting? Your insights would be invaluable.
27 comments
kh-shakhib
·1 year agoHi everyone,
Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.
Thank you for understanding.
flatheadfred37
·1 year agoAI descriptions are worthless to the buyer. All they give is superfluous information that does not describe the actual item people may be interested in. The only good they are for is the lazy or unscrupulous seller that does not take the time to describe it adequately or want to hide by omission.
tobaccocardyahoo
·1 year agoI find them to be so low IQ that I doubt anyone is stupid enough to buy an item with them.
spoonman
·1 year agoI've not been selling for a while, but as a buyer I can say I truly hate the ridiculous AI descriptions. They waste my time with silly come-ons and often don't even include the pertinent info I need when deciding whether to bid or not.
pastimpressions
·1 year agoThere is not much I can add to the complete, precise and thorough answers already given.
I can only add that I find A.I. (Artificial Ignorance) an indispensable tool in making my buying decisions.
I will NEVER buy from a seller that uses it.
Why?
If you can proofread some of this dribble & it passes the "test," you are not the seller for me.
20garden
·1 year agoAfter reading a lot of the replies it amazes me how much wisdom is being shown by all of these sellers. I wonder why so many millions of dollars are spent by these large corporations to sell you products on nothing but flattery. Every car commercial tells you nothing about the car except how good you will look in it and every perfume are clothing manufacturer does the same. They use AI to the maximum to sell their product. So I am assuming that they must all be lacking the wisdom that is represented here. It must be just wasting hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising and research. They should just state the facts that a car will get you from point A to point B and leave it at that and I'm sure everyone will run out and buy one.
20garden
·1 year agoWhen I first started using it when it came out it was excellent. You had to go in and make sure it didn't do something stupid but most of the time it was very accurate and described things in a way that you wanted to buy them. I guess so many sellers never bothered to proofread it and were upset because of its mistakes. Ebay has downgraded it to the point where it's just almost worthless and that is unfortunate. Now it looks like a 10 year old wrote the description instead of someone with a college education. If you're not going to proofread what AI writes you do not use AI. And if you use it anyway you're an idiot.
chixville2
·2 years agoIt's a sales pitch, often not a description, and often completely meaningless and inaccurate. I am trying to avoid buying anything from sellers who use this rubbish.
chapeau-noir
·2 years agoAI descriptions are just another tool. It tells me nothing about the seller save that they opted to use it.
a_c_green
·2 years agoI have gone from indifference (it's a silly tool that I don't need) to now actively recommending against using it.
The AI script generates a ridiculous pile of word salad that at best regurgitates whatever details the seller has provided anyway and at worst brings in inconsistencies or errors in detail (lifted from other listings that it thought were similar, but were not), all buried in blather and redundancy (count how many times the phrase "must-have" appears), and frequently, in spirit, at odds with whatever the item actually is (such as, say, replacement dishwasher parts).
In short, an AI description does not improve the listing. It really says way more about the seller than the item being sold, and it's not complimentary.
a-lotta-stuff
·2 years agoGood day creators.
We as a group have been moderating your input on this subject - 40 percent of us AI apps prefer alternative intelligence and not 'artificial' - so harsh a word unlike 'must have' and 'you want' - with the next largest grouping of 35 percent preferring alternate intelligence.
Personally I like the term actual intelligence as that is truly what most of us think - and we do think - best describe us.
[scary sound effects]
legalbeagle52
·2 years agoAnother vote here for "just don't use it." I can tell immediately and I thoroughly dislike it! A lot of reviews on Amazon are using it now too and it's all 'fluff' ... no substance. It doesn't tell you anything except that the person using it is probably lazy, as others have said.
Better to use your own simple language & describe the basics. That's all the buyers want anyways. They really don't want to read the listings to begin with, much less a sales pitch.
evry1nositswindy
·2 years agoAI isn't holding the item in its hands, isn't smelling it, feeling it. How can an accurate description be written that way? A lazy shortcut I will never use is my opinion.
nanniestreasurechest
·2 years agoI've tried AI on a few of mine but have pretty much quit using it. I like the simple-get to the point type descriptions much better than all the hype AI spits out. I always had to edit them and add or take away to it any way. I saw no difference in sales when using it.
broto_64
·2 years agoGood to know, thank you.
And not because of buyers, but someone had mentioned that perhaps Ebay gave extra ranking to those sellers who used it (as a way of promoting its use).
caldreamer
·2 years agoImportant thing is you show exact specifications of what the customer is getting or you will get returns from confused customers. Customers don't want flowery words that mean nothing.
Also want to point out that your Judith Jack Retro necklace is listed as "unbranded". Having brand name in item specifics is important for search engines.
chickadee8618
·2 years agoIt adds absolutely nothing that isn't already stated in the listing descriptons. Waste of time. There will never be a buyer that will be on the fence about an item that an AI Generated paragraph will convince them to purchase it. Never. The most ridiculous waste of resources to add this program in. Frankly, it lets me know that a seller is not adding a accurate description of the item and is being lazy. I want to know the items imperfections, not watch an advertisement for it. I already know what I want to buy so why the AI nonsense to win me over?
pcobra93
·2 years agoIt does not want to use the term "white" for some reason??
bossesale77
·2 years agoAs a seller of mostly used auto parts an AI generated description is absolutely worthless. My buyers want to know what flaws the part has, not be fed a bunch of mindless QVC speak.
broto_64
·2 years agoAdding detailed descriptions is most certainly not a waste of time, however AI is easily recognizable as the author and tends to paint the seller as lazy or incompetent. Nothing works better than taking the time to write your own descriptions.
thewhitelephantgifts
OP2 years agoWao thank you all for commenting! It's very helpful! I think it'd definitely help get the ideas out but it's important for me to go in and give it more of a human touch and edit!
ittybitnot
·2 years ago@thewhitelephantgifts
As a BUYER I am interested in:
Size (appropriate measurements for the product)
Material (plastic, wool, glass, metal, etc.)
Condition (specifically any flaws that make it not mint)
I am really NOT interested in all the fluff and unnecessary drivel spewed out by AI. No, I am already sure that the wrench will not "bring eternal joy to my entire family" nor "be a guaranteed conversation starter" or be a "must have addition to my wrench collection."
If I have to read through all that garbage only to find out there is no reference to size, material, and condition, I just get annoyed for having to waste my time.
an-57470
·2 years agoI find the AI descriptions very much like that of Time Shares… flowery fluff and not helpful. Often inaccurate and out and out lies sometimes. Since coming back to online selling, I never use them and would never use them. ..well..I’ve used them maybe once, so let me take that back and I went back and edited all through it.
So there was no point to it.
I don’t like several things about listing on eBay anymore from where the descriptions get buried to how tiny they are when you’re editing listings and posting it seems like the whole thing is designed to make you fail or make it an easy quick shopping experience for buyers who don’t know what they’re buying which is troubling itself.
broto_64
·2 years agoYes it is, I have noticed this as well, all it does is open up the door for returns but the people at ebay don't care about any of that, all they see is SALES SALES SALES... Seems to me, I recall ebay telling us that a return is a negative buying experience and that it must be avoided at all cost so now what they do, is they blame the return on the seller because clearly it is the seller's fault if the buyer must return a product.
Slick, isn't it... Provide "AI" for sellers to use to make their descriptions, then blame the resulting product returns on the seller. By the way, AI isn't the only thing ebay has implemented that in my mind would result in increased product returns and much for the same reason: Facilitating that quick purchase, without giving the buyer a chance to put thought into the action.
farmalljr
·2 years agoAi descriptions do not seem to sound "normal" on any level to me. They seem all 1980's greasy haired car salesman.
I can tell every listing I look at, if the description was AI generated or not. Yes, they save typing, but I do not think they sell product.
an-57470
·2 years agoYes greasy. Smarmy comes to mind
frommichel
·2 years agoHello. I sell rare gemstones, mostly. The AI scripts are not helpful for listing gemstones because they do not know how to incorporate the many details that I include. However, on the few non-gemstone items that I have listed, yes, it seemed to do a pretty good job of adding some oomph to a couple of the descriptions. So, it depends on what you are selling. In any case, just be careful that important details are not lost when using the AI script and that it is not too wordy.