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Using AI For Description
Summary: Participants discuss the use of AI to generate descriptions for eBay listings. my-cottage-books-and-antiques mentions that originally this feature was thought to be available only on mobile, but it has since expanded to PCs. They advise providing detailed item information despite AI assistance, as errors might still occur, and suggest giving the feature another chance as it evolves. richard1rst shares an example where AI incorrectly described a Harley Quinn figure. yuzuha and broto_64 argue that the AI-generated descriptions may seem generic and are mainly beneficial for sellers who provide minimal information.
Wow! I JUST USED EBAY’S NEW AI program to do a description for me and it was right on target. Just excellent!!!
fourfor-23
·2 months agoAI can be a real time saver for descriptions as long as you treat the output as a draft. The trick is giving it good raw material: condition notes, measurements, flaws, brand and model, then trimming the fluffy adjectives it loves to add. If you're doing volume, it's worth knowing the AI tools built into selling managers go beyond descriptions; the one in 3Dsellers also generates titles and search keywords and can run across a batch of listings, which is where the hours actually get saved compared to pasting items into ChatGPT one at a time. Just proofread everything, because AI will confidently state a measurement or material you never gave it.
deltilogical
·2 years agoIt is a war on humanity to force this tech nonsense on us. Americans seem happy to inject control modules into their brains, for convenience. The AI will be able to tell them exactly what to think and do at every moment, in order to be a good person.
modifiedracer93
·2 years agoHahaha I'm ROTFL LOL-ing --- It's like "Mad Libs". Fill in the item specifics with silly, nonsensical or naughty words... Then hit the "use AI description".
(Then of course, delete it.)
batvette
·2 years agoIm sure it makes your work easier because now you dont have to do any work at all. Pretty soon ebay wont even need sellers like you for a revenue stream.
The reality is that the only customers you will attract with your listings are the really ignorant ones, those are the only ones that could gain useful information from these AI babbles.
Thats a finite pool, good luck with that business model.
Really, what makes you think a description with no useful information for inquisitive buyers with a rudimentary knowledge of your product will help the sale?
What Im hearing from people in the community is an AI description is a red flag, close the listing and look at another because the seller is lazy or shady.
broto_64
·2 years agoAbsolutely, what I think often is the seller has no clue as to what they're selling, just another seller doing the "buy low/sell high" arbitrage tactic or just as bad, a dropshipper and both of these types of sellers simply buy and sell where they think they see a profit, regardless of whether they even have a rudimentary understanding of what the item is or how it works.
The real problem with these sellers comes in terms of customer support, what happens if I have a question about the item after I receive it? It has been my experience with the above sellers I will not get a good answer to my question and it will only become painfully obvious that the seller had no clue as to what it was they were actually selling after it has arrived at my home...
I am sure at this stage there are sellers reading this wondering why this is such an issue, so to be clear I prefer buying my merchandise not only from sellers who have firm control over their inventory but also from sellers who know how to use / install what it is they are selling. At the very least clear instructions would be nice to have, and if those are not included with the merchandise then I would like a seller that can be helpful. In today's world customer service is something that strikes fear and causes PTSD in most buyers, so it is nice to run into an informed and helpful seller who is actually trying to do something more than just line their own pockets.
It's bad, many of those sellers don't even have a clue how the returns system works, and it's easy for the novice buyer to get tripped up by these sellers who are not very helpful on a good day.
Buyers don't have many tools besides returns and feedback either, and even that can be hit-or-miss... So we peruse the listings to see if we can spot red flags before we buy because I really don't want to go through the trouble of returning a product I purchased for a reason, not to mention I can get pretty upset with the ignorance of some sellers on ebay so that said, an AI generated description generally is a good indication that I would be dealing with an ignorant seller.
theshiznick
·2 years ago@vintagecraze50
Just tried to view your listings, nothing active and none in sold history. Can you post a listing link? If so did it sell, get removed or ??
4pawsup*
·2 years agoIts an extra tool to help if your not good at writing your own. I have not used it but it seems to be running about 50 to 50 on who likes it and those that think its to canned.
shfquickship73
·2 years agoI am searching around to see anyone with any success. Its ok, could be better. depends on what you need for description.
dwise3671
·2 years agoHonestly, I think the AI generated descriptions over hype the items. It’s really setting high expectations in some cases. These are obvious to pick out, once you’re aware they exist. I’ve seen several listings with errors that weren’t factually describing the item being sold. I don’t think many of the sellers are even bothering to read the output, from a comprehensive perspective.
itsjustasprain
·2 years agoTrue. The AI descriptions rely heavily on the Item Specifics - so if the IS details are wrong then the AI text just makes things worse. Garbage-In-Garbage-Out in other words.
There was another thread here recently in which the OP was all upset at the buyer for wanting to cancel an order before it shipped and saying that he was getting punished by Ebay for a buyer's 'mistake'. Looking at his listings showed a number of mistakes in Item Specifics that led into wrong AI descriptions and eventually to a buyer getting cold feet about the whole purchase. The OP was given a list of about 5 examples of other listings that were equally wrong but to this day they are as wrong now as they were back then.
batvette
·2 years agoWonder if the errors in AI descriptions will lead to SNAD cases?
bennotbill
·2 years agoeBay AI descriptions are too flowery and read more like a children's story.
It doesn't take long to write your own short concise description. It takes longer filling in all the item specifics.
hachumi
·2 years agoI've been doing AI art for several months now and I definitely would not trust it for any of my listings.
AI is in the same catagory as self driving Teslas and drone delivery, the media hyped it up said it would take over and the reality was much different.
broto_64
·2 years agoSpeaking as a buyer and long story really short, that kind of sales talk is a bit of a turn off for me.
dbfolks166mt
·2 years agoI can't see any of your listings so no idea what the outcome looked like but I believe based on others comments that I will stick with writing my own descriptions. I have enough issues without dealing with NAD claims based on some AI generated description.
m60driver
·2 years agoI find the AI descriptions read like some ad copy, right out of an advertising department. Being just a small seller I don't think that style of writing works well to represent me as a seller or helps me make sales to my buyers.
carolynnq
·2 years agoPersonally, I prefer to read the info in those paragraphs as bullet points without all that unnecessary fluff. I rarely shop on my phone, but it would seem to be even more important to make the relevant points easy to read for phone shoppers.
vintagepl
·2 years agono, don't think its for me. I'm a decent writer & I enjoy it. Sooner or later certain items will all have the same descriptions, boring.
inhawaii
·2 years agoI prefer writing my own, but I'm glad you like it.
Nice to see a positive post here for a change.
Good luck to you.
lux.ra_14
·2 years agoSold a book today about AI.
I wrote the description with NI.
az93
·2 years agoI think they read like greeting cards. I can always pick out ai descriptions.
a_c_green
·2 years agoThey do seem to have an abnormal fascination for the phrase "must-have" and its assorted variants.
AI descriptions are also given away by their generally perfect spelling and punctuation. You can see where the buyer has occasionally added their own wording: when the quality of the grammar suddenly deteriorates from A to C-. 🙄
brightlightbookseller
·2 years agoSpeak for yourself, my grammar is perfect. 😋 I know what you mean, though, it's often quite obvious.
chapeau-noir
·2 years agoI tried it and I think I'll just stick to writing my own descriptions - there's a mechanical sameness to the AI descriptions. It would be a major help for the lazy who simply repeat the title in the description, though.
yuzuha
·2 years agoI think that's who it was meant for, honestly. The sellers who already write their own detailed descriptions will continue writing their own detailed descriptions. This is meant for the sellers who are too lazy to do anything beyond "Condition is used."
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·2 years agoI was looking at a nonfiction book today, on a fairly obscure topic. Was hoping the seller would have a good description. Here, I'll quote the entire description: "book."
Accurate enough, but not very helpful.
broto_64
·2 years agoOk but the AI description would simply be more flowery, you wouldn't actually get any more real details.
It will probably say something like "this seller is offering up this great book for sale"
worldcoinauctions
·2 years agoIt is certainly available on the website, I only use the website for listing. I tried a description and could not stop laughing. I'll stick to my descriptions and leave the AI for others.
jahe149822
·2 years agoPersonally, I think the AI descriptions are hilarious.
I sell records and it will say some out-of-pocket stuff.
â€Hear the majestic sounds of the world-renowned artist, ‘Cleveland Community Church Choir,’ a must own release for lovers of the gospel genre of music.†It’s just a bit too enthusiastic sometimes.
It can even get you in trouble lol. I’ve had the AI say that certain songs were on the record that were not actually on the record.
It’s somewhat helpful I guess? It always reads like a car salesman or a greeting card writer.
dhbookds
·2 years agoGood to hear.........what category were you listing in.....and what kind of product....if you want to share......
vintagecraze50
OP2 years agoWe sell brand name jewelry. The description AI presumably used the item specifics we put in.
m60driver
·2 years agoThere are many sellers who can benefit from using the AI feature, some more than others.
clown_car_driver
·2 years agoCan someone take a minute and outline HOW to do an AI description?
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·2 years ago@clown_car_driver
For starters, I believe it is only available in the app (currently).
Do you use the app to list?
If so, do everything else first: title, photos, item specifics, etc. Then go to description. Simply click "New! List faster with AI" The description window will open and I think you might have to click "Use AI Description"...this will compose the description....no typing required by you.
My advice: you will then want to edit the description unless it is perfect the way it is. I have seen sellers who did not edit the descriptions and they contain errors etc. the seller is still responsible for the description, so you must make sure it is satisfactory.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·2 years ago@clown_car_driver here's a very short video showing it:
shipscript
·2 years agoI edited a listing in the Quick Lister yesterday and it offered an AI version of the description.
My test listing had a non-title and four lines of junk (placeholder text) , whereas the AI generated something more palatable from the item specifics.
Below, I have condensed the listing form fields to show what the AI used to generate text. I had it regenerating three different descriptions to see what it would change.
The "up for sale" lead-in tells me that eBay has fed eBay listings into their ChatGPT vocabulary database, since that is not ChatGPT's normal fluff.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·2 years ago@shipscript @worldcoinauctions
Thanks for correcting me on the availability on a PC. I believe when this was first announced it was Mobile only...I didn't have time to double check if that had changed before posting today.
So, this is now available on the app and in the listing flow apparently. Good to know, and my apologies for posting the wrong info.
valueaddedresource
·2 years ago@my-cottage-books-and-antiques I think it might be on a slow roll out? I just checked and see it in one account but not another.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·2 years ago@valueaddedresource Thanks. That would certainly be in line with most of what ebay has been doing. So, right now, anyone with the app has this, anyone on a PC might or might not have it.
Either way, my "best practice" advice remains the same: first provide as much relevant information as you can in the form of title, IS, and so forth, and then do the description. Strictly speaking this isn't necessary, and there are probably many items with lots of information already in ebay's system, so it is likely you don't need to provide as much....but especially for more uncommon items, I'd recommend it.
And proofread and edit before launching.
My guess is, over time this will improve (that supposedly is what machine learning does) and ebay will also likely add refinements as it "tests its way into" this. So, if you don't want to use it now (I don't), I would also suggest keeping an open mind and trying it again every few months or so, to see if it is better.
For me, for now, no. At a later date? Maybe.
shipscript
·2 years agoI just tried a different category with the quick lister and there was no AI option, so it may be category specific at the moment as well.
I asked online ChatGPT to write a sales pitch for nothing (to legitimize bogus sellers):
chapeau-noir
·2 years agoThe "up for sale" lead-in tells me that eBay has fed eBay listings into their ChatGPT vocabulary database, since that is not ChatGPT's normal fluff.
I prefer to start my descriptions with "Let it be known."
a_c_green
·2 years agoInteresting; thanks for that. I see the first and third renditions did not use "must-have," but the second one made up for that oversight by using it twice in one paragraph. 😄
richard1rst
·2 years agoYep. Just for chuckles I asked for a description of a Harley Quinn figurine. They included "in her signature pigtails". Harley doesn't have pigtails. Most likely it got confused by the dangling bells of her Jester cap.
Unavailable member
·2 years agoGood for you.