BEST WAY TO TITLE ITEMS

[antiqueshoes45]

I have been selling on Ebay for over 20 years. My items are generally collectibles ranging from antique porcelain collector shoes to kewpie dolls, collector plates, etc. I try my best to research every item I list and truthfully say if it is vintage (over 40 yrs. old) or antique (at least 100 years old). I have been conflicted recently as to what is the best way to TITLE an item. I am wondering if it is best NOT TO put Antique or Vintage as the first word....and instead describe it accurately and at the end put vintage or antique. What is the best way you put your titles to draw attention to it? Thanks so much for any help and suggestions!!

[m60driver]

I am not sure it really matters, but I always put 'vintage' first.   Although I am a bit of a grammar nut and always place the key adjective before the noun.  Besides, I, and many others, search using 'vintage' as a key search term.

[cardxcraft]

Vintage is somewhat subjective, but the generally accepted definition of an item to be considered vintage is greater than 20 years old. 

If you take a look at Terapeak solds for postcards, vintage is often added to the title.  I've even used it a few times.  

In regards to titles, I've read that one should put the more pertinent facts of an item at the beginning of the title.  I'm not sure of the validity.

[collectfest]

on eBay, many sellers do not adhere to the "rules" of vintage or antique terms. Furthermore, when items, at least the ones I've reported, use those terms that are flat off fake, have not been removed. Furthermore, search is messed up so as far as I am concerned it's a bit of a crap shoot.

Looking at your listings, superb I must say. Great images and price points. Maybe experiment with vintage or antique 1st. I've always been told by eBay reps not to use the terms. If its antique quality item, I would list all key words first and fluff at the end. Honestly, with the quality and condition and price point and location, not sure why this is your preferred venue to sell them.

[sextons-sweet-deals]

Search is a mess. I think that is where things got jacked up with eBay trying to sync desktop search with eBay app phone users with item specifics. Just my observation / opinion. 

You have to try to use all the key words in your listing title and fill out all the item specifics you can and make sure you do the same in the description. details and provide as many photos as needed (eBay did a great job adding more free photos). 

I use words like primitive, antique, and vintage. I know there is some type of common rule on these words and what years they represent, but I will use a combination of the key words depending on what I'm listing just to try to cover a buyer's key word search.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

As a buyer, I ignore Vintage or Antique in a title.

As a seller, I only use them if I am using someone else's listing and doing a Sell Now, and usually I remove them, I have better uses for the characters in the title than this.

Almost everything I offer is vintage or antique. And most similar items also are, and would only be bought by someone who assumed that.

IMO this is a decision which should be based on the image you wish to project, not related to  search effectiveness or authenticity.

[antiqueshoes45]

Where would you suggest?  I have toyed with Etsy and listed a few items, but not sure how much traffic they get.  Where else is a good place to put collectible items?  Thanks for the info.  I appreciate it.  

[silverstatetreasureboxes · Accepted solution]

@antiqueshoes45 

Well I pulled up one of your items that attracted me ( of course)

 

First, Kewpie is spelled wrong, fix that. Now SO CUTE!!  keywords needs to go, nobody will type this in with all caps and besides their all cute. Leave that for your description field. So starting over, the title would read...

    Vintage mid century Lefton sitting bisque Kewpie piano baby figurine.

    See all my delicious keywords? It covers it all and btw these are Piano babies when they sit or lay.

     Avoid title keywords like " wow, fantastic,  sweet, must have, etc.

     You have great pictures and lots of them to view, perfect.

[ebeths_eclectic_collectibles]

When I am selling a bunch of stuff on a listing I usually do not start with the number of items like your postcard items. I would probably start with Antique New York City Postcards and end with Lot of 19. I usually start with the meat of a subject and finish with set of 2 on say candle holders. 

[ebeths_eclectic_collectibles]

Of course there are the Ebay title classics  “RARE” & “LooQ”

[albertabrightalberta]

Don't waste your limited number of available characters with hyphens, prepositions and conjunctions. Use words that buyers will search. 

Buyers don't search "Great gift for the new mom!" or "SO CUTE!" I also don't believe quotation marks in titles are useful.

[reallynicestamps]

While we have 82 keystrokes to play with, phone customers are most likely to see the first four words.

And phone shoppers are over 50% of customers.

Ignore punctuation.

Spelling mistakes made purposely can be useful (Tolkein /Tolkien.  Bowl/bowel. Bowler/bolero) in Search.

[yuzuha]

If something has a brand name (like that Pier One ornament you just listed), put that first or at least near the front, as there are many buyers who will search for items by brand.