I know that eBay is making a big push for sellers to choose an eBay product ID and create a listing with all the item specifics filled in. In practice, this push greatly increases my listing time for a couple of reasons.
First, I spend time searching to see if eBay has a product ID for what I'm selling. They do for about half of the items I sell (mostly used computer parts, some of which are very old). I take this first step since I learned that items which have selected an eBay product ID (EPID) get a boost in Best Match search. Sometimes the stock picture is misleading, so I make sure that the EPID I chose is the best one available.
Next, I proofread the details from within the EPID I chose. Often there are errors. Some of the information couldn't be more wrong, and other times they are so erroneous they are hilarious. I have sold video cards with an Nvidia chipset whose pre-filled specifics state it has an ATI chipset. One of the most common goofs I find in pre-filled item specifics is when some AI genius employee decides that the letters "IN" are an abbreviation for the state of Indiana. For over a year many internal sound cards which should say "plug in card" show up in eBay listings as "Plug Indiana Card" !
Is there any way to correct such obvious errors? I have not had this question answered by eBay customer service the last three times I asked them. Therefore, I would rather spend an extra minute or two on each listing filling in all the item specifics manually rather than appear not knowledgeable or lazy to my customers.
