Has anyone played around with using ChatGPT to make listing descriptions

[bajasierra]

Since ChatGPT has been "the talk of the town" recently, I am wondering if anyone has tried to use it to create ad copy for product listings?   I already have a decent size inventory but I have found my "bottleneck" is the time it takes to photo my items and write up this text description, that hopefully is at least somewhat persuasive.   

I've dabbled in trying this - and it has worked a little, but some of the things it writes are, frankly, over the top.   For example, I asked it to write a watch description with some basic information, and it said something like, "the band on this watch is fantastic - you can wear it all day without the slightest discomfort".    That is a bit too "over-hyped" for my tastes, even worse when you consider the thing that wrote it wasn't even human!

I think this could get better with some training and standard templates, but I haven't had much time to explore this further.   What do you guys think?  Is this the future?  I mean, wouldn't it be cool if you could just give it a picture and have it do all the work.   It might as well buy the items I sell also, and while it is at it, it would be nice if it would clean my apartment so I can just goof around all day, which is what I really want to do.   What do you guys think?  Will this technology change the way we sell?

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@bajasierra  And that is a question we'd have to answer as individuals. For some sellers, it will doubtless make sense. For others, perhaps not. A seller who has poor writing skills might benefit simply because the App will probably have better writing skills. I'd guess, initially at least, it might be most useful for those selling new items...and it might even convince some sellers to switch from used to new to better take advantage of it.

In any event , it will be worth following to see what develops.

[ten_o_nine]

 but does creating the input for ChatGPT take as much time, or even more than it takes just to write the listing yourself? 

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That's what I was thinking, especially for us that just copy the title and paste to description...😄

[bajasierra]

What I am guessing will happen is that I will make a template and "train" it - and it will create the kind of listings I want, but in the process of training this AI, I will actually be training myself.  I will learn all the "patterns" and structure of what I think will make a good listing, and then I might not bother using ChatGPT because I type fairly quickly, and it will be just as easy to do it myself. 

[m60driver]

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@slippinjimmy wrote:

It's very interesting technology that is in it's very early stages of development.

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It is actually just a modified version of GPT3, just with more filters to prevent offensive content from being generated.  And GPT3 has been around since 2020, preceded by GPT2.  But yes, it is still an early generation of things to come and these large language models may very well become the single most disruptive new technology yet.  It will eliminate white collar jobs just as automation has eliminated blue collar jobs.  But yea, my own listing descriptions tend to be very short and rather terse so inputting into ChatGPT would be overkill. 

If Elon Musk goes into outer space I fear that the only thing he will encounter is The Borg.

[bajasierra]

OT - I have a Lucien Piccard watch almost exactly like the one you are selling -  though I was hoping to get more for it.   Is there a watch sellers forum here? 

[pburn]

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@bajasierra wrote:

Is there a watch sellers forum here? 

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@bajasierra 

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Watches/bd-p/Watches

[stephintexas]

Yes, I have been using it for approximately 4 weeks and loving it!  I'm immersed in learning everything I can.  I'm always happy to help if anyone has questions.

[manwithnofear85]

You're better off just making templates and saving them.

[inhawaii]

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@bajasierra wrote:

Since ChatGPT has been "the talk of the town" recently

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I must live in a different town.

Never heard of it. 

[marblehead199]

I recently started using it to make Titles and Descriptions for listing media on Ebay. It took some tweaking of my prompts but it works great for listing albums. 

Now that it knows how I want the output I simply enter in the Artist, Album title and catalog number and it fills in all the details about that release. I then also tell it the grade of the vinyl, jacket and inner sleeve and it outputs that info as well. 

Now that it knows how I want the output, I simply use my phone's microphone to give it the brief info above and then grab the full description and title it generates at my computer. I don't have to type anything in until...

No help with pictures or filling in the Ebay drop down menu items but I really like it. I get a full rich description (it will add some details about the album or artist in one part of the description) that is well formatted and copy and paste ready for a description I'd rather not spend all that time writing out myself. 

A game changer? Not quite. But it is a method that is quicker and gives better descriptions than I'd bother on my own for a $8.00 album. 

I can see modifying this idea some for other listings and I REALLY like being able to do it by voice as typing all that in is tedious work to me. 

[marblehead199]

NO! not even close. at least with listing albums, I can voice enter in a few details and it give a rich listing with all the pertinent details, tracks, date of release, record label, etc. for me. The time saving factor is the main reason I'm using it. 

[chapeau-noir]

The ChatGPT descriptions I've fiddled with seem to sound like slightly deranged Insta influencers so would need editing, anyway, but considering the material it has to model I'm not surprised. I can write as fast as I can type, so it wouldn't save me much time unless I get into something that needs more description than my few lines and a couple of stats, and even then I doubt it would save me much time.

This reminds me of the VCR so-called revolution I went through when I was an editor - it's never the panacea people think it will be, but it does make changes.

[eyeball-industries]

lolz!

[richard1rst]

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@bajasierra wrote:

I've dabbled in trying this - and it has worked a little, but some of the things it writes are, frankly, over the top.   For example, I asked it to write a watch description with some basic information, and it said something like, "the band on this watch is fantastic - you can wear it all day without the slightest discomfort".    That is a bit too "over-hyped" for my tastes, even worse when you consider the thing that wrote it wasn't even human!

Well, as a corollary, I went to school before hand held calculators were invented. We actually LEARNED how to do math. To this day there are a whole lot of multi-level calculations I do in my head without paper, pencil or calculator. I repeatedly get “are you sure” and other non-believing questions. They are then dumbfounded when they pull out their calculator and see that indeed I am correct.

I on the other hand and dumbfounded when someone needs a calculator just to add two 2 digit numbers together,

My point being that if you let the machines do it you will just get less imaginative, less skilled and (quite frankly) lazier and dumber.

You are not describing something as simple as a 2x4. That’s easy. You need to reach into someone else’s mind with an emotional and ethereal collections of ideas, images and a “you’ve got to have this” pitch. You need to be aware of and use what are current societal reference points which are sometimes fleeting.

Personally, I’ll never use it.

[deltilogical]

"Will this technology change the way we sell?"

if you understand the goals of transhumanism then yes, it will change the way you sell, because no one will be buying anything.  They will be enjoying their status of being without humanness.  That is the goal - eliminate the human.