Here's a laugh.

[mycheaperstuff]

eBay seems to want sellers to provide shorter and more generic listing descriptions judging by the smaller space and few options for typing descriptions in the new listing form.

Personally, I think most description are far too short already.

So I felt like I was in a time back machine to read the instructions for the description, "Provide a description for your item. Tell buyers about unique features, and/or why you are selling it."

Aren't the days of saying why you are selling something long gone?
I won't be wasting listing space on why I'm selling my items.  No one cares.

[luckythewinner]

---

@mycheaperstuff wrote:

eBay seems to want sellers to provide shorter and more generic listing descriptions judging by the smaller space and few options for typing descriptions in the new listing form.

---

Are you saying that eBay has limited the number of characters you can type into a description?

Or are you just saying that the real estate devoted to the description editor is smaller?

[buyselljack2016]

I have not done a listing from scratch with the new form, but I have used "sell similar" and have been forced into the new form.

I see no restriction on the space.  Did 100  lines, and could still do more.

Using a PC.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

"Aren't the days of saying why you are selling something long gone?
I won't be wasting listing space on why I'm selling my items.  No one cares."

It depends on the item. Agree....most items aren't likely to benefit from "I'm selling this because I paid a dollar at a yard sale and I'm pretty sure someone will pay me fifty dollars for it, so I stand to make a great profit!"

But some items?  "I developed this product because I wanted a tool do do (whatever), and there wasn't one on the market..." Or "I took these photographs of this historic building before it was torn down in order to preserve the history of my town..." I could mention a lot more examples, but yes, in some cases buyers might be interested in the "why".

[ckimodog]

Sounds like a familiar listing format from another selling site.  People know what they want...I doubt most care why you're selling it.  Just describe it to the best of your ability and hope for the best outcome. $$$

[d-k_treasures]

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@luckythewinner wrote:

---

@mycheaperstuff wrote:

eBay seems to want sellers to provide shorter and more generic listing descriptions judging by the smaller space and few options for typing descriptions in the new listing form.

---

Are you saying that eBay has limited the number of characters you can type into a description?

Or are you just saying that the real estate devoted to the description editor is smaller?

---

Probably just the real estate is smaller, making someone think they have a limit on how much they can enter in the description field. Appears to work ......

[eunster1313]

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@luckythewinner wrote:

---

@mycheaperstuff wrote:

eBay seems to want sellers to provide shorter and more generic listing descriptions judging by the smaller space and few options for typing descriptions in the new listing form.

---

Are you saying that eBay has limited the number of characters you can type into a description?

Or are you just saying that the real estate devoted to the description editor is smaller?

When anyone clicks on advanced options for the item description section you

get this warning. It's pretty much a wast of time going there now because not

much of the advanced options are useful anymore.

---

[sierras1160]

---

@mycheaperstuff wrote:

Aren't the days of saying why you are selling something long gone?
I won't be wasting listing space on why I'm selling my items.  No one cares.

---

I'm a buyer and I care. I'm interested when a seller says it was their grandmother's or it belonged to someone in the family or it was a part of someone's large collection.

Of course I'm a buyer of small collectibles. To me knowing a little of the backstory of the item just adds to the value and nostalgia of it. 

[d-k_treasures]

If 'less is more', then why do they give you hundreds of item specifics to fill in? It just gives more ways to keyword spam a listing.

[luckythewinner]

---

@eunster1313 wrote:

---

When anyone clicks on advanced options for the item description section you

get this warning. It's pretty much a wast of time going there now because not

much of the advanced options are useful anymore.

---

---

Seems to me that eBay finally got this right 🙂

When I shop for a vinyl album, everything I need to know should be in the item specifics. The description should be a concise summary of the key facts and any details that the item specifics do not cover.

[luckythewinner]

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@d-k_treasures wrote:

If 'less is more', then why do they give you hundreds of item specifics to fill in? It just gives more ways to keyword spam a listing.

---

Because if the seller fills in the item specifics adequately, they do not need to repeat them in the description.

For a vinyl record, the seller can specify the artist, title, year, country, record label, catalog number, color of the vinyl, whether it is a first pressing or reissue, condition of cover, condition of disc, condition of inserts, etc.

All the description really needs to do is summarize and give details that item specifics do not cover (like what specific issues caused the cover to be graded 'Good' instead of "Near mint", etc.)

[d-k_treasures]

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@luckythewinner wrote:

---

@d-k_treasures wrote:

If 'less is more', then why do they give you hundreds of item specifics to fill in? It just gives more ways to keyword spam a listing.

---

Because if the seller fills in the item specifics adequately, they do not need to repeat them in the description.

For a vinyl record, the seller can specify the artist, title, year, country, record label, catalog number, color of the vinyl, whether it is a first pressing or reissue, condition of cover, condition of disc, condition of inserts, etc.

All the description really needs to do is summarize and give details that item specifics do not cover (like what specific issues caused the cover to be graded 'Good' instead of "Near mint", etc.)

---

That works for vinyl and other things, however it does not work for antiques.

[siamjane8]

@luckythewinner 

 Lucky - you could not be any more wrong about that. Buyers dont generally look at eh item specifics- even ebay says they are basically for better google search results. The description is everything on a listing and most people barely read that.   Anyway- the feature that you took a screen shot of does not even work anymore- at least for some of us.  The description is where you can differentiate your item and address any unique plusses or minus's in the condition.  A comprehensive description is what drives buyer satisfaction----- another note- with sell similar and item specific auto populate, often the fields are wrong or keyword spammed so that just furthers the decline of good search results and drive a bad buyer experience. By ebay making the item specifics 5x harder to navigate in the new tool- they are encouraging people to ignore them and move on.......

[gorgons-gallery]

Though I would heartily agree that more description is better,  I think you forget what time you live in! No one reads it anyway! Reading is passe'. Every question I have been asked for the past 2 years was answerable by reading the description or the item details. Most of which were, "Do you offer combined shipping?" which is sometimes the only words in the description! No description necessary is my mantra, I have to answer questions AND write a description- Why?

[siamjane8]

@gorgons-gallery 

    While i do agree with you on that- I have had the same experience- questions asked are always already described- I think we are all basically agreeing that the new listing tool takes longer to list with regardless of how much description we use lol.....its just a bad design.

   Realistically i think it is partially "the time we are living in" BUT ebay has chosen add space over buyer satidfaction. I have found that I have to scroll over " other promoted listing" , "similar listing", and 3rd party advertising before the item description can even be clicked on!  once a buyer clicks on your listing, it should be 100% that listing and nothing else - that will drive conversion and buyer satisfaction but ebay likes to make buyers search SLOWER and harder find info just like sellers lol!! at least they are consistent