Listing Titles: Less is Still More

Additional character space is not all it's cracked up to be.

by Dennis L. Prince
- Oct 03, 2011

If you ever felt cramped by eBay's 55-character limit on listing titles, you may feel the urge to rejoice now that the limit has been increased to 80 characters. With 25 extra characters available, you'll be free to say everything you want to say about your great items within the item title. But will more characters spell more sales, or might they have that "law of diminishing returns" effect on your profit-gathering efforts?

Read the full article on TheOnlineSeller.com.


19 Comments

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19  
Have to say that sales of certain items of mine have increased following the ability to use more characters. I think it all depends on the product and, of course, what terms the seller decides to include. No-one can "second-guess" all the terms a potential buyer might use. However, the downside is there will be yet a further increase in spelling mistakes - the errors that I see on eBay is unbelievable. Returning to the original subject - just remember, you are not obliged to use all the available character spaces!

  Posted by clematisanddahlias at 11/19/2011 11:42:59 AM
18  
Auctivia are starting to loose credibility with this.

  Posted by birminghambloke[Guest User] at 10/18/2011 3:22:32 AM
17  
Long time ebay powerseller top rated seller and 80 characters is MUCH BETTER and as I'm going through my hundreds of listings one by one to update, often within a few days of jumping to the 80 characters items that have been stale for months sell.

  Posted by beckysbit[Guest User] at 10/10/2011 6:19:02 PM
16  
The extra letters do not show up anyway as eBay abbreviates the titles unless you run your mouse over them. Still a good thing.

  Posted by Slim[Guest User] at 10/9/2011 3:15:10 AM
15  
Did anyone notice that the last 20 or so of the 25 additional letters don't show up in a list of items, such as your selling list, sold list, searched items, watch list, etc. They will appear on any single item page, though. So I usually add more key words at the end.

  Posted by Ole Tyme[Guest User] at 10/8/2011 12:49:30 PM

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About the Author

Dennis L. Prince has been analyzing and advocating the e-commerce sector since 1996. He has published more than 12 books on the subject, including How to Sell Anything on eBay…and Make a Fortune, second edition (McGraw-Hill, 2006) and How to Make Money with MySpace (McGraw-Hill, 2008). His insight is actively sought within online, magazine, television and radio venues.

Opinions expressed here may not be shared by Auctiva Corp. and/or its principals.

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