Wanna see the power of sales copy on Ebay?

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Nick Brighton

Ok guys and gals, here's a simple example of how a good offer and some basic copy can be used on Ebay to totally crush the competition.

If you're a rookie, or you want to see how sales copy can be used in more "covert" and "ordinary" ways in life - and not just those long winded sales letters - then check this out...

First, a little background info:

I'm selling a treadmill. When you see the listings below, you will see that no other listing has anywhere near the same level of interest that mine does.

My listing has 59 watchers and 17 bidders.

The price is already higher than any other seller who is selling the same product (apart from just one other guy... but he only has 6 bidders, I have 17. Go figure!)

Take a look at the actual listing and see if you can see why.

Here's the competition:

reebok treadmill items - Get great deals on Sporting Goods, Business, Office Industrial items on eBay UK!

(I'm the third one down, with 17 bids)

Here's a direct link to my listing:

Reebok I-Run Treadmill - motorized with LED display on eBay (end time 27-Jul-10 18:03:46 BST)

Can you see how simple copy, when used with taste and subtlety, is deadly in the real world?

P.S - For the skeptics who say I'm just lucky or the timing was right, I urge you to look at all the other listings. They have nowhere near the same level of interest. I should also mention that I started the listing with a £100 reserve, whereas other people started with NO reserve.

And my listing picture is crappy in comparision to other listings too. And I don't even hide the fact that it's second hand, has superficial damage and isn't "good as new"

Maybe some will still say "it's dumb luck" but I urge you to look at the interest, look at the listing, look at the copy I used, and think again...

P.P.S - take a look at the listing DIRECTLY ABOVE mine - that is the only one that is beating my price and is ending at roughly the same time today and mine. Yet, it has less than half the amount of bidders (and therefore, I imagine even less watchers.) So I think I'll get a better price with all the interested bidders I've attracted, don't you?!

:-)

Dude, you are so genius haha! You just gave them every reason TO BUY. Your tittle was perfect and it set you apart as well.

Great job! too bad I don't use Ebay though.

Thanks

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DougBarger

15 years ago

Great reason-why copy there Nick. :-)

I particularly enjoy this:

- I've lost the weight I needed to, thanks to this machine! (the gym is for muscle toning)

Thanks
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Nick Brighton 15 years ago

Originally Posted by DougBarger

Great reason-why copy there Nick. :-)

I particularly enjoy this:

- I've lost the weight I needed to, thanks to this machine! (the gym is for muscle toning)

Exactly thanks Doug.

The problem with this type of product is people's objections are "if it's so good, why is he selling it?"

So I overcame that by turning the objection into a selling point... "It's so good, it got the results I wanted... so I don't need it anymore!"

You could apply this to all kinds of products online.

If you're selling a guide to SEO, you could say...

"The only reason I'm selling this - and at such an affordable price - is because we've got so many websites ranking and making us residual income, we don't need the money. Plus, we fully well know that 90% of people won't take action or even give it a shot, which means we'll continue to eat up all the profits and so will the few who actually DO take action on this report..."

etc, etc.

P.S - For the rookies, notice how I list all the USPs of the product as reasons why I bought it? That does two things... it sets the product apart, and it joins the conversation going on in the reader's mind.

They nod their head as they "tick off" all the reasons for buying it, which were the same reasons I originally had for buying it (which also allows me to take their side and show that we're just the same... which equals trust)

And then I slipped in some real benefits:

- It really doesn't hurt to exercise with this thing
- I can watch TV and lose fat at the same time

THAT is what people want to hear when buying exercise equipment. That's why I slipped these in as if they are just casual observations on my part.

And let's not forget the call to action, which nobody else seems to use on Ebay:

"So what are you waiting for?

This machine is worth every penny if you ask me. It won't break, it does the job and it makes
losing fat much less painful that you might think!

I bought this for £499. Grab it now and keep healthy, stay in shape and look great at a bargain price!"
- Thanks
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Paul Hancox

15 years ago

Hey Nick

Your nearest competitor's auction is closing in 6 minutes, so let's see what price theirs finishes at, compared to yours.

An interesting split test

Your competitor started their action bidding at £100, with yours at £0.01, so that would give you a nice advantage and would be one reason why you have more bidders - not to take away from the good copy.

Thanks

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Paul Hancox

15 years ago

The other one closed at £170.50, and now with just 4 minutes to go on yours, the bidding WAR has begun... £185 with a flurry of bids over the last few minutes...

Thanks

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vip-ip

15 years ago

£205.27. Incredible. Thank you for this hands-on approach - I caught the thread just at the right time.

Thanks

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Paul Hancox

15 years ago

Hey Nick, a nice bit of sniping at the end there took it to £205.27 and 28 bids. Pretty good, compared to the other guy who sold for £170.50 with 8 bids.

Lesson: Good copy definitely helps, along with a low starting price IF it's a reasonably popular item.

Congrats! Although I hope this sale doesn't mean you're gonna start piling on the pounds again

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Nick Brighton

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Paul Hancox

Hey Nick, a nice bit of sniping at the end there took it to £205.27 and 28 bids. Pretty good, compared to the other guy who sold for £170.50 with 8 bids.

Lesson: Good copy definitely helps, along with a low starting price IF it's a reasonably popular item.

Congrats! Although I hope this sale doesn't mean you're gonna start piling on the pounds again

Hahaha, exactly Paul. The starting price factor was obviously a part of the interest for sure. Maybe it was more influential than I thought, but I'd still like to think that the copy played its' part.

Even if it it didn't, it's still a good real life example of how to use basic persuasion principles in "every day" life.

I'm off to McDonald's...

Thanks

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Zero

15 years ago

Haha. Awesome work. This is just more proof..how valuable copywriting as a skill truely is.

I'm gonna save this listing for a swipe file. Cheers.

Thanks

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Rezbi

15 years ago

The most valuable lesson for me from this thread is this: I should start selling my stuff on ebay instead of chucking them away.

Thanks
1 reply

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Daniel F. Lavoie 15 years ago

I like the tips at the beginning, usually the shipping is one of the biggest objection.

Great work!
- Thanks
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nouseforaname

15 years ago

Well done! You just inspired me to list some of my old stuff at eBay

Thanks
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vip-ip 15 years ago

Nick,

I was also inspired to not only re-discover eBay, but to also put my skills to use. I started a thread, sort of like a from-start-to-finish case study, if you want to call it that, here. I hope you don't mind me ripping off your title :rolleyes:

Best Regards,
vip-ip ...
- Thanks
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writeandreview

15 years ago

Inspired by your success, I'm going to try something similar on craigslist to sell a piece of rental property 2,000 miles away that we haven't been able to rid ourselves of for 2 years. You think long distance dating relationships are doomed? Try long distance tenant relations.

Thanks
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blackjack 15 years ago

Nick

28 bids and final price £ 205. Very impressive. Even though your listing didn't look professional but you had the right pitch.

I likes the way you describe why you bought it. Looks like this is just copy & paste from the box. I am going to use this as template.

Title
Brief Description

WHY I BOUGHT IT - list features

WHY I AM SELLING IT - list Benefits

Then give another push "What are you waiting for".

I have been selling on eBay for long time and this is first time I have ever seen this powerfull listing.

Once again thanks for sharing.
- Thanks
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Nick Brighton

15 years ago

I'm glad so many found a positive takeaway and were inspired to model my listing!

Don't just hinder yourself to eBay though... there's billions of web pages to get your comments, listings, articles and videos onto.

The deeper lesson of this thread is that influence can be used in almost any situation, it doesn't have to be restricted to a landing page or sales letter.

In fact, the more you use it in ordinary situations, on websites that people already trust, the more likely it will fly under the radar.

Think about that for a moment.