by Craig Paulson

Sellers can make excellent profits on their collectibles when they list them on eBay, and there are several tips that can increase your opportunities. Niche markets are one of the primary areas that appeals to individual sellers, as these are not prone to the competition that is found in other sectors. Collectibles such as sports cards and memorabilia are perfect for this consideration, and sellers should be sure they use marketing techniques such as free shipping, liberal use of keywords, top level photos and opening their own store on the pages of eBay.

Keywords are the primary way that customers can see what you have for sale, and there are several words that will excite the interest of potential buyers. eBay enables sellers to include 55 characters in their title, and it is essential that they are used wisely. This boosts the visibility of the products, and it increases sales. The keywords that should be used should be any word that potential buyer may be typing into the search box.

You want to make sure that while your title makes sense, it also includes words that might attract bidders you may not have thought about. If you're selling something related to the 1961 Yankees, be sure to mention "Mickey Mantle" and maybe "Roger Maris" in the title as well as the description. Google and other search engines give a lot of weight to eBay listings so be sure your description includes as much detail as possible in case someone runs across your listing in a general search. They might be a potential buyer. If there's space, you can try using team names. If your item is autographed, use the name of the authenticator. The word "auto" is usually as good as typing out "autograph". In fact, "auto" is one of the most searched terms on eBay. Saving a few characters by using the shorter version can help in your effort to add more words in the title. If your modern card is a 1/10, be sure to use that in the title to re-enforce its scarcity.

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Sports Collectors Daily.com
1/15/2012

If I'm looking for something and an auction turns up in my search and the item doesn't really have anything to do with what I am searching for I'm probably going to block the seller. If I search for Micky Mantle and I get a hit that has a 1961 Yankees pennant with no specific ties to Mantle (no auto or picture or he is not specifically mentioned on the item) I'm mad and if the same lister does it too many times they get blocked. I used to simply put Favre in the search and I would turn up all sorts of general Packers stuff that didn't really have anything to do with Favre specifically and I blocked a lot of sellers that did that. To me its keyword spamming and is a bad as using "no" or "not" or "non" in the title. It fills searches with crap that is not really relevant.

I understand that the key is to get your listing seen and being deceptive can help but I think its dishonest and I won't buy it.

I agree and don't blame you for blocking those sellers. Under Ebays advance search there's feature where you exclude words from you Ebay searches. I look at auctions for Hogan and exclude hulk hogan, wrestling and plug and play. Plug and play because they're video game toys.