Advice Needed For Funny Ebay Listing

Discussion in 'General Marketing' started by Jake Howard, Aug 23, 2007.

  1. #1
    G'day Forum

    I have recently started my own website, and I have an idea for a funny / lame listing on ebay that will hopefully attract some attention for my website.

    I can't really divulge my idea, but does anyone have any experience with such listings on ebay.

    Does Ebay support such listings or do they try and prevent them?

    If your actual item is worth nothing, is it best to put it up for $1 Million dollars to attract attention, or leave it as no dollars in the hope that someone may be silly enough to bid? Are there any costs involved if you put it up at $1 Million dollars?

    Are there any techniques to driving attention to your listing, either through ebay techniques, or advertising your ebay listing in certain directories etc?

    What are some of the funnier listing you have seen on ebay?

    Cheers
     
    Jake Howard, Aug 23, 2007 IP
  2. Hade

    Hade Active Member

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    #2
    Hi,

    There's loads of sites dedicated to weird ebay listings which you can submit your listing to.

    Listing fees for eBay.com are here:
    http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fees.html

    Sounds like a good idea, I've done a few in the past sheerly for fun, eBay didn't mind. They like the publicity listings like this have generated in the past.

    I once sold 'absolutely nothing' for £0.01! If I sold another 99,999,999 of them I'd be a millionaire!
     
    Hade, Aug 23, 2007 IP
  3. Jake Howard

    Jake Howard Well-Known Member

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    #3
    G'day Hade

    Thanks heaps for that information, much appreciated. I guess you can sell it on ebay, it just depends on how you market it.

    We could both sell the same product, but by using different techniques, we are likely to get a different result.

    Thanks for your time and I would love to hear some more of your funny listings, or anyone other members for that matter.

    Cheers
     
    Jake Howard, Aug 23, 2007 IP
  4. Hade

    Hade Active Member

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    #4
    I once bought a polo mint. Apparently it was in mint condition but I didn't think so.
    I also bought a shiney £1 coin for £1. I think I got a great deal there.
     
    Hade, Aug 23, 2007 IP
  5. guruguy

    guruguy Active Member

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    #5
    Not after the listing fees, you would be broke
     
    guruguy, Aug 23, 2007 IP
    MTbiker likes this.
  6. MTbiker

    MTbiker Well-Known Member

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    #6
    I've seen the auctions for "nothing" and I think one actually went to like $11. Not too shabby.

    The funniest I've seen was the guy selling his ex-wife's wedding dress. It was hilarious!! (http://www.nomarriage.com/ebay_wedding_dress.html and http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2004-04-30-ebay-bride_x.htm - talk about publicity!)

    I've tried my hand at a couple funny listings. Nothing too elaborate so none of them got much attention, but eBay never cared. Just make sure you put it in the weird or bizarre category.
     
    MTbiker, Aug 23, 2007 IP
  7. grimsqueaker

    grimsqueaker Peon

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    #7
    A $1 million item will cost $5.15 to list with a Buy-It-Now option (you'll have to pay $15,018 if it sells) and $4.80 to list it as an auction.
     
    grimsqueaker, Aug 23, 2007 IP
  8. designerz

    designerz Banned

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    #8
    i had a friend who auctioned of naming rights to one of the kittens her cat had. some lady paid $25 to name the cat "mouse". the lady got a little birth certificate and photo of it.
     
    designerz, Aug 23, 2007 IP
  9. MattyD

    MattyD Peon

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    #9
    My friend and I sold our electoral votes on eBay UK a few years ago. Well we tried to anyway, we reached 5 days out of 7, before eBay removed the auction. Had a number of local TV/Radio stations contact us for interviews, but we declined as we knew they would try and portray us in a really bad light.

    It's fun for getting attention though :)
     
    MattyD, Aug 23, 2007 IP
  10. Jake Howard

    Jake Howard Well-Known Member

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    #10
    Does ebay frown upon using ebay to promote websites?

    Say if the photo of the product that I was selling also listed my website name, would ebay reject this?

    Also, when you are writing the description of your product, are you able to provide a link to your website, or does ebay frown upon this.

    If you have any other do's or don'ts or advice on driving people to your website through ebay listings, I would love to hear it.

    Cheers
     
    Jake Howard, Aug 24, 2007 IP
  11. henryb

    henryb Member

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    #11
    You need to check their guidelines. I believe there are some magic words to go with your website url. Something like "For additional information check this link" or "You can find more details about this listing ..."

     
    henryb, Aug 24, 2007 IP
  12. tbarr60

    tbarr60 Notable Member

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    #12
    Auction off naming rights for a portion of your body. Search for tattoo in this forum and you will see where this forum is tattooed. :D
     
    tbarr60, Aug 24, 2007 IP
  13. magda

    magda Notable Member

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    #13
    you can put the name of your site on an ebay listing, but not make it an actual link.
     
    magda, Aug 24, 2007 IP
  14. tbarr60

    tbarr60 Notable Member

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    #14
    Is that new? I used to list a software application with a bid at half teh price but I sold ten times as many from traffic from Ebay as opposed to selling it through Ebay.
     
    tbarr60, Aug 24, 2007 IP
  15. craiger22

    craiger22 Well-Known Member

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    #15
    I would like to see something to back this up. The only thing I knew was that the shopping cart must be disabled.
     
    craiger22, Aug 24, 2007 IP
  16. Hade

    Hade Active Member

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    #16
    They don't allow external links unless it's to a page with further information.

    I link to my product page where there's further information alright!
    I've not been stopped in over a year. :D
     
    Hade, Aug 25, 2007 IP