Descriptions! (A Bit Of A Rant)

You eating my popcorn

No fighting over the popcorn, children!

My views - based on the fact that I rarely buy stamps on ebay, and never sell, but I do buy (and sell) the usual household stuff.
Personally I find a good picture is important. I always think it is shoddy to put up a blurred or low-res picture, no matter how good the description is, and I would probably skip past. If the description has too many exclamation marks!! like, "Bargain!" that annoys me and I think it looks a little desperate.
A clear, concise description and a clear picture are both important. I, like others have mentioned, would rather buy an imperfect item that has been well described than an item whose condition is unknown.
Like Horakhamet, I have occasionally benefitted from finding a bargain in a poorly described item. Titles are especially important, as they are what draws the viewer in. If they don't contain the right information, many viewers will pass by without even looking.

Wow!
What a way to get a stamp lesson on listing, amazing.

When you put all the information together it is going to help a lot of people.

I think many people would like to list but are just not sure they are doing the right thing, the right way.

The cover example is one of the harder listing areas one would experience. Along with many early issues of the world.
When a good image is missing it really is a problem for the buyer and they will skip the item straight away. Leading a keen buyer to be upset and disappointed by the way the listing has been presented.

jamesw: If you've seen any of my auction listings on ebay or Delcampe, that's the normal way I list things regardless of value or what it is. I'm a little OCD like that. I start everything at 99 cents/$1 regardless of what it is anyway and let market forces set the price from that point. Also as seller, I sometimes don't know what really will be in demand and it behooves me to write the best description I can. Time consuming yes, but also rewarding on two points - I sell a high percentage than most folks and when I write descriptions it's the point in which I learn about the items myself through the research, translation, etc. That latter part is personally highly rewarding.

The description needs to be detailed as it also contains on the keywords they help potential buyers to find your items in the vast sea of other items that is ebay. I've found that buyer's search on the smallest details at time - dates, names, towns, labels, postmark types, you name it, someone collects it and the only way to get that across through a search engine is the description.

And I agree that good photos hold equal weight with descriptions as there will be things a potential buyer might see that the seller doesn't and frankly a lot of us are visual learners. It also helps with those who don't know English as well. I know I have quite a few buyers who know little to no English and I'll even include terms from the stamps/covers in the language of that item. Some things don't translate into English well anyway or the foreign words are keyword searches anyway. As for ebay, you can host the thumbnail used in the gallery as well - ebay's picture service can be completely done away with. No need for the fuzzy wuzzy photos overlaid with a watermark.

scanstamps: Adding details to photos is a nice touch. I've done that with stamp listings too as help identify watermarks, perf types, etc that cannot or hard to ascertain by a photo. Catalog number alone doesn't tell a buyer those details especially if they are using a different catalog. I just sometimes wonder if the high res photos are choking those who still use dial-up. I'm sure I've caused a few folk's computers to lock up in the past, but hopefully most folks are on higher speed lines these days.

In general, the description/title is the driver to your item, the good photos are what brings the stamps or covers to life and the service the seller provides gives the buyer reason to bid or buy. You need all three parts to make a viable listing. Keytip: for like items, you only have to write the description once - just change the picture and condition of item with repeat items - i.e. stamps and philatelic created items, but it usually it doesn't work with postal history as items tend to be unique.

Related note - I have a friend who has just started an online web site for stamps and he's been asking me for advice, but not necessary taking it. While you can browse and search via catalog number (only Scott's) and the picture service has super high magnification, the descriptions are lacking. Anyone who doesn't use Scott's will be lost. He did it that way because he and his long time collecting father are only use to stamp shows and searching through dealer stock books and boxes. That kind of activity doesn't translate as well to the computer. Selling online is another ball of wax and he'll eventually learn. That's my thesis for now.

Will

stampgal: Language used by used cars salesman should be avoided. The only time I would ever use the word "rare" in a description is if I had a stamp depicting a "rare" steak. I haven't seen one yet. Also such words, especially in the description just uses up precious space in a title that could be used for keywords that people actually use in a search engine.

kgv collector - concerning your cover. I may be going way out on a limb, so if someone has better or more in depth knowledge than me concerning Australia and military, please step in!
Could the "051046" in the red stamp refer to the post office number which would be for ginghet, New South Wales? Was there any military training or operations in that area during WWII? If so, Geo(rge) Adams may have been stationed there and had his own identifying stamp for the censors. Maybe HE was the censor and that is his stamp? Also, I think there may have been a weather station there, maybe for research.
Just the genealogist coming out in me, but I think with some work, the info on this cover can be deciphered.

Hi ncbuckeye.

I have searched and searched.

GEO.ADAMS is George Adams who owned Tattersalls Lottery base in Tasmania.
I believe this address is a safe address for the true receiver of the letter? The number 051046 is Tattersalls reg No, on receiving the letter?
Not many covers came registered or were read by censor before sealing the envelope. This makes me think it is an Officer's letter.
I can find 2 covers online with 2 stamps to 6d. The 3d extra cost was for reg post?

I have another 11 of these covers and they are all very busy with postmarkings so this thread has been very helpful to me.

FPO 170 is in the Netherlands West Indies and a harder to find Field Post Office.
It has been very hard for me to find info but their is a book written by "Proud" that has the answers I believe. I do not have one. All the references are to auctions.
That is basically all I know about these covers.