How to Optimize eBay Listing Titles for Your Sports Cards

Ebay is the premier marketplace for card buyers and sellers. While the popular platform makes it a point to ensure processes for both parties run as smoothly as possible, it can all still be pretty intimidating for those trying to maneuver their way around the site. And it’s for that reason Sports Card Investor has partnered with eBay for a series of articles and complementing videos that address a number of topics that are integral to positive buying and selling experiences.

The listing title is like a first impression. You can either pique the interest of potential buyers strolling through the virtual marketplace or turn them off completely. Most times you only get one chance. In order to turn heads, there are a number of things to consider. The first thing you want to keep in mind is title length. You only have 80 characters to work with. These tight parameters will hopefully help you keep your description short and sweet. Remember, we’re selling sports cards here, not writing a school paper.

Create an eBay listing using these tips and tricks to make sure your cards sell quickly and for the price you want.

Keys to a Good Title

There are five things that are essential for a listing title to get on eBay users’ radars: player’s name, the year the card was released, the card product, the parallel/serial number (if applicable) and grade (if applicable)—preferably in that order, too.

If you have any extra characters once your listing is structured, you may feel inclined to use them up. A few instances where that’s advised is when you want to add the actual card number, team name or specify that you’re selling a rookie card (using “RC” is a universally understood abbreviation).

Things to Avoid

On the flip side, there are some things we strongly recommend avoiding with your title. For starters, if you’re selling a raw card, fight the urge to type “PSA 10?” or “eBay 1/1” in the listing. It’s confusing, misleading and comes off a little too used car salesman-y. Second, card buyers don’t like to be yelled at, so avoid using ALL CAPS. It’s almost as annoying as sellers who overuses punctuation marks!!! Don’t be that person.

High-Dollar Card Sales Tip

When it comes to big-ticket items, you may want to consider paying the few extra dollars for a subtitle in your listing. Many of the established auction houses use this feature to include extra information about the card in a way that sticks out to potential buyers. They add tidbits like low pop counts and other attributes that could prove key selling points.

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