Long ago, in the summer of 2005, I worked at an eBay consignment store called ezAuctioning in Old Town Alexandria. So long ago, in fact, the original location that I once worked at no longer exists. So long ago, in fact, that eBay consignment stores were mocked in a popular film that now comes on TV, like, 5 times a month.  Sometimes on Lifetime-like networks. At ezA, I researched and wrote the descriptions for items that folks brought in to the store to sell. Highlights include:

•   A 2 storage unit sized collection of toys based on British TV shows and movies,
• A cache of vintage rock posters from the Scranton Catholic Youth Center that brought in multiple thousands each, and
• A Sputnik commemorative lamp, lovingly called Sputlamp, that died during shipment, even though we called in the pros to pack it.

While I cannot say that my time at ezA turned into a passion for descriptive cataloging (I leave that to the pros, namely my future mother-in-law), I am still a little obsessed with selling things on eBay. It’s the ultimate challenge of making something searchable with eBay’s built in categories, your description, and most importantly the title of your auction. You need a really broad range of knowledge. Being familiar with the abbreviations, like NWOT for New Without Tags, isn’t enough anymore. Selling a shift dress with a vintage neck line? Better put “Mad Men” in your title. Selling something with an unpronounceable brand name? Try spelling it correctly and incorrectly. eBay has a “did you mean” feature now, but in my ezA days, it did not.

Is crafting the perfect eBay listing straight description? Or is it more description by reference in a semi-crowd sourced way, sort of like at LibraryThing or like SOCAL, the social catalog in Drupal? eBay doesn’t give users permission to comment on listings, but you have to know what users are saying/watching/reading/listening to in order to build a better listing. Maybe if eBay figures it out, catalogers will pick up on it. Or vice versa.