The Record Ranch - A Strictly Music, Totally Free Auction Site

While it's not exactly rocket science, crafting a good listing is a part of selling that is often overlooked. While you may think "a good record sells itself", a good record will sell itself for a higher value if properly represented and described. As a buyer, I don't know how many times over the years I've looked at auctions with either a minimal description or so much fluffery that is of little to no use to a potential buyer. Really, does someone need to plagiarize a lengthy bio from allmusic when selling a Beatles album (and include little to nothing about the condition of the record)? A good description will not only help your item sell, it'll also cut down on the amount of pre-sales questions from potential buyers, as well as a lot of post-sales misunderstandings. Also, good content can also get your Record Ranch listing a little higher in google searches. Here are a bunch of suggestions for writing a better description:

Title
The title, at the very least, needs to state the artist, title and medium:

John Coltrane - Live In Seattle LP

This works. It tells the buyer that it's not a CD and it's not a copy of Blue Train. However, it could be much more robust:

John Coltrane - Live In Seattle LP Impulse 1971 AS-9202

Now that's more like it. The label, year and a catalog number is included. Also, take full advantage of the subtitle field. You can say something like:

1965 live set w/Pharoah Sanders Elvin Jones Jimmy Garrison

A couple DON'Ts:
1. Do not keyword spam - If you're selling a Men At Work album, don't put "punk" in the title. It just annoys buyers. Also, If you're selling a CD, don't put "not LP" in the title. Someone searching for LPs does not need to see your CD in that list.
2. Avoid useless terms - Buyers don't search for things like "look!" and "rare!". Use the space for informative terms.

Description
Your description doesn't need to be lengthy and witty and full of lots of graphics. In fact, lots of sellers make the mistake of jazzing up their listings with HTML to the point of it being an complete eyesore. KEEP IT SIMPLE. Most buyers at The Record Ranch are looking for things that they're already familiar with, so there's no need to include band bios, record reviews, or even tracklistings (most of the time). You're probably saying, "that takes too much time." Actually it doesn't. Just make a description template and save it in the description field in the prefilled fields section of your account. All you need to do is fill in the blanks when it comes time to list your records. What types of core info should a template include, you ask?:
name of the artist - should be obvious
name of release - should be obvious too
catalog# - important for collectors. It may differentiate between pressings. Also matrix numbers are extremely helpful in some cases.
year of release and record label (country of issue is a big help too)
condition of sleeve/condition of disc - mainly for vinyl, but can be used for CDs as well.

It should look something like this:



It can't be stressed enough: the prefilled fields section of your account will make your life incredibly easy. USE THEM!

DO:
Aside from including the important info above, include a bit about your policies, shipping practices (i.e., "all LPs are shipped in proper record mailers"), links to your Record Ranch store, return policies, etc. You don't need to write a book, but a couple of sentences explaining that you know what you're doing and that you're a stand-up guy/gal can be a tipping point for a potential buyer.

Include sound clips if possible. Services like Divshare can host your MP3 recordings and will give you code that you can embed in your listing. Obviously this may not be worth the time for a $3 single, but it can be incredibly helpful when trying to sell that $300 Northern Soul 45.

DON'T:
Clutter. As I previously mentioned, too much is not a good thing. Buyers want relevant information needed to make a purchase. Record reviews and band bios aren't helpful to collectors. HTML code is not a good thing if abused. Keep it to a minimum. Buyers don't want to scroll for 10 seconds at a time to find the info they're looking for.

Be negative. Who wants to buy from a seller who has policies like "all sales final. NO returns. Don't ask." or "if you don't agree with my shipping charges, don't buy."? Instead, state your policies with a little less belligerence and encourage buyers to ask questions.

Photos:
Photos are essential, especially with collectible records. You get space for 5 at The Record Ranch. Use at least 1. Photos of the jacket and label are extremely helpful for records. For 45s you can even use a scanner. It can't be stressed enough. Use at least 1 photo.

Hopefully these suggestions were of help. Now, get over to The Record Ranch and get selling!

So, you've decided to start selling your records at The Record Ranch. Hopefully, this should take a bit of the mystery out of selling. Chances are you're probably fluent at selling on eBay, which often times makes selling at a new venues a bit intimidating at first. We'll go through the selling process step by step as well as provide some helpful info regarding each step.

If you plan on selling regularly, you should open a store. It's free, plus you can use your store URL (which would be: www.therecordranch.com/stores/your user ID) to market your store elsewhere.

Obviously we'll begin at the Sell page.

Site, shop or both (if you have a store. If not, skip to the next part):



It's recommended to list in both. That way, your item gets listed in your store and will show up in the category/subcategory when buyers are browsing the site.

Next up is Step 1 - Item Details:



Here you'll select what type of listing you want to create, pick your category, and create a catchy title and detailed description. Notice there is text already included in the description. It shows up there because I have that text saved in the prefilled fields section of My Ranch (found at My Ranch > Selling > Prefilled Fields). Use the prefilled fields page to your fullest advantage! It will save you TONS of time in the long run. Back to the listing, there are 3 options at the top: Full Listing, Quick Listing, Grab It! Item. This determines how many options you want to view on the next page. A full listing shows you every listing option possible. The quick listing shows you everything the full listing does, minus the private auction option and the custom start/custom duration times. The quick listing option is very handy if you're listing auctions and don't need to schedule listings and/or you wish to use the predetermined listing durations. If you're only listing Grab It! (buy it now) items, use the Grab It option. That will eliminate even more unnecessary fields on the next page. Off to step 2.

Step 2 - Settings
This is where you control how the item will be listed. Unfortunately there are no pretty pictures for this step as the page is too large. On this step you can set the following:

Auction type: Standard Auction - This is a single quantity auction. Dutch Auction - A Dutch auction enables you to list a multiple quantity auction. For example, if you have 3 of the same title of a CD to sell you can list all of these together in one listing. Bidders will be able to select how many they wish to bid for or buy.
Currency: You can select your preferred auction currency using the drop down menu available (live currency exchange rates are built in).
Quantity: This field is only active if listing a Dutch auction, please see above for an explanation of this listing type.
Auction Starts At: This requires you to enter the minimum bid you are willing to accept for your item. Since The Record Ranch doesn't charge a listing fee, there is no need to start your auction at a low amount in order to save money.
Item condition: Your choices are new, used, or refurbished. This option is strictly for Google so that The Record ranch's listing get picked up.
Reserve Price: Enabling a reserve price effectively means you will not sell the item for less than the amount set, for example you can set the start price at 5.00 but only accept winning bids over 50.00, should a bid be placed for 49.99 the item will close without a winner.
Grab It!: Grab It! allows you to offer a set price for your item. For example, you can set the starting price at 10.00 but offer interested parties the option to buy the item immediately for 50.00. You can also list Grab It! only auctions. These auctions have no bidding options and can only be purchased for a set amount. To set a Grab It! only listing you need to set the Grab It! price to be exactly equal with the start bid (or just select Grab It! listing in Step 1).
Offer Range: You can set a price range which will allow you to entertain offers for your item. For example, if you set a Grab It! price at 10.00, but would take 8.00 or more for your item, you can make your offer range 8.00 and 9.99 and interested parties will be able to offer you an amount within that range. You can choose whether to accept or decline these offers in the My Ranch area.
Item featuring: The following options are available to you (fees apply). These will give your item more exposure to potential buyers:
Home page featured - positions your item at the top of the homepage.
Category featured - positions your item at the top of your item's category page.
Bold text - puts your item's title in bold lettering.
Highlighted background - adds a background to your listing in searches and browsing (when listing in Auction or Both).
Set start/end time: You can either opt to list your item right away and set a defined number of days for it to be live for or you also have the option to define your own custom start/end time.
Private Auction: A private auction will hide the bidders identity on the item details page.
Image upload: You can either upload images local computer or enter the URL of an image(s) hosted elsewhere. You can also embed images in the description itself using simple HTML or by using the editor.
Auto Re-List: You have the choice to have your items automatically re-listed for you. Select whether the item should be re-listed if sold and how many re-list attempts should be made. ****Use this feature to your advantage! It'll save you from having to manage ended listings and re-list your items. The limit is 99 times.

Again, use the prefilled fields section and preset your listing options there. It will save you time for sure. Next...

Step 3 - Shipping & Payment



Provide your shipping and insurance charges here. Include all relevant details in the text box (no HTML). There is also a pulldown menu which you will set whether or not you will ship internationally. If you only ship to domestic addresses, make sure you choose "Domestic only". Here's how I set up this page. Again, these options can be set as prefilled fields. If you set them there, you don't even really need to look at this page.

Step 4 - Preview
You're almost done. This is where you review the listing to make sure it's ready to go. Don't worry, you can still edit your listing once it's live via the members area or the item's page.

Step 5 - Finish Now you're done! The final step provides you with listing confirmation and an item number.

There, that wasn't so bad was it? Now get to selling.

For next time: the anatomy of a good listing.