Tuesday's Tip - eBay - Don't Be Stupid, Sparky

Sounds a bit harsh?  I'm not saying don't use eBay to look for lost family treasures or bits or regional memorabilia.  I have searches on eBay that go straight to my Google Reader account.  They're great.  This is more of a tip for those selling the memorabilia on eBay.  Don't insult the item in the title or description.  Don't be stupid, Sparky.  You want to sell it don't you?  This is the item that caught my attention and inspired this brief post:

Difficult to read.  Click to enlarge.

The screen shots are cropped to hide the seller's name and other items he's currently selling, but I think you can see what I'm talking about.  I'm from the Hazleton area.  Born and raised and that is not without embarrassment to say considering the awful state of the area now.  There are truly sweet and wonderful people there, but they are drowned out by the much more prevalent personalities like this one here.  Sad but true.

HINT:  If you want to sell something, even if you don't think it's the best thing in the world, you aren't going to by insulting it.  You should describe it in a way that makes people want to buy it.

Needless to say the item wasn't sold.  Shocker, I know.  There is apparently some deep rooted issues this person has with the items or with the area (although he lives there still so he can't hate the area too much!).  It shouldn't have come out in the attempted sale.  He's at least $8.50 poorer than he would have been if he had described the item properly.  Of course, unless there was something very dear to me in these photos the starting price is more than a little too high.

Ah, well...back to trying to find ephemera on eBay.  It is really a great tool when used properly.  At least he didn't just title it "7 Stupid Photos".  At least with "Hazleton" in the title it popped up on my reader.

I'm on vacation right now, and actually am on the road so no census this week.  I should be back with the 1850 census next Tuesday, but who knows...I may be having way too much fun!

Have fun tending your roots!