Sunday, April 17, 2022

Using the Copyright Year in the Title of eBay Listings

My Nancy Drew books tend not to sell on eBay, but they sell just fine on Etsy.  Something is wrong on eBay, and I've felt for a long time that buyers cannot find my Nancy Drew books in the search results.  This is probably partly my fault.

I have not been consistent in using item specifics.  I find it hard to believe, however, that most Nancy Drew buyers rely solely on item specifics instead of looking at the items that are returned in their searches. So, I feel like it's more than just the item specifics.  

I began by working on the item specifics of my Nancy Drew listings.  I found that some of them had none of the item specifics (publisher, author, subject, language) completed.  Perhaps getting those filled in will help some. 

Next, I ran a search for "Nancy Drew" and selected "sold" listings so that I could look at the titles of the sold listings.  I wanted to see if there were certain words that were used that I could add to my titles to perhaps help my books sell.

I was struck by how many of the sold listings have the copyright year listed in the title.  This is interesting.

Years ago I used to put the copyright year in the titles of my listings.  I had a specific reason for doing that.  I have always used the copyright year to tell whether a book has the original text.  I started using this method before I was ever online.  When I got online in the late 1990s, I learned that everyone else checks the number of chapters in the books. 

Since collectors just look at the number of chapters, they pay no attention to the copyright year or to the appearance of the books.  This is why so many people ask sellers how many chapters the books have instead of just using clues that are visible in the listing.  I have created multiple pages on my website and have many posts in this blog that show buyers how to tell which books have the original text without having to ask questions.

Original and Revised Text Books
Picture Cover Gallery (cover art identified as original or revised text)

I feel like my efforts have been futile, since people now just try to use the Facebook groups to mine for information.

Back when I put the copyright year in the title of my listings, I felt that was the easiest way to convey to my buyers that the book had the original text.  I explained my reasoning in my post, "Using the Copyright Date in Listings":

As already stated, I find the copyright date to be a super easy way to determine whether the book has the original or revised text. 1956 is the key year. 1956 and earlier copyrights are for books with 25 chapter texts. After 1957 copyrights are books with 20 chapter texts. With this method, you don't need to worry about obscure little details or whether your seller knows that "XX" is 20 or that "XXV" is 25.

It just made sense to me to place the copyright year in the title of the listing so that buyers would know immediately that the book contained the original text.  After I received some criticism, I removed the copyright year from my listing titles.  The post "Using the Copyright Date in Listings" also details the criticism that I received.

Now it's 12 years later, and my Nancy Drew books aren't selling on eBay.  When I looked at the sold books, I saw that a good many of them have the copyright year in the title of the listing.  I do believe that some buyers are using the copyright to find the older books. 

I feel that I must start placing the copyright year back into the titles of my listings just so that my books have a chance of being noticed in the vast ocean of more than 25,000 Nancy Drew listings on eBay.  I am a little hesitant, since the judgmental people will think I'm attempting to defraud buyers.  

It is true that I can place a statement in my listings giving an idea of the age of the book.  I might do that if I decide to put the copyright year back in the titles.  I won't give specific Farah's Guide printing numbers or specific years.  I try to keep my listings as simple and streamlined as possible.  I need to list many books quickly, so I don't go to a lot of trouble.  These days most everyone has a short attention span, so listings need to be short for that reason.  A wall of text won't be read, so I want my listings to be as short as possible.

I will continue to mull over the situation before I make a decision.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wonder if it could just be that there are fewer Nancy Drew listings on Etsy than Ebay to so to speak "compete with" your listings? So when someone does a search for what Nancy Drew books are available for sale on Etsy, your selection naturally comes forward being in a mix of less books. Maybe?! Best Wishes! And congratulations again on the Spring finds!

Jennifer White said...

Etsy having fewer Nancy Drew listings is certainly a factor, and I always do very well on the smaller sites. I did great on Bonanza for most of the time that I sold there. I left Bonanza for Etsy when the traffic collapsed on Bonanza.

With eBay, it might just be the economy and inflation rather than anything that I can fix. Etsy sales are down right now, too. But, if I can do anything to potentially help my situation on eBay, then it's worth a try.

Trent Clegg said...

I recently purchased a copy of Blackwood Hall specifically because the copyright date was listed. I've been trying to get one of the revised texts with the Tandy cover and the listing specifically said it was the 1967 copyright. When it arrived, it was the original text. It seems some sellers aren't careful when they put their listings up.

I ended up keeping the book because it was just easier, but I made sure to message them and let them know how important it was to provide accurate information.