Most people spend more time taking photos than writing the description. Then the item sits for three weeks and they cut the price.

The copy matters more than you'd think. Buyers on eBay, Vinted, or Depop can't hold the item. Your words are doing the job of a salesperson — if they're vague or thin, someone else's listing wins the sale.

Start with the title, not the description

Most sellers write the title last. That's backwards.

The title is what gets your listing found. Marketplace search works like Google — it matches buyer queries against your keywords. "Vintage denim jacket" gets buried. "Levi's 501 Trucker Jacket 90s Vintage Denim Size M Blue" gets clicked.

Useful structure: Brand + product type + key attribute + size or model + condition

You don't need every slot. But use as many as honestly apply. Skip "amazing" and "must-see" — they don't help search and they read like a yard sale sign.

The description: answer the questions before they're asked

A buyer looking at your listing has a few questions running in their head. Is this the right size? What does "good condition" actually mean? Are there defects I can't see in the photos? How fast does it ship?

Write the description to answer those, in roughly that order.

Condition is where most sellers go vague. "Good condition" means nothing. "Worn maybe 5 times, no stains, small fray on the left cuff — see photo 4" means something. Specific details build trust. Trust drives sales.

Don't bury defects. Mentioning them upfront sounds like a liability but it isn't. A disclosed flaw costs you maybe 10% off the price. An undisclosed one costs you a return, a bad review, and the time to reship. Anyone who's been reselling for a while has learned this.

Measurements beat sizing labels

Sizing is inconsistent across brands, eras, and countries. A size M from a 1995 Polo shirt fits completely differently than a size M from Zara today. Buyers know this, and if you don't give measurements, they just move on to someone who did.

For tops: chest, shoulder width, length. For bottoms: waist, inseam, rise. For shoes: insole length in cm.

Fewer "does this fit?" messages, fewer returns, and buyers who buy with some confidence instead of crossing their fingers.

Check sold prices, not listed prices

Before setting a price, look at what similar items actually sold for. Listed prices are what people hope to get. Sold prices are reality.

On eBay, filter by "Sold Items." On Vinted, look at completed sales. This takes five minutes and it's the difference between an item that moves in two days and one that you relist four times.

Photos and copy fill different gaps

Your photos show the item. Your copy explains it. They shouldn't repeat each other.

If photos already show a stain clearly, don't spend three sentences on it. If there's something hard to photograph — a fabric texture, a fixed zipper that was stiff, a smell issue that washed out — that's where your words do something the photo can't.

One test that works: write the description as if the buyer can't see the photos. If your words alone give enough to make a decision, you're done.

The part that breaks down at scale

Writing one listing carefully is fine. Writing thirty in a weekend is where things fall apart. Titles get lazy, descriptions get copy-pasted, measurements get dropped.

That's the problem FlipIQ is built for. The repetitive parts of a listing — structuring the title, writing the description, hitting the right search terms — are the parts that take the most time and pay off the least per hour. AI handles those well. Your judgment on sourcing and pricing is the part that actually can't be automated.

Thirty listings in the time it usually takes to do ten. That's the math.