Pick 5 random vinyl record listings from the thousands out there and you will see there is no consistancy from seller to seller. Many sellers seem to think they will sell their records with an incredibly brief description. However, my own and many other sellers' experience has shown that there are particular pieces of information which a buyer expects to find in a record listing.

We must acknowledge that for many genres of music, our products are aimed at incredibly specific/specialist buyers. I am writing this guide in the hope that together we sellers can standardise the format/content of record listings for everyone's benefit:

Sellers' benfit - improve sales, eliminate need to answer questions about items (and potential missed bids), reduce chances of complaint and buyer disappointment ("it wasnt what I expected" etc.)

Buyers' benefit - make it easier to find what they want, eliminate need to wait for question to be answered by seller, improve customer confidence in seller

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What information should sellers put in their record listings?

I suggest the following as a minimum. Bullet points may not look great, but they are CLEAR. Take a look at one of my own record listings to see how to make it more appealing to read.

• Artist name
• Record title
• Complete tracklisting
• including all remixes and remix artists' names
• Record label which published the release
• Year of release (if the record is a re-press, say so and give the appropriate release date)
• Country of release
• Condition of vinyl and sleeve
• use the Record Collector's Grading System. Details are here

The following are also incredibly useful to make sure that the buyer is getting what they think they are:

• Link to MP3 sample
• Browse online record stores such as HTFR.com who have MP3 samples of records ready for you to post links to in your description. Remember to state what mixes/tracks are in the sample - some samples has several tracks.
• Link to relevant page on Discogs.com
• Discogs is the world's largest online database of music releases. You should be able to find the release you are selling on here, so put a link to that page in your listing like this: discogs.com/release/144724 It is also useful for finding out the year of release if you are unsure.

My final tip for successful record selling on eBay is to state what type of packaging you will use to post the record to the buyer. Set up an "About Me" page where you can put this kind of information. Experience shows that it is best to only use professional 12" mailers with a thick cardboard stiffener inside for extra support (they stop the record bending in transit). Any other form of packaging is likely to result in a damaged record, and an unhappy (cheated) customer.

By stating up-front what packaging you will use, you should not find buyers leaving you negative feedback with complaints. Buyers can't claim a record arrived bent, nor will they feel ripped off for paying up to £2.50 postage if they are getting professional service.

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ALL of the suggested information for record listings can be found on the internet somewhere - it's just a case of finding it, which I appreciate can be time consuming. MP3 samples can be particularly difficult to get hold of, but make an effort and see what affect it has on your sales!

I hope that this guide is useful to active sellers and also buyers considering entering the arena of record sales. It is certainly a saturated market already, so make sure that you do go the extra mile if you want to be successful. Finally, good luck!