The final new writing career that will be examined in this article is the online auction lister. With the growing popularity of auction sites such as eBay and Yahoo! Auctions, the demand for auction listers has greatly increased.
What Does an Online Auction Lister Do?
As an auction lister you will be given an item and instructions on how to list the item. Following the instructions you will go through the auction site's protocol for listing an item including uploading a photograph, typing a description of the item, providing contact information, and entering pertinent data about the object such as minimum bid amount, how long the auction will be for, shipping costs, etc.
This position requires strong clerical skills such as data entry and fast and efficient typing speeds. It also requires creative skills and great marketing skills. You will need to be able to accurately describe an item, and at the same time describe it in a manner that will entice people to buy the item. The headings for the auctions that you list also will need to be catchy and attract attention. For example if you are listing a used shirt and list is as a "Used Girl's Shirt Size 8" your listing will probably get less attention than if you list it as a "Vintage Girl's Blouse." You can also see from this example that people will be more willing to pay a higher price for a "Vintage Blouse" than for a "Used Shirt." These are the small differences that separate an online auction lister from a successful online auction lister.