Recent Trend of Automated eBay Descriptions

[CardBoredom]

I haven't sold anything on eBay in a while so I may be missing something. For years most of the eBay auctions I have viewed have included a description that was little more than an exact quote of the item title. Sometimes the seller would feel talkative and add a few lines extolling the virtues of combined shipping or about how they do not ship outside the country. This year I have seen many listings that include descriptions using almost exactly the same wording, seemingly computer generated from the item specifics. The number of these listings has grown over the past few months and now seem to constitute the majority of what I am seeing.

For example, the description for one card I looked at appears as, "This 1993 Topps Finest Refractor card features Jimmy Key of the New York Yankees, with a beautiful design that showcases his talent on the field. The card is made of high-quality card stock, with a thickness of 35 Pt. It's an original card, not a licensed reprint, and is in great shape for collectors. The card is a Short Print with a Parallel/Variety design, making it a unique addition to any collection. It's a Major League (MLB) card, manufactured by Topps in the United States in 1993. This Sports Trading Card is a must-have for fans of Jimmy Key and the New York Yankees."

Is this something that is now happening by default? The first few times I came across this I thought I was dealing with hacked accounts given the poor wording.

(edited for spelling)

 

[jmc855]

Yep. As a seller we are pushed to use AI (artificial intelligence) generated descriptions. These just write a non sense advertising description of the specifics we enter, like you need to be convinced and know nothing about the card you
clicked on or the player. It looks totally contrived, so I never use it.