A good candidate for the 'optimist of the week' award

Thus spake platypus () unto the assembled multitudes:

Actually, that would take some doing, unless you have a rubber spine... ;-)

 

Thus spake TOG@Toil () unto the assembled multitudes:

Perhaps, in TOG's defence, m'lud, the first one is more acceptable in the
case of a more prolific eBay seller such as he, but the "you are bidding"
phrase less so, for the reasons stated above by my learned friend, so I put
it to you, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, that it's essentially an
untruth, and... [OK that's enough nitpicking - ed.]

 

Thus spake Austin Shackles () unto the assembled multitudes:

Well, whenever a bike of mine had something break, that tended to slow it
down, terminally ;-)

 

As have I.

Krusty: how would you start the text for an ebay auction?

 

well, yeah. stuff breaking often slows the bike down. Unless of course
it's the brakes that break.

 

I tend to use something along the lines of "this auction is for" if I'm
doing any such intro.

Or soemtimes "this auction is for XXXX as you've probably worked out
already", being as it's in the title anyway.

 

Could always put "If you bid, you are bidding on..."

 

The same way I'd start with an Autotrader or Freeads advert, i.e.
launch straight into the description, or "I've decided to sell my
[widget] as I'm moving to a cave in deepest, darkest Peru...", or "Let
me get one thing straight from the outset - send me an email including
the words 'shipping agent' & I'll hunt you down & rip your spleen out"
etc.

 

Depends how stinky it is.

 

Thus spake Austin Shackles () unto the assembled multitudes:

Sounds a bit clunky to me. Why not just "You are invited to bid on..."?

 

I adopt a minimalist approach. All I have ever done is just repeat the
basics of what is being auctioned, then go in to the details, and finish
with a reason for sale if appropriate.

--
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest * 2 Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Thus spake Champ () unto the assembled multitudes:

This is probably a bit of a radical suggestion, but perhaps it's not
necessary to invite bids at all, given that it's an auction site and that's
what people do. Why not just describe the goods and have done with it?

 

could be a point.