Creative auction house descriptions

[barrysloate]

As someone who wrote auction lots for years, I will tell you it is not the easiest thing to get exactly right. If your description is too long, you bore the bidder and he is likely to glaze over it. If it's too short, you may not be creating the kind of excitement you might want. If you use too many superlatives and call every lot spectacular, you strain the credibility of your audience. But if you lowkey it too much, you kind of piss off the consignor, especially if the lot doesn't do as well as you hoped.

So it's really an art, and it takes practice to get it right. I think the number one thing every bidder wants to know is the specifics of condition. Most of the stuff around that description is fluff...but a little fluff is probably okay.

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

As someone who wrote auction lots for years, I will tell you it is not the easiest thing to get exactly right. If your description is too long, you bore the bidder and he is likely to glaze over it. If it's too short, you may not be creating the kind of excitement you might want. If you use too many superlatives and call every lot spectacular, you strain the credibility of your audience. But if you lowkey it too much, you kind of piss off the consignor, especially if the lot doesn't do as well as you hoped.

So it's really an art, and it takes practice to get it right. I think the number one thing every bidder wants to know is the specifics of condition. Most of the stuff around that description is fluff...but a little fluff is probably okay.

As usual...very well spoken.