What the description is for
The photos got the buyer to open the listing. The description has one job now: to answer every question they would otherwise message you, so that the only message you get is the one asking when they can come and see it. Every question you leave unanswered costs you a buyer who was not bothered enough to ask, and there are far more of those than the ones who ask.
That means a description is a list of facts, not an argument. The buyer does not need persuading that the car is good. They need to know what it is, what is wrong with it, and what it costs, and they will decide the rest themselves.
The title line
Year, make, model, trim, then the one fact that distinguishes this car from the other twelve like it: mileage if it is low, one owner if it is, a manual transmission, a recent big service. Nothing else. No exclamation marks, no capitals, no MUST SEE.
The trim level matters more than sellers think. An EX and an LX are different cars to a buyer searching, and leaving it off means your listing does not appear for the person looking for exactly yours.
2016 Honda CR-V EX AWD, 84,000 miles, one owner 2012 Ford F-150 XLT SuperCrew 4x4, new tires and brakes 2019 Mazda 3 hatchback, 6-speed manual, 41,000 miles
The first sentence
Marketplaces show the first line or two of the description in the preview, so it has to carry the whole listing on its own. State what the car is and why you are selling it, in one plain sentence. The reason you are selling is the first thing a buyer wonders and the thing sellers most often leave out, and leaving it out reads as hiding something.
Selling my 2016 CR-V because we bought a minivan. I have owned it since new, it has 84,000 miles, and it has been serviced at the dealer on schedule.
The facts, in this order
This is the order a buyer wants them, which is roughly the order of the questions they would ask. Short lines, one fact each. A buyer scanning on a phone reads lines, not paragraphs.
- 01Year, make, model, trim, and body style.
- 02Mileage, exactly, as of today.
- 03Engine, transmission, and drivetrain. Automatic or manual; front, rear, or all wheel drive.
- 04Exterior and interior color.
- 05Title status: clean, and in your name, or whatever the truth is. A lien, a salvage or rebuilt title, or a title not yet in hand must be stated here, not discovered later.
- 06Number of owners, and how long you have had it.
- 07Service history: where it was serviced, whether you have records, and when the last service was.
- 08Recent work with rough dates: tires, brakes, battery, timing belt, anything over a couple of hundred dollars in the last year.
- 09Known issues. Every one. See the next section.
- 10What is included: second key, floor mats, roof rack, winter tires, the original manual.
- 11Price, and whether it is firm or you will take reasonable offers. Do not write OBO if you will not actually take offers.
- 12Location, roughly, and how to arrange a look: when you are available, whether a mechanic's inspection is fine (it should be), and that the car is available for a test drive with a license.
Say the flaws plainly
Every used car has something wrong with it, and every buyer knows that. A listing with no flaws listed is not read as a perfect car; it is read as a seller who is not telling. State each one in a flat sentence, with where it is and how bad it is, and match it to the photo you took of it.
It feels like it costs you the sale. It does the opposite. The buyer who reads the flaws and still messages you has already accepted them, and that is a buyer who turns up, looks, and buys, rather than one who turns up, finds the scratch, and starts renegotiating in your driveway.
Known issues: scratch on the rear bumper about four inches long (photo 19). Small chip in the windshield on the passenger side, outside the driver's line of sight, has not spread. Air conditioning works but is not as cold as it was; has not been recharged. Driver's seat bolster has some wear.
Eight phrases that lose sales
Each of these tells a buyer something you did not mean to tell them.
- "Runs great" or "runs and drives." Says nothing, and every listing says it, so it reads as the absence of a fact.
- "Serious buyers only" and "no lowballers." Reads as a seller who is going to be difficult, and the serious buyers move on.
- "I know what I have." The single fastest way to make a buyer close the listing.
- "Minor cosmetic issues." Unquantified is assumed to be worse than it is. Say what and where.
- "Priced to sell" or "won't last." Urgency that is obviously manufactured.
- Anything in capitals. It reads as shouting and it looks like a scam listing.
- The story. Why you loved it, what it meant to the family, the road trips. The buyer is not buying your memories, and a long story pushes the facts below the fold.
- "Text only" with no other information. If you have a preference, say it once at the end.
The template
Copy it, fill in the brackets, and delete any line that does not apply. It is deliberately plain. The plainer the description, the more the buyer trusts it.
[Year] [Make] [Model] [Trim], [mileage] miles, [one distinguishing fact] Selling my [year model] because [reason]. I have owned it for [time], it has [mileage] miles, and [one sentence on how it has been looked after]. - [Engine], [automatic/manual], [FWD/RWD/AWD/4x4] - [Exterior color] with [interior color] interior - Clean title in my name [or: state the truth about the title] - [Number] owner[s]; I have had it since [year] - Serviced at [where], on schedule; [I have the records / records available] - Recent work: [item, when], [item, when] - Known issues: [each one, where, how bad, which photo] - Included: [second key, mats, accessories] Asking $[price] [firm / open to reasonable offers]. Located in [area]. Happy for you to bring a mechanic. Available to view [when]; test drives with a valid license. [Preferred contact, once.]
A worked example
The template filled in for a made-up car, so you can see the length. This is about right: long enough to answer everything, short enough to read on a phone.
2016 Honda CR-V EX AWD, 84,000 miles, one owner Selling my 2016 CR-V because we bought a minivan. I have owned it since new, it has 84,000 miles, and it has been serviced at the Honda dealer on schedule the whole time. - 2.4 liter four cylinder, automatic, all wheel drive - Silver with black cloth interior - Clean title in my name - One owner; bought new in March 2016 - Serviced at the dealer on schedule; I have every receipt - Recent work: four new tires (May), rear brake pads and rotors (May), battery (last winter) - Known issues: scratch on the rear bumper about four inches long (photo 19); small windshield chip on the passenger side, has not spread; A/C works but is not as cold as it was; some wear on the driver's seat bolster - Included: both keys, all-weather mats, cargo cover, original manual Asking $14,500, open to reasonable offers. Located on the north side. Happy for you to bring a mechanic. Available evenings and weekends; test drives with a valid license. Messages here are fine.
Where it goes
The same description works everywhere with small trims. Marketplace has separate fields for year, make, model, mileage, and price, so those go in the fields and the description starts at the first sentence. Craigslist has fewer fields and a longer body, so the whole thing goes in. A classifieds site with its own form will ask for the facts one by one; paste the lines into the matching boxes and keep the first sentence and the flaws for the free text.
Whatever the platform, keep the flaws in. The temptation is to cut them when the box is small. The box is small on the buyer's phone too, and it is the section they are looking for.
If you would rather not write it
Lotsmith writes the listing from the facts you enter and nothing else. Year, make, model, mileage, price, and whatever you tell it about the condition go in; a headline and a description in the shape above come out, as a text file in the same folder as the prepared photos and the vertical video. It will not invent a feature, a service record, or a warranty, and it will not describe a flaw as minor, because a walk-up that ends in an argument costs more than a slow listing does.
Leave the details blank and you still get the photos and the video, with no words at all. Fill them in and the writing is done. The first vehicle is free; after that it is eight dollars, once, for that car. Lotsmith posts nothing anywhere: you copy the description into whichever listing you are making, the same as the template above.