Marketplaces Amazon, Etsy, eBay, Shopify

Product descriptions for marketplaces

A marketplace listing is the product page where a buyer decides whether to add something to the cart: title, bullet points, description and attributes. We write the text side to the platform's requirements, whether that's Amazon, Etsy or eBay: a title with the right words, a description that answers buyers' questions and attributes with no empty fields. A writer works from scratch rather than copying the manufacturer, and an editor checks the facts. From $30 per listing, 15 listings a day.

A listing before and after

01 Anatomy

What a product listing contains and what we write for it

A product listing is the public page for one product on a marketplace, the page a buyer uses to decide whether to buy. The text part has three elements, and each one affects something different.

The title

It's how the product gets found in the platform's search and recognised in the results. It has to make sense without the rest of the page: product type, brand, model or the key difference, size or color if they drive the choice. A title is not the place for “best” or “sale.”

The description

It answers the questions a buyer can't put to a seller: what it's made of, how to use it, whether it fits their situation, what's in the box. A description that is all praise usually loses to facts once the reviews come in.

The attributes

These are structured fields that filters and comparisons run on. Filled in wrongly or only in part, they cut a product off from buyers before anyone has looked at the photos.

When the catalog is big, a fourth thing joins the list: consistency. A hundred listings with different logic in their titles and descriptions look like a warehouse, not a shop. So we set a template and keep to it on every page. That is the whole point of catalog work: to scale one good principle rather than write a hundred different texts.

Roholeva is a copywriting studio that also builds websites and promotes them. If you plan your own online store alongside the marketplaces, the same writers can do its descriptions, so the texts never contradict each other.

02 Platforms

Amazon, Etsy, eBay and your own store: how the platforms differ

The same description can't go onto every platform unchanged: each has its own fields, its own search logic and its own moderation. Rules change, so before delivery we check against the platform's current requirements. The table below gives the general picture.

The table lists what we write for each platform. We check the current limits and required fields against the platform's rules at the time of work.
Platform	What we write	What we watch for
Amazon	Title, bullet points, description, backend search terms	clear bullet points, the right category, no prohibited claims
Etsy	Title, tags, attributes, description	title up to 140 characters, up to 13 tags, the story of the item
eBay	Title, item specifics, description	title up to 80 characters, complete item specifics, condition stated honestly
Your own store (Shopify and others)	Product name, description, attributes, meta tags	search words on the page, a structure that reads well on a phone

Does a description for Amazon differ from one for Etsy

It does, and by more than format. On Amazon the buyer scans: the title and the bullet points do most of the work, and they have to be precise and comparable with the listings around them. On Etsy people buy a story along with an object, so materials, making and the maker's voice carry weight. eBay sits between the two, with a heavy emphasis on condition and exact specifics. If you are entering the Ukrainian market, we also write for Rozetka and Prom, where the fields and moderation differ again. Texts for each are written fresh, not translated from another listing, as the page on copywriting in other languages explains.

03 Example

Product listing example: before and after

Two listings before and after the editor. The products are invented and the examples are for illustration, but the mistakes in the “before” column are typical of texts copied from a manufacturer or generated without checking.

Running shoestitle and description, invented example

Best running shoes of high quality! Stylish design, comfortable, suitable for sports and everyday wear. Buy now!

Men's road running shoes, textile upper, EVA foam cushioning, about 10 oz per pair. Good for training runs of 3 to 6 miles. On a dirt trail the sole will slip: for trails, pick a model with a lugged tread.

why: nobody can check “best” or “high quality.” The new version names the surface, the weight and the distance, and it says plainly who the shoe is not for, which cuts returns.

Travel flaskattributes, invented example

Material: metal. Capacity: large. Color: various. Origin: China.

Body material: 18/8 stainless steel. Capacity: 25 oz. Color: steel, black, green (each set up as its own option). Opening diameter: 2.2 in.

why: a filter can't use “large,” and “various” doesn't answer the buyer's question. Every field now holds the thing buyers compare, and the colors are separate options so the filter works.

04 Mistakes

Product description mistakes we fix most often

Before writing, we look at your current listing. These are the problems we meet most:

The supplier's text. The same description appears with dozens of sellers. The platform treats them as identical, and the buyer has no reason to pick you. Is it allowed to publish identical descriptions? In practice yes, but you lose to everyone who wrote their own.
Empty attributes. Fields left blank don't appear in filters or comparisons.
Invented attributes. A property added by a chatbot or by the seller that the product doesn't have quickly turns into a bad review and a return.
Identical copy for variants. Colors and sizes of one product shouldn't carry word-for-word the same text if the way people choose between them differs.
The word “item” in place of a name. “Item” and “product” say nothing about the object. Buyers search for “flask,” “sneakers,” “phone case,” not “item.”
Filler. A phrase like “premium quality material” occupies the spot where “stainless steel” should be.

A word on search. The title and description contain the words people type into the platform, but they read like text, not a list of keywords. Stuffing hurts: moderation notices it and the buyer stops reading.

05 Large catalog

What to do when you have a great many products

A hundred listings or more aren't written as a hundred separate jobs. We work in batches on a single template, from 15 listings a day, so 100 listings take about seven business days, checking included. We agree the final schedule after a trial batch.

01
An input spreadsheet
You send a list: SKU, name, category, attributes, links to photos or the manufacturer's page.
02
Template and trial batch
We write 3 to 5 listings and agree the logic of the titles, the length and the tone. The template is then fixed.
03
Batches of 15 or more
We deliver listings in portions on a schedule. One editor keeps the same logic across the whole batch.
04
Reconciliation and export
We check against your spreadsheet, hunt for repeated phrases and unneeded promises. We deliver in Google Docs or in a spreadsheet ready for import.

06 Source data

What we need from you for an accurate listing

A listing is only as accurate as its source data. A chatbot will fill gaps with inventions, while a good writer will ask a question. Here is what helps us write faster and without errors:

the product name, the SKU and the category on the platform we're writing for;
technical specifications from the datasheet or the manufacturer's page, preferably as a table;
what's in the box, the warranty and its limits: what the box contains, what the warranty doesn't cover;
who the product is for and the questions customers ask most (you can take them from correspondence or reviews);
two or three links to competitor listings you like or want to beat;
banned words and promises: what can't legally be said about a product in your category.

If some of it is missing, don't worry: the writer will help gather what's absent, and the editor marks places where we need clarification from you. Before a large batch we also suggest sending two or three products from different categories: they show best whether the template holds.

07 Prices

Product listing rates: one listing and a hundred

A listing is from $30: a title, a description and the key attributes to the platform's requirements. A hundred listings come to from $3,000, and fifty from $1,500. If you have a very large number of products, or they are close to one another, we agree terms separately after a trial batch. For an ordinary description for your own store, there is a service called product descriptions, where a description of up to 150 words is from $35.

Your own online store needs category pages and meta tags too: separate pages in one catalog work together.
Service	What's included	Turnaround	Price
Marketplace listings	Title, description and key attributes to the marketplace's requirements	from 15 listings a day	from $30 / listing
Product descriptions	Unique description of up to 150 words, meta tags	from 10 descriptions a day	from $35 / description
SEO copywriting	Keyword research, outline, copy, title and meta description	from 3 days	from $0.18 / word
Meta titles and descriptions	Title, meta description and H1 matched to the page's queries	up to 50 pages in 2 days	from $12 / page
Copywriting in other languages	Copy, review by a language editor	4–5 days	from $0.22 / word

Why $30 and not $3

Descriptions at a few dollars apiece, which you can find on freelance sites, are made to a pattern: the writer takes specifications from the manufacturer's site and paraphrases them. That is quick and cheap, and for a small part of an assortment it really is enough. We charge more because a listing includes questions to you about the product, a search for the words buyers use on that particular platform, an editor who checks every attribute, and a reply with a price within a business day. You see the difference in returns and in fewer “not as described” reviews.

08 AI

Product descriptions from a chatbot: why we check and edit

Many sellers generate descriptions with AI tools and paste them onto pages. It's quick, cheap and often coherent. There are two problems. The first: a language model writes “plausibly,” not “correctly.” It may give a flask 24 hours of heat retention or running shoes a waterproofing they don't have. The second: texts with the same tone appear on every page that uses the same tool.

Our position is simple. New listings are written by a writer, and we don't hand over generated text as written by a person. If you already have listings from a chatbot, we'll check them: reconcile every attribute with the product documents, remove stock phrases and invented details, and fit the titles to the platform's logic. Editing a finished draft is priced differently from writing from scratch, and we quote after looking at a few samples.

09 Languages

Listings in English, and for the Ukrainian market

A listing in English is written for how English-speaking buyers shop. On Amazon the buyer expects short bullet points with the benefits, and on Etsy a story about the item and its materials. We write these in American English from scratch, and an English-language editor reads them. The fields a platform requires (title, bullet points, description, search terms) are part of the work on each listing. If you are going the other way and selling in Ukraine, we write Ukrainian listings from scratch for Rozetka and Prom in the same way.

When you enter new markets it helps to have a site next to the listings: ecommerce website development and SEO services make the texts part of a system rather than a lone page on someone else's platform.

10 Questions

Questions about marketplace product descriptions

How much does one product listing cost?

A listing is from $30, covering the title, the description and the key attributes to the platform's requirements. A package of a hundred listings is from $3,000.

Does a description for Amazon differ from one for Etsy?

Yes. The fields, the structure, the search logic and the moderation all differ. We write each listing for its own platform instead of copying one text across.

Are the title and attributes included in the price?

Yes. The price covers the title, the description and the key attributes. Photos, video and setting up the listing in your seller account stay with you.

How many listings do you write in a day?

From 15 a day. For 100 listings, allow about seven business days, which includes checking. We agree the timing for large catalogs after a trial batch.

Can I order 100 or more listings, and is there a discount?

Yes, we do large catalogs in batches on one template. The base price is from $30 per listing, and terms for very large volumes are agreed separately.

Are the texts original, or do you copy the manufacturer's site?

We write from scratch. The manufacturer's data is a source of facts, not ready text. One description posted by many sellers gives buyers no reason to choose you.

Do you edit listings written by AI?

Yes. The editor checks the facts against the product documents, removes stock phrases and invented attributes, and fits the titles to the platform. The cost depends on the state of the draft.

Do you write in English for Amazon and Etsy?

Yes, from scratch, not as a translation of another listing. Details are on the page about copywriting in other languages.

Will a listing pass the platform's review?

Platforms check that the title and attributes follow category rules and that nothing prohibited is claimed. We compare the text with current rules before delivery, but the platform makes the final decision. In risky categories we suggest submitting a trial batch first.

Do you write SEO descriptions for my own online store?

Yes, that's a separate service: product descriptions for a website. A marketplace listing and a page in your own store are written differently, because different search logic stands behind each.

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