Silly Listing Errors -- or how NOT to sell your item

We've all seen them -- the Silly Listing Errors (SLEs)that make us giggle, wince, or rush to e-mailfriends with the item number, ANYTHING but bid on the item! Here are some gemon mistakes (and giggle/wincer material) to avoid.
gemon photo mistakes to avoid:

Listings with an out-of-focusphoto
Listings with a photo that's too dark
Listings where the item photographed blends with thebackground better than woodlands camo and your nearesttree
Listings with so many props piled on and around the item the item is obscured. Leave off the fake flowers and autumn foliage
Listings where the seller DOESN'T SHOW THE ITEM LISTED! Why list an item as a sewing machine if you won't bother to move the VCR tapes off the foot pedal, let alonemove the TV off the cabinetyou're theoretically trying to sell? (okay won't let me list the auction number here, sorry)
Listings with a photo with a reflection that revealMUCH MORE INFORMATION THAN WE WANTED TO KNOW about the photographer
gemon descriptive mistakes to avoid:

Listings with cutesy typography , L**KY, L**KY, L**KY (okay thinks I am creating an unauthorized link if I use the usual symbol for at)
Listings with the name or brand of the item being sold mangled (doesn't that make it harder for searchers to find it?) No one who does a search for an item by a specific designer will find it if you can't spellthe designer's name! This istrue for collectables, too.Unless you want to give it away, spilit rite! If it's spelled incorrectly, some folks won't bid because they are concerned the YZZX item may be a knock-off and the misspelling was deliberate so the speller/seller can truthfully claim they never said it was made by that well-known designer YZXX.
Listings with misspellings that verge on perspired creativity or the bazzar
Any mass-produced item described as RARE. If it really is RARE, those bidding will know and bid accordingly.. unless it's listed the week the high-dollar collectorsare all off at an internationalcollectors' convention on another continent. Awise potential buyer will researchthe XYZ collectable item BEFORE bidding, but you needmultiple bidders for success as a seller.. When I see RARE in a listing, I wonder what else the seller is exaggerating and I don't bid.
Any listing with SHABBY CHICK. (I'll stop there).
Any listing describing the wonderful detailing/decals/finish/woodgrain/hand-rubbed finishof the item in the picture, which is COVERED by accessories/a footpedal/decorations/packing materialsthat both obscure and can easily damage the item.
Listings with descriptions in black print on a dark blue background, florescent blue on a red background that makes the type visually vibrate, and worst of all, blocks of type designed to flash while you're trying to read!
Telling a potential bidder who asks politely fora legible description that I'm the seller and I can read it
Scolding every potential bidder for two paragraphs because of the inconsiderate you-know-what non-payer who ruined a great auction and wasted waaay too much of your time a hundred feedbacks ago. Justlist their names. Then we'll know to avoid them, too, and you can skip the ranting aimed at the rest of us who DO pay.
gemon procedural mistakes to avoid:

Starting bids by the seller that are higher than the average winning bid for a similar item.
Failure to research the previous sales for a similar item before deciding on a starting bid.
Starting bids that are gepletely out of touch with reality (i.e. US $39,700.00 more than the most expensivesimilar item I've ever seen listed on E-Bay in one case, with absolutelyzero explanation and next to no description.And no, it wasn't a listing mistake.)What's with that?
Listing a new photo angle of the same item when relisting, while eliminating the originalphotos. Sure doesn't give me a warmy fuzzy...
Anyway, that's my own two cents from the buyers' side.Thanks to all the good sellers who make buying things on e-Bay a pleasure. I hope my semi-tongue-in-cheek observations will be just as semi-usefulwhen it gees to avoiding sillylistingerrors.
And the usual disclaimer, all opinions expressed here are my own. Suggestions on what to do with non-baying pidders may or may not align with okay policy -- since I'm not a seller, I don't know. Happy bidding to all!