Free eBay tips and eBay tools and services to help eBay sellers build
a profitable eBay business
Whether you're a casual seller, or looking to build an eBay business, you
will first need to master the "basics" of successful selling. These tips,
techniques, and suggestions are a good start—but it's just the tip of the
iceberg of what you can learn to increase your eBay success.
1. Buy on eBay before you sell
I get emails from people all the time wanting to know how to make money
selling on eBay. The first question I ask them is if they have bought
anything on eBay. Amazingly a lot of them say no. You really need to buy on
eBay to understand how the platform works and what eBay looks like from the
buyer's point of view. You will never be successful selling on eBay until
you learn to buy.
2. Learn to sell on eBay by selling on eBay
The best way to start selling on eBay is to actually start selling on
eBay. Yes, there are some things to learn, but take your time, look at the
eBay help files (and these tips) and just start selling. You will make some
mistakes—we all do. But don't get frustrated or give up. You will get better
with experience.
Also, selling will make you a better buyer. You will understand things
from the seller's point of view and learn other ways to spot bargains.
3. The best types of products to sell on eBay
Everyone wants to sell the latest consumer product, but the truth is
there is a lot of competition from established sellers and even big online
companies that have special deals with eBay. The best item to sell on eBay
is something used or a very specialized (niche) product that few others are
selling.
You can buy virtually anything used: clothing, books, computers, DVDs,
Stereo equipment, and so on. If you are going to sell new goods, make sure
you can buy them cheaply enough to sell and make a profit. One source is the
closeout and liquidation companies that sell overstocks and seasonal items
returned by department stores. Here is a link to a
Free Wholesale Search Engine. I also offer an inexpensive product called
My Top 99 Wholesale Sources for eBay Sellers. This is a great place to
find good wholesale sources that will work with eBay sellers. These are not
perfect or complete resources—they are just a place to start. Be a little
careful with the Wholesale Search Engine. It is a search engine and I can't
control what shows up there. So just because a company comes up in a search
that doesn't mean I endorse it.
Another great product area is consumables. The idea here is to get repeat
business via your website from customers who buy from you on eBay. One of
the best selling products from The Auction Seller's Resource is the
Wholesale Buying System (WBS). This tells you how, what, and where to
buy products to sell on eBay. The WBS comes with access to a members-only
website where you can access thousands of wholesale companies directly. The
website is updated monthly to add new sources.
4. Master niche marketing and specialize for success
This is home-plate for your success strategy. Find your own niche. Define
your market. Then you can know the type of person you're going to be selling
to and the types of product you want to sell. You will also have less
competition.
Forget trying to sell computers, digital cameras, iPods and plasma TVs.
There is no way you can compete with the big guys unless you have tons of
money. And those drop ship web sites and programs that claim to have those
products are mostly scams. Find a small niche --or several small niches that
you can dominate.
Along with being in a superior position to take advantage of repeat
business, the benefits from becoming specialized are endless. If you know
more about your product area, you will be able to buy at better prices and
people who sense you specialize in something will be more comfortable buying
from you.
5. Become an expert in your field
Become an authority on what you do in your online auction business. It
doesn’t matter if you sell fishing lures, ink cartridges or collectible
glass -- you want to be thought of before anyone else.
When you become an authority in your field, a whole new universe of
business and opportunity is opened up to you. I buy certain types of things
on eBay from the same sellers over and over. I wouldn't dare do business
with anyone else, not when they have proven themselves and their product.
You want to earn that same type of position in the minds of eBayer's for
your niche. Also continue your auction education. Read books and training
manuals, visit the chat and message boards, attend an eBay University when
it comes to your town, go to
eBay Live, and keep learning all the
time.
6. Increase sales by putting audio in your auctions
I began using audio (voice) in my auctions in May of 2004. I saw an
immediate increase in sales. For example, I sell expensive fire pit
barbeques ($200+). Before using audio, I was selling one or two a week. Once
I put audio in my auctions I started selling almost one a day. The same
thing happened with my
EZ Cube Photo Studios. I was selling about two a week on eBay. When I
added audio to my auctions with
Seller's Voice, my sales more than doubled. Now I sell at least four and
sometimes five or six units a week.
We also sell Starbucks collectibles. I ran a test of identical auctions
with and without audio. Every auction with audio got more bidders and sold
for a higher price—in some cases as much as 22 percent higher!
I use a company called
Seller's Voice for my audio. It is so easy. I just dial an 800 number,
record my message and then go to their website and copy a short line of code
to paste into my auction. If you launch your auction first, you can also
record the message and just type the auction number into the phone and they
will paste it in for you.
7. Get a sales tax number
Contact the sales tax authority in your county or state offices to get a
sales tax number. This enables you to buy from many wholesale companies that
would not deal with you otherwise.
If you are not sure who to contact in your state, just call your local
chamber of commerce and they will advise you or give you the phone number or
website address to register. If you go to the FREE Articles page on our web
site there is an article on
state sales taxes with a link to all of the state websites where you can
apply on line.
8. Automate your auctions
Automate your auctions with an auction management service. I have tried
several companies and have finally settled on
Vendio. They provide auction templates where you type in your headlines
and text, insert your images, set your price, terms, length of auction, and
schedule your auctions to launch at any day or time you specify.
These services also track your inventory and sales, send automated emails
to customers, provide a PayPal or credit card gateway, and automatically
post feedback once payment is received. People are often hesitant to pay a
monthly fee to an auction management company, but believe me, over time they
really save you money and they are far better than eBay's tools such as
Turbo Lister and Selling Manager.
You should also invest in software to print labels. The website
www.edicia.com is a good resource. You can get a great deal on label
printers and scales that integrate right into your computer.
9. Build credibility
Be trustworthy. Remove every doubt about your credibility. You can do
this through presenting yourself positively through your feedback, being
passionately devoted to your business and by being an expert. Create an
About Me Page
on eBay. A photo of yourself will
humanize the online experience and can bring amazing results. One with your
dog or cat in the picture is even better.
10. Your auction headline and item description is where it all begins.
Your headline is your advertising and your item description is your
salesperson. On the web, how your potential buyer perceives you and your
product is everything.
Be sure to use power words in your auction title (headline). Rare,
Unique, Powerful, New, Unusual, Stunning, Top Notch, First Class, etc. Just
be sure not to exaggerate. Don't call something "rare" if it is not.
Copy writing is the art of showcasing yourself and what you sell to your
buyer in the best possible light. It's the most important thing you have
going for you. A carefully crafted sales letter (item description) can
increase your results exponentially without having to spend an extra penny.
11. Use keywords in your auction headline (title) and description
Remember that almost all eBay bidders find what they are looking for by
using the search function. Be sure to use carefully chosen and accurate
keywords in your title and description. eBay gives you 55 characters in your
title. Be sure to use all of them. This will help you get hits. Important
keywords include the brand, color, size, and model number.
12. Stand behind your product and service
We offer an unconditional money-back guarantee on everything we sell.
This has been our practice since our first day on eBay. Now if you are
selling cars or houses or "as-is" used goods that may not be a good idea,
but the simple offer of a satisfaction guarantee will dramatically increase
your sales.
Even unhappy people rarely go to the trouble of sending something back.
The cost of providing the few refunds will be far out weighed by the
increased volume of your sales. At the very least offer a guarantee that
your items are exactly as described and you will give a full refund if they
are not. You must spell out your return policy clearly at the end of your
auction description and/or in the form eBay gives you to do this. Even if
your returns policy is "no returns" eBay requires you to include it.
13. Set up an eBay Store
eBay Store listing fees are lower than for non-stores sellers. The
inventory shows up in the main search results (just like any other 30 day
fixed price listing). There are many extras that eBay Stores sellers
receive, but based on price alone, you are probably ready for a Store once
you are selling 55 or more items through fixed price listings per month.
That is the break-even point between the fees and the Store Basic level
subscription.
14. Launch more but shorter auctions
eBay places auctions ending soonest higher in the search results. If you
have identical merchandise, run shorter auctions more often. This way you
will show up in the Time Ending Soonest and Best Match search orders more
often. You will pay a little more in listing fees, but your should make this
up by selling more items.
15. Use an email signature
One great free way to promote your auction business is by using an email
signature. Signatures are six to eight line inserts at the end of your email
messages. All email programs support them. Your signature should include a
description of what you sell and a hyperlink to your eBay store or your
about me page. Set it up to automatically put your signature at the end of
every email so you don't have to type it each time.
16. Automate your shipping and save time and money at the post office
If you don't have much time to spend at the post office, and I'm sure you
don't, prepare in advance. You can have all of your mailing supplies sent to
you by the USPS and UPS.
Visit
http://www.usps.gov and
http://ups.com for more details. eBay and PayPal now have an automated
shipping system integrated with UPS and USPS right on their site.
If you ship via USPS Priority Mail (a favorite option for eBay sellers)
you can use delivery confirmation to track your packages. It is free if you
do it on line at http://www.usps.com or it costs 70 cents to do it at the
post office window. You can use delivery confirmation for parcel post and
first class parcels, but it is not free online, and costs 80 cents at the
post office.
PayPal now also offers the ability to pay for your shipping online. Also,
you get a better rate through the USPS if you pay either online through its
site, or through PayPal.
17. Building a high Feedback Score quickly
Here is a quick way to build good feedback: Sell something at a very low
price, such as an inexpensive baseball card for a dollar. Put up a fixed
price listing for 50 of the item you are selling. Don't worry about making
money; just try to break even. Mail the cards out quickly, post great
feedback for each buyer and send each buyer an email politely asking each of
them to return the favor. Be sure to include the hyperlink to the feedback
post in your email.
18. Where to get free shipping supplies?
If you send your items via USPS priority mail the post office will give
you free envelopes, tape, and boxes. Think this through. If you pay the
priority mail fee, and get free boxes, that is often close to what UPS
charges when you add in the cost of a box.
Another source for free shipping supplies is your local gift shop or
kitchen shop. These merchants receive merchandise in good boxes everyday
with plenty of bubble-pak and Styrofoam peanuts that they simply throw away
or pay to have recycled. Get friendly with your local gift shop and you can
have access to tons of free shipping suppliers.
19. Sign Up for BuySafe if you sell expensive products
If you sell expensive goods, BuySAFE is a company that provides fraud
insurance to your buyers. It costs a little to sign up, but BuySAFE has
plenty of evidence that shows that using BuySAFE in your auctions will
increase your bids and final values much more than the cost of their
service. Sign up at
www.buysafe.com.
20. Sell SquareTrade Warranties
If you sell electronics or cameras, you can make extra money by offering a warranty on your products through SquareTrade at
www.squaretrade.com.
21. How to keep your customers happy and generate lots of positive
feedback
Customers want three things: (1) instant gratification, (2) clear, fast
communications and (3) to get what they were promised.
- Use PayPal to get payment quickly and then ship quickly.
- Answer emails immediately.
- Reveal any flaws or shortcomings your item has.
- Never over-promise or over describe an item.
- Package your items carefully and professionally.
- If you can, toss in something for free. (I recently bought a
collectible beer mug and the seller included a few free beer coasters.)
22. Get your news from AuctionBytes.com
www.AuctionBytes.com is a great site with lots of free resources for
online sellers. They have an online auction calendar that lists best times
to start and end an auction, a free online tutorial on how to take good
photos, a daily and a bi-weekly free newsletter, and plenty of additional
free resources. Best of all they have a daily news feed of news about eBay
and other online venues.
23. Learn how to write great titles and item descriptions
Our premier book,
The Complete eBay Marketing System has two chapters on writing auction
titles and item descriptions designed to help you increase hits and bids.
Poor titles and descriptions are one of the largest reasons eBay sellers get
poor auction results.
24. Find Wholesale Products to Sell With Our Free Wholesale Search
Engine
If you click on the link to Web Wholesale Search in the navigation at the
top of this page it will take you to a wholesale search engine. Now, as with
any search engine there are always people who can scam the results, so there
are some companies that will come up who are not true wholesalers and you
will get results from companies that claim to be dropshippers but are mostly
phony middlemen who make their money off of fees they charge you to sign up.
But keep looking as there are many true wholesale suppliers and real
distributors that will come up in the results.
25. Learn simple HTML commands to spice up your auctions
eBay has an HTML editor but it is limited. Once you start selling, take
the time to learn a little HTML. Don't be afraid of HTML. Anyone can do it.
For example, you should start all of your eBay auction item descriptions with
the command: <font size=+1>. This will make your type larger and easier to
read. It helps to break your item description into smaller shorter
paragraphs to increase readability. Just use this command to create a new
paragraph <P>.
You can make your text bold by typing <B> at the beginning of the bold
text and </B> where you want it to end.
Go to:
www.davesite.com for a simple and free online tutorial on how to do
HTML.
26. Create attractive backgrounds for your auctions
Go to:
www.grsites.com/textures to get free background textures for your
auction item descriptions. Over 6000 backgrounds are available at no cost.
27. If you are going to be in this business, you need to know the
vocabulary
Net Lingo at
www.netlingo.com is a free site that teaches you all the terms and lingo
of the world wide web and various online services.
28. Get a professional auction education
- Attend eBay Live
- Attend the online eBay workshops (Look on the announcement board for
the schedules)
- Use the various eBay online tutorials
- Bookmark the eBay help files and print out the ones you access very
frequently for easy reference
- Print this document out (77 tips) and put it in the same notebook
- Buy some of the great eBay training books from
The Auction Seller's Resource Bookshop
29. Incorporate to protect yourself from liability
Not many people get sued selling stuff on eBay, but it can happen. If you
incorporate, the corporation can shield you from most lawsuits. In fact once
a lawyer learns that you are incorporated and you don't keep assets in the
corporation, a lot of times they will not bother suing because they know
your assets are protected. There are also lots of tax benefits to
incorporating even if your eBay income is fairly small.
I used a company called
My Corporation. They did an excellent job—very personal service and
very quick. Best of all they did it right. Some of the online incorporating
services are really shoddy and they don't tailor the corporation to what you
are doing. (I know a lot of folks like Legal Zoom. I used to recommend them
but then I had a bad experience with them, so I now use and recommend My
Corporation).
30. Learn how to buy at government auctions
You don't have to pay for this information. Here is a link to our site
where everything you need to bid on government auctions is free:
www.skipmcgrath.com/auction_sr/gvnmtauctions.shtml.
Government auctions can be a great place to find bargains, but proceed
with caution. Make sure you thoroughly inspect anything before you buy it.
31. Package your eBay shipments professionally
No one likes to receive his or her "treasure" in a battered shoe box or
an old cereal box. Take the time to pack your sales carefully. Invest in
bubble pak, peanuts, tissue paper, and so on. Many of these supplies can be
sourced from local gift shops who would have to recycle them. Alternatively,
you can find great prices for shipping supplies on eBay.
32. Know your fees before you sell
Here is a great little free tool for eBay sellers. It is an online
calculator that calculates eBay and PayPal fees to help you decide the best
price and format to list an item on eBay. If you are running an eBay
business this is a great little tool to help you figure out the best price
to start an item and the most efficient selling format. There are two free
calculators that I like:
www.newlifeauctions.com/calc.html and
www.ebcalc.com.
33. Sell Liquidation Closeouts
Clothing, accessories, electronics, household goods, toys and sporting
goods are some of the hottest sellers on eBay. It can be very hard to source
these products new from the distributors. But many eBay sellers make
excellent profits buying these products from Liquidation and Surplus
Dealers. One of the largest and easiest to deal with is Liquidation.com.
They use an auction format similar to eBay. One word of caution, check the
shipping before bidding.
Click here to see the wholesale auctions at Liquidation.com.
34. Set your starting bid low to attract hits
Do you have a good item that you KNOW will sell well? Start it off at a
very low price. This will get you healthy early bidding. You want a large
group around the item; some will be competitive bidders—people who will pay
extra just for the thrill of winning.
You'll usually get more for your item than someone who priced their item
higher, because your auction has more bidders watching.
Plus, your first 100 auctions listed with a starting price under $1 do
not have a listing fee. So you have no cost until it actually sells.
35. Write complete item descriptions
Make your item description as complete as possible. Include all relevant
details: condition, size, weight, age, collectability, any short-comings or
defects, etc.
Something you think isn't important could actually be very important to
someone else. Describe your item's condition, talk about its benefits and
uses and keep writing until you run out of something to say.
36. Use Item Specifics
The item specifics are drop-down menus shown near the top of the Sell
Your Item form. They are category specific and include things like brand,
color, size, style, etc. If you are offered Item Specifics, use them fully.
Buyers narrow down their results using these options. If you didn't use
them, your item goes into the "not specified" group. Very few buyers ever
look in there. Also, if you didn't put a keyword in your title, but the item
would match based on your item specifics selections, your item will still
show up in the search results. So, if you forgot to add that it was red in
your title, but in the "color" item specifics menu you selected red, it will
still show up if the buyer includes "red" as a search term.
37. Have a written sales, payment, and delivery policy to protect
yourself and avoid misunderstandings
Spell out everything you do. How much do you charge for shipping? How
will you ship the item? What is your policy on insurance? Do you use escrow
for expensive items? When do you post feedback?
The more information you give a buyer the better the buying and selling
experience will be for both parties—but don't forget to make it sound
friendly. You don't want your auctions to sound like a bunch of rules
written by a high school principal.
38. Don't get greedy and overcharge for shipping
Overcharging for shipping is one of the leading causes of
negative
feedback. and low DSR scores. You should only charge what it normally
costs you to pack and ship. Buyers are sensitive in this area. They know
when you are making a profit on shipping. You can charge a small premium to
cover your cost of handling and shipping materials, but it should be
reasonable. Always offer to combine shipping costs if a person buys more
than one item. Explain your shipping policy in the item description.
There is a game some sellers play whereby they list a $5 item for
99-cents but the shipping is $7.99 when it only cost a dollar to ship. eBay
will cancel your auction if they catch you doing this as it constitutes fee
avoidance.
39. Offer combined shipping to entice buyers to purchase more
Getting a buyer to purchase more than one item from you is called
cross-selling. If you specialize in a product niche, this isn't too hard.
Offer good combined shipping rates (not just $1 off the second item) to
entice buyers to purchase more. It saves you time and money because you only
have to ship one parcel, but it also gives you more feedback opportunities.
The buyer can leave feedback for every transaction. So if you sell five
items to one person, you could increase your feedback score by five just
from that one buyer. If you can get the majority of your buyers to purchase
more than one item, you will increase your feedback score much quicker.
Plus, buyers who purchase more than one item from you are more likely to add
you as a favorite seller and come back for more items.
40. Always include the item number in your emails
Always include the item number with the end of auction notice and any
request for payment. Place the number in the subject line so you can easily
track emails. People often bid on several items and can get confused. eBay
automatically sends a "won" item email which usually gets buyers to pay, but
you may need to follow up, so keep this number handy.
41. Start and end your auctions at the best times
Do you always start and end your auctions at the best times? Start and
end your auctions at peak traffic periods when traffic is the heaviest.
I like my auctions to end on Sunday or Monday evenings between 5 and 7 PM
(Pacific Time). Saturday and Sunday mornings are also good times. Believe it
or not, Mondays during the lunch hour are very good also. Remember there can
sometimes be a posting delay of up to two hours on eBay during the busy
times. Also, don't forget that eBay uses Pacific Time.
This is one of the best reasons to use an auction management service such
as
Vendio. You can create your auction and schedule it to launch at a
specific time or day. eBay also has a scheduling utility but they charge you
10¢ every time you use it. Ten cents sounds like a small amount of money but
it can add up over time.
42. What to do when you make a mistake in an auction?
You may be able to revise your listing depending on the error you need to
fix, how long your listing still has to go, and if you have any bids. If it
has more than 12 hours until the end, and you don't have any bids yet, you
can change your pictures entirely, reduce the starting price, and change any
information in your listing except the format (you can't go from auction to
fixed price or vice versa). If you do have bids, you can still revise a lot
of the listing (add to the item description, add photos, reduce the reserve
price, and so on). The buyer has the right to withdraw his bid if your
additions to the item description significantly change the item. For
example, you said the iPod was black, but then revise it to say it's
actually hot pink.
You can cancel the auction entirely if your error is not fixable or if
you have less than 12 hours remaining before you caught the error. If you
relist it using the "relist" button on the closed listing page, you are
eligible for the relist credit if your item sells when you relist it.
43. Why does eBay end auctions?
eBay will only end your auction if you violate the listing guidelines.
Read them carefully. They are written to give eBay wide latitude. eBay
rarely discovers a listing violation. They rely mostly on the community to
report violations.
The most common violations are listing in the wrong category, keyword
spamming, excessive shipping, putting a link to an outside website in your
auction description, and not selling a tangible product (such as an eBook
download).
44. What to do when eBay ends an auction?
If you are guilty as sin—just forget it and get on with your life. It's
not the end of the world. If you feel you are wronged, then answer the
"auction ended" email with a
polite request for an explanation and/or
tell your side of the story.
Please understand the eBay enforcement employees receive hundreds of
angry emails a day. It is very easy for them to get "pissy" (excuse my
language). A polite and sincere inquiry will often uncover valuable
information. Your violation may have been a minor technicality, which can be
easily corrected. They will rarely tell you this if you send them an angry
or rude email.
45. Set up a website and use eBay to drive business to it
Every eBay seller should have a website. Remember sales you make from
your website do not incur eBay fees. eBay has cracked down on sellers using
auctions to drive hits to their websites, but there are still some loopholes
and techniques you can use without running afoul of eBay. These are
explained in detail in
The Complete eBay Marketing System. (I can't give all my techniques away
here!)
46. Learn how to promote your website and/or eBay store
This tip is really an advertisement, but one that I think you can benefit
from as I did.
Simply the best website builder system and training on the web is from a
company called
Site Build It. This company has been around for 12 years and is very
highly respected. Their customers love them so much they are almost
cult-like and rave about their service.
People are often frightened by websites because they think they are too
technical –but with Site Build It, if you can point, click and type you can
build a website and get traffic to it. But most importantly Site Build It
comes with tons of free training.
- Getting ranked at the top of search engines
- Web page promotion and design
- Turning leads into lifetime customers with e-mail marketing
- How to get White-listed with major email services such as Yahoo, AOL
and MSN so all your email gets through to your customers.
- Building a responsive opt-in email list—FAST
- Exploiting AOL and other online services
- Free and low-cost online classified ads that produce sales
- Dominating your market with affiliate/reseller/associate programs
- Newsgroup promotions
- Snowballing your profits with Auto-responders
- How and when to promote yourself on bulletin boards
- Getting links from high traffic sites
- Sales strategies
- Writing killer ad copy
- Banner ads (tips and tricks)
- Profiting with discussion lists and newsletters
- Completely automating your business
- Getting your own Visa/MasterCard/AmEx account with ZERO COSTS
... and this is just the tip of the iceberg! Even if you are a complete
newbie or a seasoned Internet marketer, I guarantee you will benefit from
the unconventional tips and tricks that Site Build It can teach you.
I personally used the information I learned with Site Build It to
increase traffic and sales from my website by over 400% in less than three
months.
There are plenty of techniques you can apply to your eBay
business and you will learn ways to develop synergy between your eBay
business and a website.
So if you are interested in starting a business or just increasing your
profits from an existing business, visit
Site Build It. They even have a
special page for eBay sellers here.
47. Brand your business
If you go on the eBay search engine and type in eBay store design, you
will find a number of eBay sellers who will design an eBay store for your
with branding and matching auction templates. This will give all of your
listings a similar look and feel and help brand your business so people can
find you again. If you want a professional company to do this for you, check
out
www.frooition.com.
48. Over-communicate with your buyers
When an auction ends, send your buyers an immediate email congratulating
them and providing clear payment instructions. Send them another email when
you ship the item (this really impresses buyers). Send them a follow-up
email to see if everything went okay. This email should include the link
where they can post feedback.
Make sure you enter the parcel tracking number in My eBay if you didn't
purchase the shipping label through PayPal. Buyers look for this to see that
the item has actually been shipped. Plus, it can save you from getting a
follow up email asking for it. Include the number in your "item shipped"
email too and remind them that it is also available in My eBay.
49. Be careful using a Reserve Price Auction (RPA)
No one likes a reserve. Most people understand the necessity for it, but
there are a large percentage of users who will simply not bid on RPAs.
If you are selling a very expensive item, certainly place a reserve on
it, but let the potential bidders know what the reserve is. It doesn't have
to be a secret. The point of a reserve is to protect you against something
selling too cheaply. Being open about your reserve can actually help you get
bids.
50. Increase bids by making your auctions readable
Use a short opening paragraph that promises something, and then deliver
on the promise. Describe the product, but also write about its benefits
and/or how it is used. If you have personally used the product, describe
your experience.
Short sentences are easier to read than long ones. If you write a long
sentence, follow it with a short one. Keep your paragraphs to less than
three or four lines.
Boldface important words or phrases. Include
attention-getters: questions, news items, a guarantee or a promise. Ask for
the bid at the end of the description. Use active verbs, write in the 2nd
person, and use enthusiastic language.