A 'gent' can expect to pay twice as much as a 'man' and 'authentic' products fetch up to 50 per cent more than 'genuine' ones on eBay, according to linguistic experts.

Researchers analysed the language used by people selling items on the online auction site to reveal winning words that netted them the most money.

Trawling 68,000 items listed on the site, comprising 15 million words, they revealed patterns in language which significantly changed the price buyers could expect to pay for similar goods.

Researchers analysed the language used by people selling items on the online auction site to reveal winning words that netted them the most money. eBay's logo is shown

Among the results it was shown that 'men's' watches sold for an average of £30 ($44) while 'gents' went for £70 ($102), showing a carefully chosen word could net sellers a larger profit.

Fragrances labelled 'genuine' fetched £21 ($30) but 'authentic' ones sold for £34 ($50), perhaps suggesting customers looking for a bargain should try searching for the first term.

Similarly, users paid nearly three times as much for 'on-ear' headphones as 'in-ear' headphones (£25 to £71/$36 to $104) while a watch with 'resistance' can expect to attract nearly 50 per cent more than a 'resistant' watch (£59 to £89/$86 to $130).

Grammatical errors such as missing apostrophes and internet speak were found to have a negative impact on the price products sold for, according to Andrew Kehoe and Matt Gee from Birmingham City University's School of English.

Trawling 68,000 items listed on the site comprising 15 million words, experts revealed patterns in language which changed the price buyers could expect to pay for similar goods. An example for cars is shown

Among the results it was shown that 'men's' watches sold for an average of £30 ($44) while 'gents' went for £70 ($102), showing a carefully chosen word could net sellers a larger profit. The best and worst terms for sellers of mobile phones are shown above, with some low value terms indicative of undesirable handsets

ARE EBAY BUYERS SEXIST? If you want to be a successful seller on eBay you should pick a male-sounding username. Buyers on eBay are willing to bid more often, and end up shelling out more money, for items sold by men rather than women. The researchers said the study may be the first to show something that has long been known - 'inequality and discrimination put women at a consistent disadvantage.' Dr Tamar Kricheli-Katz and a team from Tel Aviv University, Israel, looked at data from over a million transactions between 2009 and 2012, examining the most popular products on eBay. They focused on identical products and demonstrated that women sellers receive fewer bids for their products, and in general ended up with lower prices. A woman selling a new product on eBay received on average about 80 cents for every one dollar a man received for selling the same new product. They said this was because people viewed the products sold by women to be of less value than those sold by men. Advertisement

'People often think of eBay as a way of getting rid of household junk and unwanted gifts but it actually contains a wide range of products in 35 different categories,' Mr Kehoe said.

'The variation between those categories is really interesting from a linguistic perspective.'

This is because sellers on eBay write their own descriptions of product, unlike on most other online stores.

The experts analysed words used by in product listings using WebCorp software, which has been used in research and teaching for over 15 years.

They also found antique sellers were the most likely to use a personal connection to sell products with words like 'I', 'me' and 'my', appearing more frequently than in any other category.

In fact, they made up 20 per cent of the most popular words used.

Elsewhere, used-car sellers were found to shy away from the term 'second-hand,' with only nine instances of the phrase found among nearly 1,000 sold.

Instead traditional car sales speak was found, with phrases like 'honest', 'reliable', 'clean' and 'reluctant' all among the top terms.

Mr Kehoe added: 'The term "second-hand" seems to have a stigma attached when it comes to cars, but people will happily use it to sell smaller items like books or DVDs.

'We've found that the language used in eBay descriptions really does have an impact on whether items sell and for how much.'

Unsurprisingly Apple scores highly among desirable selling terms, while Android tablets seem to be less in demand. It would appear buyers are prepared to pay for detail about a tablet's working order