The easy to follow Sell Your Item form guides you through the steps to a successful item listing. This is the place to enter all the important details about your item, including price, payment methods, shipping costs, return policy and photos.
Go down Learn More
Go down Write an Effective Title
Go down Describe your Item
Go down Add Photos
Go down Edit Your Photos
Go down Select Payment Methods
Go down Provide Shipping & Payment Terms
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Important listing tips
Select a Category - Doing some research before you list your item can help you choose the most successful category for your item. Think creatively about your item. For example, maybe the item you first thought belonged in Decorative Art is better suited for Home Décor. Category selection is important because you want your item to be listed where other similar items can be found.
• Search for items on eBay that are similar to yours, and notice which categories they are listed in. Try several different keyword searches and see if you find particularly active categories.
• Look at the page-view counters and numbers of bids on similar items in different categories. Select categories where others are having successful listings.
• Reach more buyers by listing in two categories.
• Selecting a category for your item is important because you want your item to be listed where other similar items can be found. Just enter some descriptive keywords into the Category Selector textbox. You can then choose the best category for your item.
 
Want to reach more buyers? Consider listing your item in two categories!

Pre-filled Item Information
If you are selling Books or Entertainment category items such as CD's, video games, or DVD's, you may have the option of creating your listing using the pre-filled item information. Simply enter the title, author, director, artist, ISBN number or UPC code and the title, item specifics, and a stock photo are automatically added to your listing. You may customize the item information further with additional item details or use a photo of your own. Of course, you can always choose to skip this time saving feature and enter item details manually.

Write an Effective Title - Make the most of your title by carefully choosing keywords a buyer might use when doing a search on eBay. When searching on eBay, the system looks within all item titles to find a match. This is why your selection of keywords is so important.
• Use descriptive keywords, no punctuation. You can use up to 55 characters to describe your item, so make the most of them. For example, if you were selling a sport coat, you would want to make sure to include the brand name, the size, color, fabric, if the item is new, etc. Some categories offer the opportunity to provide details (Item Specifics) about your item, like color, size or speed. These details are displayed to buyers on category search results pages which help them more easily locate the items they wish to purchase.
• Avoid using words like 'rare', 'beautiful', 'unusual', or 'L@@K'. No one uses these words when they are searching on eBay. State exactly what your item is, even if it repeats the Category name.
• Browse similar items' closed listings to see which titles drew high prices in the past.

Describe your Item - Use as much information as possible to write a complete description of your item.
• Include all item attributes. For example, model number, year the item was made, color, dimensions, and most importantly the current condition of the item.
• Don't be afraid to emphasize the positive things about your item a little or even include a story about the item; just make sure that you are truthful.
• Include your payment and shipping information, and information about your refund or return policy.
• Use the HTML text editor to help format your description.
• Use a friendly and inviting tone to attract buyers.



Determine Your Price - Before entering a starting price, you might want to see what similar items sold for on eBay. You can do this by searching Completed Items, which can be accessed by clicking on Search at the top of any eBay page, and then clicking the Advanced Search tab.
Once you have determined a suitable price for your item, it's time to adopt a pricing strategy. A successful strategy depends on: the starting price you set for your item, whether or not you set a reserve price, and whether you choose to use a fixed price format.
  • Starting Price - The price at which you would like to start the bidding at in an auction listing.
  • Reserve Price - If necessary, a reserve price can be set to safeguard against selling the item for less than you're willing to accept. But it's important to keep in mind that a reserve price may discourage bidding
  • Buy It Now Price - Include a Buy It Now (BIN) price in your auction listing to give your buyers the option of buying the item right away at a fixed price. This BIN price is displayed in the item listing as long as there are NO bids. Once a bid is placed, the Buy It Now option goes away and the auction proceeds as normal.
  • Fixed Price format - To use the Fixed Price format, indicate the price at which you'd like to sell your item(s) and buyers can purchase from your listings immediately at this price. No bidding.

Add Photos -eBay Picture Services is the quickest and easiest way to add photos to your listings. It's important to note that when saving photos to your computer they must be in either a .gif or .jpg format.

To add photos with eBay Picture Services, click in a box to select a picture (see Enhanced service below) or click on the 'browse' button and navigate to the folder on your computer containing your photos. (see Basic service below). A window will then open showing a directory of your computer. Find the location in which you saved the photo and select the one you would like to add. We recommend using the Enhanced version of eBay Picture Services because it allows you to preview your photos, crop or rotate them, and is much faster than the Basic service. In order to use the Enhanced version, you will be prompted to install software on your computer.

If you would like to add additional photos to your listing, just click another box or browse button again. The first picture is free, and each additional picture is .15 cents.

If on the other hand you plan to use your own image hosting service, click on the 'Your Own Web Hosting' tab. Once you have selected a photo hosting service, your photo image files can be added to your listing.


Since digital photos are often large, eBay Picture Services will automatically resize large photos to 300 pixels high by 400 pixels wide (3 x 4 inches on most monitors). Resizing the photo will make it download faster for potential bidders. If photos take too long to download, buyers could lose interest and move on to someone else's listing!
Touch Up Your Photos - Although it is best to edit your image files using the software provided with your camera or scanner, you can also do some basic editing with eBay Picture Services. This includes: cropping and rotating the photo in 90-degree increments.


Your photos are stored on eBay's Picture Services only while your listing is available on eBay. It's a good idea to keep your photo on your computer if you want to use it again in the future.
Select Payment methods - Consider using PayPal when selecting the payment methods that you will accept from winning bidders. PayPal allows sellers to accept credit card or bank account payments for eBay purchases, and is the safe and easy way for buyers to purchase their items. If you use PayPal, you will be paid immediately at the close of the listing. In addition, PayPal protects sellers with the Seller Protection Policy. By following specific guidelines, you'll be protected from charge backs due to fraud.

Make sure to turn on the Immediate Payment feature if you would like to receive payment immediately with PayPal for your Buy It Now items. With Immediate Payment the item listing remains open until the buyer completes the payment process. Until payment is complete, another eBay user may purchase the item. To require Immediate Payment you need to provide shipping costs in your listing and have a PayPal Premier or Business account.

Provide Shipping Costs - Providing this information ahead of time serves to reduce the number of emails back and forth between you and your buyers, and speeds up the time it takes to finalize the sale. Consider providing a flat fee shipping rate or include the eBay Shipping Calculator in your listing so prospective buyers can determine ahead of time how much the shipping will be, based on your zip code and method of delivery.
 
• You are more likely to receive payment quicker if you offer PayPal as your preferred payment option.
• Even if you use a 3rd party service to manage the payment of your auctions, you can still make it easier for your buyers by providing this information.


Return Policy -Buyers are more comfortable shopping from sellers who have clear return policies on their items. Decide what your return policy is and state it clearly in your listing. This will increase your chances of selling the item and prevent problems after the sale.
Payment Instructions - By providing your buyers with clear payment instructions, your buyers will know exactly how payment is expected and when the item will be shipped.
• · The checkout process helps you facilitate the sale of your item. When your buyers click on the Pay Now button, they are told how much to pay, including payment and shipping, and where to send payment. You in turn receive an email with the buyer's shipping address and selected payment method.
• · If you do not want to use checkout on your listings, simply go to My eBay and click on the eBay Preferences link. From the Seller Preferences section just click on the Change link to turn off the Pay Now button. The Shipping Costs and Payments Instructions you provided when setting up the listing will still appear in your item listing.
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