Here are some tips for successful selling and for maintaining buyer satisfaction on eBay.

• Make sure the item is legal and allowed. If you are not sure that your item is allowed, check eBay's policies on prohibited, questionable and infringing items (see Knowing eBay’s Rules for Sellers).

• Take one or more pictures of your item in a well-lit area. Effective pictures that are sharp and bright will help sell your item. Evenly distributed artificial or natural light is better than a camera’s flash for most items. A tripod steadies your camera and ensures your picture will be in focus.

• Choose the most specific category available. This will help buyers find your item. Use the Suggested Categories feature to have eBay suggest categories for you. For an additional fee, you can list your item in a second category to maximize your item's visibility.

• Imagine you were the buyer when you prepare the title and description for your listing. What would you want to know about the item? What are its most appealing characteristics? What words might buyers use to search for your item? Keep the item close by in case you need to add information to your description. (see Writing a Good Title and Description).

• Save time by composing your item description in a word authoring program first, and then pasting it into the item description area in the Sell Your Item form. Be clear and complete, but use short sentences that are easy to read. Including specific details about the item, such as dimensions, shipping, and payment, and so on, may help reduce the number of email questions you receive about your item. Use of Advanced Selling Tools will also save you time creating and managing your listings.

• Plan your pricing strategy. Look at similar completed eBay listings using the completed listings search. You can also visit online stores that sell similar items and ask friends to help determine what the item is worth. This will help you set your starting price or your Buy It Now price. Also, decide whether you would like to set a reserve price.

• Consider using calculated shipping and decide which shipping service you will use. Pack your item for shipping so that you can weigh it and measure the length, width, and height so you have this information when you begin to list it. When you use calculated shipping, you won't need to guess the amount it will cost to ship the item.

• Consider registering for selling-related services before you begin the Sell Your Item form. For example, if you want to sell in the Mature Audiences section, it will make the listing process easier to complete the ID Verify process before you list your item. If you want to open your own eBay Store, see eBay Stores Overview.

• Explore listing upgrade features to distinguish, promote and enhance your listing. Listing upgrades include bolding your title, adding photos, and ranking your items at the top of the listings page (see Selecting Listing Upgrades).

• Manage your Market. eBay is a global community and you will need to decide where you want to sell your item and if you want to add buyer requirements to your listing. Learn more about the benefits and processes of Selling Internationally.

• Offer PayPal as a payment method. eBay recommends offering PayPal as a fast, easy, and secure way to accept credit card or checking account payments on eBay (see Selling with PayPal). To keep eBay a safe place for both buyers and sellers, new sellers are required to offer either PayPal or a merchant account credit card as an accepted payment method. You can sign up for PayPal before you list your first item for sale, or when you list your first item.

• Use Selling Tools to list more items and automate seller tasks. If you want an easy way to manage your growing eBay business, or just need to list a lot of items at once, check out eBay’s Advanced Selling Tools.

Getting to know and communicating with buyers

• Ensure that you attract the ideal buyer for your item by selecting buyer requirements and buyer management tools including the blocking buyers feature.

• Check the buyer’s Feedback Profile, including detailed Feedback comments from other sellers (see Knowing Your Buyer.)

• Be sure that your contact information and email address are correct and up-to-date. Check your personal information to make sure it is correct. Also, check that any "spam" blocking software you have installed does not limit a buyer from communicating with you.

• Plan for alternate computer access. If you have computer or connection problems, or need to be away from your computer, you can access your eBay account using any computer with internet access. For example, you can monitor your items through the "My eBay" page using the computer at your friend’s house or your local library (See Managing Selling with My eBay).

• Establishing and maintaining buyer satisfaction will help you build a solid reputation as a trustworthy seller on eBay. Ultimately, a good reputation will help drive your sales activity.

• Sellers are expected to consistently perform in a manner that results in a high level of buyer satisfaction. When a seller lists an item on eBay, and a buyer bids for and wins that item, the seller and buyer have entered into a contract that both members are expected to honor. If the seller doesn't live up to this agreement, it leads to a bad buyer experience that may result in negative or neutral feedback for the seller.

• Accurately describing the condition, size and quality of the item

• Honoring original terms by accepting payment for an item at the end of a successful sale

• Promptly shipping the item with appropriate packaging once payment has been received

• Responding promptly and courteously to questions from the buyer

• Communicating with the buyer about when the item will ship

• Issuing refunds in a timely manner when accepting returns or when there are problems with delivery

If a seller's buyer satisfaction level falls below the recommended standard, the seller will be in violation of the Seller Non-Performance policy.