How to Sell on eBay
eBay is best for smaller items that do not require huge shipping costs. Choose more popular items that are easy to describe and are likely to attract multiple bids from interested purchasers.
If you decide to use eBay you need to choose the right keywords and carefully construct the wording for your listing. The title must be concise but if you use a good many descriptive words, the item you are selling will appear in more searches. You should search eBay for examples of similar listings and “borrow” copy; however it is important to tell the truth about your item. If it scratched or dented this information should be included.
Art. Sell on eBay. Amazon.com is not designed for one-of-a-kind items, such as art (though it does have a category for poster prints)... and art-for-sale listings don’t attract much attention on Craigslist.
Exception: Major auction houses, such as Christie’s and Sotheby’s could be the best options for expensive art.
People who use eBay and do not tell the truth get a bad reputation and have difficulty selling future merchandise. Your listing should look professional and include a good photo or two. A photo should include the imperfection if your item has one. Since there are charges for posting multiple photos consider linking to your photos at N/C by uploading them on picture-sharing sites such as ImageShack, Flickr, or Photobucket. Consider using eBay’s listing generator and save the template of your posting.
Many who successfully use eBay regularly use bullets in their descriptions to make them easy to read. Consider this method. If you wish to list your merchandise in a number of different categories you will have to pay extra so that unless you are selling an expensive item you should probably just pick the most appropriate category. Make sure to include your shipping and return policy to avoid possible confusion and problems. Most users have a 7 day return policy and you might consider a policy where the purchaser pays ½ of the return shipping. As far as charging for shipping, successful eBay sellers generally charge actual costs as opposed to inflated shipping and adding handling amounts. Free shipping works best and encourages purchasers to buy from you.
As far as price is concerned check what others are charging. If you are selling an item that is likely to be in demand it is often better to set the price low and let the bidding drive the price up. If you are selling an unusual or expensive item set your price at the lowest amount you are willing to accept. As a general rule using the “reserve price option” discourages bidding and should probably only be used for extremely unusual and expensive merchandise and when you wish to protect yourself from selling at far less than actual value.
If you have not used eBay before you should do a number of searches before listing your merchandise and check the advanced search tool located on the upper right hand corner of any eBay page in order to see the final price paid for successful sales.
Make sure to have plenty of the right packing materials available. Of course any merchandise that arrives broken or damaged is going to be returned. Shipping via the U.S. Post Office Priority Mail is usually the most cost effective for you.
If you decide to use eBay you need to choose the right keywords and carefully construct the wording for your listing. The title must be concise but if you use a good many descriptive words, the item you are selling will appear in more searches. You should search eBay for examples of similar listings and “borrow” copy; however it is important to tell the truth about your item. If it scratched or dented this information should be included.
Art. Sell on eBay. Amazon.com is not designed for one-of-a-kind items, such as art (though it does have a category for poster prints)... and art-for-sale listings don’t attract much attention on Craigslist.
Exception: Major auction houses, such as Christie’s and Sotheby’s could be the best options for expensive art.
People who use eBay and do not tell the truth get a bad reputation and have difficulty selling future merchandise. Your listing should look professional and include a good photo or two. A photo should include the imperfection if your item has one. Since there are charges for posting multiple photos consider linking to your photos at N/C by uploading them on picture-sharing sites such as ImageShack, Flickr, or Photobucket. Consider using eBay’s listing generator and save the template of your posting.
Many who successfully use eBay regularly use bullets in their descriptions to make them easy to read. Consider this method. If you wish to list your merchandise in a number of different categories you will have to pay extra so that unless you are selling an expensive item you should probably just pick the most appropriate category. Make sure to include your shipping and return policy to avoid possible confusion and problems. Most users have a 7 day return policy and you might consider a policy where the purchaser pays ½ of the return shipping. As far as charging for shipping, successful eBay sellers generally charge actual costs as opposed to inflated shipping and adding handling amounts. Free shipping works best and encourages purchasers to buy from you.
As far as price is concerned check what others are charging. If you are selling an item that is likely to be in demand it is often better to set the price low and let the bidding drive the price up. If you are selling an unusual or expensive item set your price at the lowest amount you are willing to accept. As a general rule using the “reserve price option” discourages bidding and should probably only be used for extremely unusual and expensive merchandise and when you wish to protect yourself from selling at far less than actual value.
If you have not used eBay before you should do a number of searches before listing your merchandise and check the advanced search tool located on the upper right hand corner of any eBay page in order to see the final price paid for successful sales.
Make sure to have plenty of the right packing materials available. Of course any merchandise that arrives broken or damaged is going to be returned. Shipping via the U.S. Post Office Priority Mail is usually the most cost effective for you.