The best way to learn about the best way to list your auctions is by analyzing auction listings for items that are the same or similar to what you are selling. Try searching eBay for completed auctions of exactly the same item you are selling, sort the list by price (descending), and study the listings for the items that sold for the highest price. Observe the similarities between the words in the auction title, similarities in the auction descriptions, what categories the auctions were listed in, how pictures were used, whether or not there were gallery pictures, the shipping costs, and what day of the week and times the auctions were listed and closed. Analyzing this information will give you the best information on how to get the highest price for your item.
When listing an item, you should try to put yourself in the mind of your customer. Think about what search terms your customer would use when looking for your product. Those terms should be used in your auction title and description.
Auctions for items such as collectibles, clothing, and jewelry should always include pictures. Again, observe completed actions for similar items to see how pictures were used in the most successful auctions. Items such as office supplies or paperback novels do not necessarily need an accompanying picture, though it certainly wouldn't hurt.
Ensure you are charging an appropriate amount for shipping. You will lose money by undercharging, and you will lose bidders by overcharging. For expensive items, you should require insurance, and include that cost in your shipping price. Marking your shipping up by a dollar or a dollar fifty will help defray the cost of your shipping supplies and auction fees.
Pricing your items can be tricky. You don't want an item to sell for less than you paid for it, but by starting the bid too high the item may end up actually selling for less than if you had started the bidding lower. If you are selling an item that has resulted in a sale in nearly all of the completed auctions for that item, then you are safe in starting the bidding low. Demand is high, so you item is very likely to sell. Starting the bidding low will draw more bidders. More people bidding against each other on your auction will ultimately drive the price higher. If you want to make a quick sale, you can often use the Buy It Now feature, and price Buy It Now at a couple of dollars less than the average completed auction price of like items.
Don't buy features such as bold, highlight, or border. The extra cost of these items is generally more than the feature will increase the selling price of your item. After you are more experience, you may want to try featured auctions, but it is expensive so use it with caution.
After you gain some experience you will also want to try using html in your auctions, the free listing software Turbo Lister, or a third party auction manager.
With up to 19 million items listed on eBay at any given time, finding the exact item you want isn't always easy. Sometimes you have to sift through hundreds of items before you're able to find the exact item you're looking for.
Because of this many buyers, particularly the experienced ones, skim over the listings, never actually clicking into an auction listing unless they know for sure it contains the item they want.
Furthermore, search results and category listings all look very much the same. You can use various listing upgrades such as bold or border, but the problem with that is that everybody else has those same options available to them as well.
As such, you want to do everything you can to make sure someone looking through the listings knows exactly what it is that you have, AND that you do what you can to make your listing stand out.
Using a Gallery Image to Make Your Listing Stand Out
Part of making your listing "pop" out at viewers is having a good descriptive auction title that reads well. But there is another, very important thing you should almost always have, and that is a gallery image.
By having a gallery image a buyer can see what it is that you're selling and therefore leave no doubt as to whether or not that's the item they're looking for. That way, a buyer doesn't have to waste time (something they aren't likely to do) to click into your auction to make sure your item really is what they are looking for.
Be sure to use your best photo, one that shows important detail and doesn't waste space showing unimportant things like your fuzzy carpet or trumpet case. The buyer is interested in the trumpet, not the case!
The gallery image is also a perfect opportunity to make your listing stand out from the others. Run a search on eBay for anything you want. Do you notice how all the listings look very much the same? Most of the time you'll notice that everybody (especially in any electronics category) is using the same stock photo of the product. Use a gallery image that will stand out from the others!
Other Listing Upgrades
eBay has several listing upgrades available. These include bold, highlight, frame, and subtitles. In deciding whether or not to use any of these upgrades, remember that the idea is to make your auction stand out from the others. There are times when using a listing upgrade can actually cause your listing to be less noticeable.
If a lot of sellers are using a particular listing upgrade, and your auction listing is surrounded by these auctions, then your auction will simply blend in if you are using the same listing upgrade. You'll actually stand out more by not using a particular listing upgrade if all the other sellers around you are.
However, the only way to know for sure whether using a particular listing upgrade is beneficial to you or not is through in other words, you've got to give it a try. And trying is often the hardest step for most people. Just remember, you won't make money on eBay unless you try.
Both James Penn & Art Gib are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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