How to Maximize Your eBay Sales

I sell a lot of items on eBay in order to eliminate things from my life that I no longer use, need, want or value.  It is also a great way of earning a little bit of extra cash.  After you have your Seller’s Account set up, here are some tips to help maximize your success.

Listing Title- When I list items on eBay I try to fill my title with keywords related to the item that I am selling.  Instead of using a title like “Abercrombie Jeans” try something like “Abercrombie & Fitch A&F Remsen 32 x 32″.  This helps people searching for Abercrombie Jeans to get a better idea of what you are selling.  Including common abbreviations people may use to search for items also helps to draw more attention to your listing as well.

Photos- Your photo is the most important aspect of your auction listing.  People searching through auction listings will be less inclined to click on listings without photos and less likely to bid on something sight unseen.  You can post multiple photos of your item on eBay however, for each photo after the first you will be charged a fee.  In order to avoid this fee I recommend taking one excellent photo.  In your item description be sure to let potential buyers know that if they are interested in more photos that they are more than welcome to contact you.

Item Description- Second only to your photos is your item description.  Descriptions should be accurate and provide as much detail about the item you are selling as you are able to provide.  Any damage to an item should be noted, but be careful not to draw too much attention to minor damages.  Those “Abercrombie Jeans” wouldn’t sound appealing if you described them as being “used, stained, or tattered”.  “Pre-worn with some character added;  slight staining and fraying” is much more buyer friendly.

Starting Price- eBay charges a listing fee based on the starting price of the auction as well as the final value of the auction.  For most items it doesn’t make sense to start at a high price for two reasons.  The first is the fee involved in doing so.  You are cutting into your profits right at the start.  You want to do everything you can to maximize your profits, so keeping your starting price low is a great way of doing that.  I usually start my auctions at 99 cents.  You will attract more attention by starting at a lower price and bidders will drive the price up on their own.  The second reason is that bidders are more likely to check out listings with lower prices.  The more attention you can attract your listing the better chance you have of selling it at a higher price.

Shipping Policy- Be sure that you charge a reasonable shipping fee or buyers will be turned away from your auction or won’t bid as much as they may have.  I charge a flat shipping fee on my auctions and attempt to make a reasonable estimate of what shipping will cost.  If actually shipping cost is slightly less than I estimated I don’t worry about it, however if it is significantly lower I will refund the difference.  If shipping is higher, even much higher, I cover the cost of shipping out of my own pocket.  It is important that you understand your carrier’s shipping fees and policies.  Shipping costs depend not only on the weight of the package, but also the size.  If you have an oversized package, prices may double.  Know the rules.

Return Policy- If you will be accepting returns on your merchandise, be sure that you are very clear about what your return policy is.  I do not accept returns on my auctions and I state in my auction my reasoning, “All item descriptions reflect the item for sale as best as possible.  I do not attempt to misrepresent an item or mislead bidders.  As such I generally do not allow returns on my auctions.  Please, if you have any questions about an item, I am always more than happy to answer to the best of my ability.”

PayPal- PayPal is an online method of collecting payment for your auctions.  They charge a fee for sellers to use their services and some people will not accept payment through PayPal for this reason.  Others will try to charge an additional fee to buyers who wish to use PayPal.  It is against eBay policy to charge an additional fee to use PayPal so I do not recommend trying to do that as it may result in losing your account.  I accept PayPal because it makes transactions instantaneous.  The convenience for both seller and buyer outweigh the fees associated.

These are the only things that I concern myself with when creating eBay listings.  I like to keep things simple for not only myself but also the person bidding on my auctions.  A person could create a very fancy auction listing using HTML or other types of add-ons, but from my own buying experience, I am generally annoyed by pages with a lot of “fluff”.  Sellers with this type of page usually add so many things to the page that you are distracted from the item you are looking at.

So what are you waiting for?  Start cleaning out the basement, the closets, attics and the garage.  You probably have a fortune sitting around collecting dust.  What better time to start making money than right now?