Ebay Auction - Start Simple - List your first item

Once you have decided on your first item that you would like to list, it is time to learn your options for listing.

You can list directly from Ebay. Ebay has all of the tools available to list your items. It is well organized and easy to use, but I prefer another method for listing and I will get into that in my next post.

If listing on eBay you go thru some simple steps:

1. Log onto your account

2. Click on "Sell" at the top right hand side of the page. Ebay asks for a brief description of the item you are selling. Enter it in the blank box and click sell. eBay now suggests many categories for selling your item as well as the categories that other sellers have used to sell a similar item.

4. Place a check mark next to the category that you would like to use to sell your item. Click "Save and continue"

5. Next eBay asks for a Title. This is the exact words you want to use so that buyers can search for your item. This is probably the most important part of the selling process. Make sure that you put effort into this decision. I cannot stress how important your title is in determining how many buyers will see your auction.

When choosing a title, think to yourself what words you would use in a search to find the identical item. Lets say that you are selling a collectors barbie doll make in 1963. You might want to use the words Barbie, Doll, collector, girl, child, gift, birthday, collection, mattel, and so on. If you notice, I am not using the title to describe my item. I am using the title to come up with keywords that buyers will use when trying to locate items for purchase.

If you were to use a title like "beautiful 1963 Barbie never opened mint condition" most of these words will not be used by the majority of the searchers. You can use these types of words later on in your description. Remember your title should be made entirely of words that you think that you would use in a search to find a similar item.

You can even check out other barbie listings and see what items have sold successfully and see what words they have used in their titles.

6. Next blank box asks for sub title. I would not start out using sub titles. it cost $.50 and right now you need to concentrate on learning the best methods for listing. You can expand to other selling options later when you become more comfortable with listing.

7. Next on the listing page is item type and condition. Depending on the item and category you have chosen several boxes describing the item may appear. Always check the condition box for "New" "Used" or "Other". If an item you are selling is reManufactured you would choose the other category and type in the words remanufactured or reconditioned.

8. Adding pictures. I find some of the easiest way to add pictures is to use a popular search engine such as Google and use Google Image search. Search for images of the exact item you are selling. You can copy these images onto your hard drive and use them in your listing. If you cannot locate an image of your product online, you will need to take a photo of the item with a digital camera. Copy the images on to your hard drive.

A good image is very important. Take several photos of your item. Pick one or two good photos for your listing. Save the images to your hard drive. Click the "Add picture" button on your listing page. Right now to keep this simple, you will want to use the Basic category at the top of the image posting page. Click on "browse", locate the image on your hard drive and click on it to save it to eBay. Now click "Upload" at the bottom of the image page. This will upload your image or images to your eBay listing.

9. Next put a check mark on the Galley box. This will put a small image next to your listing when a buyer does a search and group of listings appear. If you notice when you search on eBay and get a list of items, some items have an image next to them and some don't. I feel that it is important to have a gallery image to get potential buyers to look at your listing. Many potential buyers pass up listings without gallery images. Gallery images cost an extra $.35 but it is well worth it.

10. Now we come to the description section. I prefer to use a word processing program to prepare my description. Think about organization, bold titles, indentation to separate different aspects of the item. Make your description attractive, easy to read, and organized so that the reader can easily spot all aspects of the description without having to try hard to find it.

I prepare my description in a work processing program for one reason and that is because word processors allow changing of fonts, font sizes, using bold, indentation, bullets and numbering, and more. Once I have the description with a Bold and large title centered at the top, I copy and paste into the eBay description box. When it looks the way that you want it to go on to the next step.

11. Listing designer is next. This allows you to add background colors and templates for your listing and description. Listing designer does quite a bit to make your listing more attractive. I always use background colors and templates in my listings, although there are other methods available online that do not cost any money I do not have the time to get into them now. So for now, you can use Ebays listing designer. It costs an additional $.10 but definitely adds to the attractiveness of the listing and the professional look.

12. Check "Visitor Counter". This keeps track of how many potential buyers have chosen to look at your listing. If your auction fails the visitor counter will help you figure out what went wrong. If you have many visitors but no sales you might need to lower your price. If you have few visitors, you might need to edit your title for better search words. There are several options for visitor counter. it really does not matter which one your choose, they all do the same thing.

13. Now we come to selling format. There are 3 listing choices available. Since you probably do not have an eBay store at this point you will choose between auction or fixed price.

Auction listings - The first box is for the lowest bid you will accept for the item you are selling. This bid can be as low as $.01. A lower starting bid will bring in more potential bidders.

Lets say that you are selling an item that you paid $10 for and you would like to profit up to $20 on the sale. You could list like this.

Auction starting bid $17 Buy it now price $29.99. If the auction is successful the lowest profit will be $7 and the highest profit your will earn is $20.

Ebay offers a reserve price bid which means that even if you list your starting bid at $.01 the amount that you list in the reserve box will be the lowest bid that you are willing to accept. Using a reserve will get you more bidders but I have found that it really doesnt help in the long run. Most buyers want to see the starting bid as a bid that they can actually buy the item for. Using a reserve price is a way of getting more bids but many buyers prefer a more upfront method of selling. Using a reserve also cost additional money for listing the item. I suggest not using a reserve in the beginning.

Fixed Price - a fixed price listing is where you have one price that you are willing to accept for an item. There is not auction or bidding. any one can purchase the item for the price that you list at any time. One advantage of fixed price listing is that you can list more than one item in a listing. If you have 10 barbie dolls all identical and want to sell them for $30 you can use fixed price listing. List for $30 and list 10 items. All 10 items will be for sale and the listing will remain until all 10 items sell or the listing expires, which ever comes first.

Ebay is an auction site and Ebayers like to bid. I usually list one item at a time in auction format but that is my preference. You will learn your own techniques as you go along.

Choose how many days you would like your listing to run. You can list from 1, 3, 5, 7, or 10 days. A 10 day listing costs an additional $.40 but on higher priced items sometimes this is more effective. Once again this is something that will be determines on an individual item basis and you will only learn what is effective from experience listing the item repeatedly.

When would you like your listing to run. This is important. You will learn as you list that many items have hot days of the week for selling and also hot times for selling. I have found that Monday and Tuesdays are my hot days and I list around 7:30 pm. Although these are hot times for me, I still list on other days of the week and other times. I just list the majority of my hot items on these days and time. Scheduling a listing costs $.10. You can choose to list immediately for no extra charge.

14. Payment methods you accept. Once you have signed up for Pay Pal you can list pay pal as a preferred method of payment but can also accept money order, personal check, or cashier check. This is totally your preference. I accept as many forms of payment as possible to allow all buyers access to my items. If you choose to check the box "require immediate payment" this will force any buyer to pay right away or your listing will stay listed until they do. I prefer to not check this box so that my buyers who do not have a credit card can still use "Buy it Now". Unfortunately, this method will also cause you to have some unpaid items in the process. Occasionally, you will sell an item that will not be paid for. Checking the "require immediate payment" prevents this from happening but also limits the number of possible buyers.

15. Shipping is very important. Many eBay sellers do not sell internationally. I do. I get at least %15 percent of my buyers internationally. Learning to use the correct shipping methods require some learning. I will go into using the shipping form in a later post. To get started I would use the calculated shipping method. Find out how much your item weighs. Add 1.5 to 2 lbs for packageing. Enter this amount in the "Weight box" You have several options for shipping. Ebay calculates for USPS and UPS shipping automatically if your choose these options. I generally use USPS Priority shipping for my domestic shipping. You can offer as many options as you like. Always have a $2 to $3 handling fees for every item for your time involved in preparing the order.

International shipping costs. If the item you are selling is at your place of business you can use calculated shipping just like for domestic shipping described above. If you are selling a dropship item this is a little more tricky. Because most dropshippers do not ship outside of the US you will have to have the item shipped to you and then you will have to ship to your customer.

This is how I determine shipping prices for dropship items. I use the same methods for domestic shipping for international. I use calculated shipping with a 1.5 to 2 lb. added to the shipping weight for packaging. Mow because you will be paying 2 shipping fees this cost must be relayed to the seller some how. What I do is this. I use the same methods for shipping as domestic, but when asked what the handling fee I would like to charge, I choose the amount that the dropshipper will charge me to ship the item to my location. That way the customer will enter their location. The calculator will determine how much it costs to ship that weight item to them. By adding the additional handling fee in the amount charged by the dropshipper, this amount will be added to the calculations. This prevents you from having to quote individual shipping prices which can be very time consuming. Using this method will give every customer no matter where they are located a way of determining shipping costs without having to contact you for a quote.

If you do not understand what I am saying, leave a comment and I will be more specific.

Always offer insurance to every customer. The costs will be added to their shipping costs. Insurance runs about $1.30 per $50 spent. If the item is $100 the insurance will be $2.60



15. Additional Information - When using dropshipping some dropshippers charge tax to certain states. Check with your dropshipper to find the states that they will charge tax for shipping and set up a tax table for these locations. The laws in each state are different and you will have to check with your state to find if you will need to charge shipping for items being sold directly from your location. I do not charge shipping for my items, but do for several states that I am selling a dropship item.

You definitely must have a return policy. When selling a dropship item I use their return policy for this box. When selling my own, I offer a 14 day money back guarantee on all items to be free from defects. Research other sellers return policies for the exact wording you would like to use.

Additional checkout instructions - I use this box to advertise my multiple item shipping discount. I will get into setting up this option in a later post.

16. Save and continue - You are now close to listing your first item. On the next page you can preview your listing or add additional selling options. I definitely suggest previewing your auction for mistakes or unattractive formats. When your auction is ready, click on "List your item"

YOU ARE NOW OFFICIALLY AN EBAY SELLER. CONGRATULATIONS !!!

What do I sell ?

The most difficult and time consuming task that you will have before you is determining what it is your would like to sell. There are many ways to find merchandise to sell and I will go over just a few.

1) Clearance sales at your local stores. This is probably the items that I have made the most profit from selling. I found many stores in my area like Odd Lots or similar stores who purchase buy outs and sell outs and offer them to the public for low sale prices. Finding products that you feel are being sold at a price that you can easily add a $10 or more mark up and still be giving your buyers a deal are the best items to purchase. I go to outlet stores, auctions, and clearance sales to find my merchandise. The only problem with this method is that it requires an investment on your part. You must purchase the merchandise first and then sell it.

You will also need a digital camera to take pictures of your products. The best selling items on auction sites always have a picture available.

2) Drop ship companies are the easier way to start selling without any investment. a drop ship company is a company that has purchased popular name brand merchandise for wholesale prices. They offer these items to sellers. Many drop ship companies have millions of products available for sale. What is great about drop shipping is that the drop ship company has the pictures and the advertising text available on their sites. You dont need a camera. You copy and paste their information into your auction.

Some dropship companies are totally free and require only registration to sell their products. Some of the larger drop ship companies charge either a low monthly fee or yearly fee for their services.

Once you list an item and it sells. The money will deposit into your pay pal account. You them use this money to order the product from the dropship company. You give the dropship company the name and address of your buyer and they ship the item directly to the them. You never see or touch the item.

What is great about this is that you just sold something just for placing an ad. No money was required up front. You use your buyers money to purchase from the dropship company and the markup that you put on the item remains in your account. You just made your first profit.

I prefer not to list the dropship companies links. I would like personal emails from interested parties to give out this information. Many web sites on the net sell this information, but I am giving it away for free. Contact me thru email to discuss some of the dropship links that I have used in the past to get started right away.