• Choosing items to sell
• Creating ideal listings
• Managing your listings
• Exploring additional listing opportunities

You should also visit eBay Explained for tips, tools, information and resources for trading on eBay.

Choosing items to sell

• Clothing, shoes and accessories
• Jewellery
• Collectable items such as art, antiques and coins
• Books
• Music
• DVDs and video games
• Computers and electronics
• Cars, other vehicles and parts
• Furniture
• Home and garden items
• Celebrity signed and/or designed memorabilia
• Tickets, experiences and holidays
• Sporting goods and memorabilia

Need some more ideas? See examples of items in your house you could sell today.

There are a number of items that are prohibited from sale on eBay. Check our prohibited items policies as well as eBay's listing policies.

Creating ideal listings

Item title
The title is critical to helping members find your items easily, so keep the following in mind:

• Use as many of the 55 characters in your item title as possible.
• Use the subtitle feature for an additional 55 characters of text to tell buyers more about your item. On average, listings with subtitle sell for 20% more.
• Include general category keywords (like "laptop").
• Include important descriptive attributes for the item (for example, the title for a laptop could include brand, processor speed, and memory).
• Avoid non-standard abbreviations and misspellings.
• Be creative and informative. Other popular descriptive keywords include New, NIB (new in box), NWT (new with tags), Free Postage and Warranty.

Item description
A good description should be concise but thorough, well-organised, and easy to read. Anticipate what buyers might want to know about your item. The more information that you provide, the more likely buyers are to place a bid. Buyers will often perform keyword searches in title and descriptions. You can use eBay's text editor to create bold text, bulleted lists, and other formatting options. Look at your item as you write your description and include:

• Type: Item model or style
• Brand: Manufacturer or designer, and so forth
• Condition: New vs. vintage, and so forth
• Value: estimated or appraised value
• Other attributes: Size/measurements, and so forth

Pricing and duration

• You can have your listing last 1, 3, 5, 7, or 10 days. We recommend allowing your listing to run as long as possible in order to maximise exposure and bidding potential. Include weekends and close the item in the evening as this is when most bidders are online.
• The Buy It Now option offers buyers the ability to purchase your item at a predefined price without waiting for the listing to end.
• Decide on the starting price for your item. Getting that first bid is critical, as other buyers are generally more likely to join in if they see there are already bids on an item. To do this, many sellers prefer to set an opening bid below what the item is actually worth. This can encourage bidding activity and ultimately produce a higher selling price.
• If you don't want to sell your item below a certain price, set a reserve price. However, this can result in buyers losing interest if they place a bid and find it doesn't meet the reserve. They may assume the seller is simply asking too much for the item and move on to similar items that they feel they have a more realistic chance of winning. Consider listing your item with "No Reserve." Statistics show that items listed without a reserve usually sell for more than comparable items listed with a reserve.

Pictures
Use clear pictures from a variety of angles to show your item accurately. Buyers want to see detail. Consider taking a close-up of a section of the item in addition to the entire object in order to give buyers a better idea of the item's actual condition and details. Check out our Picture Tutorial for more information.

Also, consider adding a gallery photo. For £0.15, a picture of your item is showcased in listing and search results, helping your listing stand out in a crowd. Listings with Gallery typically sell for 20% more.

Payment and postage details
The more details that you include in your listings about payment and postage, the easier it will be to complete the transaction.

PayPal is eBay's preferred way to pay. It is a system that lets anyone with an email address securely send and receive online payments using their credit card or bank account. eBay members can use PayPal to pay for items on eBay quickly and easily.

Make sure you include all postage and packaging cost in the listing - buyers want to know exactly what they will be paying for your item. If you are willing to ship internationally, make sure you include all of the relevant international postage costs.

You might also want to include clear and complete information about your return policy. This builds trust and buyer confidence and demonstrates that as a seller you take steps to put the customer first.

View Item page
Look at your View Item page through a buyer's eyes. The more attractive, informative and professional your listing is, the more confidence potential buyers will have in placing a bid. If you list regularly, use a consistent template so buyers learn to recognise your listings. With Listing Designer, you can choose from a variety of fun themed templates and photo layouts: holiday/seasonal, categories, and more. It's so easy!

Increasing your listing's visibility

• List in a second category
  Listing in a second category is a great way to reach more buyers and generate more interest in your item.
• Use a subtitle
  Subtitles let you call out key selling points that might catch a buyer's eye. Listings with a subtitle typically sell for 20% more.
• Use Item Specifics (Product Finder)
  Help users find your items! Item Specifics allows you to provide additional details relevant to your specific items so that buyers can search for them with the Product Finder that appears on the left-hand side of Search and Listings pages.
• Use bold
  Draw additional attention to a listing by bolding the text when the listing is part of search results. Bold listings are shown to increase final price by an average of 25%.
• Highlight your listing
  Use a coloured band to emphasize the listing in the search results. On average, highlighted listings close with 10% higher final sale prices.
• Use Featured Plus!
  Get maximum exposure. Your listing is placed within the Featured Items located in the top section of the listing and search results pages that buyers see first. Your listing also appears in the general listings and search results for double the exposure. Bids increase 71%, on average, for Featured Plus listings.

Managing your listings

Manage your listing
During the listing period, it is your responsibility as the seller to manage all communication with prospective buyers. Remember that every eBay member has a Feedback profile made up of comments from other eBay members - an official "reputation". New buyers look at this Feedback rating to help them shop with confidence. Therefore, it is important to provide your customers with excellent service: answer emails quickly, dispatch promptly, and deliver what you promised. You may be contacted with specific questions about the item, delivery, or payment terms.

• Always represent your item accurately and honestly.
• Make your policies easy to find and easy to understand - especially those concerning payment terms, postage and returns.
• Be available to answer questions before the item closes and especially during post-sale fulfilment.
• Be patient and courteous with your buyers. Give them the benefit of the doubt until it is obvious they are being neither responsive nor responsible.
• Make every possible effort to bring the transaction to a successful close. Negative feedback should only be left as a last resort.

Exploring additional listing opportunities

Need a hand? Let someone else sell for you.
If you don't have the time or resources to sell your item on eBay, get a Trading Assistant to help you. Trading Assistants are eBay experts that can do all selling and fulfilment for you for a fee. Search for a Trading Assistant.