Preparation is key! Make sure you do your research in order to provide all the relevant details of your item; remember to include a picture of your item as buyers want to see what they are spending their money on and be realistic about what you expect to sell your item for. 1. Research the item you are selling To get an idea of what to expect to sell your item for, review the sales prices of similar items using eBay's Completed Items search. To do a Completed Items search click on the Search link at the top of an eBay page and select Advanced Search. When the search results are returned, click on an item that is most similar to the one you are selling. From here you will be able to find out the following: A. The Category the Item was listed in: particularly helpful if you're not sure where to list B. Auction or Buy It Now Format: depending on your feedback level you have two ways to sell your item. How others have sold their similar items should give you an idea of which format works best for your item. C. The Starting Price: the level at which you start your item can have an affect on the bidding activity and final sales price. For example, many sellers find that if they start their items at a very low price with no reserve, they get higher bids and higher sales prices. D. The Final Sales Price: this indicates the price you could expect to get for your item E. How to write an Item Description: In order to get the best price possible, you can gain great insight into how to write a successful listing by understanding why a listing from one seller got more bids than another. F. Payment & Postage Details: Buyers want a safe and secure way to pay for your items. Many sellers offer PayPal, a free service for buyers. Many sellers also accept personal cheques. Always remember to include postage costs as buyers like to know what they are paying for up front. On eBay you can sell practically anything, however there are a number of items that are prohibited from sale on eBay. Check our prohibited items policies if you are unsure whether your item is permitted. 2. Taking Photos of your Items It's true what they say; a picture paints a thousand words. No matter how well you describe your item, buyers like to see what they are buying and including clear photographs in your listing could mean the difference between a sale or not! Before you start to list on eBay, make sure you have taken clear photographs indicating all of the features and highlighting any flaws, if relevant. You can save these on your computer, naming them clearly so you can locate them later when you start to list. The simplest way to do this is to use a digital camera. However, if you have a traditional camera, use a scanner to save them in a digital format. Alternatively, most photo processing services now offer this service. With eBay Picture Services is it simple to add photos to your listing and the first picture you add is FREE.

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