Improve Your eBay Listings

What do you need to know when putting together eBay listings? How do you get potential buyers to your listing, and how do you stop potential buyers from going away?

The most important part of an eBay listing is the title. Your title line can make or break the sale. You need a phrase that is eye-catching enough to make your listing stand out among others. It must make potential buyers want to read more. You have 55 characters available to use, and you should use all or most of them.

The title should be as detailed as possible. List brand and model number if applicable. Think of all the possible search words someone may use to find your item. What are you selling? What color is it? What size is it? What brand is it? Some acronyms you can also use in the title are NIB (new in box); NIP (new in package); NWT (new with tags) or NWOT (new without tags).

In your description be sure to include as much detail as possible, including payment, shipping and return information. Try to anticipate questions that might be asked and answer them. Don’t try to mislead people. Don't say it's new if it is not. Don’t try to cover up potential flaws, hoping they might be overlooked. The beauty of eBay is you can sell absolutely anything you want – as long as you’re honest about what you’re selling. Spend some time reviewing completed auctions. Is there a pattern among the items that sold? For example, are the descriptions full of graphics or plain?

Every aspect of your eBay listing should be able to stand on its own. What I mean by that is the photos should be clear and detailed enough to show exactly what you’re selling even if there is no text to go along with your photo. The same goes for text: it should be clear enough and detailed enough that a photo is helpful but not necessary.

As I said, the writing should be able to stand alone – but pictures definitely draw people to auctions. A photo is truly worth a thousand words. If you don't have a decent camera, get one. Blurry, dark photos will not help you at all. It will cause people to leave your auction without placing a bid. Provide enough photos to allow the bidders to clearly see what they are bidding on. Practice taking photos from different angles and use the best ones.

Choose the most specific category to help buyers find your item. If you’re not sure, you can list in more than one category.

These are some of the things you can practice to improve your eBay listings. The more you practice, the better you will get. The better your listings, the more items you will sell!

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