Most everyone has at least browsed eBay at some point, so I probably don’t have to tell you what a busy marketplace it is. If you are a seller, you are probably painfully aware of how competitive eBay can be, with many different sellers listing very similar merchandise.
Whether you are unloading unwanted items, or running a part- or full-time business, the key to selling well on eBay is making your item listings stand out from the others. There are a lot of “junk resellers” on eBay, who make a living that is tenuous at best. To make sure your merchandise gets enough attention to sell well, it is important to offer well-researched, well-designed listing pages and catchy, relevant titles.
Research Your Market
Selling an item successfully on eBay requires knowing about the market in general. Otherwise you can easily undersell an item by not knowing what it really is — or waste time trying to sell an item that isn’t worth anything at all. For example, vintage dolls are popular items on eBay, but prices and demand vary considerably — some dolls sell in the thousands, while others don’t even sell at a $5.00 starting bid. A successful seller in this category knows how to tell the difference between the valuable collectibles and the cheap knock-offs.
Create an Attention-Getting Title
Your title is extremely important, since it is generally the very first thing that captures a shopper’s attention and encourages him or her to click on your listing. (I say “generally” because there are many other features that eBay now offers to enhance the appearance of your title, such as gallery photos, bold, and highlighting.) Since the standard search option that eBay offers automatically searches titles only, be sure that the major keywords shoppers might search for in relation to your item are in the title. Also, don’t forget that you now have a subtitle available to you, and use it wisely.
Write a Thorough Description
Once you know the market inside and out, you need to put that information to use. Many shoppers and collectors use the search feature to search descriptions as well as titles, so a good item description is complete and uses phrases that could attract keyword searches. If you have researched the market well enough, you know the kinds of things that buyers care about, things that you might otherwise not think were worth mentioning. For example, many junk sellers who list old books don’t realize that something as simple as the existence (or absence) of a certain typo on a certain page may indicate a first edition.
Take Lots of Clear Pictures
Another thing that can really make your listing stand out from others on eBay is the quality of pictures you have taken. Particularly when you are selling a collectible or a valuable item, potential buyers want to see as many clear pictures as possible of the item. Item listings can finish at a higher price simply because they have large, detailed pictures. Your best bet is to avoid eBay’s hosted pictures altogether, and either host your own pictures or use one of many services that provide picture hosting for auction listings.
Another advantage of having large, clear pictures that are not hosted by eBay is that you can alternate them with text to make the item description easier to follow. Big blocks of text tend to turn prospective buyers away, while illustrating each point of the description with a picture makes buyers feel more confident. Remember, because buyers can’t see the item in person before bidding on it, they want the pictures and the description to imitate that experience as closely as possible.
Use an Attractive, Easy-to-Follow Layout
Your layout also plays a big part in either maintaining your target audience’s focus, or turning them away dissatisfied. An interesting listing, both in content and appearance, will hold prospective buyers’ attention longer.
One major mistake many sellers make on eBay stores is to keep the plain white page that comes standard on listings. The text is typically to small for people to read comfortably, and there are no color or graphics to break up the monotony. When combined with the standard eBay photo layout, there really is very little to capture prospective buyers’ interest.
This is not to say that a loud, colorful listing page is preferable — quite the opposite, actually, as too much color and graphics can actually make the reader feel overwhelmed, which will cause him or her to click away before reading the item description. So don’t bother changing the color of the buttons and tracking bar on the browser window — instead, focus on making the page interesting yet subtly so.
The Importance of Your Item Listing
Many eBay sellers, especially those who only sell for extra cash on the side, tend to forget that an item listing on eBay is the same as a product’s packaging in a store, or a salesperson’s sales pitch on a car lot. This is your opportunity to make the case for why your reader should be interested in buying the item. If you don’t finish writing the item listing having half-convinced yourself to keep the item, then you’re not going to convince very many of your readers, either! Now you’re ready to start your own eBay store!
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