Whatever your reason might be, eBay makes it relatively easy to update your item listing. If your listing hasn’t received any bids yet (and there’s more than 12 hours left in your auction), you can actually edit the original listing. eBay lets you edit your title, description, and picturesas long as no one has yet placed a bid. To edit your listing, follow these steps:

The post Editing eBay Auction first appeared on Tips For eBay Sellers & Buyers.

But then there are those ads that shout at you with colored text and different font faces and sizes and multiple columns and sizzling graphics and…well, you know the ones I’m talking about. How do you go about creating a dynamic listing like that?

Those colorful, eye-catching listings are created with Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). HTML is the engine behind every web page you’ve ever viewed, the coding language that lets you turn on and off all sorts of text and graphic effects.

Here’s a secret known to successful sellers: eBay lets you use HTML in your item listings! All you have to do is know which HTML codes to enter in the Description box when you’re creating your item listingor you can use eBay’s built-in HTML text editor and skip the coding altogether. Even easier, you can use eBay’s Listing Designer or any number of third-party programs to create HTML-based listings without ever seeing the HTML code.

As you’ll see, creating HTML-based listings isn’t that difficult. And it’s not just a tool for power sellers; it’s a relatively common technique that any eBay seller can use to spruce up an eBay listing.

You can make your listing great looking in the following ways:

The easiest way to create a listing that goes beyond plain text is with eBay’s Listing Designer. This feature is available to all users, right from the Sell Your Item pageand it costs only $0.10 a listing.

Listing Designer isn’t the only option you have for creating fancy eBay item listings. There are many software programs and web-based services that let you create great-looking listings without having to enter a line of HTML code. Most of these programs and services let you choose a design and fill in some blanks, and then they automatically write the HTML code necessary to create the listing. These programs and services are easy to use, even if they do come at a cost.

Probably the most popular listing-creation program is eBay’s Turbo Lister (pages.ebay.com/turbo_lister/). Turbo Lister uses the same templates found in eBay’s Listing Designer, but it lets you create your listings in bulk, offline.

If you place a lot of listings, eBay’s 10-cent Listing Designer fee can start to add up. Fortunately, there are lots of free auction templates you can use; it’s always good when you can cut your auction costs.

Free eBay Listing Templates:

Here are some of the most popular of these free auction template sites:

• Auction Riches Free Auction Ad Creator (www.auctionriches.com/freead/create.pl)

• AuctionSpice Templates (www.auctionspice.com)

• AuctionSupplies.com Free Auction Templates (auctionsupplies.com/templates/)

• K&D Web Page Design Custom Auction Creator (www.kdwebpagedesign.com/tutorials/tut_template.asp)

• ListTailor (www.listtailor.com/quickstart.html)

• Wizard’s Free Auction Template Creation Form (www.ambassadorboard.net/hosting/free-form.php)

• Xample.net Auction Templates (www.xample.net/templates.htm)

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Mint System Grading

Grade	Abbreviation	Description
Mint	MT, M, 10	An item in perfect condition, without any damage or imperfections.
Very Fine	VF	Similar to mint.
Near Mint	NM, 9	An item with a very minor, hardly noticeable flaw. Sometimes described as “like new.”
Near Fine	NF	Similar to near mint.
Excellent	EX, 8	An item considered above average, but with pronounced signs of wear.
Fine	F	Similar to excellent.
Very Good	VG, 7	An item in average condition.
Good	GD, G, 6	An item that has clear indications of age, wear, and use.
Fair	F	An item that is heavily worn.
Poor	P, 5	An item that is damaged or somehow incomplete.

Degrees between grade levels are indicated with a + or . (For example, an item between Fine and Very Fine would be designated as F+.) Naturally, the definition of a Mint or Fair item differs by item type.

If you’re not sure what grade an item is, you may want to utilize a professional grading and authentication service. These services will examine your item, authenticate it (confirm that it’s the real deal), and give it a professional grade. Some services will even encase your item in a sealed plastic container or bag.

Grading and Authentication Services

Collectible	Site	URL
Autographs	OnlineAuthentics.com	www.onlineauthentics.com
	PSA/DNA	www.psadna.com
Beanie Babies	Peggy Gallagher Enterprises, Inc.	www.beaniephenomenon.com
Books	PKBooks	www.pkbooks.com
Coins	American Numismatic Association Certification Service	www.anacs.com
	Numismatic Guaranty Corporation of America	www.ngccoin.com
	Professional Coin Grading Service	www.pcgs.com
Comic books	Comics Guaranty	www.cgccomics.com
Jewelry	International Gemological Institute	www.e-igi.com
Sports cards	Professional Sports Authenticator	www.psacard.com
	Sportscard Guaranty, LLC	www.sgccard.com
Stamps	American Philatelic Society	www.stamps.org
	Professional Stamps Experts	www.psestamp.com

The cost of these authentication services varies wildly, depending on what you’re authenticating, the age or value of the item, and the extent of the service itself. For example, Professional Sports Authenticator rates range from $5 to $100 per sports card; Professional Stamps Experts rates range from $15 to $500 per stamp. Make sure that the item you’re selling is worth it before you go to this expenseand that you can recoup this expense in your auction.

The post Choosing condition of eBay Items first appeared on Tips For eBay Sellers & Buyers.

What makes for good copy? First, you have all the space you need, so say as much as you need to say. Unlike with the title description, you don’t have to scrimp on words or leave anything out. If you can describe your item adequately in a sentence, great; if it takes three paragraphs, that’s okay too.

When you’re writing the description for your ad, be sure to mention anything and everything that a potential bidder might need to know. Note any defects or imperfections of the item. Include your desired payment terms and your preferred shipping methods. If the object is graded or evaluated in any way, include that assessment in your description. In other words, include everything you can think of that will eliminate any surprises for the buyer.

You should probably put the most important and motivating information in your initial paragraph because a lot of folks won’t read any farther than that. Think of your first paragraph like a lead paragraph in a newspaper story: Grab ’em with something catchy, give them the gist of the story, and lead them into reading the next paragraph and the one after that.

There are certain key data points that users expect to see in your item description. Here’s the bare minimum you should include:

• Name (or title)

• Condition

• Age

• Original use (what you used it for)

• Value (if you know it)

• Important measurements, contents, colors, materials, and so on

• Any included accessories (including the original instruction manual, if you have it)

• Any known defects or damage

If you don’t know any of this stuff, that’s okayas long as you admit it. If you’re not that familiar with the type of merchandise you’re selling, just say so. Better to plead ignorance up-front than to have a more savvy buyer cause problems for you after the sale.

Because other users will be bidding on your item sight unseen, you have to make the process as easy as possible for potential bidders. That means describing the item as accurately as possible, and in as much detail as possible. If the item has a scratch or blemish, note it. If the paint is peeling, note it. If it includes a few non-original parts, note it. Bidders don’t have the item to hold in their hands and examine in person, so you have to be their eyes and ears.

That’s right; you need to describe the item in painful detail, and be completely honest about what you’re selling. If you’re not honest in your description, it will come back to haunt youin the form of an unhappy and complaining buyer.

Although you need to be descriptive (and in some collectibles categories, you need to be obsessively so), it doesn’t hurt to employ a little marketing savvy and salesmanship. Yes, you should talk about the features of your item, but it’s even better if you can talk about your product’s benefits to the potential buyer.

Let’s say you’re selling a used cordless phone, and the phone has a 50-number memory. Saying “50-number memory” is stating a feature; saying instead that the phone “lets you recall your 50 most-called phone numbers at the press of a button” is describing a benefit. Remember, a feature is something your item has; a benefit is something your item does for the user.

Don’t forget to spell-check and proofread your listing. Bad grammar and misspellings can cause potential bidders to doubt your veracity and even to totally disregard your auction.

And if your listing starts to get a little long, you should break it into more readable chunks. Use separate paragraphs to present different types of information, or just to break one long paragraph into several shorter, more readable ones. You can even use eBay’s formatting options to use different type sizes and colors for different portions of your listing description.

Breaking up your description enables you to put a lot more info into your description. When it comes to informing potential buyers, it’s impossible to be too complete. (And if you don’t define a detail, the buyer willin his or her mind.) Don’t assume that buyers know anything; take the time to spell out all the details about payment and shipping and the like.

The very last things you can put into your listing, at the bottom, are some extra words. Remember, not every person uses the same words to describe things. Remember, they’ll be picked up by eBay’s search engine if they’re anywhere in the description area.

The post Writing Good Item Description on eBay first appeared on Tips For eBay Sellers & Buyers.

• Include the appropriate information so that anyone searching for a similar item will find your item in his search results.

• Make your title stand out from all the other titles on those long listing pages.

Do those two things, and you significantly increase your chances of getting your item noticed and sold.

Let’s tackle the first point first. You have to think like the people who will be looking for your item. Most users will be using eBay’s search feature to look for specific items, so you want to put the right keywords into your item title, to make your item pop up on as many search results pages as possible.

If you’re unsure how best to word the title for your item listing, check out auctions for similar items and “borrow” their wording.

Beyond including as many relevant facts as possible in your title, how do you make your title stand out from all the other boring listings? Obviously, one technique is to employ the judicious use of CAPITAL LETTERS. The operative word here is judicious; titles with ALL capital letters step over the line into overkill.

Avoid the use of non-alphanumeric characters, such as !!! or ### or ***. eBay says that their use is prohibited, although that rule is seldom enforced. More important, eBay’s search engine sometimes ignores titles that include too many of these nonsense charactersand could exclude your listing from buyers’ search results.

Instead, I advise you to think like an advertising copywriter. What words almost always stop consumers in their tracks? Use attention-getting words such as FREE and NEW and BONUS and EXtrA and DELUXE and RAREas long as these words truly describe the item you’re selling and don’t mislead the potential bidder. (And don’t bump more important search words for these fluffier marketing termsthat won’t help your item show up in bidder searches.)

The post Writing Good eBay Title first appeared on Tips For eBay Sellers & Buyers.

Use a digital camera. Although you can take pictures with a normal film camera, develop the film, and have your film processor transfer your photos to graphics files on a photo CD, it’s a lot easier if you start with digital at the sourceespecially if you plan on listing a lot of items on eBay. You can pick up a good low-end digital camera for $200 or less these days, and going direct from camera to computer (and then to eBay) is a lot easier than any other method.

If you’re shooting a small item, your camera may have difficulty focusing if you get too close. Use your camera’s macro focus mode to enable sharp focus closer to the object.

Take more than one photo. Don’t snap off a quick picture and assume you’ve done your job. Shoot your item from several different angles and distancesand remember to get a close-up of any important area of the item, such as a serial number or a damaged area. You may want to include multiple photos in your listingor just have a good selection of photos to choose from for that one best picture.

The post eBay Auction Pictures Tips first appeared on Tips For eBay Sellers & Buyers.

Take All the Space You Need
What makes for good copy? First, you have all the space you need, so say as much as you need to say. Unlike with the title description, you don’t have to scrimp on words or leave anything out. If you can describe your item adequately in a sentence, great; if it takes three paragraphs, that’s okay too.

When you’re writing the description for your ad, be sure to mention anything and everything that a potential bidder might need to know. Note any defects or imperfections of the item. Include your desired payment terms and your preferred shipping methods. If the object is graded or evaluated in any way, include that assessment in your description. In other words, include everything you can think of that will eliminate any surprises for the buyer.

First Things First
You should probably put the most important and motivating information in your initial paragraph because a lot of folks won’t read any farther than that. Think of your first paragraph like a lead paragraph in a newspaper story: Grab ’em with something catchy, give them the gist of the story, and lead them into reading the next paragraph and the one after that.

The Bare Necessities
There are certain key data points that users expect to see in your item description. Here’s the bare minimum you should include:

• Name (or title)
• Condition
• Age
• Original use (what you used it for)
• Value (if you know it)
• Important measurements, contents, colors, materials, and so on
• Any included accessories (including the original instruction manual, if you have it)
• Any known defects or damage

If you don’t know any of this stuff, that’s okayas long as you admit it. If you’re not that familiar with the type of merchandise you’re selling, just say so. Better to plead ignorance up-front than to have a more savvy buyer cause problems for you after the sale.

Describe ItAccurately
Because other users will be bidding on your item sight unseen, you have to make the process as easy as possible for potential bidders. That means describing the item as accurately as possible, and in as much detail as possible. If the item has a scratch or blemish, note it. If the paint is peeling, note it. If it includes a few non-original parts, note it. Bidders don’t have the item to hold in their hands and examine in person, so you have to be their eyes and ears.

That’s right; you need to describe the item in painful detail, and be completely honest about what you’re selling. If you’re not honest in your description, it will come back to haunt youin the form of an unhappy and complaining buyer.

Stress Benefits, Not Features
Although you need to be descriptive (and in some collectibles categories, you need to be obsessively so), it doesn’t hurt to employ a little marketing savvy and salesmanship. Yes, you should talk about the features of your item, but it’s even better if you can talk about your product’s benefits to the potential buyer.

Let’s say you’re selling a used cordless phone, and the phone has a 50-number memory. Saying “50-number memory” is stating a feature; saying instead that the phone “lets you recall your 50 most-called phone numbers at the press of a button” is describing a benefit. Remember, a feature is something your item has; a benefit is something your item does for the user.

Break It Up
You should include as much descriptive copy as you need in your listing, but you should also make sure that every sentence sells your item.

And if your listing starts to get a little long, you should break it into more readable chunks. Use separate paragraphs to present different types of information, or just to break one long paragraph into several shorter, more readable ones. You can even use eBay’s formatting options to use different type sizes and colors for different portions of your listing description.

The post Writing Good Description for eBay Auction first appeared on Tips For eBay Sellers & Buyers.

I like setting a price that’s low enough to get some interested initial bidding going, but not so low that it won’t get up to the price I think the item can really sell for. So how do you know what the final selling price will be? You don’t. But you can get a good idea by searching eBay for completed auctions of similar items. eBay keeps most auctions on file for 30 days, so if anything similar has sold in that period of time, you can find it from eBay’s advanced search page.

At the least, you want to be sure you’re not setting the starting bid higher than the similar items’ final selling price. If you do a search for completed auctions and find that Star Wars DVDs have been selling between $4 and $6, don’t put a $10 starting price on the Star Wars DVD you want to sell. Ignore precedence and you won’t get any bids. Instead, gauge the previous final selling prices and place your starting price at about a quarter of that level. (That would be a buck or so for our Star Wars example.)

Of course, you can always go the reserve price auction routein which you get to set a low initial price and a high selling floor. In our Star Wars example, that might mean starting bidding at a penny (very attractive to potential bidders), but setting a reserve price of $4 or so. But when you run a reserve price auction, you run a very real risk of scaring away a lot of viable bidders. If you want to run that risk, fine; reserve auctions do let you get bidding started at a very attractive level, while protecting you if bids don’t rise to the price you’re looking for.

Don’t waste your time searching auctions still in progress. Because so much bidding takes place in the last hour of the auction (that’s sniping, remember?), a mid-auction price is likely to bear no relation to the final pricewhich you can find by searching completed auctions.

…But Don’t Set It So Low That It’s Not Believable

In some instances you need to worry about setting the starting price too low. If you set too low a minimum bid for your item, some potential bidders might think that something is wrong. (It’s the old “if it’s too good to be true, it probably is.”) Although you might assume that bidding will take the price up into reasonable levels, too low a starting price can make your item look too cheap or otherwise flawed. If you start getting a lot of emails asking why you’ve set the price so low, you should have set a higher price.

Make Sure You Recover Your Costs…

Another factor in setting the starting price is what the item actually cost you. Now, if you’re just selling some junk you found in the attic, this isn’t a big concern. But if you’re selling a large volume of items for profit, you don’t want to sell too many items below what you paid for them. Many sellers like to set their starting price at their item costso if the item cost you $5, you set the minimum bid (or reserve price) at $5, and see what happens from there.

Make Sure You Can Live with a Single Bid

What happens if you set the starting price at $5 and you get only one bidat $5? Even if you thought the item was worth twice that, you can’t back out now; you have to honor all bids in your auction, even if there’s only one of them. You can’t email the bidder and say, sorry, I really can’t afford to sell it for this price. If you listed it, you agreed to sell it for any price at or above your minimum. It’s a binding contract. So if the bidding is low, you’d better get comfortable with itit’s too late to change your mind now!

The post How Should You Price eBay Items? first appeared on Tips For eBay Sellers & Buyers.

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eBay also offers true fixed-price listingsthat is, item listings with no bidding allowed. These work pretty much like Buy It Now auctions, except that your only option is to buy at the stated price; you can’t place a lower bid.

Buy It Now is an option that some (but not all) sellers add to their auctions. With Buy It Now, the item is sold (and the auction ended) if the very first bidder places a bid for a specified price. (For this reason, some refer to Buy It Now auctions as “fixed-price” auctionseven though they’re slightly different from eBay’s real fixed-priced listings.)

Buying an item with Buy It Now is really simple. If you see an item identified with a Buy It Now price (as shown in Figure 8.1), just enter a bid at that price. You’ll immediately be notified that you’ve won the auction, and the auction will be officially closed.

Of course, you don’t have to bid at the Buy It Now price. You can bid at a lower price and hope that you win the auction, which then proceeds normally. (The Buy It Now option disappears when the first bid is madeor, in a reserve price auction, when the reserve price is met.) But if you want the item nowand you’re willing to pay the asking priceyou can use the Buy It Now option to make an immediate purchase.

You should use Buy It Now only if you really, really, really want the item; if you think the Buy It Now price is reasonable; if you fear that the final price will be higher than the Buy It Now price; or if you don’t want to wait for the auction to run its course to complete your purchase.

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eBay’s list of prohibited items includes the following:

– Alcohol
– Animals (except for tropical fish and snails) and wildlife products
– Catalog sales
– Counterfeit CDs, videos, computer software, or other items that infringe on someone else’s copyright or trademark
– Counterfeit currency and stamps
– Credit cards
– Drugs and drug paraphernalia
– Embargoed goods and goods from prohibited countries
– Firearms and ammunition
– Fireworks
– Government IDs and licenses
– Human body parts and remains
– Lock-picking devices
– Lottery tickets
– Mailing lists and personal information
– Multi-level marketing, pyramid, and matrix programs
– Postage meters
– Prescription drugs and devices
– Recalled items
– Satellite and cable TV descramblers
– Stocks and other securities
– Stolen property
– Surveillance equipment
– Tobacco
– Weapons and knives

Other items, such as artifacts and adult items, fall into the questionable category. If you’re in doubt about a particular item, check out eBay’s Questionable Items page at pages.ebay.com/help/sell/questions/prohibited-items.html.

The post What Is Not For Sale on eBay first appeared on Tips For eBay Sellers & Buyers.