Your First eBay Listings

Your first eBay listing is like your first day on any job, so give yourself plenty of time to make mistakes, redo something you messed up, look for something you can't find, find something you didn't thnk you'd need, take more photos, write more words, rethink some process or procedure--you get the idea. Before long, you'll be listing at the speed of light--but not today. Today, you're a beginner. Bofore you start, you should be familiar with eBay listing abbreviations. Please read eBay Jargon.

• Start with a simple, unbreakable, easy-to-discribe item that isn't worth more than $20. You may sell it for 99-cents, so choose something you don't mind giving away. OTOH, it should be something interesting, that isn't readily available at Walmart, or it might go off without a bid.
  
  
• Take several good closeup photos of it, with nothing but a blank background. Crop the photos and save them as JPEG files, making sure they aren't too big--25K or less is about right. The bigger the photo file, the longer it takes to upload. Pick the best one for your listing. The rest you'll keep handy in case someone asks for more photos.
  
  
• Write a nice product description in your word processor. (Eventually, you'll write these on the fly, right on eBay, but if something goes wrong with this first listing, it's better to copy and paster a couple of times than to write the whole thing over again.)
  
  
• After you've written you first product description, write up a little blurb about your business policies, and save it to add to the bottom of all your listings. That way you don't have to type it every time. That blurb should cover your position on who pays for shipping, where you'll ship to, how and when you ship, your refund policy, and any other general information. To make it separate from the actual product description, put "<P>" in front of it (without the quotes). That's the HTML tag for a paragraph break.
  
  
• Look at the clock. Your auctions end at the same time they begin, and most of the action takes place in the last 30 minutes. For this reason, you'll want to start your auctions at a convenient time for you and your bidders, and schedule them to end when you're available, so you can watch them finish up. After you get to be an old pro, this won't matter so much, but, right now, it's exciting stuff. You want to be there for the finale. Also, bidders ask last minute questions. You want to be available with answers and shipping quotes, when necessary. eBay has a feature where you can pay an extra dime and schedule your listing to start at a later date and time. Sometimes it's well worth the extra expense.
  
  *NOTE: When calculating the end of your listing, don't forget holidays. Having an auction go off in the middle of a holiday weekend could be a disaster. If you have a really special item to sell, wait until the timing is right.
  
  
• Listing will go faster if you group your items by similar categories. If some of your items are for eBay Motors and others are regular eBay, leave the eBay Motors listings for last. As of this writing, there's still no way to switch from one to the other.
  
  
• From just about any eBay screen, click Sell and you're ready to go. Allow at least 30 minutes for this first listing, so you don't get frustrated in this unfamiliar territory. List your item for $.99 on a 7 day auction, with no reserve. Don't pay for any fancy extras, like additional pictures, Gallery, or bold titles.
  
  The first listing will take a few minutes longer, because eBay will ask you questions about international orders, shipping, credit cards, etc. After that, eBay will remember your preferences.
  
  *NOTE: Near the bottom of the last page in the listing process, you'll see a breakdown of the fees you'll be charged by eBay for listing this item. PAY VERY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THIS PAGE EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU LIST. It's very easy to check the wrong box or let something slip by from a previous listing (when you use the "sell similar" feature). What you see is what you get on this page. If you discover that your listing fee is more than 25 cents, you've added something extra. It's much easier to go back and fix it now, than to ask for a credit later.
  
  
• When you've completed your first listing, eBay will give you the option to "sell similar item." When you use that feature, all you have to do is change the main category, if necessary, and replace the info and pictures that change for that item. Listing will start going faster after that. (That's why you sorted your items by category, earlier.)

Don't be discouraged by how long it takes to list. All of this will go faster as you get used to it. Even so, you won't want to list 25 items in one day, until you're more experienced. The more you list, the more questions you'll get and the more you'll have to ship. Go easy on yourself.

Here are 2 options:

1) If you're in a hurry to make money, pick your 5 best days and times and list 5 items each time, skipping at least 2 days between listing days. That will spread out the work up front and the email and shipping at the end. All of that will be new and confusing, too. You don't want to get in over your head. Later on, when you get in the groove, you can list 7 days a week if you want to.

2) If your time is limited, and you aren't sure about any of this, start with one or two items and don't list anything else until those auctions are over, the money is in your hands, the items have been shipped and received, and feedback has been given and received (hopefully). Then you'll have a better idea of what you're in for.

*NOTE: Don't list junk. If your merchandise doesn't sell, you've wasted your time and the listing fees. Most people have brand new impulse items or unwanted gifts that have lain around their houses for years. They put them out at their yard sales for a quarter, just to get rid of them. These are the items you want to start with. Later on, when you're an expert on eBay selling, you can branch out with more exotic merchandise.

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