Okay, all eBay newbies, here's a "quick" primer - I'm not going into extreme detail here, hopefully enough to get you started if you're interested.

First things first! You need at least a computer and scanner or digital camera. A scanner is handy as you can easily scan small flat items such as jewelry or coins and achieve great images as well as photographs made from a traditional camera. The drawbacks are that scanning photgraphs is time consuming and costly if you're having to take pictures of your items, take them or send them off to have them developed, and then scan them into the computer. If you've already got one, though, and would rather not buy a digital camera 'til you've explored this business of eBay selling, it's the least expensive way to go.

If you have or would like to purchase a digital camera, the minimum you need for eBay is one with a resolution of 640x480. A lower resolution results in pictures that are of very low quality and less likely to get bids - few people want to take chances on something that isn't well represented in a photograph. (By the way, although you can sell without pictures, there are very few things that most people are willing to buy sight unseen. I know personally that I'm a very visual person and when I'm eBay shopping, I don't even look at items which don't have a picture listed!) A resolution higher than 640x480 may result in pictures that take so long to show up that your prospective buyers will often give up before viewing them - in this day and age of technology, few have the patience to wait even 2-3 minutes for a picture to show up.

Another note on photos - when preparing your photos, do try to make them as enticing as possible. Try to fill up your photo with the image of the item being sold. If possible, go into another program and "crop" off the excess. You may also need to reduce the image size to get it to not exceed 640x480 as most of the popular cameras of today far exceed this resolution. Most digital cameras will come with software which will make this a snap to do, and it really helps with image loading time - besides showing your potential buyers what they want to see - they really don't care to see views of your home! (Many popular camera models also have the capability in their menu to set the resolution for 640x480 as this is the best size for sending photos via email - and it will make getting your photos ready easier if you can set this before you take your pictures.)

Okay, so I've got all my equipment together, now what do I do?

Next, you need to research your items. Different people do this in different ways. I do all my items and descriptions "on the fly" so to speak as I can type much faster than I can write. I have a friend who writes down the names of her images and then writes out her specifics and descriptions and then does her listings. You'll have to judge once you get into it which is easier for you. But before I get into how to get into the listing aspect, lets go over some selling tips.

First off, whether you're selling your own items or have decided to go into this full scale and hit the thrift stores/garage sales etc., you can maximize your profits by finding out what the real value of your items are on eBay. You'll be both pleasantly surprised and disappointed by turns at what items sell for. Start your research with eBay - look for your items on current and then completed auctions.

Become very good with the search engines on eBay. There are a number of ways to search and many people only search by category - but the best way to search in my opinion is to search all categories for your item. You simply put specific words into the main search box - but they need to be specific enough that you don't end up with too much to search through. Once you've pulled up the initial search, take a look at the sidebar on the left and you can begin to narrow your field. For instance, I might put in "bicycle seat" which would call up any auctions that have that exact phrase in the title (this is done by putting your phrase in quotation marks) and then looking at the sidebar I would narrow my field to "cycling" which shows up under the "sporting goods" heading and then again to the parts for the style of bicycle once that search comes up. Now, if the first instance seemed too restrictive, you can put in the term without quotation marks and more articles will show up. In current auctions, you can also search the description of the item as well as the title - and the quotation marks are very helpful to keep your search from being too broad in those instances. The bottom line is that you really need to learn all about searching for your items - it will help you to know how to list your own items for sale, and frankly, you may stumble upon some really great deals for yourself! I've bought a number of great items that I found where a seller either didn't promote his item well, or simply didn't realize what they had.

At any rate, finding your sale items on eBay's current or past auctions is good indicator of what you can expect to sell your identical items for - or where to start your bids. I usually start my items at maybe 25% - 35% less than the completed auction price averages to try to insure at least a starting bid. Now, there will be some instances when you won't find your item listed anywhere. If you can't nail down an idea of it's value at auction, then you have two options:

1. List the item at the price with which you would be happy (this is what I do with items that I don't think would be particularly valuable) or

2. Set a reserve price for your auction. Setting a reserve price means that you are not obligated to sell your item unless and until bids reach your reserve price - although you can set your minimum bid as low as you like. This is helpful if you've got something that you "think" may be valuable but on which you're unable to find any information. Also, of course, those items which you "know" to be valuable and do not wish to disclose immediately your selling price.

Descriptions are very important. Describe the item in detail - even every little flaw that you can find. It is much better to be told that someone is pleased because the item was in better condition than expected or described than to receive bad feedback or complaints that you neglected to mention something. Sometimes it has seemed to me that I got more and higher bids for my items listed with all their flaws and warts than others received for an identical item described in glowing terms!

Measure everything! Books, glassware, pottery, clothing, you name it. When listing clothing (especially for adults clothing) list all measurements possible - it's kind of a pain, but believe me, it saves you in the long run - if you don't, you'll get emails from people asking you to measure this that or the other for them! Also, when selling clothing, if you can get pictures of someone with the item actually on or on a dressmakers dummy, so much the better. Most of the ladies clothing items I've sold have been sold when I've “modeled” them. I crop off my head, LOL - don't really want my face on the web!

Use buzz words to use in your titles are "Medieval" "Gothic" "Shabby" "Country" "Vintage" "Retro" "Antique" - any that apply to your item. You must be careful, however, to not use trademarked words such as "shabby chic" unless you're selling a Rachel Ashwell item as that term is trademarked and as such is only allowed when it refers to a genuine article by Rachel Ashwell. (The same goes for brand names such as Chanel, Hermes, Guess, etc. - those may only be used in a title if you're selling a genuine item - not a comparable one).

If you want to do more than sell your own items, I'd recommend you just start looking around. Look for QUALITY. Name brand leather shoes/boots in great condition can often be found for $2-$3 at thrift stores and can sell for $15 and up easily on eBay. When I say name brand, I don't mean Payless Shoes (don't know if y'all have those or not!) but rather 9 West, Aigner, Bally, Reebok, Tony Lama, Dan Post, Florsheim, Rockport, etc. I've learned lots about a lot of different things in ten years time on eBay and the one thing I do know is that if you can recognize quality, it always sells. Which brings me to another subject - when I'm buying to sell, I try not to spend more than 1/4 of what I think I can get for an item. Of course, I've made and continue to make some mistakes, but by and large, the successes have more than compensated for it. My average is probably that I make at least 8-10 times what I pay for an item. This is possible because while many things I may only double my money on, there are quite a few that I actually may make 20-40 times my money on!

Time to List!

Alrighty now, you've got your items, your pictures, and you're ready to list! Ebay really makes most everything pretty easy to understand. Clicking on the "Sell" button at the top of the eBay screen will take you to the online listing form. There are a number of seller resources and guides on this screen which will take you through the process of getting registered to sell if you've not already done so.

Choosing a category can at times be a challenge - some items are hard to classify, and some are very easy. Clothing and glassware/pottery are fairly well defined, but you might want to browse through the category listings to get an idea of their layout. Next is the place to enter your "Title". You don't have a lot of space here - only 45 characters, so make them count. One of the most common mistakes I've seen (and have occasionally made) is for people to get so busy thinking of how to describe their item that they don't put what the item is in the title! A while back when looking for boots, I ran across an auction which was titled "Cowboy Hat, boots, spurs" - turns out it was fabric imprinted with these items - but you'd have never guessed it from that title! So be sure you get what your item is in that description. This is the time to use those buzz words I mentioned earlier too if they're appropriate and you have room - "Vintage Hand Woven Linen Tablecloth" etc.

Now comes the description - in addition to a thorough description of your item, you should also list things here such as "due to the size of this item, only local bidders please" or "This item weighs 30 lbs. so will be heavy or costly to ship". eBay makes calculating shipping very easy these days, and I try to insure that I have a shipping charge on all my items - most people like to be able to know what the bottom line is going to be without having to email the seller or wait 'til close of auction.

Next is the area for your picture URL, your location, (this is especially important if you're selling a large item and want a buyer to come pick up themselves) quantity, and minimum bid. The minimum bid is just that - the least you want for your item (unless you've determined to place it with a reserve price). The auction duration is up to you - I've used all the durations at different times to suit my own schedule - think about when your auctions will be ending and what you may have going on at that time - you don't want to have auctions ending when you're going to be on vacation for a week and away from your computer!

Buy it Now is a nice feature which I use a great deal - and it can be good - but it is also easy to shoot yourself in the foot! Before you list a "Buy it Now" price, be sure you aren't underselling your item. Your buy it now price should be at least a few dollars more than your minimum bid, otherwise you could be selling for less than your item may be worth to someone.

Going on to the payment method sections, it's easier to stick with money orders/cashiers checks/personal checks if you're just doing this to "clean house", but Paypal is a good easy option if you plan to sell quite a lot and want the ability to accept credit cards. There has been some controversy over security with Paypal and eBay, but if you're savvy and follow that guidelines closely on both sites, you should be fine. Buyers and sellers on eBay should be certain they are verified by Paypal in order to protect themselves. Also, NEVER click on a link within an email purporting to be from Paypal or eBay - and should you get such an email asking you to update information, forward it immediately to spoof@paypal.com or spoof@ebay.com.

Personally, I state that I ship only within the US unless contacted by a prospective buyer for permission to bid. If you do choose to sell to and ship outside the US, be aware that you could unknowingly violate laws of another country - not likely but it can happen. For instance, it is illegal to sell things related to Nazi Germany to someone in Germany. Also, I think that there are some countries that still control their media and simply wrapping items in newspaper if discovered could cause problems.

Now, once you've been selling for a bit, you may wish to download eBay's TurboLister program. It is an ebay program free to eBay users which allows you to prepare your auctions offline and then submit them in "collections".

Once your auctions are done, you should go to the "My Ebay" button at the top of the screen and bookmark your "my eBay" page once you get there - this shows all your current activity on eBay, whether buying, selling, your feedback, etc. You can also bookmark the "seller lists" of friends - or if you find a seller who sells lots of things you're interested in. To do this, you go to the search button at the top of the screen and then go to the "by Seller" tab and fill in the fields.

At any rate, I do hope this will encourage some folks to give eBay a try - whether you're a buyer or a seller, it's hard to beat eBay!