eBay Listing Guide

Here is a great guide for anyone wanting an easy read on how to list your items on eBay. We will go over listing basics, description, shipping, payments, upgrades and more.
First, you should have a good listing tool that you like and feel comfortable with. There are several you can choose from. You can use a management service, like Vendio or Auctiva. To check out either of these auction management services, just Google them with the names I provided. I am sure there are other auction management companies, but these are two that I know well and have used in the past. In other words, I recommend them if auction management is what you need. eBay also has the list your item form and turbo lister which are both free. Also, now available is the Seller Sourcebook eBay launcher tool. If you do not want to pay for the management services, Auctiva has great templates which are free. All of these options are compatible with eBay.

Description
Make sure when you are writing your description you include all the necessary information like size, measurements and condition (NEW, NWT, EUC, GUC, etc). Also, include important points about the item that make it special. Be clear and accurate so you are not misleading anyone. This is very important because you might find in the end of the transaction someone is unhappy. You do not want any open “item not as described” disputes. Be sure you never copy anyone else’s listings or pictures because this is a copyright infringement and against eBay policy. eBay is always on top of these types of issues and has VeRO to look after fellow ebayers. To find out more on this, go to the eBay user agreement and also take the VeRO tutorial.

You should always use spell check in you listings. We all make mistakes. Just fix them before you upload your listing. Include all your business policies in your listing. This is important so there will be no confusion later on about the item you sold and how you do business. Once you have written your description, have your title include all the necessary and important information needed to find your item and get it noticed.

A lot of people do not like flashy titles with WOW or an asterisk. But a lot of other people will tell you this can attract buyers to your listings. I use them, but it really comes down to what you like and feel comfortable doing. Be sure to include the name of your item and what size, color, and condition. Here is an example of a good title:
WOW* NWT Gymboree Girls Clothing Lot Sz 2T!

This is simple, catchy, yet straight to the point. You already know the clothing is girls’ size 2T, brand new with tags, and made by Gymboree. You also know there is more than one item because it says “lot” in the title. This is the best and easiest way to tell your customers what you have to sell.

Pictures
The next important part of your listing is the pictures. You should have a digital camera. You do not have to have one, but it will save you time and money. You do not have to wait or pay for the pictures to be developed. You just upload your pictures and go. You also do not have to waste money on blurry pictures and wait to retake them. This is very helpful when you have been taking pictures all day only to find out that most of them are blurry. I know…I’ve been there! You can find really great deals on digital cameras right here on eBay. Always check out the auctions first before you decide to go to the store and pay full price. Many of the eBay auctions and listings offer excellent package deals or expedited shipping if you need it right away. You might even be able to find one with a tripod.

Always crop and edit your pictures. Many of the listings take forever to upload. This happens because the pictures they used are way too big. You should resize your pictures down to about 500x500 pixels. You can also crop them to get out the unwanted space around the items. This way your customer can focus on the items you are selling and not the background. This brings me to the background. You should always use a clean, smooth-looking background. Most prefer a black background or white depending on the item. Paper, poster board, and other flat surfaces are best.

For image hosting you can use eBay, or a third party hosting service. You may also already have an auction management service that I described earlier. These services offer image hosting as an addition to your monthly plan fee. Some even offer package deals for additional services you may require. Auctiva also offers an imaging service separate from their auction management service. The Seller Sourcebook has many great templates that you pay for and includes the image hosting for free. This is my personal favorite and I am currently a subscriber and affiliate. This works for me because they offer custom Gymboree templates in addition to hundreds of other templates. Check out my store, and you can look at my affiliate page to see if they are having any excellent deals on my favorite sites. eBay also has there own image hosting packages that you can choose from. They are on a sliding scale for cost. This is great because if you do not need a ton of image hosting space, you do not have to purchase it. You purchase what you need. Auctiva is also great for their showcase. I believe eBay offers a showcase, but I have Auctiva because they were the first to offer the showcase for free. A showcase can show up anywhere you prefer in all your listings to show off all the other items you have to sell. The best part is that they show a picture with the price and other great information. The fact that it is free advertising for you is incredible. This is an easy way to promote your items.

As for your pictures, if you are selling in large lots with several pictures in each lot, it is a good idea to use a caption with each picture. Most image hosting services offer this option. Be sure to check before you purchase the image hosting service.

Always add your best picture in the listing as your gallery picture. To make it easy, I always make that the first picture in my listing. This is smart when you use several listing tools like The Seller Sourcebook and then TurboLister. You should always pay the extra cost for the picture no matter how low the price of the item. Most ebayers won’t even look at a listing that doesn’t offer a gallery picture. I have heard this not only on eBay blogs but in other selling circles, blogs, and columns. Believe me when I tell you, no picture is a big NO, NO!

Shipping
With shipping you should always know what shipping carrier you would like to use. I use all the carriers for different items and lots. This is so I can be sure to offer the cheapest service or most reliable service every time. If you do not know which would be the cheapest you can always learn buy going to the websites and testing out the most expensive areas or provide calculated shipping. Now, I have heard complaints about flat vs. calculated. Some say that people will not buy it if they have to check out the calculated shipping, but I find it is the most reliable way to offer the proper shipping service. This also gives the buyer some options. Someone might need the package ASAP, but others might want to pay the least for shipping. Each buyer is different, so offering options will accommodate interested buyers. I always do my best to provide accurate shipping totals. Doing this will keep your buyers happy and coming back. All buyers dislike high, unreasonable shipping, including myself. Sellers who gouge for shipping are being publicly disciplined on eBay. So, do not be one of those sellers. The couple of extra dollars is not worth being suspended for 14 days.

If you decide to add a handling charge for your supplies, be reasonable here too. I have heard and agree that you should stay under two dollars. I personally do not charge any handling fees. I do try to make sure that everything is added in the price of the item itself. This way people do not get upset when they checkout and then have to pay a ton of fees. Reasonable shipping rates are a good way to keep your customers happy.

Figure out ahead of time if you want to offer international shipping. Some people don’t feel comfortable selling to international customers. If you are not intimidated, then do your research ahead of time. You should know that international shipping is outrageous. It is very high no matter what service you use now, unless you are shipping small items. USPS used to be the cheapest when it came to large international lots, but they no longer offer the cheaper services. So, you can choose from UPS, USPS, FedEx, or DHL. I have used all but DHL. I do not know much about them. The others are very close in price depending on where you are shipping and the size of the package. Offering international shipping services will bring in more customers. So, make sure you think about it. When shipping internationally you just need to make sure you know about customs forms and not to ship anything that is restricted. If you are not aware what is restricted, you can always check out the shipping websites, and they will have information for each international location. You will need a customs form for all international packages. USPS always offers free forms on their website. Other shipping services require you to fill out your own information on the customer invoice (provide two copies).

Do not, and I mean do not send anything as a gift if it was paid for. This is a big deal to any shipping company. You must put that it is merchandise and the total the customer paid for it, or you are breaking the law. You will be fined heavily for it and you also can not claim it on your taxes as paid postage. Do not make the mistake of entering the total retail value amount or the retail cost of the item, because the international buyer has to pay customs fees for every dollar. This would be a horrible mistake and cost the buyer a ton of unnecessary extra money.

As for handling time, you should be sure you provide a handling time which allows you enough time to get your packages out in case something happens. What I mean is if you are running the business yourself, like I do, when you get sick there is no one to do it for you. I offer 10 days so that I know by the last day I can get the package in the mail, even if my daughter gets sick. I also don’t get a bunch of emails asking when the item will be shipped if I tell them how long in the listing. And if it goes out early, the customer is even happier. You choose the handling time that works best for you and add it to your shipping information.

Shipping insurance is another important choice you will have to make. Do you offer it, make it optional, or not at all? It is really important because of what you will have to deal with. I have had several lost packages and some damaged ones. Since then I always make shipping insurance required. Even though the listing states that you are not liable for the package once it leaves your hands, the customer really doesn’t care. They still feel it is your problem. They paid the money and they do not care otherwise. Do not get me wrong, some customers are very nice about it, but others are not and it is those people that you have to be prepared for. I had a customer get a bowl and plate set broken into pieces. I had them purchase the shipping insurance. Knowing this I sent the refund before I even filed the paper work for the insurance refund. This was because it was very simple. I used USPS so I knew I would get the refund. But the customer was still not happy. He wanted me to refund the shipping cost as well. The problem is, I didn’t break the bowls and I wouldn’t get the shipping back from USPS. It is something that is stated in the listings in eBay. This still was not good enough for the customer so they still left me negative feedback stating I packed the box poorly and wouldn’t refund shipping, total loss. This was my first negative and I was inconsolable. Yup, I cried over feedback!!! I had that pretty 100% there and it had been completely ruined over something that was out of my control. So, I always make sure shipping insurance is required no matter what. There is no other option for me. I know when there is a lost package the customer will be happy to know they are insured. It is up to you in the end and I agree it depends on the value too.

Now, you will need a scale. Make sure you get a scale that will accommodate what you are shipping. Do not get a 50 pound scale if you are shipping boxes that will weigh over 70 pounds. My first scale was bought by my husband. He found a 50 pound scale for me at Staples for $50. I have since found a 75 pound scale on eBay for $10. The shipping was more but it was still better than the $50 scale I purchased before. It was also a digital scale and the first one I got was not. I think a digital scale is much more accurate. This is very important when you are dealing with smaller items and you want it to be under that 1 pound mark.

Boxes and shipping forms are going to be free with USPS priority or express mail. I personally like priority for my smaller lots. I use the Tyvek bags the most. USPS boxes and forms are free when you go to the office or on-line. They will even ship their boxes and forms to you for free. UPS and FedEx also have smaller free envelopes and forms. All these will work great and save you money. I find that priority mail is more expensive, but if you can fit items in the flat rate boxes then you have a great shipping deal and your customers will get it fast. For other great shipping deals and information go to my selling guide.

Payments
How about payments? What will you accept? You can use PayPal, which is a good service that accepts all types of credit cards and e-payments. Personal checks are risky. Money orders are great, but take time to receive. You also have no guarantee you will get it in the mail.

Let’s start with PayPal. If you don’t have an account already, you should definitely open one. Most customers do feel safe using this service. There are other money services out there too, but I do not know them so I do not recommend anything I haven’t used. You can also get a merchant account, but I know from personal experience they are very expensive. PayPal charges you for each transaction. A merchant account charges you for each transaction, and an additional percentage of each transaction which could be higher depending on what kind of card is used. Also they may charge a monthly customer service fee, a site service fee, and other fees. With my experience, I opened a merchant account, never used it and was charged $64.00 per month just for signing up for the account. Now, if you sell in high volume or own your own website this might be a great service. Just make sure you read everything before you do. I ended up signing up for something that I wasn’t aware of. In my welcome package they detailed all the fees I would be paying. I wanted to cancel. I would have to pay a cancellation fee of $175.00 or I could keep the service and pay at least $64 a month for six months, even if I didn’t actually use the service. That was a total of $384. If I did use the service there would be the charge for each transaction, the percentage of each card, then a batch fee for every day I sold anything, and a ton of other fees I was unaware of. I cancelled the merchant account, and was very unhappy as you can imagine loosing that much money for nothing. I learned my lesson though.

Personal checks are a risk no matter who you are, but they are always an option. If someone has a check bounce you will have to make sure your listing states your policies on how much you will charge. This is so important because your bank will not extend you any favors. They will charge you and in turn you should charge them. This leaves a risk of not getting the fee as well. You can always tell them they owe you but that doesn’t mean they will pay.

Money orders are good but make sure you note that it is a postal or bank money order. They don’t always have to be, but it is good if it is an international customer. Be sure they are aware of the policy. They should send it certified and with insurance. I have heard really bad stories about international mail so always be covered.

For very expensive listings I make sure payment is due sooner than my regular listings. I also note that payment is required through PayPal for this type of purchase. This is so you do not have anyone buy the lot that doesn’t want to pay for it later. They are required to pay ASAP, not by money order or check. Large purchases should be paid for right away. You do not want to put a package together to find out they didn’t plan on paying for it, especially if it is an expensive lot.
You can charge taxes if you want, but it isn’t required. You will have to claim that you charged the taxes when it comes to that time of year. Some sellers just charge tax for purchases made from buyers in their state. This way you can file that you charged taxes and this will help after the first 3 years once you start to owe some taxes on your earnings.

Make sure you let your customers know payment is due within a specific time frame. Have it in your listing information and make it known with email reminders. However, be flexible and nice to the customers who email you ahead of time to let you know when they can pay. If someone takes the initiative to kindly email me before they bid or buy to let me know they can’t pay right away, then I am happy. They let me know ahead of time so I am not emailing them over and over again. Now, if I do not get an answer back on when I can expect payment and it has been seven days then I always open an unpaid item dispute with eBay. They knew when payment was due, and they didn’t email you. There is just no exception for this. You are running a business and could be offering it to the next person who will pay for it.

Due to the eBay character limit, this guide will continue in Listing Guide II. If you found this part of the guide helpful in any way, please vote YES, this guide was helpful! Feel free to stop by ziggybella's closet and have a great day!!!