I don't normally write short guides, so this may be a first for me. However, in the last few weeks I have come across a great feature I had no idea even existed on ebay: WANT IT NOW. This is a feature that benefits both buyers and sellers. Buyers can post descriptions of items they are looking for and sellers can search for buyers who may be interested in the products they are selling. First, I will explain the benefit and use to buyers and then to sellers.

First things first, the link to Want it Now is located on the home page of Ebay or on the left side of your My Summary page, about 1/2 way down. (Who knew...)

Here is the link: Want It Now

Equally, if not, more important, here is a link to Ebay's Want It Now Policies, which clearly states the rules and guidelines to using Want It Now: Policies

BUYERS:

1. Link to the want it now page and click the blue bar that says "Post to Want it Now" (Notice the big Free sign next to the link).
2. The first section to fill in is entitled "I Am Searching For" - Ebay's tip is to think of word sellers may use when looking for posts. For example, I am currently selling a Thomas the Train Aquadoodle set, so when I went to Want it Now to look for posts from buyers, I entered "Thomas Aquadoodle"
3. Next, select a category. This is pretty self explanatory. There are 35 categories and they are pretty broad.
4. Next, describe what you want in more detail. I have seen buyers write a one word sentence or a very detailed paragraph. If you have a good title, you probably don't need to go into much more detail. Sellers are likely to err on the side of thinking they have what you want and if the title sounds like something they have, they will likely send you a response to your posting. Writing a detailed description will likely limit the responses you get, which may be what you are looking for, though.
5. Finally, ebay lets you post a picture. This doesn't seem likely as you are looking for the item and presumably don't have a picture of it.
6. You are ready to post it. Your post will appear for 60 days.

SELLERS:

1. In the box entitled "Sellers" (go figure), you can search the Want It Now posts. Enter keywords that relate to items you are selling. If you want to narrow the search, you can select a category. I usually just search all categories to cover all my bases.

• I would suggest starting broadly and then narrowing down the search. For example, if you are selling Gymboree clothes, you can first search Gymboree: Try It
• As you can see, you get over 1,000 responses. The next step would be to narrow the search. In the case of this example, you can enter a line of Gymboree's clothing: Sugar & Spice Line.
• I have just narrowed the search down by hundreds, to less than 50.
• If I want to narrow it even more, I can enter the size I am selling: Size 3
• I have just narrowed my search down to less than 10, which will literally just take a minute to deal with.

2. Once you have found a buyer who is interested in the item type you are selling, you can respond to their posting. Select the posting and make sure to read the description within the posting so you know you are meeting the buyer's criteria.

3. If you meet the buyer's criteria, select respond and you can either enter an auction number of an existing item, or set your auction up. If you select the latter, the item will automatically be added to the buyer's post and the buyer will be notified.

This truly is a great resource on ebay and can help both buyers and sellers. I have benefitted from it with minimal extra time spent on ebay. I hope you found this guide helpful and please vote.