How to List an eBay Auction for Maximum Profit

teaches you how to sell on ebay, and make the most profits out of it

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• computer, with internet

1. List the item on Sunday
   Listing a standard seven day auction late Sunday afternoon into early evening will give you the best chance of a great auction selling price. More people are likely to be home and you will get the exposure of the remaining part of that day and the entire following Saturday. If you live on the east coast of the United States, list it somewhere between 6 and 9pm. This will give people on the west coast ample time to see it. Ideally, you want as many people to see it in the last few hours as possible, which is when most people make the decision to buy.
2. Know the item you’re listing
   Sounds silly, but many people don’t know exactly what it is they are selling. Say for example you are selling a toy you bought for your toddler but they hate it. You threw out the box when you gave it to him, so you lost a lot of the information about it, what age group it was for, etc. Without that information, you cannot make a solid, descriptive auction. The information should be available on the manufacture website, so search for that. Likewise, if you are selling something like a handmade wood bowl that your grandfather gave you, list that it is a handmade item and that it is one of a kind (if it truly is).
3. Research what similar items have sold for
   You’ll need to login to your eBay account to do this then go to the advanced search options. Search for already completed auctions to get an idea of what recently ending items have sold for and how much of a bidding war took place. With this information you should be able to properly gauge what your item is worth and start the auction accordingly.
4. Be honest with your description
   Sounds easy enough, but the number of sellers who don’t give any information or very little about an items real condition can often not get as much money from their sale or have to deal with numerous questions during the auctions. If you are trying to sell a set of bookshelf speakers for example and you know that on the left side of one of them is a small mark, take a photo and make sure you note it in the description
5. Be realistic with what you expect to get for it
   After you’ve done your research on what similar items have sold for, be realistic with the condition of the item you are selling and how much you can get for it. If you are not comfortable with the price at which recent auctions have ended, don’t list your item. There is a chance the market for that particular item will have an upswing, just as likely as it could have a downswing though.
6. Avoid most eBay add-ons
   There are dozens of options when listing your auction, you can see all the sellers fees here. Most of them will not get you more money in the end, such as fancy templates, making the title line bold and putting a funny little outline around your listing in search engines.
7. Get a good starting bid, avoid reserves, use Buy It Now
   Low starting prices attract buyers, reserves scare them away, and so avoid using them unless you really need to get a certain amount for the item. Listing your item at $1.00 with no reserve will more then likely draw attention but be aware that it might only sell for $1.00. There is a small fee associated with it, but auctions that list with the BIN add-on usually sell faster.
8. List the item for maximum visibility
9. Be as descriptive as possible
10. Use quality photographs
11. Spell check
12. Explain shipping & handling fees
13. Create a disclaimer
14. Reply to all questions in a timely manner
15. Ship fast
16. Use PayPal
17. Promote your auction
    On any given day there are millions of items listed. Just having a clever title isn’t good enough anymore. You need to tell people you have an auction. Get on the social network of your choice, like MySpace and make a blog or bulletin post announcing your auctions. Don’t go around spamming people, but once when you list the auction and another the day before the auction ends can help drive extra traffic to your auctions.

Tips & Warnings

• that should be enough tips
• none