Let's Create a New Listing

The ABC's of Selling Online Using eBay Section Two: Get Ready to Sell
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Transcript

Let's create a new listing. Congratulations, you now have eBay and PayPal accounts all set up. That means you are ready to forge ahead and create your first eBay listing. Let's go over what that involves and how to do it. Every listing needs a good title. Here's some tips.

You are allowed up to 80 characters use them all. Here's an example of an item not using the full 80 characters you are given men's jacket. Now it could read men's vintage Wilson black leather jacket size, large zip and snaps for color. That title has many more searchable words. In your title, you should include what the item is, in this case, jacket. Believe it or not, some people write and write and then read it back and are surprised to find out Got to use the noun for what they're selling.

Like a shirt, a baseball bat, a blender or whatever. Don't forget. Use good descriptive keywords but leave out words like beautiful. Wow, and look, those words are never searched for. use proper spelling. If possible, use spellcheck to make sure that you're getting the correct spelling on all the words.

It's important not to use all caps in your title. I like to highlight a particular word in caps, say a brand or something that I want to have stand out. But don't put the whole title in caps. It comes across as shouting. punctuation is not needed. Don't waste character space with apostrophes and commas.

You don't have to make your title a grammatically perfect sentence. It's important to add brand size, color, origin or key words that really describe what you're selling. It's okay to use abbreviations and might clear up some extra space for you and your title. So instead of typing the word California, you could use CA, vintage vtg and new unpackage would be an IP. If you weren't sure what abbreviations are, look them up on Google search. What to leave out of your title, email addresses, phone numbers, they're not allowed.

Don't include obscene or foul language. You can't use false or misleading words. And extra keywords that are considered spamming or keyword stuffing are strictly prohibited on eBay. Every listing needs a good description. I suggest your description should be started in a word processing document, you will get to practice with all the important parts of a listing. Once I write a title, I like to highlight my title and then copy it into this description.

As the first line in my description. It sort of makes things stand out. You can see examples of this in my example section. Then I like to use bullet points to highlight important features about that item. It could include size measurements, country of origin, color, brand style, uses for the item. I think a bullet point list reads easier and better than long run on sentences.

We all know that many buyers don't read descriptions at all. So keep it short and sweet and to the point in a phone paragraph in your description. You might include a quick but interesting factor story about how you obtained the item. The more real you can be, the more people will trust your accuracy. For example, this hunting night knife belonged to my grandfather and dates back to the 1930s. He used it every summer when his family gathered in the woods of Maine.

Then I always like to include a separate line for condition. Is it brand new, Pre Owned, used? Does it have any flaws or surface dirt? Does it need cleaning? What kind of packaging does it come with? Are there any pieces missing or incomplete?

Is the manual included? Is the writing in the book. disclose any info that might help the buyer understand the condition? What kind of items should you avoid in your description. Try not to write the whole description and One long, boring paragraph. It can be difficult for the buyer to read.

Don't say anything that isn't true in your description. Sometimes other eBay members will write you a message and let you know about a piece of helpful information. For example, I was selling a chatty baby doll and wrote about her red and white dress. I called it original, but a nice doll collector wrote me and told me that the dress was not original for that model doll. So I thank them and corrected the description, and I said the dress was not original, but did in fact say that it fit the doll of that size. Do not use email addresses in your description.

They are not allowed by eBay anymore. It's best to connect with fellow he bears using the my message system built into eBay. Do not use Word for word copy text from other websites or listings. Even if it saves you some time. It's not considered good form and it's not allowed on eBay. Don't use centered text or many different style fonts and assorted size and color text either.

It can hurt one's eyes. When you look at a listing like that and make a potential buyer leave your listing in a hurry. Here are a few examples of good titles and descriptions. The title 2014 Starbucks coffee mug, San Francisco City series, Blue 12 ounces, fills up almost 80 characters Exactly. Then after that, I fill in a part about the mug being up for auction, the year that it was made the size, the weight, some more info about the mug, being dishwasher and microwave safe, and that it was made in China. Then I go into colors, material and the scene that's on the mug.

All pertinent information about this coffee mug. And last but not least, I put the condition it was used a few times, no chips or cracks and it will be well protected when I ship it. Now take a look at the overall listing the titles in bold. This is in the description part of the body of the description. There are a couple different paragraphs but sort of bullet point style so it's not overwhelming the reader with a massive text. And I like to sort it out this way so that it's easy to read.

And it gives all the pertinent information. Onto the next listing. Here we have a 12 inch Mickey Mouse. It's a stuffed animal, also known as plush, made by Disney. It's a toy and it's new in package and IP four first off I have a little paragraph Hey Disney fans here's the new stuff Mickey Mouse from sale. He's in the original packaging and is brand new comes from a smoke free home.

That information can be important to people who are giving toys to their kids. Then I go into the size, a little bit about the tag, the colors, the clothing what Mickey's wearing. Last but not least, the condition. That's very important for people to see again, it looks balanced, and it has all the pertinent information for the eBay buyer. On to the next listing. Here's a movie poster.

The size is 27 inches by 41. That happens to be the size of a one sheet poster. The movie funny girl I have in all caps sort of stands out. Barbra Streisand 1968 it's an original folded poster. From the title, we go to the body of the description. You can see that I've copied the title and put that in bold, describing The poster is from Barbra Streisand's first movie, funny girl.

And she won the Oscar for Best Actress. I have the size and measurements of the poster. And it's been folded and has a few pinholes from previously being hung. Next I have a little bit about the condition and it's an old poster. It's over 50 years old, printed in the USA. This is also the B version of the poster and it's considered rare.

Don't let this item get away and bid today. Those are important things that as you look at this listing, it has all the information that the buyer would need. Now if they have any questions, they will ask you through my messages, and you can answer them to make sure that they understand exactly what they're getting. At the end of this lecture, I have a worksheet attached that you'll be able to fill out and it will gather all the pertinent information for your listing. Remember, it gets easier the more you practice, practice, practice. Here's an example of the worksheet.

At the top is auction title. We talked about that use 80 characters if possible. The subtitle is something that I don't generally use plus the cost a little bit more quantity category. If you weren't sure what category your item belongs in, look at another similar item on eBay and see what that buyer selected. That might give you an idea of where it belongs. Below that you have a choice of auction or fixed price.

These days most things on eBay are listed as a fixed price. So eBay still is the one place that you can do an auction and that auction can run 1357 or 10 days, you'll be paying an extra dollar if your auction is one to three days. Beyond that, it's the same cost. fixed price, the duration is 357 1030 days or good till cancel Good till cancel is what I use on most of mine. And I just let it ride, put it up once and forget about it. Next you're going to have to make decisions on pricing.

A starting price is for an auction and that is the lowest price you will take. That means if one person bids, you have to sell it for that price if they bid on it or buy it now price is what you add to the auction and you entice a buyer to end the auction early. I usually make that like a dream price and a lot higher than the starting price. fixed price is what you would list for a long term item the good till cancelled or if you want to make it a 30 day listing. In addition, you can add something called make an offer or also referred to as best offer. I usually make my fixed price a little higher.

Then I'll take an offer that's a little bit less and everybody wins. They Get a deal, and you get a price that you probably were looking for in the first place. A reserve price is a feature I don't use at all This makes people angry. What happens is you start an auction at a low price, but you have a hidden reserve price that no one sees only, you know, and if they win the auction, but don't meet your reserve price, they will be angry, they won, but don't actually get to buy the item. So don't use this feature. I don't like it at all.

Payment Options, PayPal, we set up your account. That's how you're going to collect your money for the most part on eBay. Then we get into the topic of shipping, which we'll go over in a future lecture down the road. But here you're going to decide Are you going to sell it to only us buyers, or are you going to add international as well. One way to do it so that you feel comfortable when you're starting is to use the global shipping program. eBay has added the global shipping program to make it easy for you.

You weren't going to ship to a foreign buyer, but use a Kentucky address that will go straight to eBay and they will handle all the custom forms and the delivery from there. It's a really easy way to start shipping internationally. One of the things involved in shipping is weighing your item. So I suggest getting a scale. Whatever the weight is in the box that you're shipping, measure the length, the height and the width and put those numbers down on this worksheet. That's going to save you time.

If you use the calculated shipping option, it's a very easy way to go. You don't even have to calculate how much it's gonna cost to ship. eBay will do it all for you. Or you can choose a flat rate box, small medium large, a padded envelope or a flat rate envelope that fits magazines and paperwork. This could go for the same price to anyone in the United states, it's a great way to learn how much to charge for shipping, because there's one rate for everyone. Next up is condition.

And this is an area you want to be careful in. I like to under promise and over deliver. I like a comment in my feedback that says better than described. So you have choices new, like new, very good, good and acceptable. Let them know upfront what the flaws are. Are there pages that are turned or bent?

Is there a highlighting in a book, whatever it may be, let them know. They will be happy that you did, and you'll get good positive feedback and return. Next is the part on the worksheet where you can practice writing your description. Remember to use bullet points or short paragraphs so it reads well. Below that fill in model or brand, the color the size I usually like to wait each item. So that sort of gets me going in my head of how I'm going to be sending it.

If it's something that's under 13 ounces that will go first class. If it's over a pound, that will have to go priority, you'll start to know these things as you get going. The measurements of an item, sometimes there are different sizes. People want to know what the length, width and height is. And I usually use inches if it's a foreign item. I will also put centimeters and so forth.

Things that you want to put into your listing might include where it came from. If something says West Germany, you know that's a little older because now we just use the country name of Germany. What are the uses of the item? Maybe you can help somebody or entice them if you show them many, many ways that they can use it if that is particular to your item. What is the target group for selling this item? Are you attracting Disney fans or Barbra Streisand fans?

Or hunters or whatever may be, that might be helpful information in your description. And then of course, there's an area where you can fill in miscellaneous info on the item. Keep yourself open to describing in all different ways. That's the worksheet. Now for another piece of advice is to keep records. Some of the information that you'll want to record is what was the price you paid for an item?

Or did you get it free? That will tell you how much profit you're making? What was the date you purchased the item? So you'll know if you've had it too long or you need to get rid of it. Who was the original owner? was a hand me down?

Or did you buy it from somebody or some store somewhere? This information may be valuable as you're going forward to see what works and what doesn't work for your eBay sales. So I think Say you're ready. I think we need to get set and it's time to go. You can make your first listing and create a new one right away. Let's get listing wahoo

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