Are you interested in making extra money by selling your quality used items? Or maybe you need to do some spring cleaning and are looking to earn some additional cash. Have you thought about selling your products on Ebay? Sounds like a great idea, but you may be wondering, “How do I Sell Something on Ebay?”

The hardest part of learning how to sell items on Ebay may simply be getting started. There are many successful companies on Ebay with hundreds of customers. They all had to start somehow. With some assistance, the answer to your question, “How do I sell something on Ebay”, can be easily answered.

The first thing you need to do to sell an item on Ebay is go to the website and register. You will pick a unique user name and password to register. This must be a name that is not already used by another customer. After you do this, it is a good idea to set up a PayPal account as well, as this is often the preferred method of payment, and sometimes the only accepted method of payment. This makes is very simply for you as a seller to get your cash, and transfer it safely into your bank account.

The next thing that I recommend you do before becoming a seller, is become a respected buyer. In order for you to do this, you must buy items on Ebay, and pay promptly, in order to get your feedback rating ranked up to 100%. A lot of people will not buy from a seller who has less than 10 positive feedback ratings. When you reach 10 positive rating, you are ready to sell your items.

Now, what do you wish to sell? Walk around your home, look in closets and drawers, and determine what you will be selling. It is easiest if you put all of your items in one spot to keep track of them when they are ready to be shipped. Now take each item individually, and search Ebay to determine how much money you are able to get for the item. You can easily hit the tab that says “Advanced Search”, and then completed items to view which particular items did not sell, and view the prices that the other items that did. If the item did not sell, the price will be in red. For sold items, the rate they went for can be seen in green. This will give you a general idea on what you are going to be able to get out of a particular item.

Now it is time to take pictures of your items. You should be sure to use a nice, high- quality digital camera so the potential customer can see all the details in your photo. Use good lighting, and try to get the best picture possible. You should take front and back views of your item, as well as any detail the customer may wish to see up close. Transfer the pictures to your computer so you can post them for people to view.

Now that you are ready to sell, log into the website Ebay.com. You will be asked to describe your item in detail, the listing price, the shipping and handling price, as well as to upload pictures. Be sure to be as thorough as possible to lure in your potential buyer. Extra pictures are great, as well as listing the item with a low starting price. Also, you can offer free shipping on your item which will be highlighted, as an additional way to grab the customer’s attention.

Once your item sells you need to ship the item carefully to the customer. Take pride in this to keep customers happy. Leave a personal thank you enclosed on the statement if you like. Additionally, it is a nice idea to put a fabric softener sheet inside the packages that contain clothing for a nice scent. When the customer receives their package, if they are happy, they will leave you positive feedback. Don’t forget to leave them positive feedback as well.

If you follow these simple steps you should be well on your way to being a star seller. The question will not be “How do I sell something on Ebay”, but rather “What else can I sell on Ebay”.

To learn more about what the best days to sell on eBay are, you need to conduct some market research about the people who will buy the item you are trying to sell. The biggest mistake beginning eBay sellers make is failing to conduct their market research before they list their items for sale. Instead, they might troll the internet to find advice about what the best days to sell on eBay are.

The problem with this advice is that it is too general, confusing and often misleading. This misinformation costs sellers time and money in listing fees and lost sales. Here are some examples of advice you will find on the internet:

• Sundays, between 6pm and 9pm EST has the highest level of people browsing through the listings.
• Wednesday nights, between 6pm and 9pm
• Thursday afternoons and evenings, setting the auction for 10 days so that it will end on Sunday between 6pm and 9pm

I read another post in a forum by a member who proclaimed that Wednesdays were the worst time to sell. Then I went to the eBay forum and found that one particular Wednesday had a <a href=”http://forums.ebay.com/db2/topic/Workshops/Member-Workshop-Finding/1000360545″>63.40% Sell-Through rate for BMW alternators</a>.

There are two ways that you can go about gathering your market information to determine the best day to sell your item on eBay. The first, and most painful way, is to spend hours scouring the expired auctions in your item’s category in order to see what sold and when. Then you would compile everything into an Excel spreadsheet.

The second and most easiest way to determine when to list your item is to use eBay research tools, which were designed to tell you when your prospective customers are the most likely to buy. Below is a list of popular eBay research tools that will help you to determine the best time to sell your items.

• Auction Intelligence
• Hammer Tap
• Terapeak
• Vendio

The biggest advantage of using software is that you won’t have to compile your market data by hand. You’ll find out the best days to sell your items on eBay in seconds instead of hours. The only downside is that you’ll have to pay a subscription to use the software. If you plan to set up a business on eBay, these tools will help you sell your items more smoothly and profitably. Casual users can take advantage of the free trials.

Many people agree selling crafts online can be profitable, and great crafts to sell on eBay range from original paintings, drawings to jewelry. You can sell items you made yourself, and you can sell items made by someone else that you resell or simply sell on commission. The crafting field is very popular to buyers because no two items are ever alike, the feeling of scarcity and uniqueness draw a lot of attention to the niche.

If you are new to crafting or even to selling online we will discuss some of the more popular crafts selling on eBay. Craft supplies can be purchased at local craft stores like Michaels and AC Moore and then resold. Here are a few of the more popular crafts selling on eBay.

1. Drawings and Paintings: Selling original paintings has become very attractive to buyers on eBay. This area of crafting consistently attracts multiple bidders because there is a large demand for original work, and can bring very nice closing bids on seven day auctions. The best time to end an auction of this length is Sunday night when you have the best chance to attract the majority of people home and surfing eBay.

2. Pottery and Ceramics: Second only to paintings, this area of crafting can range from sculptures, vases, or just ready to paint blank items. You will find many collectors looking for this type of craft item, and you will find many parents getting their children involved in crafting will also bid frequently on ceramics.

3. Textiles, Fabric, Handwork: If you are looking for a broad area of crafts to sell on eBay, this is the area you should focus on. Whether you tie-dye, screen print, fabric paint or iron on a tee shirt, you are sure to get a lot of attention running an auction in this field. This area covers needlepoint, sewing, quilting, knitting and even scrap booking. After you create your craft, there are many buyers who would also buy your leftover scraps of materials.

4. Bead Art: Decorating pillows, jewelry, and even embellishing jeans and tees. You could carve out a great living on eBay selling beaded items. The attraction of bead art is the multiple types of beads available today ranging from crystal, metal to glass.

Regardless of the craft area you decide on, you can see there are numerous crafts to sell on eBay to keep you busy for a long time. Crafting is a fun way to make some extra money, so decide on an area you are passionate about, and enjoy the process.

Avoiding Common Pitfalls When Selling on eBay

This article was written by Laure DuBois.

Selling on eBay can be fun, profitable, and challenging. Being a seller on eBay is an easy way to make some extra money while getting rid of a few unwanted items. Selling on eBay can also be an excellent income source. There are, however, some easily avoidable problems that sellers face regarding seller ratings. Being aware of common pitfalls can make it less of a challenge – so sellers can maintain a positive seller rating and they can focus on the fun and the profits available from selling on eBay.

Maintaining a good seller rating on eBay tells potential customers you are a reliable provider. It is a representation of your honesty, integrity, and reputation. The seller rating is one of the first things most people check when making a purchase decision on eBay. A poor seller rating will reduce your chance of making a sale – especially for high priced items. Sellers are lucky to have some simple ways to maintain a positive seller rating.

When listing an item for sale it is best to go overboard with details. Give the basic details plus anything extra that might be important to a customer. (Also be sure to take great pictures) Your customer is more likely to be satisfied with the item they purchase if it is exactly as it was described when they get it. Customers are less likely to give you a bad review of the transaction if they are not greeted with a disappointing surprise when they open their packages. If the item has flaw like a scratch or a small tear – or whatever the flaw might be – it is better to be honest about that and preserve your seller rating. It may cause you to get less for a single item, but it will pay off in the long run.

The next thing to do in order to maintain a positive seller rating on eBay is to plan on keeping communication lines open during and after the transaction. Check your email often and reply quickly to questions and comments. Take the time to notify your customers when their items ship and provide tracking information.

Providing tracking information protects your seller rating as well as builds your customer’s confidence in you as a seller. Include the cost for tracking in the shipping fees you charge the customer. Putting tracking on a package gives you an extra receipt for shipping it and it lets you track when your customers receive it.

Plus – it can be fun for customers who are excited about their purchases to track the progress of their items as they move across the country to their homes. It is an easy and inexpensive way to protect you – the seller – from potentially unscrupulous buyers. If you don’t put tracking on a package the customer can say they never got it and give you a bad rating – plus you can end up refunding money for an item you shipped – leaving you out both the item and the money.

A couple of last things you can do to protect your status as an excellent eBay seller: Make sure your carefully worded refund policy is clearly visible in your item description. Don’t offer a full refund unless you are willing to give a full refund. Make sure what you say is what you mean. And finally, check back with the customer after they have received the item – mentioning that you noticed they received their package and you hope they are happy with it and that you are available if they have any questions.

Selling on Ebay is not as difficult as many people think. If you have the time, desire, and products, selling on Ebay can be a fun and rewarding experience.

First things first. What are you going to sell? It is smart to make your first item for sale something that is not high in value. You need a little time to get into the groove of selling. After you have become accustomed to selling, it will become second nature to you.

After you understand how the whole process of selling on Ebay works, you should find out what you are going to sell full time. You need to do some research so you know what is selling well on Ebay, and what the people who are selling it do to make all that money! This can also help you to decide how you are going to price your product.

After you have discovered what you are going to sell, you should learn all you can about shipping options. You need to find the easiest, most reliable, and least costly method of delivering your sold items to their destination. Remember to include the shipping cost when filing out the shipping information for your buyers.

When writing your listing, give your ad a lot of thought. You need to be able to write good descriptions in such a way that makes the person viewing the ad want to buy from you. Look at other power sellers to see how they write their ads, and get inspiration from them.

When setting up payment options, include as many as you can. This will make buying from you more desirable than buying from someone selling the same item that doesn’t offer the type of payment options the person needs. Adding credit cards to your list of acceptable payment options can assist in growing your business, and enticing more buyers.

Always be professional. Remember that the people that are buying your products are your customers. In order to turn customers into repeat customers, and build your good name, you need to take care of your customers the same way you would like to be taken care of when buying something. To get positive feedback, you have to earn it through good works. Prompt delivery, good customer service, and excellent product quality will ensure that you are selling well on Ebay for years to come.

Selling on Ebay is hard work, just like any other successful business you might pursue. By following the rules, and making your customer service top notch, you can have a super successful business selling on Ebay.

Wondering how to prepare for your Ebay selling?

There are a number of things that every eBay seller should do before they begin their eBay business. Preparing for eBay success can make selling more efficient and will make it easier to conduct each sale.

The first step in preparation is to decide what types of items will be sold and to find a place to purchase them. For some people, that means buying items at thrift stores and at yard sales. For some sellers, that means buying items from a wholesale seller or from a product distributor. Finding a steady stream of items to sell will mean that sales don’t have to be interrupted later in order to find new products.

The second step in preparation is to decide where the items will be stored. Many new sellers make the mistake of assuming that they will remember where they put the various items that they have listed for sale. This can backfire terribly if they are then unable to find an item that has sold. Stick to one place where all of the eBay items will be kept. Choose one room, one closet or one corner of a room that will be devoted to your eBay items.

A good third step in selling on eBay is to make sure that you have a digital camera that will take adequate pictures. If you have not loaded digital pictures into your computer, do so to see how well the pictures appear on the screen. You may need to invest in a new camera in order to give potential buyers a good look at what they are bidding on.

Another step to take in your preparations to sell on eBay is to set aside a specific amount of time each day or each week to list the items for sale. Creating the item listings is generally the most time-consuming part of selling on eBay and it requires time and attention in order to be done correctly. Many eBay sellers find that they can easily experience eBay burnout if they try to list too much at one time. Try to space the listings out over a number of days each week at first so that the tasks don’t seem overwhelming.

Once you are prepared with items to sell, a place to store the items and the right equipment to list them, you will be ready to start selling on eBay. You can continue selling without interrupting your success with any of the logistical problems that often crop up for new sellers.

Answer the buyer’s questions

Ebayer’s love to ask questions

Part of your job as a seller is to answer the buyer’s questions. Depending on what you are selling you may or may not get a lot of questions. But regardless you should answer them quickly and thoroughly. There is a very good chance you will be able to sell the item to one of the people asking the questions – they wouldn’t have wasted their time asking the question if they weren’t interested.

Use pictures when putting stuff on ebay

Ebay buyer’s love lots of pictures! So use as many as you can!

Yes, it is hard to imagine, but some people do try to sell stuff on ebay without using pictures. If you don’t yet have a digital camera, go to Ebay now and make that purchase the first thing your do. It shouldn’t cost you more than $50(unless you want it to) and it will end up saving you a lot of money and make your life a whole lot easier.

The only thing worse than having no pictures is having only one picture. Ebay allows you to put up one picture for free, but you do not want to just settle for one!

I don’t care how popular the item is you should put a bunch of clear pictures up. This doesn’t mean they have to be professional quality, just clear enough that anyone can see what is actually in the picture.

Having lots of pictures is a key to getting lots of bids.

Since Ebay will only allow you to list one picture for free you should sign up with Auctiva.com or another service that will allow you to host your pictures for free.

You can take a bunch of detailed and descriptive pictures and put them all on Auctiva’s site for free and viola! They show up in your ebay listing and you didn’t pay an extra penny for it.

Ebay descriptions need to be descriptive!

Item descriptions on ebay matter!

The item description is not quite as important as the Title, but still very important. Without a good title your buyers will never find your item. But once they find it a good description can mean the difference between a no-sale and a sale and an easy sale and a difficult one.

Make sure you list all the good features of the product and the imperfections (if it is used).

Don’t try to trick people into buying your broken computer monitor. If there is a crack in it, let them know upfront – it is a lot better to get less money from the sale than to sell it only to have it returned.

Find all the detail you can about the product and list it in the description. This part should be pretty easy. Go to the product’s website and there will likely be lots of good information there and you can check out Amazon.com as well. They often have a lot of product details.

Time the ending of your ebay auction

Ending your auction at the right time is important

The best time to end an ebay auction is from 6-10pm EST. By default ebay auctions run for 7 days, so in order to have it end then you need to list it at that time – or you can pay a small fee to schedule it for the time you would like.

Ebay also offers 10 day auctions which will allow you to get more exposure for your item, they cost a little bit more, but if it is not a super popular item it will probably be worth it.

If you are willing to pay the extra for the 10-day auction make sure you start it on thursday evening, this will allow the item to be visible to buyers for 2 weekends.