Sell An Item - Getting Started

Whether you just want to make some extra cash or start a business, selling on eBay is the fun way to do it!
Here are the steps:
1. Become a registered eBay seller.
2. Sign up to accept electronic payments.
3. Research your item and the rules of play.
4. Create your listing.
5. Manage your listing.
6. Wrap up with your buyer.

1. Become a registered eBay seller.
To become a seller, you:
Provide us with a valid credit/debit card or bank account information or become ID Verified.
Let us know how you would like to pay your seller fees.
Make sure your Feedback Profile is public.
Find out how.
2. Sign up to accept electronic payments.
All new sellers must offer at least one electronic payment method allowed by eBay as a payment option. PayPal lets you accept credit card and electronic check payments online from your buyers. See Creating a Seller's Account.
Important: Including PayPal in your listing does not register you for PayPal. You need to sign up for PayPal to be registered for PayPal and receive any payments made to you through PayPal.
3. Research your item and the rules of play.
Do some research, especially about setting a starting price, listing format, and category, to list precisely and get the best price for your item. Compare your item with active and completed listings on eBay based on category, format, and selling price. Selecting a Category explains running your search and picking a category. Selecting a Selling Format tells you more about format choices.
Buyers feel more compelled to bid and buy when they know the shipping charges beforehand. Package, weigh, and measure your item so you can use calculated shipping. If this is your first time selling an item, you may be required to specify shipping. Calculating Shipping Costs tells you how to do this. Visit the eBay Shipping Center to see more ways to optimize what you offer for shipping.
Educate yourself on eBay's policies about prohibited and restricted items, as well as what's okay and what's not okay when listing and completing the sale at Knowing the Rules for Sellers.
4. Create your listing.
Depending on your item category and which listing form you use, you'll get a variety of listing options. If you're selling an item associated with a product that's in our catalog, you can add pre-filled item information to your listing description. You can sell your item auction-style or as Buy It Now. Listing upgrades like highlighting, font, and picture enhancements make your item stand out. You can even donate a portion of your sale to a cause that you choose.
To read more about the listing process and options, see Creating a Listing. Or, to get going now, start at Sell.To get there from the top of most eBay pages, click the Sell tab.
Insertion and final value fees apply to certain listings.
5. Manage your listing.
Once you've got your listing up and running, you can check in on it to see how bidding is going. You do this from the Sell section in My eBay, which comes up when you sign into your eBay account. You can also:
Set notification preferences to let eBay know how and when you want to receive alerts or notifications.
Set seller preferences about picture hosting, receiving payments, shipping, and more.
Set member-to-member communication preferences to say how buyers can connect with you.
Set general preferences for searches, My eBay preferences, and more.
If you want to change anything in your listing, see Changing Your Listing.
Be sure to answer any questions you receive about your listing. This will help you sell your item by establishing good rapport with potential buyers. When buyers give you positive Feedback, you become a stronger seller on eBay.
And when your listing ends . . .
6. Wrap up with your buyer.
Here too, how you handle these last steps will go a long way toward your personal satisfaction and getting great feedback from your buyer.
Communicate with your buyer – When you use our Checkout service and your buyer completes checkout, you’ll be notified by email. If you don't specify shipping and payment details in your listing, the buyer can use Checkout to request this information. You can also use Checkout to send the buyer an invoice.
If you didn't use Checkout, contact the buyer directly by email or phone.
Important: Contact your buyer directly if you haven't heard from your buyer or received Checkout or PayPal notification within three days of your listing's end.
Receive payment – If your buyer paid with PayPal, you'll receive an email confirming payment. If you haven't registered for PayPal, you'll be prompted to register so you can accept the payment.
Ship the item to the buyer – Pack it well! Use bubble wrap or crumpled up newspaper to protect the item from shipping damage. Make sure any fragile parts of the item are well padded and located toward the center of the box if possible. Read more tips for packaging your item.
Leave the buyer feedback – Our Feedback system helps create a trustworthy community for everyone. Your feedback about your buyer is important information for other sellers.

Hello everyone :o) Happy "Hump Day"!! Please check out the "Shop4Freebies" button on the left side... Shop4Freebies is legit and everything is 100% FREE... I've been a member on Shop4Freebies for over a year and just became a Moderator there about a month ago. It is the BEST freebie site around... Go check it out and you will see for yourself :o)
K, now back to Ebay...
Send me your questions...I'm here for you...
If you have never sold anything on Ebay before and want to start... Then I'm the person who can help you with any questions...sure you can go on Ebay and they do have a FAQ section and they also have a forum to where you can ask questions... But if you want an answer sooner then I can help you...If I don't know it off-hand then I will look it up for you...
Ebay selling is not as hard as it may seem... It is fairly easy..... If you want to start selling on Ebay, but don't know where to start then I will try and help...

• First let's see what you have that you want to sell...Go through those boxes in your garage, basement, storage rooms, or even some great name brand clothes that don't fit anymore..
• Go on Ebay and do a little research on the items you want to sell...Go by the "Completed Items" which after you search for what you are looking for then click on the "Completed" which is on the left side.... This is just to give you an idea of if it's even worth listing it or to find out more about it that you maybe didn't know...
• If you don't have a digital camera then maybe a friend might have one that they would let you borrow for the day or week... Please make sure all clothes are freshly washed and I like to try and wash most of my items before I take a picture of it... The only huge exception is on silver or brass...I will not shine it up because there are quite a few people who like the old tarnish look...If they want to shine it up then I leave that up to the buyer... There are also some matte finish figurines that I won't touch because there is a special way to clean these and I don't want to risk ruining them...
• Load the pictures onto your computer and hopefully you have a good photo software that you can use to crop, brighten, darken or frame your pictures... I have been using PhotoImpact 8 for about 2 yrs. now and love it...
• After that the listing part is pretty easy... The part that might take awhile is the researching or taking a good picture... unless you are a picture pro then you should have no problems... I still have problems with taking a clear enough pictures every now and then...

I can elaborate more on each section of selling on Ebay such as...

• International Selling & Shipping
• Printing off Labels via Paypal
• How to know what to put in as weight without boxing up the item first
• How to combine S&H on multiple wins
• How to decide what to charge for Handling if any
• Where to find items to sell
• How to box your item to insure that it arrives safely
• How to deal with an Ebayer who is trying to "Blackmail" you with negative feedback
• How to deal with Negative feedback
• What to do if the buyer has not sent payment and does not respond to e-mails
• How to deal with insured items that arrive broken or is lost in transit
• What to do if someone tries to chargeback on their Paypal payment
• How to spot fake Ebay & Paypal e-mails

There are so much more that I can help with... These are some of the main questions that I hear people asking alot...

No Question is a Stupid Question...

I have let this blog go for way too long and with the help of my brother I have rearranged this blog a little and will try to keep up with it... As you might already know... I have been selling on Ebay since 2003 and have been a member of Ebay since 1999. So I was a buyer before I was a seller...Darn Beanie Babies...lol...
So please if anyone has any questions weather it's about Ebay or even any vintage, collectible or unusual items that you have and you want to know more about them then please ask away... That is what I am here for is to help anyone with any Ebay, collectibles, vintage items, markings, figurines, unusual items, ect. questions you may have... I have found alot of unusual things in my findings and had to do alot of research on most of them to figure out what they are and who made them... If you have a question about an item and are able to send me a picture then that would be helpful. If you are to send a picture I will post the picture on here, so if you have any objection to that then please let me know when you send me the picture...
I hope to become more helpful to all as I continue to keep this blog up. So remember that no question is a stupid question... Give me something to blog about and ask away :o)