Everyone's a winner now 'cos everyone's a sinner now.

[reddragdiva]

We are so broke. But I've just written my first eBay listing ever. I am sore amazed princesssulky claims she can write a worthwhile listing in only one hour. More to come.

Comments

[princesssulky.livejournal.com]

I have done 5 today, so far. AND I think I write at least ten times more than you - I can waffle for England, though. Adrian think I should have a job on QVC ;p

[reddragdiva]

I shall have to see what tips I can glean from the Mistress. (I'll need to check raven_'s as well.) What's yer eBay name?

[http://users.livejournal.com/raven_/]

Oy. I saw that :-p

[reddragdiva]

So tell me if these listings are any good then ;-)

[greylock.livejournal.com]

Are you really pet and smoke-free?

[reddragdiva]

Yep! No smoke inside, only pet inside was a rat which has now died (and didn't run around the shoes).

[greylock.livejournal.com]

Fair enough.

[mstevens.livejournal.com]

I can do simple auctions fairly quickly (something generic, especially if it's a DVD where ebay will often autogenerate the content for you).

pmcmurrary is the scary one, was posting recently about having 600 auctions running at once.

[mstevens.livejournal.com]

pmcmurray I mean

[girfan.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised it took that long. I can do about 20 listings (including photos) in 3 hours or so, tops. I have a standard format that I adjust according to what I am selling.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

I suspect eBay listing is a skill.

I'll be having to list some stuff soon for the first time, any advice?

[girfan.livejournal.com]

1. I try to photograph items with natural light, especially clothes, to show a true colour. Also, black clothes will have more detail showing. When in Photoshop (or whatever program), size the photo to be around 600K. People will be discouraged from looking at your auction if it takes forever to see the picture.

2. If selling clothing, be very exacting with size. Don't just say "large", but put down actual measurements (9" sleeve length, 32" inside leg, etc). If selling books, music, comics, look at Ebay's info for descriptions of what is considered "mint", "collectable", etc. The experts will call you on it if you are very wrong and you will get all sorts of e-mail asking obscure stuff (especially from vinyl collectors).

3. If you are selling outside of your own country, be very clear on how you want to be paid, timing, and include a currency exchange rate link in your selling copy. Some people are dopes.

4. Set up a standard copy blurb and adjust according to what you are selling. I do mine in Notepad and save the copy to a folder marked "ebay", and this way, I go back to it aand change it quickly. I have saved copy for clothing, comics, bric-a-brac, etc, so I can select easily which one I will be using. Do all your copy at the same time.

5. Get a scale to weigh packages and use the Post Office online costs to tell buyers what it will be for shipping. I also include any envelope/packing costs, though if I recycle, I don't charge. And, if someone buys more than one item, combine shipping. This is usually the most frequent question I get from buyers.

I've been buying and selling on Ebay for 6+ years, and have had few problems.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

Thanks Pat.

I'll be selling Doctor Who books, so I'll weigh one and run it by the postie.

[fluffymark]

snow_leopard has been recently listing about 40 items a day on ebay, all in a couple of hours each evening. She's insane. Our postman must hate us, theres a absolute flood of envelopes with cheques every morning.

[ruthi.livejournal.com]

You don't have the word 'black' in the written description even once. Black leather!

[reddragdiva]

Of course!

[ex-stephmog743.livejournal.com]

You might want to include in the title of your listing that it's a pair of size 8 shoes. The title is the first thing people see, and if they're just searching on 'goth' they're going to be utterly nonplussed by your listing.

[reddragdiva]

*blush* Oh yes!

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

Words to include:

lace-up
laces
gothic
chunky

People search using adjectives, so make sure you have plenty of them.

[reddragdiva]

Of course!

[themadcatlady.livejournal.com]

I know broke. I'm broke too. My utter sympathies.

Starting a new job in a week and a half though so I'll have more money again in a month or two.... :)

[loosechanj.livejournal.com]

Business goth. *chuckle*

[frou-frou.livejournal.com]

Looks pretty good to me! I really need to get ebaying - as soon as I get my hours below 50pw it's a goer.

[reddragdiva]

You just need to work out how to make it work as well ;-p

Really. My head has started dancing with eBay ad copy.