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Friday, January 14, 2011

How to List Items on Ebay Faster!

I recently received this comment:
Hi Kelly, I was wondering if you have any tips for listing so quickly. I spent about 4 hours listing this week too and only created probably 10 listings (this included research of completed listings, photography, measuring clothing). Do you have any tips on how I can list more efficiently?
Here's a few tips:
1. Sort your items into piles of Jeans, pants, tops, sweaters, jackets, skirts, dresses, etc. That way you don't have to change the category each time you list an item. Lately, I've been also putting like materials together as well as 4.95 shipping items and 6.95 shipping items. I don't take the time to read the actual label I just go by feel. Taking a few extra minutes during sorting saves hours of time.
2. Photograph all of your items at the same time. I stand on a chair and my daughter lays out the item. We can photograph 100 items in a half hour that way.
3. Start with an old listing that's the same category as your item and click- "Sell similar". That way all of your information is saved from your previous listing
4. I type my title- Then copy it. I do not fill out any of the item specifics boxes.
5. Upload your picture, then paste your title into the description box (over the old title of the previous listing)
6. I always say what type of pockets items have and any special details about the item next.
7. I take my measurements (waist, length and rise for pants, waist and length for skirt, chest, length and sleeve length for tops and jackets) All I have to do is type the new numbers over the old numbers- Next I type what type of material the item is made of- If you have all your 100% cottons together it really saves time here.
8. Check your starting price and make sure shipping price is correct. I either do 4.95 or 6.95 and you're done with the listig.
If you'd like to look over my listings, my ebay user name is Skidoo3. You can go to ebay, log in, and then next to the search box it says "advanced search" Click on that and you'll find the option to search by seller. Hope this helps. If anyone else has tips that make listing go faster please leave a comment. I always learn something from the My Dear Trash readers. Love, Kelly.


12 comments:

  1. Thanks Kelly for the great tips and response to my questions. I never thought about sorting by material, but that's a great tip. Usually I just put things in a stack and go from there.

    I can't wait until my little boy is old enough to help me lay out clothes while I photograph. :) That must be a tremendous help!

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  2. Sometimes when I use "sell similar" it doesn't load the correct information into the final listing, so be careful with that. The easiest thing I have found to do is create a template. You can have multiple templates - one for pants, shirts, womens, mens, whatever - Then it's just a matter of inserting the right info like Kelly was talking about. I am not sure what the deal is with sell similar for me, but I've had it happen multiple times now so I don't ever use that option.

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  3. I like to use turbo lister. That way you can create templates and then upload a bunch at a time.

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  4. I'm glad you said you didn't do item specifics- I think that and creating a description are what really slow me down. Can't wait to omit those from this upcoming week's descriptions!
    (PS- thanks so much for this blog! You inspired me to try and it is already paying off big time!)

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    2. I am in no way shooting down what you say about item specifics. Great article by the way! I do however want to make a small point about the item specifics. Although it takes a couple extra minutes to fill in the boxes, you would be surprised how much of an influence those item specifics have on the selling of your item. 95% of the time, a detail you have in your description, is also one of the boxes you fill in within the item specific area. I am sure a lot of you know about keywords and SEO (search engine optimization). If not, quickly defined: keywords are popular searched words that web crawlers from search engines use to "crawl" your website, or in other words figure out what your website is about so it can list you properly in the search engines. So, naturally, the more keywords picked up by those little bot crawlers (i call them web spiders, the better your chances of ranking high on Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask, etc, leading you to more visitors, then more sales. I find it exciting, this technology. SEO is, in a nutshell, everything you do, every action you take, to boost your visibility on the web. Keywords are part of SEO. All of this leads to more sales. After all, you are on eBay to sell right?? Well, I am signing off, great article again by the way, you ladies are inspiring!! I am not sure if you allow this but it is truly not for promoting but if others, or the authors of this blog, want to see how I list. My family runs an eBay store called Hidden Gems Auctions. Feel free to check out and pick apart my auctions!

      By the way, if you do check it out and are curious, my eBay Theme was done by a great eBay seller that goes by the name of digital sweets. She is great and her templates spice up stores beautifully!

      Remember: Learning is a valuable tool!

      Caroline

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  5. I'm really surprised you don't use Turbo lister. Is there a reason why not?

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  6. i started to separate the clothing like you said and it does save me a lot of time! i have an ebay store that i just opened, mainly because i like to show a lot of photos and it made more sense to open the store to get the free picture package. i wanted to know if you or anyone else knows how to set up a more professional "template"? i see how some stores have their photos already blown up and they have pretty backrounds and such. i asked around on ebay but i cant seem to figure it out! so i would love to hear any suggestions!! i love this blog kelly and laura! it really keeps me going!

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  7. Alyssa,
    I don't use turbo lister because I own a MAC and it's not compatable.

    Becky,
    So sorry, I don't know how to create a template. I've seen the really nice one's you're talking about- maybe Diana or Sarah can share some information with us on that.

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  8. I take all my photos at the same time, too. I also crop them on photoshop and upload them to my photobucket. I have an unlocked photobucket album for my To Sell stuff. It is handy to send someone the link from CL so they can see what all else I have for sale at the moment.

    And I also use the copy/paste to add the extra photos to my ebay lisitng descriptions - saves me a FORTUNE in photo fees and I think buyers like seeing the photos. Like a jacket I always take one of the front with it zipped up, one with it unzipped and the sides open to show the inside, one of the tag and then one of the back. Seems like alot of photos but I think it is just the little edge to get a buyer to trust and know what they are buying, know what I mean?

    How many times do you relist something that does not sell before stopping? I lits it once, then a relist at 4$ (which I think of as my base price), then it gets goodwilled, etc.

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  9. Deanna,
    Check out my post on ebay pricing here
    http://mydeartrash.blogspot.com/2010/10/ebay-pricing.html
    Especially number 5. I really recommend giving your items more opportunity to sell. Hope this helps.

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  10. EBay listing templates is the xprocedure of business information, which is done through the Electronic Data Interchange and other technologies related to the internet. Now the E-commerce has become the most important features of the internet. E-commerce is basically a process that conducts a business through internet and with the help of computers that are linked with each other forming a network.
    Different things can be easily performed through the E-commerce Internet shopping, online stocking, bond transactions, download and sell software, documents, graphics, music, etc. and business-to-business (B2B) transaction. The business can be done globally by using E-commerce.

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