Here are some tips to help you make your selling on eBay efficient and effective.

Listing your item

• Make sure the item is legal and allowed. If you are not sure that your item is allowed, check eBay's policies on prohibited, questionable, and infringing items. (See Knowing eBay’s Rules for Sellers).

• Take one or more pictures of your item in a well-lit area. Effective pictures that are sharp and bright will help sell your item. Evenly distributed artificial or natural light is better than a camera’s flash for most items. A tripod steadies your camera and ensures your picture will be in focused.

• Choose the most specific category available. This will help buyers find your item. Use the Suggested Categories feature to have eBay suggest categories for you. For an additional fee, you can list your item in a second category to maximise your item's visibility.

• Imagine you were the buyer when you prepare the title and description for your listing. What would you want to know about the item? What are its most appealing characteristics? What words might buyers use to search for your item? Keep the item close by in case you need to add information to your description. (See Writing a Good Title and Description).

• Save time by composing your item description in a word authoring program first, and then pasting it into the item description area in the Sell Your Item form. Be clear and complete, but use short sentences that are easy to read. Including specific details about the item, such as dimensions, shipping, and payment etc. may help reduce the number of email questions you receive about your item. Use of Advanced Selling Tools will also save you time creating and managing your listings.

• Plan your pricing strategy. Look at similar completed eBay listings using the completed listings search. You can also visit online shops that sell similar items and ask friends to help determine what the item is worth. This will help you set your starting price or your Buy It Now price. Also, decide whether you would like to set a reserve price.

• Consider registering for selling-related services before you begin the Sell Your Item form. For example, if you want to sell Downloadable Media, view the Downloadable Media Policy before you list your item. If you want to open your own eBay Shop, see eBay Shops Overview.

Communicating with buyers

• Ensure that you attract the ideal buyer for your item by selecting buyer requirements and buyer management tools including the blocking buyers feature.

• Know about your buyer by checking the bidder’s or buyer’s Feedback Profile, including Feedback comments from other sellers (see Knowing Your Buyer.)

• Be sure that your contact information and email address are correct and up-to-date. Check your personal information to make sure it is correct. Also, check that any "spam" blocking software you have installed does not limit a buyer from communicating with you.

• Plan for alternate computer access. If you have computer or connection problems, or need to be away from your computer, you can access your eBay account using any computer with internet access. For example, you can monitor your items through the "My eBay" page using the computer at your friend’s house or your local library (See Managing Selling with My eBay).

Expand your selling options

• Explore listing upgrade features to distinguish, promote, and enhance your listing. Listing upgrades include bolding your title, adding photos, and ranking your items at the top of the listings page (see Selecting Listing Upgrades).

• If listing in the Cars & Bikes category, consider using Best Offer when also listing an item as Buy It Now. Best Offer allows buyers to send in the price they want to pay. As a seller, you can accept, reject, or make a counteroffer.

• Manage your Market. eBay is a global community and you will need to decide where you want to sell your item and if you want to add buyer requirements to your listing. Learn more about the benefits and processes of Selling Internationally.

• Offer PaisaPay as a payment method. eBay recommends offering PaisaPay as a fast, easy, and secure way to accept credit / debit card or online bank transfers on eBay (see Selling with PaisaPay).

• Use Selling Tools to list more items and automate seller tasks. If you want an easy way to manage your growing eBay business, or just need to list a lot of items at once, check out eBay’s Advanced Selling Tools.