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Friday, January 31, 2014

Best Way To List Anything for Sale Anywhere - Part 1

To sell something, there are a few things that help your item do better:

Wording - Use words that make you want something. “Old” doesn’t sound as exciting as “vintage or antique.”  Saying it is “rare” makes it of more value than “Hard to find.”

Pictures - make or break you. Sometimes, you can use a picture that is already online if the item is exact but often times, someone will take a picture on a dirty table and the item will sell for much less than if you put it on a black background cloth. Things in the background can distract from the item. Take close pictures of any markings, labels and any damage so they can see what they are buying as if they give you bad feedback after a sell, it can hurt future sells.

Listing - Use Capital letters, Bold letters, Upper and Lower case letters mixed and as many words in the title and description as you can. People find most items through searching certain words in the search. If you have something and just say. “Old women’s watch” you will get some hits but most people don’t want to have to click into your listing to find out what type of watch.

If you put: “ELGIN Vintage Antique 14 Karat, 14K WaTcH”  you now get everyone who searches for 14 karat, 14K vintage watch, Antique watch, Elgin watch etc. Also, in your description, put misspelled or varied spelling variations in case someone misspells the search. If someone from England is searching, they often spell it differently so at the bottom on the search, I add Karat, Karot, Karret, Carrot etc to cover it as some people don’t know how to spell or are from other countries. 



Ebay, Etsy or Amazon
Etsy started as homemade or personal items but has grown. Amazon started as “media” but now sells most anything. Ebay was more for anything but isn’t as popular as EVEYONE sells things now so selling isn’t as profitable as it used to be.

Before listing something, do research to see if it is worth selling online. Look for any markings or “names” on the item. Don’t type in sizes but start with the “Name” for value. If it doesn’t show up, make sure you spelled it right.

You usually have to make an account and “Sign in” before searching. Make the name and password the same so you can remember it easily. Don’t use birthday or address numbers for password.

Once logged in, type the item in the search box and hit enter. Then go on the left side almost to the bottom and check off “Completed listings” and hit enter. Then, go to the top right of the page and click on the arrow in the “Sort” box. A drop down will come up and click on “Price: highest first” and it should then show you the item you have or some similar items. If the price on the right is in Green, the item sold for that amount. If the price is listed in Red, it didn’t sell.

Look at the items similar to yours or exactly like yours. Just because one sold for $200 doesn’t mean they all did. It may be in better condition or come with extra items. If there are a ton of listings for that item, I then go to the “Sort” button and click on “Price: Lowest price”  so I can check out the lowest that same item sold for. It may have been $10 because it had a chip or not even sold at all.

What makes it of value is the condition and how rare or uncommon it is.
Listing – If you want to list the item, look on the page for “Sell a similar item” and click on that. If there are no items like yours, follow prompts on the page. It is hard to sell anything online without a “paypal” account as most people pay with a credit card or transfer money from their account into yours. Rarely people will send a check but it is almost unheard of anymore. There are listing fees, photo hosting fees, and selling fees that are a percentage of the selling price of the item. You need to add that in and the time to list it to determine if it is worth selling online. Also, don’t forget to charge for shipping and handling which should cover your box, packing bubbles and postage costs. Some heavy items could cost you more to send than you would make if you forget to write in your description that you are charging exact shipping or $20 shipping etc.
  Continued next post.....

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