In a dynamic marketplace like eBay, experimentation is key! Always begin with research. Look for items similar to yours within eBay's current and completed listings to learn from other sellers. Review the suggestions outlined below and test various features and functionality to determine what works best for you.

• Choosing items to sell
• Maximizing key parts of your listing
• Increasing your listing's visibility
• Managing your listing and buyer activity
• Exploring additional listing opportunities

You should also visit Seller Central -- the ultimate source for the latest tips, tools, information, and resources for selling on eBay!

Choosing items to sell

eBay is a great place to sell nearly anything practical or collectible. The following items have historically sold well in our marketplace:

• Art, antiques, coins, and other collectibles
• Books, CDs, DVDs, and video games
• Cars and other motorized vehicles as well as related parts and accessories
• Celebrity signed and/or designed memorabilia
• Clothing, shoes, and accessories
• Computers and electronics
• Experiences (for example, lunch with a celebrity or a summer internship)
• Home and garden items
• Sporting goods and memorabilia
• Tickets
• Travel packages

Maximizing key parts of your listing

A buyer's decision to buy and how much he is willing to spend can be influenced by his understanding of exactly what is being sold, shipping and payment details, the level of trust in you as a seller, and so on. Here are some ways to merchandise your items on eBay to help you be successful.

Item title
The title is critical to helping users find your items easily, so keep the following in mind:

• Use as many of the 55 characters in your item title as possible.
• Use the subtitle feature for an additional 55 characters of text about your listing below the main title. On average, listings with subtitle have 24% higher final sale prices, 22% more bids, and an 11% greater success rate.
• Include general category keywords (like "laptop").
• Include important descriptive attributes for the item (for example, the title for a laptop could include brand, processor speed, and memory).
• Avoid nonstandard abbreviations and misspellings.
• Be creative and informative. Other popular descriptive keywords include New, NIB (new in box), NWT (new with tag), Free Shipping, and Warranty.

Item description
A good description should be concise but thorough, well-organized, and easy to read. Anticipate what buyers might want to know about your item. The more information that you provide, the more likely buyers are to place a bid. Buyers will often perform keyword searches in title and descriptions. If you are not familiar with HTML, you can use eBay's text editor to create bold text, bulleted lists, and other formatting options. Look at your item as you write your description and include:

• Type: Item model or style
• Brand: Manufacturer or designer, and so forth
• Condition: New vs. vintage, and so forth
• Value: MSRP, estimated or appraised value
• Other attributes: Size/measurements, and so forth

Pricing and duration

• You can have your listing last 1, 3, 5, 7, or 10 days. We recommend allowing your listing to run as long as possible in order to maximize exposure and bidding potential. Include weekends and close the item in the evening as this is when most bidders are online.
• The Buy It Now option offers buyers the ability to purchase your item at a predefined price without waiting for the listing to end.
• Decide on the starting price for your item. Getting that first bid is critical, as other buyers are generally more likely to jump in if they see there are already bids on an item. To do this, many sellers prefer to set an opening bid below what the item is actually worth. This can jump-start bidding activity and ultimately produce a higher selling price.
• If you don't want to sell your item below a certain price, set a reserve price. However, this can result in buyers losing interest if they place a bid and find it doesn't meet the reserve. They may assume the seller is simply asking too much for the item and move on to similar items that they feel they have a more realistic chance of winning. Consider listing your item with "No Reserve." Statistics show that items listed without a reserve usually sell for more than comparable items listed with a reserve.

Pictures
A picture is really worth a thousand words! Use clear pictures from a variety of angles to show your item accurately. Buyers want to see detail. Consider taking a close-up of a section of the item in addition to the entire object in order to give buyers a better idea of the item's actual condition and details. Check out our Picture Tutorial for more information.

• eBay Picture Services: This is the fast and easy way to add pictures to your listings. The first picture is free and each additional picture is only $0.15. You can also edit and supersize your pictures, feature the images in a slideshow format, and more, listings with two or more pictures are 9% more likely to sell!
• eBay Picture Manager: Add up to 12 pictures to every listing for a single monthly price. It is a great solution for hosting and managing all your pictures. Integrated with Sell Your Item and Turbo Lister, Picture Manager is ideal if you are selling many items, use several pictures per listing, and want the best value.
• Gallery: Display a thumbnail photo right next to your listing to attract buyers and differentiate your listings. Gallery listings have shown to increase final price by an average of 12% and are 10% more likely to sell!

Shipping and payment details
The more details that you include in your listings about payment and shipping, the easier it will be to complete the transaction.

PayPal is eBay's preferred way to pay. It is a system that lets anyone with an email address securely send and receive online payments using their credit card or bank account. eBay members can use PayPal to pay for items on eBay quickly and easily.

Visit eBay's Shipping Center for information on integrated shipping tools and helpful shipping tips. eBay’s free Shipping Calculator allows you to show an exact shipping cost to each buyer based on their ZIP Code, including international buyers. You can also include a handling fee (the buyer sees one total cost). This tool eliminates the difficulties in determining shipping costs and increases the likelihood of your items selling (to use it just select the “Calculated” tab in the “Shipping & Sales Tax” section of Sell Your Item).  Our label printing product enables you to buy and print US Postal Service® and UPS® shipping labels. Packages can then be tracked online by you and your buyer from My eBay or PayPal's Account Overview.

You might also want to include clear and complete information about your return policy. This builds trust and buyer confidence and demonstrates that as a seller you take steps to put the customer first.

View Item page
Look at your View Item page through a buyer's eyes. The more attractive, informative, and professional your listing is, the more confidence potential buyers will have in placing a bid. If you list regularly, use a consistent template so buyers learn to recognize your listings. With Listing Designer, you can choose from a variety of fun themed templates and photo layouts: holiday/seasonal, categories, and more. It's so easy, there's no need to know HTML!

Increasing your listing's visibility

As you create your listing, consider utilizing one or a combination of these listing features to promote your listing and get maximum exposure:

• List in a second category
  Add a second category to enable more buyers to see your listing. Boost bids by 18% and final sale price by 17% on average when you list in a second category.
• Use Item Specifics (Product Finder)
  Help users find your items! Item Specifics allows you to provide additional details relevant to your specific items so that buyers can search for them with the Product Finder that appears on the left-hand side of Search and Listings pages.
• Use bold
  Draw additional attention to a listing by bolding the text when the listing is part of search results. Bold listings are shown to increase final price by an average of 25%.
• Use a border
  Emphasize your listing by adding a colored border.
• Highlight your listing
  Use a colored band to emphasize the listing in the search results. On average, highlighted listings receive 15% more bids and close with 25% higher final sale prices.
• Use Featured Plus!
  Get maximum exposure. Your listing is placed within the Featured Items located in the top section of the listing and search results pages that buyers see first. Your listing also appears in the general listings and search results for double the exposure. Featured Plus! listings are 23% more likely to sell on average and close at 76% higher final sale prices.

Managing your listing and buyer activity

About Me page
Create a personalized About Me page on eBay to describe yourself and your business. Let the eBay Community know who you are, describe your collecting or selling passions, build trust and confidence by highlighting your trading record to reassure potential buyers, and display all the items that you are selling.

Manage your listing
During the listing period, it is your responsibility as the seller to manage all communication with prospective buyers. Remember that every eBay user has a Feedback profile made up of comments from other eBay users: an official "reputation." New buyers look at this Feedback rating to help them shop with confidence. Therefore, it is important to provide your customers with excellent service: answer emails quickly, ship promptly, and deliver what you promised. You may be contacted with specific questions about the item, delivery, or payment terms.

• Always represent your item accurately and honestly.
• Make your policies easy to find and easy to understand?especially those concerning payment terms, shipping, and returns.
• Be available to answer questions before the item closes and especially during post-sale fulfillment.
• Be patient and courteous with your buyers. Give them the benefit of the doubt until it is obvious they are being neither responsive nor responsible.
• Make every possible effort to bring the transaction to a satisfying close. Negative feedback should only be left as a last resort.

Exploring additional listing opportunities

Open an eBay Store!
Showcase your listings in one customized, searchable showcase! With an eBay Store, your buyers will be able to search within your items only. You can list in multiple quantities for longer durations and create custom categories. Plus, you'll have access to advanced merchandising tools to control which of your items appear on key buyer pages.

Need a hand? Let someone else sell for you!
If you do not have the time or resources to sell your item on eBay, get a Trading Assistant to help you! Trading Assistants are eBay experts that can do all selling and fulfillment for you for a fee. Search for a Trading Assistant.

For high profile and larger events, you may want to enlist the services of a premier auction management agency that provides listing, management, and fulfillment services as well as promotional and marketing support. Kompolt, Silent Partners, Mindshare, and Auction Cause are some of the agencies that provide these types of services.