Saturday, November 23, 2024

You should be ready to:

1) Identify items you're ready to sell online.

2) Research the value of each item.

3) Develop the "sales copy," i.e. the words you use in the item description.

4) Take photos of each item and digitized them.

Now all you need to do is post the items.

Quick mention, all the stuff I had for sale last week sold! So far 100% of my items have sold and taken over $150 off my debt! My latest sale is a Star Trek book that I found at the flea market for $5.

Two final notes before we get to posting your items.

First, you need to determine how much shipping may be for your items. You must decide how much to charge, if you're going to include it in the final price at no additional cost or if you'll let the auction winner know the shipping costs at the end of the auction.

Second, you need to be able to accept payment. Many people will want to pay with a credit card. The good news is that you don't have to set up a merchant account. You can simply sign up with PayPal.com.

Back to posting...

There are many online auctions where you can sell your items. The most popular place is eBay.com so we'll talk about posting there.

To post your items go to eBay.com and click on "sell" on the top menu bar then select a category.

TIP: You can enter a category number at the bottom, which is a great short cut, however, you need to know the number. To quickly get the category number for your item, go to an auction for a similar item. Directly below the Item # is a link to the category. When you click on this link look at the URL. The category number is shown in the URL, for example, ".../list/category11724/..." this is a great short cut for finding the category.

Next you need to enter a title for your auction. Again, look at the research you did with similar items. Use the same description that others have used.

Use the same strategy for the description, look at what others have written for similar items. Be careful to not copy the exact wording in the description because this may technically be a violation of copyrights--just paraphrase.

You're allowed to post one photo for free with your auction. Take advantage of this! Also, for only an additional 25 cents you can have your photo shown in the line-item listing--I do this every time.

Another important decision is setting the minimum bid price. "Your auction will start at this price: generally, it is the lowest price at which you are willing to sell. Setting the minimum bid too high may discourage bidding!"

If nobody bids to your minimum price then you don't have to sell the item.

Finish completing the posting information. For a basic posting the default settings are probably going to be correct. There are many sections of this form so READ everything very carefully.

After you have correctly completed the form you'll be quoted the price for listing your auction. Be sure that the price makes sense. For listing a $10 item the cost is approximately $1.25. Be sure to print this page for your records.

Good luck and please let me know how your items are selling!

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