Posted by Selling on eBay opens up a horizon of opportunities for budding entrepreneurs, well-established businesses, or individuals willing to bring new eCommerce ideas to life. eBay is known for its widespread product categories, diverse reach, seller protection, affordable listing fees, and auction & fixed price options. It empowers businesses to connect with a global customer base through its inclusive and dynamic services.
However, navigating through eBay listings could be quite daunting at first! If you are also someone new to the eBay interface, this step-by-step guide will help you list your first product with ease.
Table of Contents:
- Step 1: Begin the process with the “Create listing” option
- Step 2: Define the product that you are selling
- Step 3: Create well-optimized title for product visibility and ranking
- Step 4: List down the variations, specifications, and product conditions
- Step 5: Add visual elements to your listing- Photos & videos
- Step 6: Add an accurate product description
- Step 7: Set price, auction option, and charity preferences
- Step 8: List down your business policies, selling region, and areas of shipping
- Step 9: Setup payment preferences
- Step 10: Preview your listing and make your first product live!
If product listing gets tough, hire experts for assistance
Step 1: Begin the process with the “Create listing” option
Assuming that you have already registered and signed in as a seller on eBay, the first step is to go to the Seller Hub Listing tab > Listings > Create Listings. You can either choose to create a single listing or manage up to a total of 2000 listings in bulk.
eBay sellers who need to upload large catalogs and manage all those listings simultaneously tend to outsource eBay listing services. This is because it takes off the load of uploading and updating listings while still giving similar results, without much expense. With the help of outsourcing, listing a product becomes easy and the online store appears to be much more professional and appealing.
Step 2: Define the product that you are selling
The search field on eBay suggests the category, type, and a list of products similar to yours. You can get an auto-populated list of similar products in the category chosen.
Go to the search field, write your product name, or mention your product identifier. Use identifiers like UPC, ISBN, or MPN more as they provide accurate results related to the details of similar products. For example, if you are listing an iPhone with a specific storage and model number, the quick listing tool will immediately populate the below-shown suggestions.
If any of the suggested items match your product, you can select it and get pre-filled item details. Whereas, if you are listing something unique like the “Kingfisher OutBBQ”, you can choose the “Get Started” option and start customizing your listing.
Step 3: Create well-optimized title for product visibility and ranking
Give a title to your product and optimize it using a relevant keyword. This will help increase the product page’s potential of ranking among top search results when people search for similar products. You can also use additional options like ‘subtitle’ and ‘custom label (SKU)’ to highlight your product title. Select the category your product falls in like electronics, health and wellness, garden and patio, toys, and so on. You can also choose a second category associated with your product.
Step 4: List down the variations, specifications, and product conditions
Add important details associated with your product like style, size, color, packaging and other available options that are in stock. This is important as it allows consumers with different preferences to sort down and choose the right combination of design, size, or color for them.
Also, make sure that your product condition is clearly highlighted. Mention if it is brand new, refurbished, or used. Add detailed description to explain how long it has been used for, the wear and tear condition, and why a second-hand product can still be a reasonable purchase. Give clear and concise information to separate new and used products to drive sales from the right set of buyers.
Step 5: Add visual elements to your listing- Photos & videos
After you have added all the information relevant to the product, it is time to show what the product looks like and how it can be used. To define the look, feel, size, and usage of the product, add professionally captured, non-pixelated images. You can also include videos to demonstrate how to install or use the product.
Use images in png, jpeg, tiff, heic, bmp or gif formats. It is a good practice to upload images with white background for better visibility and clear display of product features. You can add a maximum of 24 images in the listing. When uploading videos, use mp4 or mov format with 150MB file size limit.
If you lack expertise in image cropping, editing, retouching, or straightening you can also try contacting external professionals for eBay product upload services.
Step 6: Add an accurate product description
A well-crafted product description directly addresses the needs of the buyers, gathers attention, and educates them about the product. By explaining a product in detail, the description reduces ambiguity and helps the customer understand what they are exactly shopping for. As visible in the image below, enter an informative description that is clear, concise, and easy to read, with consistent formatting.
Try to use only one font type, in 14 font size, and in black color. You may also create content templates beforehand and use them to write descriptions for multiple products by just making minor product-specific edits when and where required. You can also use HTML content depending on your understanding around it. However, using normal text descriptions is usually recommended as it is easier for sellers.
Step 7: Set price, auction option, and charity preferences
The toggle for selling is by default set to ‘Fixed-price’ option. You can choose the format, selling duration (for how many days you want to keep the listing active), the amount, and quantity. You can also customize and allow offers on your product listing.
From the toggle, you can change ‘Fixed-price’ to ‘Auction-style’. Here, update details like auction duration, offers for customers to avail, reserve price, start time, and ‘Buy it now’ option. You can also add VAT percentage to be calculated on the product price. Also, if you want to donate a certain percentage of your sale towards a good cause, you can set up the ‘Make a donation’ option.
Step 8: List down your business policies, selling region, and areas of shipping
You can set up certain business policies at once that will help you save time while creating new lists in the future. These policies include guidelines and ways of managing payments, postage, and returns. Also, mention the item location that will help buyers know where the product is coming from and how long it would roughly take to be delivered.
Add information related to ‘Package weight and dimension’ especially if you are shipping to an international customer base. This is important because your postage fee will be calculated based on the size and weight of your shipment directly.
Step 9: Setup payment preferences
eBay provides comprehensive options when it comes to setting up payment preferences. You can take a look at the image below which highlights all major globally accepted payment methods that a seller can use to receive payments. You can choose from the available list of cash on delivery, credit card, direct bank, debit card, bank draft, or online payment options.
Step 10: Preview your listing and make your first product live!
After adding all the relevant details, your first listing on eBay is all set to go live! Click on the ‘Preview listing’ option to view how your product, along with the images, and all other details will appear to the potential buyers. If you wish to take more time to refine your listing later, you can choose ‘Save and continue later’.
If everything seems fine, choose ‘List with displayed fees’ and your first product listing will be ready for sale!
If product listing gets tough, hire experts for assistance
While this guide does give you detailed insights into product listing, some elements in the process could be tough for businesses to navigate through! If you also feel stuck at any of the steps, you can hire professional eBay product listing services. Your product descriptions, bulk uploads, product research, competitor analysis, price research, and category management, everything would be handled professionally with quick time-to-market.
AUTHOR BIO: Jessica Campbell is an eCommerce consultant and content strategist. She has published over 2000 articles & informative write-ups about eCommerce & Amazon marketplace solutions covering Amazon listing optimization, Amazon PPC management services, Amazon marketing services, Amazon store setup, and Amazon product data entry. Her well-researched and valuable write-ups have helped thousands of businesses uncover rich insights, strengthen their business processes, and stay afloat amidst the rising competition.