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After the spring cleaning ends, the spring selling begins—all those unearthed objects need to go somewhere, right? And there’s a good chance your vintage lamps and antique clocks could make you a profit on eBay. A new report from the online auctioneer states that the average home has at least 36 items that could sell on the site. There’s more than a billion things being sold on eBay, however—how do you make yours stand out from the rest? Even the best deal doesn’t always add up to an easy sale. Maximizing your product’s potential means paying attention to the details, as well as these tips.
Take Better Photos
Using a blurry iPhone photo of a chair you’re asking people to pay $250 for just isn’t going to cut it. Take the item outside and shoot it in natural light, separated from any other miscellany in the area—you want to make clear what is for sale. Most important, if there are any nicks or scratches on a product, be sure to include close-up images of them so you can be up front with buyers.
Find the Key(words) to Selling
What you call “old chair in basement” might be “authentic plywood Eames chair in mint condition” to someone else. Anything you’re trying to get a stranger to buy should be titled in a way that makes it easily discoverable through search keywords. When you want to buy sneakers, you don’t type into Google “new Nikes.” Instead you type “Nike Tom Sachs Mars Yard size 10.5.”
Title furniture or decor the same way by including words like authentic (if true), the brand and model, the materials it’s made of, the main colors, and the condition. “The search terms I use are meant to narrow the field while still being general enough for surprises to emerge,” says Cyrus Ferguson, “à la: vintage, antique, handmade, terracotta, primitive, redware, and arts and crafts.”
Let eBay Do the Work
When building a listing on the platform, it might seem tempting to leave the product uncategorized, thinking that a wider range of users could find it. The opposite is true. With so many active listings on the site, setting specific tags and categories helps narrow the field to put your item in front of the right kind of viewer. Be sure to fill out the various categories and subcategories for each item, such as Home and Garden, Furniture, Chairs, etc.
Do Some Research Before Pricing Products
Just because you think something is priceless doesn’t mean the average eBay buyer agrees. It’s helpful to have some background on what competing listings are priced at. For instance, if you have an Eames lounge chair listed for $25,000, but most other ones are listed for $6,000, it might be time to rethink your decision.
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