Make Your Listing Stand Out!

"Ebay has millions of listings at any given moment. How do I make my listing stand out?"

Good question! Here are a couple of quick tips for sellers old and new to consider when creating a new listing on ebay.

First, write a great title for your listing. Use every one of the 55 spaces that ebay provides by being complete, accurate, and descriptive. Think like a buyer! What words would you search for if you were looking for an item like yours to buy? Those are the words to include. Remember to follow ebay's rules - no keyword spamming, no misleading titles. If you're selling a pair of shoes, what color are they? What style? What size? Are they leather? What brand? Be honest and complete. Be creative! Dressy, formal, casual? Let those potential buyers know! Selling boots? Are they work boots, cowboy boots, fashion boots, suede boots, leather boots, brown boots, black boots, new brown leather cowboy boots? I think you get the idea. Now, choose a couple of the best words in the title and CAPITALIZE them. Please don't use all caps - that really does make the title hard to read. However, by capitalizing a couple of the key words you accomplish two things. One, those words stand out; two, your title will be pushed onto a second line which makes the space for your listing just a little bit bigger, helping it to be more easily noticed on the search page.

Second tip, list your item with a gallery photo. Gallery photos are the pictures that show up on the search results page. Make it a great photo! Use lots of light to make the picture bright and clear. People looking for your shoes don't want to see the spots on your carpet and they don't want to see your kitchen cabinets, so be sure to place the item on a clean surface of a contrasting color and aim the camera down at the item, not across the item to include the rest of the room in the background. Use a photo editor to crop the picture close to the item so the item fills the space. Try to create a nice vertical format for the picture. This, like using the capital letters, will make your listing take up more space on the search results page and make it stand out and be noticed.

Always follow ebay's rules when you create your item listings and consider the above tips to give yourself the edge and make your listings rise above the crowd. Happy listing and happy selling!

(The above article is reprinted from my ebay Guide of the same name. To read all of my ebay Guides, click here.)