Learn to buy and sell antiques and collectibles

eBay Selling Mistakes

I search eBay frequently looking for toy trains for my collection. I am amazed at some of the things sellers do in their auctions. With a bit of thought, many sellers could easily get better results.

I think some of common eBay selling mistakes aren't actually mistakes, they are due to laziness. Sellers just don't care, or think it takes too much time to do it right.

I doubt you fall into the lazy or apathetic camp because you are reading this. If you make these mistakes it is probably because some aspects of eBay selling seem overly complicated.

In this article I will cover a few of the most common mistakes made by eBay sellers, and give you some advice to help you avoid them.

The most common eBay selling mistakes.

Using colored backgrounds that make it harder to read the text in your eBay auctions.

Using animated pictures "" to spruce up your eBay listings.

Charging extremely high shipping fees.

Writing meaningless or cute titles. I have seen titles like "choo choo woo woo train set, and "old train thing.

Little or no text describing the item. Text helps eBay searchers find your item, and lets bidders know what they are bidding on.

Overly wordy descriptions. I don't mean the actual item description, but rather the "rules" of the auction. At best this extra text is ignored, but it can also be confusing and drive bidders away.

Not including images, or telling bidders to email for a photo, or stating pictures will be added later.

Using poor quality pictures.

Including HUGE pictures that take minutes to download. This is a common mistake. No one will wait for your pictures to load.

For a quick lesson on selling on eBay see Learning How To Sell On eBay.

For detailed information about writing your title and descriptions, see eBay Selling Summary.

For information about managing your eBay photos get the Free eBay Seller's Guide.

Terry

PS. Take the free eBay Seller's Quiz, to learn how to avoid other common eBay mistakes.

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Terry Gibbs has taught over 7,000 people how to make a good living on eBay. Terry's most recent eBay instruction manual is The Auction Revolution . The Auction Revolution is your guide to eBay and beyond. Here on Iwantcollectibles.com, you will learn about buying and selling antiques and collectibles, and about eBay.