What do you look for in an ebay listing?

[alexl92]

I've decided to move on some of my Hornby collection soon to make room so I can get some better models (for example, some newer, loco-drive rather than older, less detailed tender-drive models).

The stuff I have won't fetch much - I expect the most expensive thing will go for around £40 - but I've had trouble shifting perfectly good stuff in the past so am interested to know what people look for in an ebay listing to encourage them to bid? Large pictures, lots of pictures, lots of text, any particular phrases?

Any other thoughts gratefully aprreciated

 

[DaleCooper]

I've sold quite a lot of slot cars and other stuff on eBay and had a fair bit of success and good feedback. In my opinion the important features of a listing are:

Make sure the main heading of the listing is sufficiently detailed to make buyers want to view the full listing and contains words which are likely to be searched for (e.g. Hornby, Class 47, DCC, OO scale etc.).
Ensure the listing is in the relevant category, sounds obvious but some sellers don't.
Lots of high quality, detailed and attractive pictures.
Plenty of detail about the condition.
Honest description of faults, broken parts etc., highlighted in the pictures if possible
Don't set an unrealistic starting price or reserve, look a sold listings for similar items.
Reasonable P&P costs relative to the value of the item, however I always use a tracked service even though it costs a bit more as it avoids buyers claiming they haven't received the item.
Take care with packaging especially with delicate or high value items, you can get good quality mailing boxes very cheaply at one of the pound shops.
No fancy fonts or colours and a sensible font size, neither too small to read or too large.
Try and avoid describing something as "Untested", sometimes that means "Tested but doesn't work", if it doesn't work say so.
As I don't sell as a business I'd rather get a lower price, a satisfied buyer and good feedback than a higher price and an unhappy buyer.
Try and offer quick despatch, I don't like sellers who wait a week before posting, I try to post the day after receiving payment.
I'm not sure if it makes much difference but I always arrange it so my listings end on Fri, Sat or Sun between 6pm and 7pm.

If I think of anything else I'll post again.

 

[krus_aragon]

On the note of photographs, make sure they're properly focused.

Here's an example of how not to do it:



Autofocus on cameras makes an educated guess on what you want to be in focus. There will also be a minimum focus distance (typically 1 foot or so). This picture is meant to show the damage to the corner of the phone, but it's the carpet that's in focus.

You may have to take your pictures from a little further away, and crop them using photo-editing software to show the detail of your items.

 

[DaleCooper]

I've found an old listing of mine that's still available to view. I'll post it as images as the link might die. Hopefully it shows the points I made before.

A note about pictures, I always crop them so the item fills the frame and resize to 2048 x 2048 so buyers can zoom in. Although you can only see 4 pictures on that image I actually used 12 pictures showing the item from all angles.

 

[ComUtoR]

Look at buying behaviors too.

When I'm buying I always sort by Price+P&P I have found a trend in recent years where a product is listed well under the average price to its rivals but charge a rip off P&P As Dale mentions, charge a reasonable rate.

I also look for Ending soonest. When I buy I want an item and I want it now ! You can get some success with a quick auction listing as buyers can be impatient. Adding a buy it now also helps IF the price is right. The other thing with buying an item is that pay day is typically on a friday and the 9-5'ers will get home from work after the rush hour. I have missed many auctions because I'm out bid whilst at work. Time when your listing will finish. I sold some stuff a few years back and some auctions I miss-timed and they certainly undersold and a couple never sold at all. Finishing an auction at 0100 isn't advisable.

Look at buying trends. People will buy when things are in fashion and "trending" I have a load of star wars stuff needing a good home and it was worth a pittance. Now its getting a resurgence the prices have shot up again. Same with stuff like comics.

Check listings of the same item/category etc. You can either be competitive or offer something unique. When I'm on ebay it means its something I cannot typically get. I'm a savvy shopper and I have noticed that some ebay listings are cheaper when bought new from places like Amazon so cater for people like me who will be shopping around. With gumtree growing in popularity and various freecycle sites you are also competing with an entire interweb of things rather than ebay alone. Check if what you are selling is cheaper elsewhere.

Availability is important. As I said. You can be competitive but in a saturated market it may be worth selling elsewhere or putting that item on hold. If there is a plethora of R186 signal boxes on offer then the price will reflect the rules of supply and demand.

Check prices. If what your listing regularly sells at a certain price then that it your target. When I'm buying I'm not looking at a specific listing. I'm looking across the board and trying to get highest and lowest price and I'll aim towards buying low

When I'm selling I'm checking my listing and gaining a view of the market place before I list. If its not gonna bring in a good price then I'm holding it back or even going retail ! Might be worth selling direct to a hobbyist or CEX, Cash converters etc.

Good luck with it.

 

[alexl92]

Thanks very much for the help all! Fingers crossed I get this all correct!

 

[hairyhandedfool]

You might also consider joining a fully fledged model railway forum, most have a sale section and some don't charge, but be careful of forum rules, they tend not to like people turning up just to sell stuff, but if you ask the moderators nicely they might make an exception.