Previously, I’ve given you all some fabulous tips on how to lose the eBay sale, but if you’re one of those would-rather-be-profitable types, well, who am I to discriminate? I’ve got a few tips for you, too:

Include Clear, Detailed Pictures of Your Item
It’s acceptable to use an eBay-provided stock photo for your gallery image, but make sure that you also include photos of the actual item. Be wary of manufacture stock photos unless you’ve arranged a special deal with them where they’re cool with you using their pictures. They can get cranky when people go taking their content.

eBay allows you 12 free photos for people with an eBay Stores subscription – don’t let them go to waste. Make sure that the item is well-lit and won’t bounce any glares back, or will be too dim to properly capture that giant crack in the side.

Use a plain background (many people use sheets for this) that compliments your item (a white or cream sheet will make your shiny black vase pop in appealing ways).

Take pictures from different angles to give the buyer as much visual information about the item as possible – almost as if they were in the store holding it in their own hands.

Maximize the Potential of Your eBay Listing Title
Use every one of those 55 characters to stuff in all the info you can. Include the condition of the item, the brand name, the style, the model, the compatibility, etc.
When you waste eBay title characters, they die and go into a bin of forgotten or unwanted characters. Do you want that on your hands?

More importantly, do you think listing your brand new Prada as “purse” will get you any bids? Well, that’s just non-sense. Who invited you?

Always be Absolutely Clear About the Condition
“Brand new in box!!!” coupled with a couple blurry pictures of something lying in a weird heap on the floor is going to raise some red flags.

If it doesn’t before they bid, it sure will get you a dispute filed with eBay against you. And who doesn’t like having to get on the phone and explain this to eBay Customer Support?

Be Friendly
Here’s a thought: encourage buyers to bid on your item. Be someone people actually want to do business with.

Change – “so don’t bid if you don’t know what you’re buying!!!” to “I’m always happy to answer your questions, so if you have any about this item, please don’t hesitate to drop me a note.”

Not only will this increase your sales, but it’ll improve the impression your buyers form of you upfront. When they have a good impression of you, they’re more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt if things do go awry and will be more open to work things out with you.

Offer the Best Shipping Prices
Again, low shipping bumps you up in search. From there, when people do click on your items, they want to know that they’ll be spending as little as possible on what is basically a fee that adds no value to their item. Even if the item price, itself, is more but the shipping is free, they’ll see that word – that magic word, free, and will get all giddy. It’s the psychology of sales. The word free draws people in. Plus, then they’ll see the item is having greater value and the excess fee as being minimal.

And, as a super-duper bonus, we share with you an eBay video by a guy who has all the excitement we have. He is funny…