I am new! And need some tips!

[candy1170]

I am new and need some tips on what buyers look for in a listing.

[femmefan1946]

Titles.

You have 80 keystrokes free, gratis, for nothing. When a buyer Searches, she uses her keywords.

For example I sell science fiction paperbacks (among other things).

My titles include the name of the author*, the title, paperback or hardback. Occasionally I add a 'special ' word like 'Illustrated' with or w/o the name of the artist, 'gay interest', 'black interest', since there are subsets of readers who are looking for those.

BTW you pay for subtitles, but they are not Searchable.

Photos.

You get up to 12 photos free.

Don't photograph against a cluttered background. Hang up a plain bedsheet if necessary. **

Flat things like books and stamps can be scanned. Scans are easily enlarged when detail is needed.

Mobile devices.

Over 50 % of eBay transactions involve a phone at some point.

Write your descriptions on a desktop or laptop, but look at them on a cellphone while they are 'indexing'***. What you thought your customers would see may not be what they will see.

Shipping.

YOU control shipping.

Give your customer one choice in shipping, one that protects you as much as sensibly possible against false claims of loss.

And check if you have been enrolled in the Global Shipping Program. If your items are going to sell for under $50USD, don't use it. ****

*Also misspellings. Some words are constantly misspelled like Tolkein/Tolkien, bolero/bowler, etc. Use this to your advantage.

**And wear clothes when photgraphing shiny things. Google 'ebay teakettle reflection' for a famous example.

***It takes up to 24 hours for your listing to appear, this is called indexing. It's a breathing space and you can use it to make revisions.

**** Look at your listings on a foreign site like eBaydotCA (Canada), to see if you have been enrolled. And while you are there browse the over 5000 complaints about the program in the Buyers Discussion Board.

[a2zforme2you]

I still haven't gotten to the point I have listed anything but I saved your tips your wrote for someone else for the future.  I did get PayPal and it looks like my credit card is in there for backup because a picture shows of it under MONEY. Not sure how to connect eBay to PayPal.  I do have a good camera for eBay but will have to work on how to upload the pictures.  When someone buys something will I have the order in my email with the info to send to?  Is it ok to start with just writing your own label for the box?    Saw the label printer in one of the videos.  Not sure how that works, what to buy for the label printer or the labels.

[comics-scifi-collectibles]

A basic printer is what I use for shipping labels.  But if you want to just write the address on the package and buy postage at the post office you can do that.  Just be sure to get postage with tracking and enter the tracking number onto the sold item.  

It does cost a bit more.  You can ship up to 15.9 oz 1st class on ebay and only up to 13 oz 1st class at the post office, this can be a few dollars difference because you'd have to ship priority for everything over 13 oz

You will not be able to use regional rate boxes if you buy postage at the post office.  That can only be bought online.  

You can see the price comparison for 1st class and priority flat rate on this previous post:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Member-To-Member-Support/Did-EBay-first-class-shipping-rates-go-up/qaq...

How to link PayPal and eBay accounts

When you link your PayPal account to your eBay account, you don't have to re-enter your PayPal account information each time you pay.

Here's how to link your accounts:

1. Go to Account in My eBay and find the PayPal Account section.
2. Choose Link my PayPal account.
3. You'll be asked to login to PayPal to complete the process.

[reallynicestamps]

You can also buy discounted postage stamps on eBay.

Look for mint Never Hinged stamps.

• someone licked the hinged ones
• stamps with No Gum were soaked off envelopes and are cannot legally be used.

Discounts from 20% to 40% off face value are possible. You will still have to go to the PO to get the tracking number though.

[a2zforme2you]

Thank you so much.   I think I am going to list a book or two this weekend just to see how it goes.   I think I still need to link PayPal to eBay because in my preferences it would not let me change it from "NO" to "YES", but not sure because I also received a notice when I SAVED the tax table "It's not you, our site is down and working on it"

[a2zforme2you]

Thank you for the how to link PayPal.  I will be working on it.

[reallynicestamps]

Ummm-- Tax table?

Unless you are registered to remit taxes, you have no need for this.

For the US Internet Sales Tax (state sales taxes being collected on purchases from out of state) eBay handles this and the money is only a pass through for your account.

Do NOT attempt to collect sales taxes unless you are registered to send them in. The government gets testy about that.

[comics-scifi-collectibles]

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

Ummm-- Tax table?

Unless you are registered to remit taxes, you have no need for this.

For the US Internet Sales Tax (state sales taxes being collected on purchases from out of state) eBay handles this and the money is only a pass through for your account.

Do NOT attempt to collect sales taxes unless you are registered to send them in. The government gets testy about that.

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I was just going to say the same thing... thanks!  

Tagging @a2zforme2you  to make sure you see this.  

Ebay collects and remits the sales tax for the states with the new marketplace facilitator tax laws.  You do not do anything when it comes to taxes unless you have a resale permit AND do not live in one of the states on this list.  

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/taxes-import-charges?id=4121&st=2&pos=3&quer...

When you list the books let me know if you get stuck.