Selling on eBay: How to Create and Promote a Listing?

1. How to create a listing step by step

To start creating an offer on eBay, log in to your Seller Hub account and go to the Offers tab. Then, select the Create an offer button, and then the single offer option from the drop-down menu. The system will automatically redirect you to the relevant form which we’ll discuss in the following subsections.

Indicate what you intend to sell

In the search field, enter the name of your product or its identification number and click the search button. Remember to indicate the item precisely (for example – the phrase Nike shoes will be too broad a category). Thanks to that,the system will show you relevant results. The best and fastest solution is to use a digital identifier in the form of an EAN code. It will allow you to quickly find an exact match in the eBay catalogue. Alternatively, when searching for an item by name, you can use the menu on the left side of the screen. It will allow you to indicate the category and product details.

If any of the search results match your product, select it and the system will automatically fill in the information about the item in the form. If your product is not among the results, select Continue without a match at the bottom of the page.

Add photos and videos

Remember that in online sales, where the buyer does not have the opportunity to “touch” the product, high-quality photos and videos presenting your item, highlighting its unique features or demonstrating how to use it will be among the most important factors in deciding whether to make a purchase or not. You can add files in three ways:

• drag and drop them into the designated place in the browser,


• import them from a mobile device,


• import files stored in the cloud.

Photos should:

• have a JPEG, PNG, GIF, tiff, heic or BMP format,


• have a resolution of at least 500px (longer side),


• occur in no more than 24 per listing.

Additionally, you can select the Gallery Plus field. This way, the photos of your products are displayed in the search results in a larger size. This way, they can stand out among the thumbnails of your competitors’ listings. If necessary, you can edit your photos in the built-in photo editor. It has a useful tool for removing the background.

Videos should:

• be saved in the mp4 or MOV format,


• be less than 150 MB,


• be maximum 60 seconds long.

 

Indicate the title and category

Complete the listing title. Ensure that it provides the most accurate information about the product and does not exceed the 80-word limit. To further distinguish your listing, you can use two options:

• bold title,


• adding a subtitle, which appears in eBay search results in the list view. It can increase buyers’ interest by providing them with more information about the product.

Next, select the category that best matches your product. If you have an eBay Store, you can also select Store categories to assign the item to the categories you offer in your store.

Add specifications and variants

According to the next form fields, complete the information about the product that will help consumers make a purchasing decision. The basics you should always remember are: model, brand name, colour, dimensions. If you offer a specific item in multiple variants, you can save time by adding several product variants in one collective offer with a fixed price. Unfortunately, this option is currently only available in selected categories.

Description and condition of the product

Complete the description of the item. Remember to be clear and concise, but at the same time informative enough to avoid any ambiguities and misunderstandings that could potentially result in negative reviews or returns. A noteworthy solution is to use description templates, which save time.

Then, select the product condition:

• new,


• used,


• refurbished.

In the case of the last two categories, it is worth adding a detailed description of the item.

Choose a listing format and specify a price

eBay allows you to offer products in two formats:

• Fixed price – a basic option based on the buy now principle. Fill in the fields for price and quantity, and schedule the start time of the sale. Then, decide whether you want to accept offers from customers.

Auction – for auction format offers, you must specify their duration, starting price and minimum sale amount, and also decide whether you want to add a buy now option for a specified amount of money.

 

Complete delivery information

Specify the shipping terms and regions to which you deliver. You can choose the recommended options (if available) or indicate your own. If you’re listing an item on ebay.com, Domestic Shipping refers to the platform’s home country, which is the United States. To add shipping to other countries, specify them in the International Shipping section. If the item you’re selling is bulky or difficult to ship, you can offer your consumers a local pickup option.

Define the transaction rules

In the last step, you need to specify the payment method, item location, and return policy.
Verify the information provided and start selling!

2. Ways to promote your eBay listings

Marketing strategy is an extremely important aspect of selling on the marketplace. Therefore, after presenting the process of creating listings above, we will explain the ways of promoting them. Ebay offers sellers three paid options:

a. Promoted listings standard

This is the most popular way to start advertising on eBay. It is due to its high flexibility and relatively low entry threshold. Promoted listings standard ads appear throughout the eBay network, including in desktop and mobile search results and on product pages. Sellers have the ability to set a bid, decide what they want to list, and make modifications to the campaign. It’s important to know that sellers are not charged until a buyer clicks on their promoted listing and purchases any of the promoted items within 30 days.

Promoted listings standard is currently only available to sellers in the Above Standard and Top Rated categories that have recent sales activity. Promoted listings are at a fixed price for most categories. The exceptions are vehicles, real estate, Everything Else, and some that are travel-related. Auction listings are not currently covered by this form of promotion. Only those eligible for this service will appear in the selection view when creating a campaign.

b. Promoted listings advanced

This feature is still in the testing phase. However, everything indicates that it will be permanently available on the platform. It will be an additional option for sellers looking to increase traffic to their listings while increasing control over their campaigns. Promoted listings advanced do not replace Promoted listings standard. However, they are intended to complement the basic type of promoted product cards. They operate on a cost-per-click (CPC) model. They target highly coveted positions at the top of search results and additional premium spots on eBay. Sellers have control over creating a daily budget to bid on keywords of their choice.

It’s also worth mentioning that as eBay begins testing new listing promotion options, it has also begun working on expanding its keyword match types to provide more listings to buyers. The platform has so far been based on exact match and phrase match, but broad match is coming soon. This feature will also allow your listings to show up when a keyword is part of a search phrase, not just an exact match.

For example, if you specify the keyword red Nike shoes:

• Exact match will only show your listing for that keyword, so if the shopper’s exact search is red Nike shoes.


• Phrase match will show your listing if the customer’s search phrase contains other words before and/or after your keyword, such as red Nike shoes size 6.


• Broad match means your listing could show if red Nike shoes is at least somewhat relevant to the customer’s query, so if the shopper is searching for red running shoes.

Of course, the width of the keyword match will remain the same on the seller side.

eBay also plans to expand the ability to use negative phrase match. It is to ensure that your listings only show up in relevant searches. While you can currently set negative keywords for which you don’t want your listings to show up, this is only available for exact match. With negative phrase match, sellers will have the ability to select specific phrases that won’t trigger their promoted listings to show up.

c. Promoted listings express

Another tool that complements the portfolio of advertising options for product cards on eBay is Promoted listings express. It allows you to promote offers in an auction format by displaying them on similar product cards. It will increase the number of views, bids and sales in exchange for one flat fee. This variant of promoting an offer is available only to sellers who have achieved the Above Standard or Top Rated level and maintain sufficient account activity.

Summary

Today, we presented you with the basic method of creating listings on the eBay platform. We went step by step through the fields of the form that must be filled in to offer your product on the marketplace. We also discussed one of the ways to increase the reach of product cards, which is Promoted listings. They come in three variants: standard, advanced and express. In the next article, we will focus on optimizing existing listings and adapting them for mobile devices. We will also delve into the issue of photos and video materials, providing valuable tips. Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date!

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