Home : Selling Form Tips

Title Tips

Neatness counts. Please don't use all caps, lots of "!!!", etc. We reserve the right to clean up titles we find ugly. [Tip: Avoid using asterisks, plus signs, quotes, and other special characters in your item title. Our search feature may overlook words that contain these characters — and that can make it harder for bidders to find your item.]

Description Tips

You can use HTML. Don’t use quotes in your HTML, since this will break your code. You’ll have a chance to see how this looks before finalizing your listing.

If you’re not familiar with HTML, visit eBay’s HTML basics page or ask for help on the Images/HTML board. You’ll be up to speed in no time! Or you can skip the technical bells and whistles this time around and enter a simple item description. Just type in the words you want to see.

You can add links to additional photos, but enter your primary photo in the Picture URL section. If you want more than one photo for your item, insert its URL in the Description section in the following format:

<img src=http://www.anywhere.com/mypicture.jpg>

(Of course, you should replace http://www.anywhere.com/mypicture.jpg with your image URL, and include the < and > characters).

Home Page Featured Auction Details

You must have a feedback rating of at least 10 to place a Home Page Featured Auction. Your link will be listed in the special Featured Items section for a fee of $99.95. In addition, your listing will most likely be rotated for special display on eBay's main Home page, the main categories page, and on category pages — although eBay does not guarantee that your item will be highlighted in this way.

Featured Plus! Details

You must have a feedback rating of at least 10 to place a Featured Plus! Auction. For $19.95, your item will appear on the first page of the Featured Items section in the category of your choice and search result pages. In addition, eBay will also randomly select Featured Plus! Auctions for display on category pages — although eBay does not guarantee that a specific Featured Plus! Auction will be highlighted in this way.

List in 2 Categories

List your item in 2 categories and increase your exposure! The cost to use List in 2 Categories is double the listing fee, excluding home page featured. Learn more.

Great Gift Icon Details

For an additional fee of $1.00, you may choose to have a special gift icon appear next to your listing title in the listing pages. This indicates that your item makes a great gift.
Tip: if you can make any gift-giving accommodations for your item (mailing to a third party, enclosing a message, etc.), include that in your item description. See Gift Icon for more information.

Shipping Terms Tips

Note: most international buyers expect to pay in U.S. Dollars, but you can mention requirements in your item description.

Quantity Tips

If you are selling several items as a set to only one buyer, your quantity is 1. If you are selling a number of identical items, this is called a Dutch Auction. Enter the number of items that you are selling here; multiple listings for identical items are not permitted.

Note: Read about the new requirements for Dutch Auctions.

Minimum Bid Tips

Your auction will start at this price: generally, it is the lowest price at which you are willing to sell. Setting the minimum bid too high may discourage bidding!

All bids at or above $15,000 require verification (credit card or alternative ID) prior to placing a bid. Learn More.

Please remember that you may not place a bid on your own item. Learn more.

Your auction will start at this price: generally, it is the lowest price at which you are willing to sell. Setting the minimum bid too high may discourage bidding!

Reserve Price Tips

Setting a reserve price lets you start the bidding at a price lower than you would be willing to sell for. To use the Reserve Price option, set the real amount you are willing to accept for your item; this is your reserve price. Your reserve price is hidden from bidders, but your item's information will note whether the reserve price has been met yet. All Reserve Price Auctions are subject to a Reserve Price Auction fee that is refunded when you successfully complete your auction on eBay. Leave the reserve price blank if you don't want to use a reserve price.

Learn more about Reserve Prices. Note: reserve price auctions are not eligible for the Hot Items section or for Dutch Auctions.

Private Auction Details

The Private Auction option specifies that the identity and email addresses of bidders are not visible on your auction page. Only the seller and the high-bidder will be notified of the auction results Don't use this option unless you have a specific reason —for example, to avoid embarrassment for bidders. Note: this option cannot be used for Dutch Auctions.

Losing Information with the Back Button?

If your Sell Your Item form loses all your information whenever you try to go back to the page using the "Back" button, don't worry — this can be fixed.

For Microsoft Internet Explorer Users:
Find the settings for Temporary Internet Files (In IE 4.0, go to the View menu and select Internet Options. Then click on Settings... under the section marked Temporary Internet Files). Make sure "Every visit to the page" is not checked. We recommend that you set it to "Every time you start Internet Explorer" as shown below for IE 4.0.

For Netscape users:
Go to the Edit menu in Netscape Navigator, and select Preferences. When the categories of Preferences appear, click on Advanced. Then click on Cache, under the Advanced section. You should see the following.

Make sure that neither the memory cache nor the disk cache is set to zero. We recommend that you set the memory cache to 1024 Kbytes and the disk cache to 7680 Kbytes. To do this, type 1024 in the box for the memory cache, and type 7680 in the disk cache. As a precautionary measure, clear your memory and disk caches by pressing the buttons "Clear Memory Cache" and "Clear Disk Cache."