With this information you should be able to properly gauge what your item is worth and start the auction accordingly. Search for already completed auctions to get an idea of what recently ending items have sold for and how much of a bidding war took place. You’ll need to login to your eBay account to do this then go to the advanced search options. Research What Similar Items Have Sold For Likewise, if you are selling something like a handmade wood bowl that your grandfather gave you, list that it is a handmade item and that it is one of a kind (if it truly is). The information should be available on the manufactor website, so search for that. Without that information, you cannot make a solid, descriptive auction. You threw out the box when you gave it to him, so you lost a lot of the information about it, what age group it was for, etc. Say for example you are selling a toy you bought for your toddler but they hate it. Sounds silly, but many people don’t know exactly what it is they are selling.

Ideally, you want as many people to see it in the last few hours as possible, which is when most people make the decision to buy. This will give people on the west coast ample time to see it. If you live on the east coast of the United States, list it somewhere between 6 and 9pm. More people are likely to be home and you will get the exposure of the remaining part of that day and the entire following Saturday. Listing a standard seven day auction late Sunday afternoon into early evening will give you the best chance of a great auction selling price. Reply to all questions in a timely manner.Explain shipping & handling fees up front.Get a good starting bid, avoid reserves, use Buy It Now.Be realistic with what you expect to get for it.Research what similar items have sold for.Here’s a checklist to use when listing your items:

In that time I’ve learned a few tricks to help get maximum profit for items with just a few tweaks during the listing process. Over the past eight years I have been buying and selling items on eBay for myself and, more recently, for small businesses.

Ebay auction durations