5 Excellent Steps You Can Utilise While Posting Your First eBay Auction

It is relatively easy to get your first auction up and running on eBay, here's what you need to do to get it working.

Step 1: Open an eBay seller's account

If you've bought things on eBay, then you already have an account - just log in with it and click 'Sell' in the toolbar at the top of the page, then click 'Create a seller's account'. If you've never used eBay before, then you'll need to open an account first using the 'register' link underneath the toolbar, and then click 'Sell' and 'Create a seller's account'. The eBay site will then guide you through the process. For security, this may involve giving card details and bank information.

Step 2: Decide what to sell

For your first try on dry run on eBay, it really doesn't matter what you choose to sell. Take a look around your house, I'm pretty sure there's at least one thing in there of value that you're not really attached to and could form the basis for your first run on eBay. Selling a CD or a Book is idea for first choice items.

Step 3: Submit your item

Click 'Sell', and you're on your way to listing your item. The first thing you need to do is choose a category - it's best to just type in what the item is and let eBay choose for you. Next, write a title and description. Include key words you think people will search for in the title box, and all the information you have about the item in the description box.

Next step is to start your start bidding price. Setting it at one cent is probably the best starting price as it will draw people in to make a bid who otherwise wouldn't be interested, and products will generally rarely every finish at a low price. The next process to go through after setting the start bid is to set the duration of the auction, 3, 5, 7 or 10 days. This is purely up to you, setting longer auction durations will usually result in more bids, but will also seem to drag on forever. If you have a picture of the product that you've chosen to sell post it up straight away, items with images also do better on the auctions. Lastly, select the payment methods that your able to accept, PayPal will be most ideal for now, and where your willing to delivery your product to, for now it'd be best to limit yourself to your own country, submit that and your ready to go.

Step 4: Wait for it to sell

This is just a matter of sitting back and letting eBay do its thing - buyers will find your item and leave bids on it. Some bidders might email you with questions about the item, and you should do your best to answer these questions as quickly as you can. Remember that if your item doesn't sell then you can list it again for free

Step 5: Collect payment and post it

EBay will send out an email after the auction is over guiding the auction winner on how to make payment for the product. Make sure you have all the money in your account before you send the product out to the auction winner. Once the money for the product has been received, your next step will be to pack the item for posting (using bubble wrap is most ideal), write down the buyers address from the confirmation email that eBay has sent out to you on the parcel. Put the appropriate amount of stamps on the package and post it and you're done. I really hope that you have enjoyed selling your first item on eBay.

Uchenna Ani-Okoye is an internet marketing advisor and co founder of Free Affiliate Programs