You’ve already organised your spice rack, performed feng shui on your bedroom and categorised your bookshelf by colour. The next challenge? Your wardrobe.
If you’ve got any of the following - overflowing shelves, vacuum bags full of jumpers that haven’t seen the light of day for years and stacks of odd shoes - now’s the time to tidy. And if you’d normally take the reject pile to your local charity shop, eBay is the next best thing in lockdown. According to the resale site’s research, released today, although 57% of the nation has spring-cleaned their homes during lockdown, half have admitted to throwing items away and 80% of people are unsure of the alternative to physical charity shops. eBay is here to help. With a ‘Donate a portion to charity’ option available on every listing, you can choose to give 10% to 100% of the sale to a charity of your choice.
‘Tens of thousands of sellers do this every year, making money and feeling good at the same time,' says eBay’s head of pre-loved Emma Grant.
And don’t think this won’t make much of a difference. eBay’s research has estimated that £187 million of crucial funds could be raised if every household sold and donated the proceeds from just one item.
The post office remains in operation so whether it’s been a while since you’ve logged on, or you’re a total novice, here’s our handy guide to getting the most out of eBay.
Always choose a clear description for your listing. You want to help buyers find your listing so something like ‘ladies adidas trainers size 6’ will probably do better than ‘adidas trainers’ or ‘ladies trainers size 6’.
Choose the ‘sell one like this’ setting if possible. It populates the fields for you and, with popular models of trainers for example, is an easier way to fill out as much information as possible. If you can’t find something similar already on eBay, click ‘create a new listing' instead.
Add as many photos as possible. People want to see every angle so make use of the fact that you can upload 12 photos for free.
Be honest about faults. There’s no point trying to disguise stains and wear etc because it’ll just land you with a poor review post-sale. Take photos of faults and give a full summary in the ‘description’ field.
In terms of pricing, choose between either auction or fixed price. 'Opt for 10-day auctions to ensure the max number of bids,' says Emma. 'The longer your item is listed, the more chance of people seeing it, so unless it's time-sensitive, pick 10 days.' If you’re selling something of significant value, sentimental or otherwise, perhaps consider using fixed price so you can receive offers.
Don't forget the importance of timing. 'The busiest time for buyers is Sunday evenings so schedule your listings to end around that time,' says Emma.
Check your emails so you don’t miss any offers. There’s nothing more frustrating for buyers than putting in offers and not hearing back before they expire.
Leave reviews. Posting a review for your buyer will encourage them to do the same for you.