3 min article

Creating a listing

We have a range of tools and options to help make sure your listing ends in a sale.

Getting started

When listing your item, start by describing what you're selling. You can add photos, select the brand and physical details about the item ("item specifics"), choose whether to use the auction or fixed price format, and set a price.

Finally, select which postage options will be available to the buyer, a return policy, and how you want to get paid.

Tip
You can read more about item specifics on our Seller Centre - opens in new window or tab page.

We also recommend that you get to know our rules for sellers, our policies on prohibited and restricted items, and what's allowed and not allowed when listing and completing a sale.

Create a listing - opens in new window or tab

Item description

A perfect item description is clear enough to tell your buyer what they need to know at a scan, and yet detailed enough so that there can be no confusion around exactly what they're buying.

Be sure to include:

  • Your item's key selling points
  • Exactly what you're including in the sale. For example, if you're selling used electronics, list which cables it comes with
  • Full sentences with correct spelling and punctuation throughout

Item condition

You can sell almost anything on eBay, from brand new products to items that have signs of wear and tear.

It's vital you're honest and accurate about the condition of what you're selling so your buyer knows exactly what they're getting.

Your options for describing your item's condition vary by category. Some of your options include:

  • New – A brand-new, unused, and unworn item (including handmade items) in the original packaging
  • New (other) – An item with no sign of wear and tear that is missing its original packaging, or the original packaging has been opened and is no longer sealed
  • Certified refurbished – A tech item in like-new condition, refurbished by the manufacturer. The item will be in new packaging with original or new accessories
  • Seller refurbished – A tech item that has been restored to working order by the eBay seller or a third party
  • New with tags / box – Clothing or shoes that are unworn, and still have the original tags attached, or are in the original box
  • New without tags – Clothing or shoes that are unworn, and don't have the original tags attached, or are not in the original box
  • Used – An item that has been previously used. The item may have some signs of cosmetic wear, but is fully operational and functions as intended
  • For parts or not working – An item that does not function as intended and is not fully operational

Item specifics

When filling in the specifics about your item, you'll find that some fields are required and some are not, depending on which category you're selling in.

Item specifics may include brand, size, type, colour, style, or other relevant info about the item you're selling.

We strongly recommend providing as many of these specifics as you can to ensure that your item gets maximum visibility on both eBay and external sites such as Google Shopping.

For more information about item specifics, see our Seller Centre page - opens in new window or tab.

Tip
Use the Optiseller eBay Aspect Finder tool - opens in new window or tab to quickly identify and update your existing listings which are missing required and recommended item specifics.

Our listing tools

Quick listing tool

If you're a casual seller, our quick listing tool - opens in new window or tab provides the core features you need to start selling, and will walk you through the listing process step-by-step.

If you want to see more options in the quick listing tool, such as reserve price, duration and schedule listing, here's how to enable them:

  1. At the top of the listing form, select Change listing preferences.
  2. Tick the Enable more options box and Save.
  3. Select More options.

Advanced listing tool

The advanced listing tool, which is available to all Seller Hub users, offers a clean design, improved listing features and a unified listing experience across desktop and mobile web browsers.

Seller Hub

As your sales on eBay grow, you may want to consider using Seller Hub - opens in new window or tab, a central place for managing your eBay business. It's free, consolidates all our selling tools in one place, and has helpful data and recommendations to help grow your sales.

You can find more information in our article on using Seller Hub.

Tip
You can save drafts of your listings to finish later. You'll find your drafts on the Drafts - opens in new window or tab page in My eBay, or on the Manage Drafts - opens in new window or tab page in Seller Hub. You can save up to 250 drafts through the quick listing tool on eBay.com and the eBay mobile app, and up to 5,000 through the single and bulk business tools in Seller Hub. Drafts expire 75 days after they were last edited.

Completing your listing

Our guides below have useful information on how to add images and categories, set buyer requirements, make changes to your listing after it's live, and more.

See all articles on completing a listing

Using the advanced listing tool

The advanced listing tool offers improved listing features, and a unified listing experience across desktop and mobile web browsers.

Adding pictures to your listings

Learn how to choose, edit, upload and manage the pictures you use in your eBay listings.

Adding a category to your listing

Find out how choosing the right category can help you reach the right buyers.

Creating listings with variations

Discover how to create a single fixed price listing that includes all the variations you offer, such as different colours and sizes.

How immediate payment works

Find out how requiring immediate payment can help when you're selling a time-sensitive item.

Setting buyer requirements

Learn how to manage who can bid on, or buy, your items.

Multi-quantity listings

If you have more than one of the same item available for sale, create a multi-quantity listing to make all your stock available at once.

Selling templates

Find out how using listing templates can help simplify the listing creation process.

Revise a listing

Learn how when changes you can make to a live listing, and when you can make them.

Help us get better

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