Coil

Once you know where to list your item, the next step is to write your auction’s title. The title is the most important thing about your auction – the difference between a good title and a bad title can be the difference between $10 and $100. That’s why I’ll take you through the dos and don’ts in the next email.

Don’t worry, eBay have you covered. For a small

extra fee, you can list your item in an extra

category, to increase the number of potential

buyers who will see it. This isn’t always worth

it, though – some items only really fit properly

in one category, and listing them in extra

categories is just a waste.

Take some time to look through all the categories and get familiar with the way eBay as a whole is laid out. After all, that’s better than getting a few months down the line and finding that you still think of eBay’s category system like it’s some kind of scary jungle.

Remember that the more specific the category is, the better – use as many subcategories as are appropriate. Don’t just list your HP laptop in the ‘Computers’ category, for example – list it in ‘Computers > Laptops > HP’. Don’t worry: your item will still appear in the ‘Computers’ category, as well as ‘Computers > Laptops’, because items listed in subcategories are always listed in every category above.

If that doesn’t work for you, then search yourself for items like yours, and pay attention to which category most of them seem to be in (you can see this near the top of each item’s description page). Try different words and see which ones come back with the most results. You can also browse through all the available categories from eBay’s front page.

eBay will suggest categories for you when you sell your item, if you type in a few words to describe the item on the category selection page and click ’search’. You can make the best of this feature by typing in exactly what your item is, with brand name and model number (if any), so that eBay can find the best category for you.

Also, listing items in the wrong categories is against eBay’s rules, and eBay say they will remove any auctions that are wrongly categorised. They don’t often actually do this, but it’s not worth the risk – especially since breaking any rules can cause them to penalise your account, including losing PowerSeller status if you have it.

Plenty of people use the category system to find items, when they’re not looking for something specific. If your item is listed in the wrong category – or you’ve just given up and listed it in ‘Everything Else’ – then these people aren’t going to find your auction.

Some people think it’s easy to choose the right eBay category, and often it is. Sometimes, though, it might not be quite clear exactly what to go for.

Don’t get too tied up learning the ways of the

search engine, though: a surprising number of eBay

users don’t search at all, preferring to look

through eBay’s category system and save their

favourites in their browser. The next email will

show you how to make sure these people can find

you too.