How to Write a Great eBay Listing

When a buyer searches for something on eBay, the platform’s search engine, Cassini, crawls listing titles to decide what to surface. It doesn’t read your description. It doesn’t look at your photos. It reads your title first, matches keywords against what the buyer typed, and decides whether your listing is relevant. That’s why two sellers can have the exact same item and get wildly different results based on nothing but how they wrote their title.

Beyond search, your listing is also doing the job of a sales pitch. Buyers on eBay can’t touch the item. They can’t ask you a question in real time. Everything they need to feel confident enough to hit “Buy It Now” has to be in the listing. Photos, condition notes, and a clear description are what convert browsers into buyers.

You have 80 characters in an eBay title. Use them, intelligently. The goal is to include every keyword a buyer might realistically search for, in the most natural order possible.

A strong title includes the brand, the full product name, the model number or variant if applicable, the condition, and any relevant attributes like color, size, or edition. A weak title includes vague descriptions, filler words, and things no buyer would ever search for.

Here’s the difference in practice. A weak title for a used video game might read: “Great condition Mario game for Nintendo.” A strong title reads: “Super Mario Odyssey Nintendo Switch 2017 Complete CIB Good Condition.” The second title hits brand (Nintendo), full product name, platform, year, condition shorthand (CIB means complete in box, which collectors search for), and a readable condition grade. Every word is doing something.

A few things to avoid in titles: punctuation, asterisks, exclamation points, and words like “L@@K” or “RARE!!!” that buyers never search for. eBay’s algorithm treats these as noise, and they make your listing look unprofessional to buyers who do find it.

If you want to get a little further into the weeds regarding SEO on Google, we wrote a full guide here. This is helpful if you want to better understand how to effectively use keywords to get your listing in front of the right buyer.

eBay offers standardized condition grades and you need to pick the right one, but the grade alone isn’t enough. The condition description field is where you add context that protects you and builds buyer trust at the same time.

If something is “Used – Good,” say what that means for this specific item. Does it have a scratch on the back? A small dent on the corner? Does it power on and function perfectly? Buyers are more likely to commit when they feel like they have the full picture. Vague condition notes lead to questions, which slow down sales. They also lead to disputes if the buyer feels the item wasn’t described accurately.

For higher-value items, condition grading becomes even more important. A trading card listed as “Lightly Played” means something specific in that market. A watch described as “excellent condition” should include notes on whether it comes with box and papers, whether the bracelet shows wear, and whether it’s been serviced. The more you can anchor the buyer’s expectations before purchase, the smoother the transaction.

eBay allows up to 24 photos and you should use more than a handful for anything worth real money. Buyers are making a purchasing decision based entirely on what they can see, so give them every angle.

For most items, you want a clean front shot against a neutral background, a back shot, both sides, close-ups of any wear or damage, and a shot of the serial number or any identifying information if relevant. For collectibles like trading cards or sneakers, condition-specific photos matter enormously. A card collector wants to see the corners and edges. A sneaker buyer wants to see the sole wear.

For most items, you want a clean front shot against a neutral background, a back shot, both sides, close-ups of any wear or damage, and a shot of the serial number or any identifying information if relevant. For collectibles like trading cards or sneakers, condition-specific photos matter enormously. A card collector wants to see the corners and edges. A sneaker buyer wants to see the sole wear.

Natural lighting beats flash almost every time. A windowsill shot in daylight will outperform a dark room with an overhead light. You don’t need a studio setup. You need clear, honest photos that show exactly what the buyer is getting. 500 x 500 is the minimum, although eBay recommends at least 1,600 x 1,600 for quality photos.

If you have the item in hand, we strongly recommend taking your own pictures rather than relying on stock photos. Obviously, this isn’t always possible, especially when making presale listings, but posting your own picture proves you have the item and builds buyer confidence.

Choosing the right category affects both search visibility and buyer trust. eBay populates suggested categories when you enter your title, and in most cases the top suggestion is correct. A misplaced listing can tank your visibility entirely.

Item Specifics are the structured data fields eBay asks you to fill out after you select a category: brand, model, color, size, year, condition details, and so on. These are not optional if you want to rank well. eBay has consistently pushed sellers to complete Item Specifics because buyers filter search results by these fields. If your Item Specifics are blank, you’re invisible to anyone using filters.

Fill out every field that applies. It takes an extra two minutes and meaningfully improves how often your listing surfaces.

For most resellers, Buy It Now (fixed price) is the right default. Auctions make sense in specific situations: when you’re unsure of an item’s value, when the item has a passionate collector base that will bid competitively, or when you want to move something quickly and are willing to accept whatever the market offers.

Pricing is always item-dependent. If you’re reselling a hyped product that just sold out, price it high and hold your ground to take advantage of FOMO. If buyers won’t bite, gradually ease your price down in $10 to $20 increments. Undercutting other sellers’ prices by $100 or more can destabilize the market and result in everyone going home with less profit.

Filter eBay’s completed listings by “Sold” and look at the last 10 to 20 sales for your item. Find the realistic range, account for your platform fees (eBay’s standard rate is 13% of the final sale price including shipping), and price accordingly.

How long should my eBay description be? Long enough to answer every reasonable question a buyer might have, short enough to stay readable. For common items this might be three or four sentences. For high-value or unusual items, a few short paragraphs is appropriate.

Should I offer free shipping? For lightweight items, free shipping built into the item price tends to improve conversion because it removes a friction point for buyers. For heavy or bulky items, calculated shipping is smarter so you’re not eating unexpected costs.

Does listing time of day matter? For auctions, ending on a Sunday evening typically gets the most eyeballs. For fixed price listings it matters much less, since they run continuously.

How do I handle lowball offers? If you have Best Offer enabled, you can set auto-decline minimums so you never have to manually deal with offers below your floor. This saves time without closing off negotiation entirely.

What’s the difference between relisting and creating a new listing? Relisting keeps your original listing ID and history. Creating a new listing resets everything. If an item has been sitting for a while and you want a fresh start in search results, a new listing can help.

A great eBay listing is not complicated, but it does require intention. Get the title right, fill out your Item Specifics, photograph the actual item honestly, and price against sold data. These four things alone will put your listings ahead of the majority of what’s on the platform. The resellers who sell consistently and at strong prices are not usually doing anything exotic. They’re just executing the basics better than everyone else.