eBay: The Missing Manual

Listing an item

Listing an item means creating a title and description for your item, setting a price, adding a photo, and putting the whole thing up on eBay for buyers to bid on.

But before you do any of that, you have to register as a seller. Even if you're a registered eBayer and have been buying on eBay for a long time, you still have to officially register as a seller before you can list an item for sale. Here's how.

Register as a Seller

You only have to register once, no matter how many items you want to list. And there's no charge as long as you have credit card and a checking account.

To register as a seller:

1. Head to the navigation bar, and then click My eBay.

   Your My eBay page (Section 1.4.9) appears.

2. From your My eBay page's left-hand menu, click the Start Selling! link.

   The How To Sell Items on eBay page appears.

3. Click the Set Up A Seller's Account link.

   You see a Sell Your Item: Create Seller's Account page similar to the one shown in Figure 5-1.

4. Click Create Seller's Account to enter your financial information and register as a seller.

   eBay asks for a credit card or bank account to prove that you're who you say you are. If you don't want to give eBay personal financial information, you can pay $5 to have your eBay ID verified. What this means is that eBay checks out your contact information and verifies that it is correct (Section 5.4.2 tells you more about verification).

A checkmark icon appears next to the ID of verified eBayers on the Member Profile page. Verification is good ...