Red chicken printer tea cup new on eBay

Over the years, many things have changed on eBay. However, the strategy behind listing titles is one thing that hasn't changed very much.

Its a little counter-intuitive - but often times a good listing title doesn't make any sense on its own. Of course, it's ok if it does make sense - but its not the most important factor.

The MOST important factor in your listing title are keywords. Let's say it all together now, "KEYWORDS"

You get 55 characters in your listing title - and each one of them is gold. Why? Because that is the real estate that is searchable.

So, the idea is, pack that 55 character space that of course relate to your product being sold (the words must be related, otherwise its keyword spamming, which eBay will nail you for) but are also likely to attract buyers attention. Use them all - all 55 characters if you can.

Red chicken printer tea cup new! If you had a new tea cup that had a red chicken on one side and a printer on the other - that would be at least part of good listing title! Got it?

A Moment for Momentum

Have you ever noticed that it is usually easier to get a lot of things done when you're really busy than it is when you have all sort of time on your hands?

I find this to be very true when listing new items on eBay.

If all my orders have been shipped and the PayPal payments are just rolling in, its harder to bear down and list even more - though that is exactly the time when a good eBayer DOES list a ton more.

On the other hand, if things have sort of stalled, there is a big pile of orders that need to be shipped, and a bunch of customer emails that need to be answered - being productive is much easier.

Watch out - don't fall prey to the easy going times. Be disciplined (it takes practice - work on building the habit) and list a ton of stuff regardless of whether things are feeling productive just then, or not.

Selling other people's stuff is easier

You know, most people (not everybody, but most people) have a lot of s$#t.

They've got stuff they don't even know they have. Boxes and boxes of it.

Have you been to an Estate Sale lately? Every time I go I swear to myself that by the time I'm ready to check out - I'm not going to have all those books and all those boxes of stuff.

Why do people collect so much stuff over their lives? Well...memories of course. Each item a person owns has a memory attached to it - so there is always the fear that if I get rid of this item, then I'll lose the memory I have attached to it. Of course, that's not true....and of course - who is to say that you won't forget the memory even if you hold onto the object?

The other thing is - the longer a person owns the item - the more they have "invested" into keeping it - and the harder it is to get rid of!

Think of all the piles of stuff that people don't use, that they could sell and get $$$ for - but they are reluctant to get rid of extra stuff?

Try this mental exercise:

Think about selling your extra stuff. Stuff that you never use, but is really border-line in terms of your willingness to give it up. Got that feeling?

Now - pretend a total stranger owned those exact same items, and asked you to sell them. How does it feel now?

My point is that it's a lot easier to sell stuff that you are not emotionally attached to. So, if you've got stuff that you know you should sell but are emotionally attached to - just understanding the dynamic that is happening can help you get to a place where you can pull the trigger on that auction (and then the cool thing is - once that auction is going - you won't think about it a bit...much less when you've shipped the item and you have $$$ in hand).

Or, if you know somebody who is wanting to sell some stuff but having a hard time breaking up with it - offer to swoop in and do it for them. It'll be much easier for you to do it than it will be for them to do it.

Keep Yourself Charged When You List

One thing that a lot of folks fall prey to when it comes time to list new items on eBay is, they lose steam.

That is, they're all ready to start listing a big pile of stuff - but they just can't get motivated to do it.

Do NOT let this happen to you. Listing lots of stuff every day is one of the best ways to assure successful selling on eBay. Here are a 3 things that get me moving when I'm not in the mood to list:

1) Change your state of mind by doing 10 push-ups or sit ups or whatever is going to get you out of your funk

2) Go consume massive quantities of sugar/caffeine - this isn't the healthiest option...but it works in a pinch. The only down side to this one of course is that once you come down from the sugar/caffeine high - you're worse off than you were. But if you can list fast - a couple of diet cokes ought to let you get a good 20 or 30 items up before you fade.

3) Listen to something awesome. This is probably the best option. Once you get used to it, listing doesn't take a lot of concentration - so listen to something that feeds your brain. Two really good things to listen to is music at http://www.pandora.com and the talks at http://www.ted.org

...or, do whatever works best for you. The important thing is that when you're supposed to list and you're not in the mood to list - GET in the mood to list.

Back to the Future - eBay and Daylight Savings

So as most of us here in the U.S. hopefully remember - all clocks spring forward 1 hour this evening.

For those eBayers who are hyper sensitive about timing the end of their auctions, its important to realize that any listing that falls across the daylight savings time change gets shifted by an hour. So if an auction is supposed to end at 8 am tomorrow, it will actually end at 9 am.

I can't imagine a situation where a 1 hour change would make such a difference that one would actually worry a lot about it. But if you do worry about it, remember the tweak the timing of your auctions whenever daylight savings is involved.

Worried about not having the right box?

A lot of times I hear about eBayers who are reluctant to list an item because they're not sure how they will send it. Mostly, they seem to be worried about having the right sized box or envelope.

Like so many things - try coming at it backwards. Instead of trying to find a box for the things you list, why not list the things for which you have a box. In other words - if having the right box or envelope is your biggest worry - take the box you have and find out what in your sell pile will fit in that box.

Whatever fits best, that's what you list next.

Anti Clutter Kick + eBay = Powerful Combination

Not too long ago my moma let me borrow It's All Too Much by Peter Walsh (he's the clean sweep guy). I thought it was a pretty good book - Walsh gives some good advice about how to think about stuff. One of the best things in the book is on the very first page where he quotes Fight Club saying, "The things you own wind up owning you"

Walsh mentions eBay in the book as a good way to get rid of extra stuff....but he doesn't dwell on it too long. It occurs to me that an entire book could be written about this subject alone. If getting rid of stuff is all about the mental/emotional balance of: it'll hurt to get rid of this stuff but it'll feel good to have the space...then the extra $$$ that one can earn from eBaying extra stuff can really tip the balance in favor of less stuff.