The Practical eBay Seller: List It Right, Ship It Fast, Get Paid
eBay will happily let you list a shirt as “Nice shirt for sale look!!!” — and then happily let it sit there forever. The difference between that listing and one that sells is about 80 characters and a few dropdown menus, and it’s the reason I wrote The Practical eBay Seller: 15 chapters on doing eBay right from day one — sourcing winners, listings that convert, photos that sell, pricing, shipping, customer service, and dodging the scams. It even opens with a standing order: do what Greg Perry says (his “Ultra-Advanced on eBay” YouTube channel is the best free eBay education on the internet).
What the book covers
Why eBay still wins in 2026, then setup done right: seller account, managed payments, selling limits, Seller Hub, and the store-vs-no-store decision. Then the money skills: sourcing winners, listing anatomy (titles, item specifics, descriptions), photography that sells, pricing strategy, and shipping decoded. The back half covers what separates hobbyists from real sellers — customer service without the headache, returns and cases, the seller metrics that actually matter, promoted listings (and when ads pay off), scaling up, money and taxes and recordkeeping, and a full chapter on avoiding scams. Closes with a 90-day launch plan. Every chapter ends with action steps, same as all my books.
Who it’s for
First-time sellers, thrift-store regulars with a closet full of “inventory,” anyone who tried eBay once and got confused, and resellers who want to stop winging it. If you’ve got stuff and a phone, you’re qualified.
One tip from Chapter 4 (free)
eBay gives you 80 characters for a title — use the formula: Brand + Model + Key Attributes + Size + Condition. “Patagonia Better Sweater Fleece Jacket Men’s L Gray Quarter-Zip EUC” will outsell “Nice shirt for sale look!!!” every time, because titles are what eBay’s search reads first. Then fill in every Item Specific dropdown — brand, size, color, material. Those are free search filters: when a buyer filters by size Large, listings with a blank size field are invisible, even if the title says “Large.” One minute of dropdown menus, permanent increase in discoverability. Highest-ROI minute in all of eBay selling.
