Photo to eBay listing in about 30 seconds

What the photos need to show

Vendlists reads what is in frame and does not guess at what is out of it, so the photos that make a good listing are the ones a careful buyer would ask for anyway. The front and the back. The label, the tag or the model plate, close enough to read. Any marking that identifies a version: a model number on a console, a style code on a shoe, a date code inside a bag.

Then the flaws. A scuff, a chip, a stain, a missing button. Photographed flaws end up in the condition notes and the description, which is where they protect you from a return. A flaw left out of the photos is a flaw the listing does not know about.

Good light and a plain background help the buyer more than they help Vendlists, and they help both. Daylight, no flash glare on a label, the item filling the frame.

What gets written

The draft that comes back is the full eBay listing, in the fields eBay actually uses, written for a buyer who is filtering and scanning.

The title

eBay gives a title 80 characters. Vendlists spends them fact first: the brand, then what the item is, then the model or style, then size, color and the one attribute that sells it, in the order a buyer types a search. No filler words, no shouting. A title that reads "Patagonia Better Sweater Fleece Jacket Men’s Large Navy Full Zip" gets found. A title that reads "AMAZING Patagonia jacket L@@K" does not.

Item specifics

Item specifics are the structured fields under the title: brand, size, color, material, model, department, style. Buyers filter on them without reading a description, and a listing missing the value a buyer filtered on is simply not in the set they are looking at. Vendlists fills every specific the photos support and leaves blank the ones they do not, except where eBay refuses the listing without a value, so what is left for you is a completed form to check.

The description

The description opens with condition and flaws, because that is what a buyer wants confirmed before anything else. Then what is included, then measurements where they matter, then the plain facts of the item. Short paragraphs, and no block of keywords at the bottom.

Category and condition

The category follows the identification, and the condition field is set from what the photos show, with the notes carrying the specifics. If you add a note of your own, "small scratch on the back", it is worked into the description and the condition notes in the same words a buyer would use.

The price

For anything niche, vintage or collectible, Vendlists researches recently sold eBay listings for comparable items first; for an ordinary item it prices from what it already knows. Either way it offers three positions: an aggressive price for a fast sale, the market price, and a maximum. Where the comparable sales are thin it says so. You set the final number, and nothing publishes at a price you did not choose.

What a photo cannot establish

A photo shows a surface. It cannot show whether a console powers on, whether a watch keeps time, whether a bag is authentic, or whether the smell of smoke is in the fabric. Vendlists does not claim those things from a picture, and the listing should not either.

Before you publish, check four things:

• The identification, especially the exact model or variant. A photo of a lens can be read as the wrong generation, and the price follows the mistake.
• The condition field against what you know: tested, untested, for parts.
• What is included and what is missing: the charger, the box, the manual, the dust bag.
• The price, against your own sense of the item and the comparable sales it was drawn from.

Everything in the draft is editable. The check takes a minute, and it is the minute that keeps the listing honest.

Publishing to eBay

You connect Vendlists through eBay’s official sign-in (OAuth). No password is shared, and you can revoke the connection from eBay at any time. When you press Publish, Vendlists creates a normal eBay listing in your account, the same as one you typed yourself. Seller Hub and the eBay app keep working, Promoted Listings and Best Offer are still yours to turn on there, and you can revise the listing from Vendlists or from eBay afterwards.

Vendlists publishes to 15 eBay marketplaces, with the right currency, units and language for each.

What it costs

Plans are on the pricing page, and its FAQ answers exactly how the free listings and the trial work.

Where to go next

• How the six steps work, from creating an account to the published listing.
• How to price eBay items from sold comps, the research the price positions come from.
• Which eBay item specifics actually matter, and which ones buyers filter on.
• Plans and pricing.