New to ebay and struggling with policies and international selling. Bereaved and brain not functioning!

[Feelingabitsorry]

I'm new to ebay and struggling with it - specifically how to make sure my items are visible to the maximum number of potential buyers, and that I am able to sell internationally and use ebay Global Shipping Programme.

I am recently bereaved and have had to clear out a house, in the space of three weeks - for a lifetime of 2 people. Due to a series of financial mistakes there is no inheritance and there was no money for a funeral or to contract a house clearance firm.

I'm pretty exhausted (which is fine I'm not grabbing or expecting of anytbing really), and with looking after two young children and going back to work my head is a fog. The costs of a small cremation have meant I've gone into debt.

Most item went to charity, or if they were worth anything specialised dealers (who are brutal with their pricing (I know they need to make a profit). I've kept some things to sell on ebay that have some worth in the hope to recoup funeral costs and put my account back in order.

I am, however struggling with all the 'postage policies' and alike! I think my items are visible internationally but I can't see how to check? I also think I've signed up to Global Shipping, but nothing seems to show up on each listing that the items are available internationally. How do I check!? The policies throw back errors all the time when trying to pre fill them.

Also how do I generally increase visibility. I've tried to draft clear subject lines with key terms.

Any advice or help very gratefully received!

First, very sorry for your loss.

What types of things are you selling. I wonder if international selling is actually worthwhile in your circumstances. Unless the market for your items is much stronger overseas I might well not bother (we don't at the moment).

If you do decide to. On each listing (either new or revise) scroll down to postage policy. Click on create new postage policy. Select options for Uk selling and then there is a box you can tick to allow for GSP (global shipping programme) selling. I would advise not posting direct internationally as IF parcels go missing (which they do at higher rate than in the UK) you will have to refund both item cost and the usually very high postage fee and it is just not economic to do so. Once GSP receives the parcel any loss is then their responsibility.

In terms of visibility make sure you use as many keywords in your title as you can e.g. Type of Item, Brand, Size, Age, Colour (if appropriate). If you do an advanced search you can filter to sold items and then see what titles people have used which have helped their items sell.

Ebay is quite slow at the moment. You could pay Ebay to advertise your item BUT be very aware this comes at a cost. You just have to balance a potentially quicker sale with ebay creaming off any profit with the advertisement fee. We find on balance that for books (which we sell) advertisement increases Ebay profit but not ours!

A simpler way to sell off your items would be to take to a local auction house. The advantage of this would be they do get international buyers without any extra work from yourself. Again it depends on the potential value of your items. Low value items, even if grouped together, will not do well at this type of auction but the rare and the valuable mostly do well.

Another thing to be aware of is that if you sell over a certain amount these days even as a private seller it has tax implications and has to be declared. Again more hastle you undoubtedly could do without.