Writing a listing that sells: title, photos, price and description, step by step

A good item with a lazy listing will lose to an average item with a clear one. That is the first thing to understand about selling secondhand online. Buyers scroll quickly, and they decide in seconds whether to tap or keep going. Most listings fail for four fixable reasons, not because nobody wants the item.

What a listing actually has to do

A listing has four jobs, and they happen in order: get found in a search, get clicked, answer the obvious questions before they are asked, and get you a message. A listing that sits unsold has usually skipped one of them.

How to sell secondhand goods online is really how to do these four jobs properly. The advice holds whether you are selling on Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace or a local classifieds site.

The title: specific beats clever

The title is the first thing a buyer sees, so make it useful rather than funny. Include the brand, the model or type, the size, the key feature, the suburb and the condition. That is a lot, but a title can carry it.

Here is a worked example. Before: “Chair for sale, cheap, must sell”. After: “Timber dining chair, solid, two spare leaves, small mark on one arm, Thornbury”. The second version answers half of the buyer’s questions before they even click.

Keep the title plain. Avoid ALL CAPS, avoid emoji, and cut the filler such as “must see” or “amazing bargain”. How to write a classified ad, in one line, is to say what the item is and let it do the selling.

Photos: the ones that sell

Photos do more work than any other part of the listing, so give the item a proper session. Aim for eight to ten photos, not two. Shoot every side, the label or brand mark, a close-up of any flaw, and something that shows scale. A person or a known object next to the item helps a buyer judge its size.

Take the photos in daylight with a clean background and no flash glare. Photograph at the item’s level rather than from above, because a dining chair shot from standing height looks like a toy. Honesty saves time here too. Photograph the scratch now, so you do not get a message about it later.

Order the shots so the first photo is the one that makes someone stop scrolling. Lead with the strongest shot you have, not the first one you took.

Taking photos to sell online does not need a fancy camera. A phone, a window and a cleared bench are enough.

Price: how to land on a number

Search the site for the same item, then be realistic about what it actually sells for rather than what it is listed at. A listing that has sat for months at a high price is telling you the ceiling.

Weigh condition, age and demand. Something common, and easy to buy new, should be priced to move. Something rare with a real following can wait for the right buyer. If you want room to negotiate, price a little above your minimum, but not so high that buyers scroll straight past.

Whether a round number or an odd one works depends on the item. How to price secondhand items is not a science. For furniture or a car, a round number reads as a serious asking price. For smaller goods, an odd number such as 47 can look deliberately fair.

The description: answer the questions before they are asked

Write the description for the buyer who is already interested, and answer everything they would ask. Give the specs, the measurements, the age and an honest condition note such as “good condition, one mark on the left arm”. Say why you are selling, what is included, where pick-up happens and whether you will post or deliver.

Use short sentences and plain words. A wall of text gets skimmed, not read. Break the description into a few short paragraphs or simple lines. If a buyer has to dig for the price or the suburb, they will move on to the next listing.

Set the ground rules to save yourself time

A few clear lines at the end of the listing cut most of the time-wasters. “Cash on pickup”, “no holds without a deposit” and “pick up from Thornbury” all do real work. So does a line that says when you can be contacted.

You will still get the occasional odd reply. A buyer who offers more than the asking price without seeing the item, who cannot meet you, or who wants to send a courier is not genuine. That pattern is covered in the site’s marketplace scam guide. You do not need to argue with it. Just ignore it and keep the listing up.

When someone does ask whether the item is still available, answer with a plain one-liner. “Yes, still available, pick up from Thornbury” is enough.

When a listing has gone quiet

If a listing has had no genuine interest after about a week, do not assume the item is unsellable. First impressions are everything, and yours can be improved. Change the first photo for a stronger one, adjust the price down a little and rewrite the title so it says something specific.

When a listing goes quiet, change these first:

• First photo: swap in the sharpest, best-lit shot you have
• Title: add the brand, size or suburb it is missing
• Price: drop it, or set a rounder number that reads as firm
• Description: cut anything vague and add the measurements
• Pick-up line: make the suburb and “cash on pickup” easy to see

Relisting is not admitting defeat. It is fixing the first impression. Most of the time the item was fine and the listing was simply not doing its job.

What it comes down to

Title, honest photos, the right price and a clear description. Those are the four jobs, done properly. A listing that answers everything sells itself, which leaves you free to do the easy part: hand the item over and take the money.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission – consumer guarantees for goods (what a seller must not claim); general marketplace listing practice.