One of my favorite things about blogging is writing articles that help other collectors learn how to make more money selling their extra cards.  Maximizing your free listings on eBay is one way to reduce your selling fees, and using eBay variation listings makes your listings go farther.  

Every seller on eBay gets 50 free listings a month.  If you upgrade to a basic store, you get 250 free auction listings and 250 free fixed price listings.  After that, listings will cost you an insertion fee of about .35 per listing.  All those listings may seem like a lot, but I think you’ll be surprised in how fast you can go through them.

Use this easy guide to create eBay variation listings. They will drive more sales and reduce your fees!

What Is A Variation Listing Again?

Variation listings are a format that is intended for use when you have one product with multiple variations.  For example, many times you may see it used when someone is selling t-shirts.  A variation listing can be created which lets the seller create a drop down with different size and color options.  You can use up to 250 variations in a single listing!  

Let’s consider a card based scenario where you have 30 different cards from the 2019 Bowman Top 100 insert set. If you listed them individually, you would use up 30 of your free listings.  However, if you use a variation listing, you can get them all listed with only one, yes one listing!   

Seller Tip: Keep in mind, some sellers have tried to create variation listings where all the cards are not from the same set.  These often times will get caught be eBay and will be removed as a policy violation.  The variation listing should not be used to sell unrelated items.

 So How Do I Take Advantage Of This Sorcery?

Let’s look at that example for that 2019 Bowman Chrome Scouts Top 100 Insert listing.

Create a new listing in one of the Sports Mem, Cards & Fan Shop categories.  It will come up like any normal listing. Make sure to give it a title that will make sense for all your variations.

Next, click the “Create Variations” button.  This will let you choose what attributes or variations your cards have.  Typically, I use the “Create your Own” option.  I create a variation using the (card number - player name) approach.  For example I would type in something like this for each variation I create (8 - Michael Kopech), (58 - Bryse Wilson), (61 - Chris Paddack).  Once you’ve entered all the variations, click continue.

Next I upload a default photo which will show up on the main listing page and search results, then I go down and add “variation photos” for card I have lifted.  This is helpful for sellers, since as they select cards from your drop down, the photo changes to the card they selected and helps assure them they are getting the cards they are truly looking for.  

To do this, change the dropdown from “Use Default Photos” to “Card Attributes”.

Next, we scroll down to edit the quantity and price of each variation. Once you’ve finished editing the quantity and price, click the “Save and Close” button.  This will take you back to the main listing page.

Seller Tip: I recommend having all your photos scanned and saved to your computer’s image library prior to starting the listing process.  

Next create a description that accurate describes the cards you’re selling in the listing.  Make sure to highlight any shipping options, discounts, etc. You will then complete the remaining listing fields like you would for any other item.  If you have a lot of variations, this can take some time, but remember it’s a one time thing.  A Good Till Cancelled listing will auto renew each month and maintain the correct inventory remaining.

Here’s what it looks like once it’s live!

Are You Sure It’s Worth It?

The money you save from additional listing fees, or the additional items you can sell by making your free listings go farther, will make it well worth your time.  Plus I’ve found it can help drive more sales from set collectors who would prefer to buy from the same dealer.  It makes it easier for buyers to add multiple items to their cart.  They just pick from the drop down instead of having to do multiple searches, and as a seller, you want to reduce buying friction whenever possible.

Wrapping It Up

Variation listings are a great way to both drive more sales and reduce your expenses.  I think the technical term for this is a Double Whammy!  Give it shot and let me know how it goes for you!  Once those sales start rolling in, you will need to ship them.  Check out the Definitive Guide to Shipping Sports Cards and the Definitive Guide to Mailing Cards in a PWE for more awesome tips!