Register your contact details at www.ebay.com.au. Choose an eBay User ID and password so you’ve got a trading identity on the site. Once you’ve found a name that’s available, complete the process, confirming your registration by copying the link eBay emailed to you into your web browser.

You’ll now be signed in. Click Sell at the top of the screen, enter your debit or credit card details and click Continue. At this stage we recommend registering with PayPal, as it offers secure payments. Go to My eBay and click Related Links, PayPal. We’ve chosen the basic Personal Account.

We’re ready to start selling. Click the Sell tab, choose a relevant category and sub-category for your item, then click Save and Continue. Enter details of your item on the ’Create your listing’ page. Include words likely to be used by buyers searching eBay. We’ve included ’Apple iPod’ in the title of the speaker dock we’re selling.

The next step is to add a photo. You can include one image per sale item for free, and further snaps for a fee. Use an image editor to crop the pic to eBay’s standard 300x400 pixels, rather than let eBay automatically resize it. Save it as a Jpeg or GIF, then click Add Pictures to upload your photo.

Specify the item’s condition and enter a detailed description in the appropriate field. Now proceed to the Selling Format box and enter a Starting Price for bids. You can also set a Reserve price – a useful fallback if bidding is slow. If the reserve price option isn’t visible, click Show/Hide Options at the top of the page.

Specify the item’s condition and enter a detailed description in the appropriate field. Now proceed to the Selling Format box and enter a Starting Price for bids. You can also set a Reserve price – a useful fallback if bidding is slow. If the reserve price option isn’t visible, click Show/Hide Options at the top of the page.