Want to be a successful seller on OfferUp? Here are a few simple things you can do to really stand out.
Create a great listing
Take the time to create a detailed and descriptive listing. The more details, the better! The items that sell fastest on OfferUp have lots of great photos, clear titles, accurate descriptions, and fair prices.
Transparency is key. If your item has defects or is showing its age, make sure to include that in the description for a problem-free sale. Ready to sell? See Posting an item for sale.
Tip
If your item isn't selling, try updating your listing by adding more photos, adjusting your asking price, or enabling nationwide shipping.
Respond quickly to each buyer
Responding quickly to interested buyers helps you sell faster, keeps the buyer interested, and builds your reputation as a reliable seller. Your average response time and average reply rate appear on your profile and users do look at this when deciding which seller to buy from.
It might be tempting to ignore low-price offers or questions that don’t seem serious, but it's always best to respond. You can encourage buyers to make an offer closer to your asking price, or remind them that you’re only looking at serious inquiries.
Not sure where to find your message? To learn more, see How to use messaging.
Finalize the sale safely and efficiently
After you have agreed on a price, it's time to get the buyer their item as soon as possible. Arranging this quickly is a great way to boost your reputation (as well as get the item out of your house, and the money in your pocket).
Usually the seller suggests where to meet. We recommend meeting at a Community MeetUp Spot or other well-lit, public location, like a grocery store or cafe.
If the item is large and you're unable to transport it yourself, consider meeting at a Community MeetUp Spot anyway to meet the buyer. Then, if you feel comfortable, you can share the item's exact location for easy pickup.
Plan to spend enough time to let the buyer examine the item and feel good about the exchange. Agree on a payment method ahead of time.
Once the item sells, mark it Sold in the app to let other interested buyers know your item is off the market. Having items listed for sale that are no longer available and are not marked Sold can confuse buyers. Reaching out to inquire about an item that has sold is never a good experience.
Tip
Don’t forget to rate the buyer. It helps build your reputation, increases community trust, and gives the buyer the opportunity to rate you too.
Unfortunately, not every sale works out. Even when a sale falls through, being a considerate seller matters. There are always more buyers.
Keep track of older listings
Sometimes, your item can take awhile to find the right buyer, and that’s ok. Remember to check in on your older listings from time to time. If an item has grown stale, you have a few options on how to manage it:
- Archive it. If your item isn't getting any attention, maybe it's not the right time to sell it (for example, a Halloween costume in April). You can always hide it in your archives until you're ready to try to sell it again. To learn how, see Updating your listings.
- Mark it sold. Did you sell the item and forget to update the listing? Mark it Sold and you won’t have to think about it again. To learn how, see Updating your listings.
- Promote it. Promoting an item moves it to the top of the feed to increase visibility and engagement. To learn how, see Selling faster with promotions.
Note
Listings over a year old may be automatically archived by OfferUp. If this happens to an item that you still want available for sale, you can unarchive it (but it will only remain active for a month before being archived again). Or, you can create a new listing to return it to the feed and prevent it from being auto-archived due to the listing age.