Selling Collectibles on eBay

Section 5. Grading and Authentication

When you're selling collectible items, it helps to know what kind of shape your items are in. Most serious collectors expect the items they buy to be exhaustively photographed and described, in accordance to the conventions of that particular collectible category. For many categories, that means grading the item's condition or getting the item authenticated.

How Grading Works

If you're not familiar with the process, grading is a way of noting the condition of an item, according to a predetermined standard. Collectors use these grading scales to help evaluate and price items within a category. If you know the grade of your item, you can include the grade in the item's title or description, and thus more accurately ...