Setting the right price: the three-step method

Price is the first filter on your listing: in a single second, it decides whether a buyer clicks or scrolls past. Set it too high and the ad sleeps for weeks, slowly buried under newer listings in its category. Set it too low and it sells within the hour — you have just handed fifty euros to a stranger. Between the two sits a price that sells fast without giving money away, and that price can be worked out.

The good news: no gut feeling and no crystal ball required. The method fits into three steps — compare, position, adjust — and works just as well for a smartphone as for a solid oak wardrobe. Allow twenty minutes of preparation: it is, by far, the best investment of your entire sale.

Compare: build your price range

Find five to eight genuinely equivalent listings: same model, same generation, same condition, same area. A 128 GB iPhone 13 in “very good condition” does not compare with a sealed 256 GB one. Write down the lowest and the highest prices you see: your price will live inside that range, never next to it.

• In the tech category, generation is king: a single model of difference can represent 30% of the value.
• For vehicles, mileage and service history weigh more than the model year.
• In fashion, brand and condition make almost the entire price; the rest sells in bundles.

One classic trap: displayed prices are asking prices, not paid prices. A listing identical to yours that has been online for six weeks mostly teaches you that its price is too high.

Position: pick your spot inside the range

Immaculate condition, original box, invoice and complete accessories: aim for the top of the range. Normal signs of use: the median. A visible flaw: the bottom of the range, AND the flaw stated in black and white in the text. A hidden flaw always costs more than a discount would have: a withdrawal, an open dispute, a negative review that will weigh on your next sales.

A concrete example: jackets equivalent to yours are listed between 40 and 60 €. Yours is spotless but has lost its tag: 50 €. With a tiny stain shown in a photo: 42 €, the stain mentioned in the very first line of the description.

The details that make people click

Within the same range, a few small settings clearly change your contact rate:

• Show 149 € rather than 150 €: the first digit anchors in the buyer’s mind, and your ad appears in searches filtered “under 150 €”.
• Under 30 €, stick to round numbers: nobody negotiates a T-shirt at 8.90 €.
• Keep a negotiation margin of 5 to 10%: a buyer who wins 10 € feels like a winner and closes faster.

That margin then has to be defended in the conversation — our guide to negotiating without souring the deal details the phrases that protect both the price and the relationship.

Adjust: a price is a living thing

Publishing is not the end of the job. Watch the first seven days — they tell you everything:

1. No contact in seven days: drop the price by 5 to 8%. No brutal 30% cuts — they worry buyers more than they attract them.
2. Views but no messages: the first photo or the title fails to appeal. Rework them before touching the price.
3. Plenty of contacts but no serious offer: the price is fine, the description answers badly. Specify the condition, the dimensions, what is included.

If the clock is ticking, combine a measured price drop with a featured-listing boost to climb back to the top of the results — the full mechanics are in our plan to sell within seven days. And if the problem is visual, our guide to photos that sell fixes 80% of silent listings.

Close at the agreed price, with no surprise

The right price is worthless if the transaction derails at the last moment. Keep the whole negotiation in the platform’s messaging: the amount agreed in writing is what counts if a dispute is opened. For a remote sale, secure payment holds the funds until the buyer confirms reception — no cheques, no direct transfer to a stranger. And if a “buyer” suddenly offers more than your price to pay outside the platform, it is a classic scam: refuse and report the profile.

You have the range, the position and the adjustment plan: all that is left is to publish. Post your listing at the right price — twenty minutes of method beat six weeks of waiting.