AI for online sellers: listings, photos and pricing

ChatGPT or Claude write well from notes and badly from guesses. Before you prompt, write down the brand, the size on the label, the measurements in centimetres, the fabric from the care tag, the colour as you would describe it to a friend and every flaw.

Paste those notes in and ask for a listing. If you only upload a photo, the model fills gaps with plausible inventions: a fabric it assumed, a size it read wrong, a decade it guessed.

For Vinted: "Write a Vinted listing from these notes. Title under 60 characters with brand, item type, size and colour. Description of 4 short lines: condition with any flaws first, measurements, fabric, how it fits. Plain UK English, no hashtags, no emojis, no claims I have not given you."

For eBay: "Write an eBay UK title of up to 80 characters that front-loads brand, model, size and colour, then a description with condition, measurements and flaws. List the item specifics you would fill in as a table. Mark anything you are unsure of as CHECK."

With the CHECK instruction, the model lists its guesses and you verify each one against the item before you publish.

eBay's app can draft a listing from a photo: title, category, item specifics and a suggested price. eBay calls it magical listing, and it runs for private sellers in the UK.

The draft can misidentify an item or leave specifics blank, and the condition and flaws are still yours to write. Read every field before you hit list.

eBay's app removes a messy background and swaps in white or a plain colour. The item stays as it is, so a buyer sees the real thing on a clean backdrop.

AI model shots, where software puts your dress on a generated person, are riskier. Vinted's catalogue rules ask for photos you took of the item as it is, with no image editing, and ban stock and advert images. eBay bans photos that don't accurately represent the item and stock photos for used items. A generated model can change the drape or colour, and a buyer can open a not as described claim on that.

If you use an edited image at all, put real, unedited photos first, show every flaw, and check the platform's current photo rules before you rely on it.

AI cleanup needs a good original. A phone on a tripod gives you the same angle for every item, and a small LED light or ring light fills the shadows a window leaves on a dull day.

For small items such as jewellery, trainers or beauty, a folding light box gives a white background straight out of the camera, so you skip the editing step.

A chatbot prices from its training data and cannot see what sold this week on Vinted or eBay. Use it to suggest search terms, then check the real sold prices yourself.

On eBay, filter search results to sold items. On Vinted, look at sold listings for the same brand and size. Price from the middle of what sold; asking prices on live listings run higher.