When you’re completing the form to place your ad, you must complete all the fields that have a red asterisk like this *. All other fields are optional.

Writing your title

The title is the first thing that’s going to capture the attention of buyers. You have 55 characters. Make sure you include:

• The name of the item – for example, if it’s a table, include the word “table”. This ensures your ad will appear in search results. We know that sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised at the number of people who miss it.
• The brand of your item, and its size.
• If you’re selling an animal, mention whether it’s a pedigree, and how old the critter is.
• Avoid using gimmicks like “AAAA” or “Wow!” They don’t encourage buyers to look at your ad, and they don’t help your ad to be found in searches.
• Use as many of the 55 characters as possible.

Writing the short description

The short description appears in search results, and helps buyers to decide whether your item is the one they’re after. For this reason:

• Don’t repeat the title in the short description.
• Highlight any features or specifics about your item.
• Use keywords to help buyers find your ad.

Examples of great titles and short descriptions

Write your description

When you write your description, be realistic and concise. It helps to include:

• Any information about the item that’s not included in the title or short description. This might include the brand or model type, colour, age, or other distinguishing features.
• If there’s a warranty.
• Any interesting story that goes with the item.
• If it’s relevant, your reason for selling.
• Any marks or flaws. Be sure to take photos of any marks to include in your ad.
• Technical or other specifications

Adding pictures

We have a tool to help you upload your pictures. It looks like this:

You must be able to access the pictures from your computer. Pictures should be in jpg, bmp, tif, gif or png format, and be no more than 10mb in size.

Click on the “browse” button and locate the picture you want on your ad. Then double click on the picture to load it into the ad.

The main picture is the one that will appear as a small image in the results when someone searches for your item, and also as the biggest picture on your ad.

Removing pictures

You can add or remove pictures at any time. To remove pictures, click on the "remove" link next to each image.

Change the order pictures

To change the order of pictures, click on an image and drag it where you want it to go. It’s that easy.

Contacts and location

It’s a good idea to include a couple of phone numbers – like a daytime number and your mobile phone number. You don’t want to miss any calls!

We have security on the site to ensure that your number can’t be harvested by software and added to spam lists. But you can find out more about SMS scams here.

The easiest way to add your location is to include your postcode and then select an option from the drop down menu. Sometimes it can take a few seconds to upload, so be patient before you move to the next step.

Saving a draft and next steps

When you’ve completed the form, you can save a draft of your ad, or click “checkout” to take you the next step - registration and payment.

If you save a draft, you will have 48 hours to complete and submit your ad before the draft is deleted from the system. We do this in order to protect your privacy.

To access a draft, you need to log into your Ad Tools account and your ad will be saved under "Draft ads".