A listing is often a collector's only way of evaluating a piece before they buy it — there's no gallery visit, no chance to see it in person first. These five checks catch most of what separates a listing that sells from one that quietly sits at the bottom of the browse page.
1. Photograph it in real light
Natural, diffused daylight — near a window, not direct sun, no flash — beats almost any indoor lighting setup for showing true color. Shoot the whole piece straight-on and square, then add at least one detail shot of texture or brushwork close up. A phone camera is genuinely fine; the light matters far more than the equipment.
2. Tag it accurately, not aspirationally
Medium, category, and size aren't just metadata — they're how a collector's filters find your piece at all. "Mixed media" for something that's clearly acrylic makes it invisible to anyone filtering by acrylic. Measure the actual piece rather than rounding to a "nicer" number; a buyer who orders custom framing off a wrong dimension has a legitimate complaint.
3. Write condition notes that are actually useful
If there's a small flaw — a corner ding on a panel, a slightly uneven varnish — say so in the description. It very rarely costs you the sale; it does the opposite of what a nervous first-time seller fears, because a buyer who knows exactly what they're getting is a buyer who won't ask for a return later.
4. Know how you'll pack it before you list it
Don't wait for a sale to figure out shipping. Check the packaging guidelines for your medium and size before you publish — an oversized canvas and a small framed panel travel completely differently, and knowing your shipping cost up front is also part of pricing the piece correctly.
5. Price it like you mean it
Cost, comparables, the 15% commission, and the size of the piece all factor in — the full framework is in Pricing your first piece. The short version: resist rounding down out of nerves. A grounded price is more convincing to a collector than a suspiciously low one.
None of this needs to be perfect on your very first listing. But a few extra minutes on each of these five points is usually the actual difference between a piece that gets favorited and forgotten, and one that sells.