I’ve been buying stuff on Ebay for about 12 years, and selling for about 6. Selling on Ebay can be very rewarding–some people do it for extra money; some do it to clean out their homes of items they no longer have use for; and some do it as their main source of income.
First time selling on Ebay?
First, you’ll need to sign up for an account. You can register for a new account right on Ebay’s home page at www.ebay.com. On the application, you’ll be asked for your name, address, phone, and email–standard stuff. You’ll also be asked to create a user ID and password–they’ll even give you tips on how to choose good ones, if you’re interested.
Security Is Important
You don’t want anyone making unauthorized bids using your Ebay account, leaving you responsible for the bill. And you certainly don’t want any unauthorized users from getting into your Paypal account and making purchases with your money. So be sure to record your Ebay and Paypal user IDs and passwords in a secure place.
Commonly, security professionals will tell you not to write this information down, but to memorize it. But in many cases, people may have trouble remembering this data on top of everything else, so write their info down in a document that only they can access–perhaps in an inexpensive, lockable home cash box or something similar. Whatever the case, keep the info secure.
You have an Ebay and Paypal account. Now what?
You’re going to need to get a digital camera. There are lots of good models out there, so you’ll have plenty to choose from. You don’t necessarily need to get the most expensive model, but keep in mind that a beefier camera will give you more flexibility of use down the road, whateverhttps://www.nindomom.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=120&action=edit&message=1 you’re using it for.
If you need to borrow a camera for now, that’s OK, too. Just keep in mind that long-term, it will be a lot easier if you have your own if you plan to sell on Ebay on a regular basis.
Choosing a camera
Select a model that can take a good photo in different levels of light. (This is assuming you don’t want to go out and buy a studio lighting kit right off the bat.) Also, you want a camera with a good zoom, and a macro feature that allows you to take close-up photos to capture your items’ details.
One excellent choice is the Canon PowerShot SX20IS 12.1MP Digital Camera with 20x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.5-inch Articulating LCD.
is an excellent choice. For a lower-cost option, you could go with the Canon PowerShot SD1300IS 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 4x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Blue)
Select several items you want to list on Ebay
This is an important step, because items will sell better (and for higher amounts) depending on the season, what holidays are coming up, and what’s going on in the world.
This is certainly not set in stone, but here are some examples of types of items that tend to sell better in certain months:
Clothing tends to sell best a couple of weeks prior to the change of seasons. This is because people realize they’re going to need new / different styles of clothing for themselves or their kids. Name brand clothing will sell for more than off-brand, and new clothing will sell faster than used, everything else being equal.
Toys and games seem to sell better starting in October and lasting through the end of the year, usually for a week or two after Christmas. Coincidentally (or maybe not!), you will notice that October is also when brick-and-mortar stores start putting out their holiday merchandise. With used toys, vintage toys can sell quite well, especially during the holidays.
Electronics can be popular items on Ebay during the gift-giving season. Make sure to test your item thoroughly when deciding whether to list it: electronic items such as computers, cell phones, mp3 players, and hand-held game consoles may very well still sell if they are cosmetically imperfect or experiencing small problems, but it’s important to be completely open and honest about any imperfections in your listing. You can be sure that if you miss any problems, the buyer will be sure to let you — and Ebay — know about it after the fact. Full disclosure is definitely the best policy — and, it’s what you’d want if you were the buyer.
Whether your items fit into one of the above categories, or something else, you can
Research your item right on Ebay’s website to get an idea what price items like yours are currently selling for. You can find special research applications on Ebay, but an easy, quick method of research is to search the completed listings on Ebay. Here’s how:
- Go to Ebay’s home page at www.Ebay.com. Look for the purple words “advanced search” directly to the right of the green search box, and click on “advanced search”.
- In the first search field (labeled “enter keywords or item number”, enter a few keywords for one of the items you plan to list
- scroll down and click on the check box for “search completed listings”
- Hit the blue search button.
Ebay will display the listings that have ended in the last ten days.From this list, you’ll learn several valuable pieces of information:
- how many of this type of item completed their listing period during the last ten days
- the price for which other sellers listed these types of items
- the price buyers were actually willing to pay for these types of items
For items that actually sold, their prices will be displayed in green. They will also display the word “sold” in green, bordered by a green box. Not only does this give you an idea of what you could sell these types of items for–you know what you might be able to BUY this type of item for, if you wish to purchase them, yourself.
Is it better to sell at auction, or with a fixed-price?
With the fixed price option offered by Ebay, you can list your item for up to 30 days. This fee varies depending on the category of the item your’re listing. Auctions tend to do better when the starting price is lower–the lower, the better. However, keep in mind that when you list an item for a given starting price, you may end up selling it for that price–o make sure you’re willing to part with the item at that price.
Ebay does give you the option of setting a reserve price, which is not displayed–but in general, setting a reserve price seems to frustrate would-be bidders, so I don’t recommend using them.
Selling on Ebay is a big topic to cover, so I’ll continue to update this section with more info weekly. Please email me if you have specific questions, and I’ll do my best to make sure I cover them.
Buy on Ebay – to Sell on Ebay
One way you can get stuff to sell on Ebay at prices low enough to make a good profit is — buy stuff on Ebay! Just enter “wholesale” info Ebay’s search field (or “wholesale products,” “wholesale cds,” “wholesale toys,” or any other similar variation, depending on what you want to sell, and Ebay will display listings that match your search terms. You can get some amazing deals.
Another way to search is, after performing a search on Ebay for whatever you want to purchase for resale, use the drop-down menu at the top ( far right) of the search results, and select sort by “price plus shipping: lowest price first.” You can often find items selling for as little as a penny, some with free shipping. Not hard to make a profit on an item like that! Try checking the listings on different days and at different times to see what kind of great deals you can find.
Your buyer and seller accounts are the same on Ebay, so you don’t need to sign up separately to buy if you’re already set up to sell.