So, first we'll talk about why it really is one of the easiest and quickest ways to start earning money online. Potentially quite a lot of money, depending on the quality and amount of items you have to sell.
- It's simple and free to create an Ebay seller/buyer account
- It's simple and free to create a Paypal account (yes, you need this)
- You start with items around your house, so 0 out of pocket cost to start with
- It's very easy to research an item you are selling
Of course there are down sides to selling on Ebay:
- As a new seller you will start with some restrictions on your account. Including how many listings you can have, and how much you can make (you can request these be raised once you have a couple transactions under your belt)
- You will also have a funds hold placed on your earnings until a variety of criteria are met.
- You will need to have money on hand to ship those first few items that sell (so don't list 100 items right away)
- Ebay leans very heavily towards the "Buyer is Always Right" mentality, and can be very lenient towards them and punish the sellers quickly.
Don't let the above list completely scare you away from trying though! I just want you to be aware and informed about potential pitfalls so you can more easily avoid them. So, first go to ebay and make yourself an account. It's pretty simple and not a lot different than creating any other account. If you do not have a Paypal account you WILL need one. Paypal and Ebay are best buddies and go hand in hand with one another. You will also need to link your Paypal account with your Ebay account. Once all that is done go to your account, under selling, and you will see at the very top how many items you can list, and/or how much you can make for the month. Usually it's 10 items and $100 I believe. If either of those are hit within the month than they will not allow you to sell anymore until next month.
However, it's easy enough to get those limits raised fairly quickly. Listed a few small items, have some successful transactions, heck even buy a couple things if you want, and then you can request that they raise the limits on the same page you see them. I've pretty much always had them do it immediately for myself and for friends that I've helped start selling on ebay.
Here's a quick screenshot from my own account. Once you get past the initial limits, this is usually the second set. I've never achieved enough in sales to need them raised any higher, but I know you can again if you need to.
So, you have an account, you understand the limits, now you need to list some items! Go around your house, all that "stuff" you have that you never use, you got for a gift and can't stand, or you just have to many of, list them! You will be so surprised at what will sell and what people are looking for. You'll also notice that once you get started, and start selling some of that "stuff", you'll find more and more to get rid of. Originally I was going to into this in depth in this post, but it will just make it to lengthy, so I will make another post dedicated to listing and post the link when it's finished.
For a quick start though, pick out your items, then sit down with them next to you. Before you even begin to list do a quick search on ebay for your item. Like I sold a Boba Baby wrap, so I typed in Boba Baby wrap, and looked at what was being offered and at what prices, and what people were asking for shipping before I listed. Be sure to always be careful with shipping when first starting! It's very easy to misjudge it when you're starting out and wind up breaking even or losing money on an item because of it. See what others are charging and do your best guess from there.
Two things Ebay will try to tell you to do that you should ignore:
1. Start your auction @ .99
DO NOT do this, unless you are willing to accept .99 for that item. Always start your auction at the lowest price you are willing to take for an item. Within reason of course, you do want it to sell after all. It's really not that uncommon for an item to sell with just 1 bid, which will be for what you started the auction at. That's why I tell you not to start lower than you can accept for the item.
2. Always offer Free Shipping
Again, unless you know that your lowest price will cover shipping and still leave money in your pocket, then DO NOT do that. You can choose a "flat" fee, like say $5 so even if you are off on how much shipping will cost at least it's not ALL coming from your profit. You can also choose for Ebay to calculate the shipping, but personally as a buyer I hate calculated shipping, and will avoid auctions with it. For that reason I never do it on my own auctions, I always choose a flat fee myself.
Once your item sells you will need to wait for the buyer to pay you. This is important, because sometimes they take a few days, and sometimes they don't pay at all and you have to open a case against them (that'll be another blog post). Below is a screen shot of an item I sold, and circled in red is the symbol that when filled means the buyer paid. I also circled in blue the symbol that shows they left you feedback. Which is also important.
Once they've paid, ship that item. I'm going to tell you now, pay the extra dollar for tracking ALWAYS! This has a couple perks for you that make it worth that extra money out of your pocket. The first is that when you are a new seller they will hold your funds (the money the buyer paid) for 21 days, UNLESS you provide tracking for your item. Then they will release your funds sooner, once it shows delivered, generally about three days after that. So you can change that 21 days into around 7 depending on how fast you ship, where it's going and so forth. Second, a buyer cannot open a case against you saying they never got their item, because you'll have proof that you shipped and that either the item is shown as delivered, or that the post office lost your item. This way you won't take a ding from Ebay if a buyer does open a case.
Lastly, there are fees associated with Ebay. They take a final value fee (a percentage of how much the item sold for), there are listing fees, and Paypal will also take fees. At the time I'm writing this I've sold around $100 worth of stuff, and around 13 items, and my fees are $13.37. You can find this under your My Account tab. Fees are accrued and billed monthly. They're generally paid through your Paypal account. Be sure to keep an eye on that number and make sure you have the money to cover those fees when they are billed.
There is a very basic idea of how to start off on Ebay. I realize now that I will need to write a few companion posts to go with this one. There is a reason people write entire books on this subject after all lol. For now though this will give you an idea of how to get started. Once you've sold your things around the house you may decide to do this part time for extra income, or you may only do it once every year or two to clean out the clutter and make a little extra money for something special (like Christmas time). Either way, start small and simple until you start to get a feel for pricing, listing, and shipping.
Happy hunting everyone, and good fortune.
Thanks! New seller here taking all the info in.
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