That's the noise my phone made 6 times yesterday morning because I sold 6 more things on eBay. My grand total in sales for the month is about $385! How did I do it? Well I am here to share some of my tips.
EBay is definitely a tricky business so it is important to develop a strategy based on what you are selling. Right now my strategy is just to get rid of stuff. I have a ton of baby clothes the boys have outgrown and a ton of dressy clothes I don't need any more being a SAHM. So I am listing some of the nicer items for slightly more than I might get at a yard sale to see if I get any bites. Now keep in mind eBay has fees that come with you listing and selling items on their site. There is a charge for the initial listing and then a charge if the item sells. However, each user is allowed 50 free auction style listings per month meaning they waive their listing fee (not the selling fee). They also have a couple times per month where they will send out an email telling you that you can list as many items as you want that day only for free. This is pretty much how I have been running my business. Since I am not selling my items for much I obviously want to incur as few fees as possible so I only list when it is free.
Now these fees I am talking about are not huge. The basic auction style listing is about $.30. This goes up depending on how many pictures you include, whether you add the buy it now option, etc. If your item sells eBay then charges you about 9% depending on the price it sold for. The new bummer that they added not too long ago is that they also take 9% on the shipping fee you charge too. I personally think this is a little sketchy, but regardless they are doing it so you want to keep this in mind as well. My advice - list your item for a few dollars more and offer free economy shipping which is basically the slowest and cheapest shipping method out there. It is a win win though cause auctions with free shipping are more attractive to buyers and you avoid that nasty shipping fee by eBay.
Speaking of shipping, my favorite way to ship is priority mail. Why? If you go down to your local post office you should find a display of priority mail envelopes and boxes all free! Grab as many as you need and take them home. Now you have just cut out any cost for shipping supplies. Another reason they are my favorite is that they have the fastest shipping time for the lowest price. Delivery time is 2-3 days anywhere in the US and the small flat rate envelopes and boxes ship for only $5. And believe me, they may look small but you will be surprised how much you can cram in them. For any shipping method you can pay for and print the shipping labels right from your computer and stick them in the mailbox. This is a lot easier to do with the priority mail flat rate cause you don't have to know how much your item weighs. Not to mention the online shipping rates are about $.20 cheaper than taking it to the post office.
Another one of my favorite features eBay added a while back is the "best offer" option. This is a great tool especially for higher ticket items. The best strategy for this is to list your item for more than you expect to get for it and select the "buy it now or best offer" auction type. If you are lucky someone might come along and "buy it now" which is awesome. The more likely scenario is that they will make you an offer less than your listed price. This is great cause now you have a serious buyer and you have a chance to accept or counter their offer. I have sold a lot of designer jeans and handbags this way. However, keep in mind that the "best offer" option is not included in the free listing offers, so that is why I suggest it for higher ticket items and not the $.99 items you are trying to get rid of.
My last bit of advice - take good pictures and be as honest as possible in your listing. This not only helps sell your item, but it keeps you from dealing with unhappy buyers. It only takes one unhappy buyer to ruin your selling record. The easiest way to avoid this is to give them as much information up front as possible. Now there are still those people out there that don't read thoroughly and eBay is there to help mediate those situations. I have had to deal with a few crazies in my years of selling and so far I have survived them all.
Hopefully now you are motivated to go clean through your closets and make a few extra dollars. Good luck and happy selling!
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