Does anyone know about selling on ebay?

Question

I have been thinking about selling some things on ebay for a little bit of extra money. does anyone have any advice or suggestions? I havent ever sold anything on ebay. I have only bought stuff off of there. thanks for the help!

Answer 1

Sign up for an account with paypal (owned by ebay ) if you want to accept credit cards or debit cards. It is free to sign up, it only costs you if you sell something and the buyer uses a credit card. Then they charge a small fee (but the fees add up...ebay listing fee, ebay final sale fee, paypal fee).
You can accept checks and money orders, but be careful about accepting checks. I had someone buy an old $50 college textbook for $10. She had a good record, but small numbers on ebay. She eventually after much delay sent me a check for $25 for say a $15 total with shipping. The check was wrong. To save time, I cashed it , waited 10 days for it to clear, then sent her the book with my check for the $10 difference.Three weeks later her check bounced and I had a bouncing check fee on my account.I had a heck of a time getting my check back and also for her to pay the bouncing check fee.
Paypal protects the buyer and the seller somewhat, but makes it more expensive to sell inexpensive stuff such as old books and mugs, which are not (in my opinion) worth selling on ebay unless you are selling massive amounts (1000s) of the items, because of all the fees, time spent and packaging costs (not to mention items broken or lost in the shipping process, upset buyers, buyers who want to return items, etc).
If you are selling a lot of stuff you can open an ebay store for as little as about $15 plus cheaper listing fees, but you really need to have some auction items or fixed price items going along with your store to draw people to your store or else they will not easily see the items in your store.
I tried the store premise, but it didn't work for me.Fees got pretty high for me either way. Maybe you will have more luck.
Weigh the item with box and estimate the weight with box and packing in order to place the ad on ebay. Most times price it by zip code.
If you charge a fixed price for shipping, you better be right or you could wind up paying the difference if it winds up going from say New York to California or Hawaii or Alaska.You could wind up paying the difference for more than the item is worth. It happened to me a couple of times. Better to slightly overestimate, than underestimate weight.

Answer 2

Selling on ebay isn't a bad Idea at all, you have to have a credit card and or a paypal account, either that or a bank account number. To take out the Fee's amount directly from your account.

The fee's are small, and based on Many diffrent variables, Like how much It sold for and a flat fee for putting up an auction.

To avoid all the confusingness of ebay of course you can take things to an ebay store where they auction things off for you, but their fees are much higher. But you dont have to deal with all the bull.

Answer 3

Set up a PayPal account its easier than waiting on money orders in the mail.
When you click Sell they pretty much walk you through it.
You should have a digital pix of whatever your selling most people want to see what they are buying.
Make your description up a head of time.. height, sizes, used, any flaws should be detailed in description.
Get an approximate weight so you know what to charge for postage.
Auctions 5-7 days give more people a chance to see your item.
When you get paid wrap your item carefully and make sure you get confirmation at the post office. That comes in handy when people say they never received your item and you have that ticket in hand saying the date and time of delivery.
Ads cost about 70cents that includes one picture(fee is based on your start up price try to keep it under 9.99). You do have to pay a final value fee that is a percentage of the money you get its about 2% if I remember correctly.
Ebay bills you once a month for any fees you incurred.
Have fun with it !!

Answer 4

It's really simple to do, and all the information on setting it up is on their website. But I can give you a couple of tips. Be sure to take many nice, CLEAR pictures of the object you're selling. Do not download a picture of what you're selling from somewhere else, take your own. Make sure you describe your item exactly as it is. If it's slightly used, say so. If it has a chipped corner, or it's scratched, or missing a cover or something, write that in the auction listing. Also, don't overcharge on shipping. USPS.com, Fedex.com, and UPS.com will all let you calculate how much shipping is going to cost. And lastly, get your item out in the mail as quickly as you can. If you do all of these things, then nobody will ever have a problem with you.

Answer 5

I've been selling on ebay for a little over 2 years and I still remember how hard it was just starting out. You can get a free ebay success kit that has everything you need to get started right at: http://smart-money-help.com/free-ebay-kit . The information in that kit will answer every question you have...and a lot more. I highly recommend you get it before you get too far into the ebay thing.

Answer 6

Some hints and tips I have learned !

~Start by selling things you are comfortable with and know about
~Do a completed listings search on what you are thinking of selling, see what works and what doesn't
~Start off small! Do only a few auctions at a time
~ Time your auctions to end on a weekend , near the evening for best last minute bids.
~ Shipping cost, be careful here, carefully research what it will cost to ship, try to get exact as possible .

I have really enjoyed selling on eBay, its a lot of fun, and its a learning process. It is worth trying !

Answer 7

I have sold alot on ebay. Just have a good starting price but not too high. Good pictures and description. And if your item sells, pay your ebay fees out of the money you get right away or you may forget and they will suspend your accout till they are paid. Such a mess. Good luck.

Answer 8

Hey, I have sold now for over 7 years started out when I was 16 actually. I became a Powerseller and recently created a blog of all my ideas and strategies. Including sources I have used, how to research and find the best products to sell. Check it out at:
http://www.cashinginonline.blogspot.com

Answer 9

use good pictures, clear descriptions, and do a little research if it is an older/antique item. Oftentimes people list things in general categories, or the wrong categories, look to see if there is a specific area to list the item.

also, don't over charge for shipping. 5 bucks for most items is fair for priority. overcharging only upsets the buyer.

Answer 10

too expense try selling at the local college ebays fees can run up even if you don't sell the item, I had to pay 45.00 for an item I didn't sell good luck though