11 Steps to Make a Living Selling on Ebay
Updated on: March 30, 2020 by anvitalis
Are you a stay at home mom or dad looking for ways to earn an extra income? Then, eBay can be your best solution. You can make a good income on eBay and be able to take care of your family. The platform allows you to create a successful business with a stable income for you and your kids.
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eBay is an online auction website that has grown over the years to feature stores and their specific brands. Typically, anyone can make a living via this site. The most exciting part is that you won’t spend a penny since you can sell used items.
While making income on eBay is easy, some people tend to make more money than others. In fact, most people, especially stay at home moms, are making a living off this website. There are some hacks we’ve prepared that can help you make a living on eBay.
EBay is one of the popular platforms that has created the best side hustles for many people. However, it has gained tremendous popularity over the last few years. That is because the site allows you to list up to 1000 products every month for free. Previously, you could list 20 products a month. So, this is a huge deal for anyone who wants to make cash on eBay.
Things you must know about eBay
The prior system allowed you to list 20 items free of charge. However, you could increase the number of items to 100 listings if you could pay £19.99. You can pick ten, seven, five, three or one-time duration for your auction to run out. After that, you were required to pay 35p for any item you posted over your account limit. Note that eBay isn’t recognized for having the best makeups, you are selling used items, so the 35p will dent your income.
Currently, you can post up to 1000 items without paying a fee of 35p. Nevertheless, you need to pay 10 percent of the closing selling price to eBay. This can be a lot of money if you are selling costly products like electronics or designer handbags. But in most cases, you will make more profits than the previous platform could let you. Sellers with many item listings are known to be reputable. Additionally, you need to ensure you make more sales, as this will help you get a good response. Since you can now list up to 1000 items every month, making a living on eBay is now easy that before.
Before you Begin Making a Living on eBay
There are two primary things you must consider before you begin making a living on eBay. They include
- Packaging expenses.
You need to make sure these costs are low such that you can attract many buyers and increase your profit margins. Conduct some research to find out what other sellers are charging for the same products.
Avoid sourcing your packaging materials from a delivery retailer or post office. In this case, you can keep the old packaging bags you used to buy other goods. You can also check online to find out what deals you can get from purchasing these products.
- Postage expenses
The majority of buyers opt to pay via PayPal. So, eBay recommends that you choose PayPal as your option. Unfortunately, PayPal has its own charges as well. They will charge 20p for every transaction and 3.4% of the total amount paid.
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While this might sound small, it can be huge if you want to sell low-profit products. Maybe you want to sell 6 used clothes for £1 each. This will be £6 before eBay takes 10 percent. That means you will b left with £5.40. Then, PayPal will deduct 20p per transaction, and you will be left with £4.20. Additionally, they will take an additional 3.4% of the total amount paid.
That means you are left with £4.05. That is why many people are excited by the high number of listing offered by eBay. Selling many products will transform these small figures into a large sum of cash that can help cover your food budget for a month or pay for your next vacation. This explains why many people are obsessed with eBay.
According to the recent study, many people are making up top £100,000 on eBay. Most of these individuals have gone beyond selling used items, and now run a lucrative eBay business that brings in more money than any career could. You can be one of them. It’s a simple way of making a living provided you have enough free time. You can start and sell your product in 30 minutes.
Does this sound like a lucrative venture? Read on!
How can you Make Money on eBay?
1. Create an eBay Store
If you want to make a living on eBay successfully, opening an eBay store should be your first step. There are numerous benefits to creating a store. For instance, eBay will promote your shop on search engines like google. This means you will get more traffic. The store offers you credibility.
2. Make Sure You Take Clear Photos
The images you post are the first thing a buyer will encounter. So, it must be clear and good. Learn how to capture beautiful images for your eBay listings that can grab the attention of people. Use light plain surroundings, maximize your lighting, and use a good camera. Your Samsung galaxy or iPhone is ideal. Make sure you take close up images of any defects your products might have. If you want to sell your clothes, you can use mannequin or yourself as a model. However, a flat lay against a good background can be effective.
3. Give a Free Return Policy
Offering free returns is important as it will make your buyers build trust in you and your products. If you don’t have sufficient feedback on your account, buyers may leave your site and look for the items elsewhere. Get a one-month free return policy to stop this from taking place.
4. Request for Feedback
Just like any other business, you need to have a good reputation on your site. This is how shoppers learn that they can trust you and your items. Don’t shy off when requesting client feedback. Every business owner does it, and it will help your argument the chances of getting a good rating.
5. Know the Right Time to Post
Ebay works like social media platforms. This means there are bad times to upload your listing and good times to upload. If you have a blog or you’ve been doing any kind of social media analytics, then you know the ideal time to post on Facebook, Instagram, or even Twitter. But do you know the best time to list your products on eBay?
When you post, a listing is not as important as when ending a listing. Bear in mind that you can opt to do an auction for up to 10 days. So, this allows you to choose your last day of the auction. The ideal time to end your listing is Sundays between 6-9 PM.
That makes absolute sense. People are not busy on Sunday evening, and they have been viewing your listing throughout the duration; they are likely to be free. If it’s impossible to end a listing on Sunday evening, make sure you do it between 6-9 pm since many people will be at home.
The eBay algorithm offers you great exposure to many people to make the listing frequently. Therefore, if you are not selling many things, make sure you space the items out over a few weeks. You can list one product a day instead of listing ten products at a go.
6. Master the Description
When writing product description, make sure you are honest. Avoid writing false descriptions. If you list an item as never been worn (NBW), and the product has been used a few times, you will likely get some negative response. If the item has any defect that you want to list, make sure you mention it in the description and show a close-up photo of it. You might not get much cash from the product, but you will avoid negative reviews from buyers asking for returns. Using acronyms on your eBay listings is also an effective tip. While you might take time to understand the eBay lingo, it will make you like a guru and earn more trust.
7. Strive to Keep the Expenses Low
You can’t make a living on eBay if you don’t keep your expenses low. When it comes to selling already used items, make sure you don’t spend a lot on packing and other expenses. In this case, you can reuse your packaging materials, or even charge an extra fee for all first-class delivery. Amazon offers some of the cheapest packaging materials.
8. Avoid Overpricing Your Products
If you were clearing your home and found 15 products you no longer need, selling them is the best option to make some cash. So, list them on eBay and don’t overprice them. Individuals visit this site to get good deals. For this reason, don’t match the retail price.
Most buyers will sort their product searches at the lowest price first. Therefore, you need to make sure you are on the top page. You can start listing your products at 0.99p. You will get more traffic on your product listings, and many people will be viewing your product. Having many people at the end of your auction duration will help you increase your profits. Even if the item sells at 0.99p, you will clear that product you don’t need.
9. Show Off Your Product Listings
Operate your eBay account as a store, or as a blog. You can market your products on other social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter. Even by increasing the number of individuals viewing your auction, you will have a chance to upsurge the general interest. Actually, some eBay sellers can work together to increase their income.
Additionally, you can link to other product listings in the description cart. This will bring more traffic to your page. If you are selling a River Island top, Topshop dress, and also a River Island dress, you can link to these. The likelihood is that a buyer who has shown interest in the first product you’ve listed loves your style and is your size. Therefore, they might want to see other product listings.
10. Try Selling Your Items in Bulk
Used items, especially clothes, are not the most looked-for purchase online. However, that doesn’t imply that you can’t make a living on eBay via this means. You can sell some of your items in a bulk. That is an effective way to shift the less desirable brands. If a buyer likes one product in your collection and is receiving more products of a similar size for the same price tag, this is a good tactic. However, don’t overcharge since people won’t pay a lot for old products.
11. Your Customer Skills Should Be top-Notch
You must be available to respond to client questions. This means you need to answer the questions within 60 minutes. This might sound harsh, but when you contact a company, you want them to respond immediately. Taking too long to respond to questions will make the buyer leave your shop and get the product from someone else. This means you lost that sale. Make sure you are always polite and professional when interacting with your clients.
Final Word
Making a living on eBay is easy. It will take less than one hour from the start to end to get your products listed. Therefore, what’s stopping you from making a decent living? If you’ve decided to make money on eBay, you may need to get ready for high costs. High quality camera, expert lighting, and other important equipment will help increase your performance.
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