This may be a basic article for some, but there are always those who would like to start selling on eBay. It’s good to refresh! Sometimes going back to basics is all you need to start the New Year off on the right foot.
You may be thinking that you want to sell on eBay and make it your career. You may have been reading about how many have left their corporate jobs to sell on a full time basis on eBay. With motivation and ambition you can make money to help support your family or just make some mad money for your family to take a trip to Disneyworld or a vacation to Hawaii. Doesn’t matter what the purpose for selling on eBay, you need to decide what you can sell to help you make a profit. Profit = Cha-ching in your pocket!
You will see that just about anything and everything is sold on eBay. You might have an attic with Aunt Betty’s unwanted items from the estate sale or baby clothes and equipment that have been in the corner for years. If these items are of good value and still in great condition, you may find a way to advertise these items to sell on eBay. Unused items + Sell on eBay with a Buyer = Cha-ching in your pocket!
What to sell? – Where to Find Your Products to List on eBay
Everyone can start with their home. You should start looking in your closest, through your kid’s toys, or even the garage. By starting in your home you can find stuff that you haven’t used and just sitting in your house collecting dust and taking up space.
Next you can look outside of the home, the first place to find an eBay worthy item is a garage sale. Garage sales are not about selling junk, but items you don’t have a need for anymore and that need to find a new owner. You can find great deals at church and community yard sales too. Come prepared with cash and a vehicle big enough to take away larger items you might find for a fraction of the retail price. You may be lucky enough to bring home some great bargains and even the a gently-used kitchen sink.
Before buying – Let’s see What to Look for in an Item
Most items that you can think of are able to be sold on eBay, but they may not be worthy of a sale. That means that your mother-in-law’s beaded antique lamp might not fetch a good price on eBay. If it looks dreadful to you it’s probably dreadful to your bidders. Save it for when The Antique Road Show comes to town instead.
Research, research research! Research your item – see if it being sold on eBay and for how much. With your mother-in-law’s antique lamp, I would focus on “antique lamps” and see what is selling and for how much. This might take you a few days to decide on your price for listing but the few days can be worth it. The reason for the research is to help you know what you have and know what it could be worth. In the long run this time can make you more of a profit.
The main aspect of an item for possible sale is whether you can get a higher price on eBay than you are paying for it right now. Let’s use an example of the gaming systems. These gaming systems are in all shapes and styles and they are hot sellers throughout the year. The best time to find them is when they first go on sale in stores. If you can afford to buy three or four at $400 a piece, you can make at least twice that much for each one on eBay, especially if the system is in limited release in stores. Then this item is consider hard to find and hard to get your hands on with a limited availability.
On the other hand, larger items like curio cabinets or wardrobes may not be cost effective for you. They will cost a lot to ship and the price customers are willing to pay may not make a decent profit. However, with bigger items like cabinets or outside kid toys there is the option of setting up a local only sale, where the winning bidder must come pick the item up – so consider that if you’ve got furniture or larger items you’d like to get rid of. And if your item is hard to find you might find some potential buyers are willing to drive the extra distance to pick it up.
eBay’s Prohibited Items – Caution all the way!
We’d be negligent if we didn’t mention that eBay does have a list of items that are prohibited from selling on eBay. Remember the rules? Yes, if you didn’t know eBay has a full list of what you can and can’t do so everyone is in check. What is nice to know is that the items that are forbidden are known to everyone because eBay has made it clear. There are people who will test the limits but you don’t want to be one of them. Know what you can’t sell as well so you can stay clear of them. Here is a limited list of illegal items to sell on eBay:
- Pornographic items
- Used clothing
- Recalled items
- Credit cards
- Event tickets (that’s scalping if you didn’t know)
- Alcohol (the drinking kind)
- Weapons
- Food (even space rations)
- Human body parts
Complete Prohibited List: For a complete list, go to eBay and look under “Seller Resources” and then “Prohibited Items”.
Selling on eBay can be a fun learning experience with a profitable outcome when you select the right items to sell and do your research to know what you are selling. Assess each product by the current market and the efforts involved in selling and preparing the listing before just putting it up for sale to make some fast cash. The more time you put into it and do it right the first time, could generate profitable income for you.
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Happy Selling! 
