April 16, 2018

Twelve Top Tips for Selling on eBay

Nick Making Money guest post 6 Comments

Today I have a guest post for you from Luci Olivia, who runs The Frugal Fox website and blog.

Luci is a highly experienced eBay trader, and in her article she sets out some hints and tips for making the most of this popular sideline-earning opportunity.

Over to Luci then…

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Making money selling tat from around the house is great, as you’re earning extra cash and de-cluttering at the same time! For someone like me who is looking to buy a house soon, downsizing and making money ticks both boxes.

There are plenty of websites these days to flog your unwanted items. However, eBay is arguably the UK’s most popular customer-to-customer sales site. They have earned this reputation from being incredibly easy to use. They offer an honest way to earn some money, whether you’re organising your house, selling off some vintage heirlooms, or even ‘flipping’ items from a charity shop.

At any given time there are 100+ million listings on eBay worldwide, with 6.4 million listings added every day. In the UK alone there are 17 million people visiting eBay every month and 180,000 registered UK based eBay businesses so it’s certainly a way you can make some money!

There are a lot of beginner’s mistakes to be made and trials and errors to experiment with, but if you’re looking to make a little extra money this year then read these tried and tested tips from myself – an eBay veteran – to make the first time you sell go as smoothly as possible.

1. Pick an Account Name

Your eBay account name is part of what you’re selling. If you want to sell vintage dresses and your name is Laura’s Vintage Dress Store, it’s going to look more professional and instill more faith in your eBay shop than if you called it LauraSmith1975.

2. Fill Out Your Profile

Also fill in your ‘About’ page, add a nice background and show that you are a reputable business that people should have no worries spending their money with. I’m surprised by how few people fill out their profile – it might just make the difference between someone bidding or not bidding.

3. Take Clear Pictures

Make sure the pictures of the items are taken with a plain background, no shadows on the item, by natural daylight, and include any signs of wear or marks. Trust me – it’s much easier to sell to someone who accepts the flaws than sell and refund someone who didn’t know it had marks.

4. Put it in the Correct Category

I know it’s common sense to ensure it’s in the correct category, but eBay suggests a category once you’ve chosen your title and sometimes it gets it wrong! Check the category before you agree and your antique coin ends up in a category with key rings.

5. Use Keywords

Your item is more likely to sell with extra information in the title. For example, if you find an old games console under the bed and decide to make a few quid off it, as a buyer which are you more likely to click on – the listing called ‘PS2’ or the listing called ‘Barely Used PS2 Slim +2 Controllers, Tested and Working’?

6. Double Check the Spelling

If I search ‘Barbie Doll’ but you’ve inadvertently called your listing ‘Brabie Doll’ then it isn’t going to show up for me or anyone else looking for a Barbie. So double check your listing for spelling mistakes to ensure it’s seen by everyone who’s searching for it.

7. Describe it Well

You don’t need to be a salesperson to fill in the description. All I put is a brief description of the item with a few key words and some essentials about the item. For example: ‘Stunning fluffy and comfortable jumper with no snags or signs of wear. This item is from a smoke- and pet-free home and I’m happy to take more photos if requested. Please ask if you have any questions and make sure you see my other items for sale.’ That’s all you need.

8. Time the Ending

When your eBay listing ends is really important, because the more people who are on eBay at that time, the more likely it is that you’ll get a bidding war. You want your listings to end on either Friday, Saturday or Sunday any time from 5pm – 9pm. You can schedule your listing’s start time for free, so set it to go live at 7pm so it will end at 7pm in the future.

9. To Bid or Buy

eBay offers two main options when you’re selling an item: ‘Buy It Now’ or ‘Auction’. Auction items have the bonus of no top price; however, you usually have to start them at 99p to gain attention and appear in the search. Buy-It-Now items can be sold at any point and for the exact price you’re willing to pay. Weigh up your options and pick the right one for your product.

10. Know Your Fees

eBay offers 20 free listings a month but they do take 10% of the selling price so keep that in mind when you see the final figure. They will bill you monthly, so keep 10% aside for that bill. Also keep 3.4% aside as that’s what PayPal will charge. I usually keep 15% aside to be safe and keep my PayPal pot above zero.

11. Deal Professionally with Issues

There will be issues. You can do everything perfectly and there will still be issues. Unfortunately that is part of doing business – so if a customer isn’t happy, it’s best just to keep that smile on, remain professional and help them out (no matter how much they make your blood boil!).

12. Give and Get Feedback

To be a successful seller on eBay it’s important to build your reputation. So always take the time to rate buyers, and ask politely if they will do the same for you. Obviously nobody wants bad ratings, so if there have been any issues (see above) check and double-check that they have been resolved to the buyer’s satisfaction before asking them to rate you.

So those are my top tips for selling on eBay. It’s super easy, especially via the free app, so get listing and see first-hand how stress-free it is and how much money it could make you this year.

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Thanks again to Luci (pictured, right) for her valuable tips. Please do check out her Frugal Fox website for more advice on saving and making money.

If you have never tried online auction selling before, I hope this post will inspire you to give it a try. It really is as easy as Luci says, and someone, somewhere will almost certainly want anything you have to sell.

In my own case, I recently sold a selection of old beer mats that I had originally scrounged from a local pub for our house-warming party twenty years ago. Although admittedly I did have to re-list them (for no extra charge) as they didn’t sell the first time around!

As always, if you have any comments or questions, for Luci or myself, please do post them below.