Knowing
how to make money on eBay will enable you to clean out your closet and
home of unwanted items you've been holding onto for quite some time. If
you've had pairs of shoes that you've maybe worn once or twice, (heck
maybe haven't even wore them since you tried them on at the shoe store)
it's a good idea to just sell those bad boys. Clothes that you've hardly
worn are good things to sell as well especially if they are high price
point items. Kitchen appliances and furniture centerpieces that would be
easy to package and ship are good items to sell. Baby items such as
formula you won't be using, registry items that you never used in brand
new condition should go on your eBay store, as well as lots of baby
clothes that were only worn once can even sell on there. Maybe you like
creating things such as jewelry or scarves, you can try selling that as
well. I would recommend selling the more crafty items on Etsy. The sky's
the limit with what kind of items you can sell.
Listing pictures
When you list them on eBay, pictures are truly worth a thousand words. Try to keep the following in mind:
- Make a good lighting environment when you are taking pictures. Grab a lamp and shine that sucker over your product.
- Take pictures at different angles, tags that show sizes and brands, and possible wear and tear.
- Creating a non-clutter background in your pictures help a lot.
- A good camera will be handy, even an iPhone takes nice pictures. You can always edit your pictures with the hundreds of photo editing apps that you can download onto your phone.
Finding the right title
When
trying to find the right title of your listing, go for keywords that
people will look your item under. For example, I found a TON of beads
for making jewelry in a storage unit sale. I practically got them for
free. I had packets and packets of beads, unopened in their packages.
Whoever owned that storage unit was a jewelry maker and left a good
amount of it there. I thought I found a treasure chest, it was
beautiful! There were many different colors and sizes. I'm no bead
jewelry expert so I had to look up the kinds of beads online to see what
were their exact names. I found out what they were and included that in
the title of my listing. I increased the visibility of my products by
using keywords. I ended up selling more than $3,000 just off those
beads- and I'm not even done selling everything! If I hadn't done the
proper research, then I wouldn't have been able to list my item and sell
it as quickly as I did.
Smart pricing
Before
you set the price for your listings, check out your competitors. Search
for similar items if not the same exact item and see what they are
selling for. Try to be reasonable in setting the price. If you have
someone selling the exact same Jimmy Choo shoes as you, try to sell
yours a dollar or a few cents cheaper than them. This will enable you to
come up at the top of the search results when people are looking for
cheap options on the item you are selling. Make sure you list it under
an auction style listing for an item you know more than one person would
bid on. You might just end up making more money then you think.
I've averaged out on selling more than $1,000 this month on eBay so far just from emptying out junk in my storage unit. I had 10-20 packets of sewing needles that I won't be using and they sold for $5.00 a piece. You can make money on eBay just from selling items you didn't think would sell! Many people are going to estate sales and garage sales to pick up items that people don't want and turning it around by selling it on eBay. You can find items that are vintage, like items that someone, somewhere is seeking to buy and add to their collection. I found a vintage poster from the movie "Grease" and saw that the exact same poster was bought for $100.00! And mind you there's nothing special about the poster, it's just an old movie poster in not-so bad condition that people are willing to cash out for. I only paid $1.00 for it so its a win win situation when searching out yard sales.
I've averaged out on selling more than $1,000 this month on eBay so far just from emptying out junk in my storage unit. I had 10-20 packets of sewing needles that I won't be using and they sold for $5.00 a piece. You can make money on eBay just from selling items you didn't think would sell! Many people are going to estate sales and garage sales to pick up items that people don't want and turning it around by selling it on eBay. You can find items that are vintage, like items that someone, somewhere is seeking to buy and add to their collection. I found a vintage poster from the movie "Grease" and saw that the exact same poster was bought for $100.00! And mind you there's nothing special about the poster, it's just an old movie poster in not-so bad condition that people are willing to cash out for. I only paid $1.00 for it so its a win win situation when searching out yard sales.
Shipping
When shipping your items to buyers, remember the following:- ALWAYS keep your receipts from the post office.
- ALWAYS get a tracking number. You need to input this number on your site so that the buyer can see you shipped it. As far as the shady buyers online, if you forget to stick in the tracking number, they can claim they never received the item and ask for a refund. (Yes, people do it and scam like that all the time.)
- ALWAYS get insurance on high price point items. It might get lost in a sort facility somewhere or might even get stolen.
- ALWAYS package your items with care and concern. If you have a delicate item you are shipping make sure you stuff it with bubble wrap or left over plastic shopping bags or even wrapping paper (get creative!).
- ALWAYS ship according to the handling time you listed on your site. If you said you are going to ship in 3 days, then ship it in 3 days. You will get negative feedback if you have a disgruntled buyer waiting to get an item when its a gift for someone and needed it under a certain amount of time. Please be considerate and don't slack off.
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