How to Make Money on eBay – 7 Tips From an eBay Power Seller
Have you ever wanted to sell on eBay but didn’t know how to? Would you like to know how to make money on eBay? As an eBay PowerSeller, here are my 7 tips for a better selling experience. Though there are various ways for making money, I am going to tell you what has worked for me in my 14 years of selling.
To provide proof, here is my eBay Seller Profile http://www.ebay.com/usr/idak01 that will show you some of my stats and what I currently have for sale. If you see no currently listed items it is either because I am on a summer or Christmas vacations.
TIP #1: Before you begin do your research
Think of what you want to sell on eBay. Do you want to sell new items, used items, or both? What are you into, what are your passions or your hobbies? As with all businesses that you start from scratch you need to define what your goal is and how you intend to reach it. Doing research before you begin will greatly help you down the road.
If you are not sure what to sell on eBay then go to their home page and click on the “Daily Deals” link at the top left of the page, as seen in the above picture. This will bring you to a page that will provide you with items being currently sold in the genres of Home & Garden, Fashion, Technology, plus others. Looking through this area should give you an idea of what you can sell if you have problems coming up with your own ideas.
Once you know what you will sell you need to do a search for those things on eBay and see what they are selling for. Also take note of how many are available for sale and whether the seller has it listed as a Buy It Now or an Auction style listing.
Get yourself familiar with the prices and the shipping and return policies. The best way to accomplish this is to become a buyer on eBay before becoming a seller so you can see how the process works. There are also other good reasons for becoming a buyer, which I describe below.
TIP #2: Locate a source for your items
Unless you intend to sell used items that you either currently have or can get from people you know, you will need to find a source of new products from a wholesaler. Depending on the size of the merchandise you can either stock it yourself or have it drop shipped from the wholesaler.
WARNING: There are some less than honest programs out there online promoting Drop Shipping for eBay items that are not really drop shipping and are a waste of money. The one that comes to mind is a company called DS Domination (DSD), the DS stands for Drop Shipping. However DSD is NOT a drop shipping program.
The basic definition of drop shipping is when you have the 
manufacturer or wholesaler of a product ship it directly to your customer. This is not what DS Domination does, so please do not waste your money by falling for this untruth.
Whether you decide to stock your own new products or have them drop shipped, the absolute best place to search for free wholesalers is Worldwide Brands, Inc. If you know how to determine a real wholesaler from a fake one, and there are many out there, you can use a resource directory on Google called Wholesale Central. This resource directory http://www.wholesalecentral.com is absolutely loaded with currently active wholesalers in a wide variety of items. Again make sure they are real legit wholesalers. To find out how you can tell who is legit or not, visit my review of WBI which will explain how to know.
Take it from me, you will want to spend an entire day going through this directory because there are just so many companies to research. NOTE: It is imperative that you read the Terms of Use for each wholesaler you wish to do business with since many of them have different rules for purchasing.
TIP #3: Determine how you will ship your items
If you do not do drop shipping you will have to figure out the method of how you will ship the merchandise that you sell. Depending on what you decide on selling will also determine how you will ship it to your customer. Large bulky items should be sent via UPS while smaller items should be mailed through the Postal Service. If you ship via the Postal Service here in the United States and you use Priority Mail, the boxes and envelopes you can use are totally free of charge.
However for those products that are either too big for the size boxes available or small enough to ship via First Class and Media Mail, you will have to purchase your own shipping supplies. You can get boxes, padded envelopes, labels, and tape in bulk at 
wholesale prices from either the Wholesale Central directory at the link above or from wholesale sellers on eBay.
I have personally found that buying a bulk lot case of 100+ self-sealing 6×9 inch bubble padded envelopes from other wholesale sellers on eBay is way cheaper than ordering from a nationwide supplier like Staples or OfficeMax.
The nice thing about the 6×9 size envelope, other than being bubble wrapped lined and self-sealing, is that you can mail anything from the size of a DVD and smaller for the cheaper First Class Mail prices.
TIP #4: Become an eBay Buyer before becoming a Seller
Okay you might be wondering why being an eBay buyer is one of the tips to make money on eBay? I have two simple reasons. One, you need to see how things are handled by other sellers in relation to Customer Service and how professionally you receive your purchases.
This will give you a good idea as to what you should do with your customers. The more-happier your customers are with your service the higher your eBay Feedback Rating will go and the more repeat customers you will get.
Two, while you are in the process of performing all of the preparations for starting your eBay selling business as mentioned in Tips 
1 – 3 above, you will need some time to increase your total positive feedback rating. You definitely do not want to start selling on eBay with a zero (0) or low (single digit) rating.
The higher your total rating the more customers will want to buy from you. The majority of buyers on eBay, myself included, would rather buy from a seller with a higher rating because it represents an eBay member with a good selling and customer service track record. Being a buyer and getting positive feedback from sellers will increase your total positive feedback rating.
This is one of the reasons why people who try to start an eBay business give up too soon, because they do not get people who want to take the chance and buy from them. Yes I know that sucks but that is reality. You will quickly learn this in my first reason when you begin buying on eBay.
You will more than likely choose to buy from a more established seller than a newbie. Experience and a higher feedback rating really does help to generate sales. As soon as I became an eBay PowerSeller my already high sales jumped even higher.
TIP #5: Diversify what you are selling
This is the approach I personally take to selling on eBay. I not only sell new merchandise which I buy and stock in my closets (only 20% of what I sell is drop shipped) but I also acquire items for sale from people I know that have things they want to sell.
I charge a 40% commission of the final sale price, which does not include the shipping charge. You might be thinking that 40% is a high commission but in actuality I am only getting 26% after you subtract the eBay and PayPal seller fees that you must pay.
Then there are items that I get to keep all of the money and those are the used things that I purchase for dirt cheap prices at garage/yard sales that people have at their homes during the spring and summer months. You would be amazed at what people get rid of, and if you know what to look for, you can score big on a purchase.
Being that I live in a fairly residential area, every Friday, Saturday & Sunday during the sunny warm days I can go to at least 10 garage/yard sales within a mile radius of where I live. I especially like buying from these sales and re-selling on eBay because many times people do not realize the value of some of the things they are getting rid of. To find garage/yard sales just check out Craigslist.
For example, I was at one sale last year and I saw a miniature set of Coca-Cola light green bottles that were salt and pepper shakers. I already knew that the light green colored glass bottles are worth money. I had already bought about $18 worth of items so I asked the guy, how much for these salt & pepper shakers?
He thought for a couple of seconds and said give me $4 for the set, which I gladly did. I came home took a few pictures of them and posted them up on Auction for $8, double what I paid for them and knowing I would get more once the auction was over. Sure enough they sold for $35.63. That is a $31.63 profit!
Just last week the same thing happened again when a home owner sold me the Nikon 35mm SLR film camera you see in the picture above for $20. Being that I know a little bit about film cameras, I used to have 3 of them before the digital age, I knew that this was still in good working condition after opening it up and testing it. The final auction price on eBay was $89.00, a $69 profit!
TIP #6: Which method of selling I prefer
Just to recap, the above are the three ways I make money by selling things on eBay. One, I buy new merchandise from wholesalers and re-sell them for a higher price either directly or through drop shipping. Two, I acquire new and used products from people I know and sell them for a 40% commission. Three, I sell used items that I purchase for cheap prices at garage/yard sales. When I sell them on eBay, which selling method do I use? It mainly depends on the condition.
If a product is brand new, factory sealed I will put it up on eBay as a Buy It Now listing once I research what the suggested retail price is on other websites such as Amazon. If an item is used or in an opened package I will list it as an Auction and also set a Buy It Now price on it.
This way if a buyer sees the auction and knows by my written description that it is in an open and/or used state, they can either make a decision to pay the Buy It Now price or go for a possible cheaper final sale value by placing an Auction bid, which then nullifies the Buy It Now price. For the items that are strictly used and not in their original packaging, I post up as Auction only.
START YOUR OWN ONLINE BUSINESS AND AVOID EBAY FEES!
TIP #7: Write quality content for your eBay listings
When listing an item up on eBay I highly recommend that you add a little story to your product description. Buyers will more often buy from a listing that is descriptive and personable as opposed to a listing that is sparse on detail and character. Just like it is very important to write quality content for Affiliate Marketing niche websites, it is just as important to do the same in your eBay listings.
People want information before they buy, they want to know what it is they are buying. Make sure to give it to them by way of your description and by way of photos of your items, you are able to post up to 12 pictures per listing. Treat your potential customers as if they are your close friends.
BONUS TIP #8: Popular items to sell on eBay
After going through all of this information you might be wondering what is it that I personally sell that has been popular and profitable on 
eBay? Well I will give you a listing of what I personally know are popular and that I will always sell if I should get the chance to acquire them for re-sale.
Remember, for some of these it helps greatly if you know what it is that you are selling so you can answer any questions that may arise from potential customers.
• Brand new current year Baseball Cards and select older cards
• Brand new factory sealed Video Games and select opened games in good complete condition
• Brand new Video Game Consoles and Portables as well as a few select used systems
• Silver coins and bullion as well as other rare coins and paper money
• Collectible such as anything Coca-Cola, Disney, Star Wars, Original Star Trek, Genuine Military items from the Civil War, World War I and II, Older GI Joe dolls, Older Barbie dolls
• Vintage advertising of famous products and name brands that are no more
• Brand new and good condition used Laptop Computers
• Brand new and used Smartphones and Tablets
• Brand new and used Digital & Film SLR Cameras
• Brand new Athletic Footwear
• Seasonal clothing and accessories such as trendy handbags
• Seasonal items such as beach items for the summer, yard items for the spring and fall
Though there are many other popular items, these are the ones I have and do sell with great success. I personally try to sell the smaller ones first and foremost because they are easier to ship and in most cases are the more rewarding as far as profit. The one thing you must do in order to be successful selling any of the above or any I haven’t listed is to experiment what sells best for you.
Another way you can expand your eBay selling is by creating your own direct sale website and posting for sale some or all of the same products you are selling on eBay, provided you have more than one. The only difference with what you sell on your website would be that you get to keep more of the money because you will not have to pay 10% to eBay for each purchase. Plus you can drive traffic to your eBay site for items that you do not have on your website.
If you are interested in learning how to build your own website without having to program it, you can join the online education and business building community known as Wealthy Affiliate University at the banner link above right or from any link within The Wealthy Affiliate Review. If you have any further questions about eBay in general or any of the tips I have listed above, please leave your comments below. I will respond to you normally within 24 hours with a reply. Thank you!
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After reading this post, i can easy you are the eBay guru to sell products easily with more profits. I knew its not that easy! because am also a seller on ebay selling my own products (women’s wear) only indian market and not a powerseller need more positive feedback from my customers, your post is really worth and learned some cool tips am bookmarking this page, will visit again.
Thank you. I am happy that my post was able to offer you some insight into selling tips. Yes, becoming a PowerSeller will take time and more positive feedback, but just keep offering good service and it will happen. If you would like to expand your inventory you should try Worldwide Brands for a listing of Certified Wholesale Drop Shippers from all over the world. You can check that out here http://legitimatejobfromhome.com/free-drop-shipping-wholesale-suppliers-make-money-on-ebay
Hi,
I opened ebay seller account and i have 10 listing limit now.I didn’t start selling yet. Can I buy any product with this account (this same seller account)?
If I purchase any product with this seller account, is it against ebay policies?
Please clarify my doubt as soon as possible.
Thanking you,
Prakash Aravind.
On eBay you can buy and sell from the same account without any penalties.
Robert
Hi, This article is very helpful to eBay beginners. Thank you Robert.I checked dropshipers list and price (sunrise and Dollar days). In eBay price shows cheaper than dropshiper.
1.How will we manage it?
2.Can you suggest some genuine affiliate marketing companies for selling their products in eBay?
3.Can you give a guidance, how to do Amazon affiliate marketing on eBay?
The answer to your questions are.
1) If the prices are lower in eBay perhaps the seller is buying the item direct from the manufacturer or maybe another wholesaler which buys in bigger bulk
2) If you do affiliate marketing there is no need to sell on eBay because in affilite marketing you never have any dealing with the actual product. All you do is write a review about the product on your website, place an ad for the product in your review and that is it. A person buys the product from your affiliate link and the store you are affiliated with ships the product to the customer and then pays you a percentage of the total sale price.
3) See my answer for #2 above.
Hi, I am from India, just i saw your website, even i dont know DSD, while reading your blog, i got quite interested to start drop shipping business, but the problem i am having ZERO knowledge, can you suggest me step-by step solution to start the business. take care.
You will need to have either an established eBay sellers account in good standing or your own eCommerce website, before you can even begin doing drop shipping.
Thanks, for your quick and responsive reply, I am not have any seller account in Ebay, so this is not for me. Thanks again.
Hi Robert,
I feel like I am talking to my husband his name is Robert lol.
Great article. I am considering of becoming an affiliate for e-bay, which one do you prefer e-bay or amazon? Could you talk a little about your experience as an affiliate for both. i would of course be a new-bi to both. i do sell on e-bay though. I have booked marked your page for future reference….Great info thanks.
Hello Linda,
I too sell on eBay but do not do affiliate marketing with them. I only do affiliate marketing with Amazon and other major companies, which is very easy and highly recommended with the training offered at Wealthy Affiliate University. You can set up an entire business by promoting only one kind of item on the entire Amazon website. I know another Wealthy Affiliate member who is now making $3,000.00 and up per month from his website/blog on computer parts & video games.
I checked into the eBay affiliate program and it seems more complicated than Amazon, so that is why I am not doing so with eBay. I will continue selling on eBay as I have for the past 14+ years, but as for affiliate marketing, Amazon is definitely the better option. Because once you get your niche website set up and add your Amazon affiliate ads, there is nothing more you really need to do, your blogs will sell for you 24/7/365.
Robert
HI Robert
Great article.I am from England and I have been buying and selling on ebay for a while now,some good sales and not so good i have a business ebay account.
I have wondered what the hottest items sell on ebay at affordable prices.
Someone once told me about Terapeak which as you may of guessed is a ebay tool my question i need to ask is “is it worth pursuing as in purchasing the software”? am i wasting my money? if so are there any free versions of the same thing?
I do have a website that was currently a free wordpress site til i bought a domain and now i can do a bit more, but i havent done anything on it, souly because i struggle knowing how to use it professionally as in white background pictures putting the descriptions in the right places etc..
I think buying and selling products from wholesalers and buying items on ebay and selling on my site prevents as u say paying charges
I hope in some way you could help, if so that would be fantastic..
Hello Ben!
Yes I have heard and have used Terapeak. I do freelance work for a local company that has an eBay Store, creating product descriptions for their eBay store website, and they have me using Terapeak and Inkfrog. Despite all of the great reviews, I am not a huge fan of Terapeak. Maybe it is because I am new to using it and not for me personally but for someone else. One thing about selling on eBay is that you have to sell a lot to make a lot and you need to do this for at least a couple of years.
Personally for my eBay account, which has remained a personal non-business account since starting in 2000, I do not use either Terapeak or Inkfrog. I have done quite well without them. As for figuring out what are the hottest items to sell on eBay, it partially depends on your geographical location. Some items are universal such as tech items like smartphones, tablets, Bluetooth, MP3 & MP4 players. Sports collectibles are also hot as well as toys around Christmas time.
However I do not sell on eBay as much as I used to now that I have discovered Affiliate Marketing with companies like Amazon, Apple, Best Buy, Sony, and thousands of other world-wide retailers. A couple of years ago I joined Wealthy Affiliate University (see ad banner I have on the right side of my website pages) so I could learn to build my own free WordPress website and sell directly as an eCommerce website to bypass the eBay fees.
When I found out how simple and quick it was to build a website without any kind of programming and then I could monetize it with free affiliate ads from major retailers and have them pay me for all sales those ads would generate, I sort of forgot about building an eCommerce website for selling products. Affiliate marketing, in the long run, would (has) made me far more money than selling on eBay can and I do not have to buy or sell any products. Just write about them, place the ads, and collect a payment every month from the retailer whose ads I am using.
But when I do sell on eBay I still buy new items from a select favorite list of wholesalers that I use, and some of these wholesalers also offer drop shipping, which is very convenient for larger items. You can find the list of these wholesalers at the Wholesale Central link I provide near the beginning of this post. Eventually I will get around to building my eCommerce website because I DO NOT want to keep paying those expensive eBay fees. But for now I am really enjoying the money I am making with affiliate marketing.
Hi Robert , Thanks for your generosity in sharing your knowledge and definitely benefit many of us here . I am totally new to EBay though I purchase books pretty often on Amazon . As I want to venture into online selling on EBay / Amazon and fulfillment via drop shopping by direct wholesalers , I want to know what are the things that we need to be careful and take note of when we deal with wholesalers for drop shopping . Also how can we monitor when the price or quantity from the wholesaler suddenly change and differ from our sale price ? Thanks
Hi Roni, For you first question I guess I would have to say that you make sure they are upfront about all costs and that they handle returns and refunds quickly. Make sure that they will provide you with a tracking number as soon as they ship your order.
As for your second question, the wholesale price rarely changes but if it does while you have a committed outstanding order, most drop shippers will honor the previous price in which your order was stated at. But when prices are going to change and/or items will be soon out of stock, you will be notified ahead of time because in order for you to do drop shipping you have to become a member of the drop shipping program.
In the link I provide in the beginning of this post to Wholesale Central, on the bottom left of the page with the links, there is a link to Dropshippers. That lists about 80 wholesalers that do drop shipping. I recommend Dollar Days International and Sunrise Wholesale. Dollar Days is the most friendly customer service and order department I have ever dealt with.
I want to know do you need a business license to use the whole sellers? I don’t have the money for a license. What do we do when we are having problems related to the drop shipping process. Ds domination breaks down those problems. Do you have a training course besides this that is more detailed about droppshipping.
For more than 50% of the Wholesalers you do not need a business license. They will tell you if you do in their Terms of Service agreements. I like working with those that don’t require it because their minimum order amounts tend to be smaller. Dollar Days International is my favorite as a Wholesaler and as a Drop Shipper.
As for problems with drop shipping, everything is handled by the drop shipper. Do you have a specific problem you are asking about? If your concern is about a return that needs to be made, you have your buyer return the item to the drop shipper. The drop shipper refunds you the money and you refund your buyer. Very simple 3-step process. Every drop shipper clearly explains their procedures on their websites.
Like I said above, Dollar Days International is my favorite as far as product sellection, prices, minimum amounts for wholesale buying, ease of drop shipping, and customer service. Drop shipping is very simple to do. One of the reasons why DS Domination makes it more complicated is because they do not teach you REAL drop shipping but rather their unique version of it.
Hello Robert
Very good post here, many good informations.
I am just gathering infos on how to sell on ebay and amazon and got on this post.
I want to ask you how hard/easy do you think it is to sell and ship items from europe to usa?(from inventory)
Does only the shipping fees are involved?
Also if i choose the drop shipping method ,i need to know how is for me as a seller from Romania to handle all that this method implies.
I really want to put my energy, time and resources to become a good seller on ebay.
IF you can help me with some advices it will be wery nice!
Thanks
When dealing with overseas items there are a lot of taxes, customs forms, and shipping paperwork that are involved. Personally I do not deal too much with overseas orders because they decrease the profit margins by so much. Using a drop shipper who will ship internationally is the better way to go, because they will take care of all the paperwork.
If you decide to do the drop shipping method, go to the link in my post to Wholesale Central. On their home page on the bottom left of the list of wholesalers you will see a link for Drop Shipping. You will need to do some research and find a drop shipper that first will ship internationally and secondly, has the products you wish to sell. Being you are in Romania, if you want to sell to not just the U.S. buyers but others in general, you should join the drop shipping program of a U.S. drop shipper that ships internationally.
Thank you for all of the info Robert. How do you go about managing price and inventory fluctuations for dozens or hundreds of items? Any programs you could recommend? Also do you have any posts about selling on amazon? Thank you man. You’ve provided more value in this one post than in all the content I’ve seen all day!
You are welcome Andrew. I don’t have price fluctuations because drop shippers rarely change their prices. And if they do they let you know ahead of the change so that price adjustments can be made. As for the items I keep in inventory, the prices don’t change because I buy them at a low wholesale price and sell them for retail.
Price fluctuations are a rare occurrence when selling using “real” drop shipping. Fluctuations only happen when doing Arbitrage which is what DS Domination truly is.
No I do not have any posts about selling on Amazon because I have never sold on Amazon in that way. It is way more of a hassle to sell on Amazon than it is to sell on eBay. Plus I already sell on Amazon through their affiliate program which is really easy. All you do is write product reviews and/or promotions, place ads that Amazon gives you on your website, and get paid a commission for every sale that comes from your website ad.
Once it is set up, you do not have to worry about it again. Plus you get a fully programmed website to create content for. To learn more about how to sell on Amazon as their affiliate, read my post – http://legitimatejobfromhome.com/affiliate-marketing-the-easiest-way-to-make-money-online
My question robert is do you have any personal wholesalers that you like going through?
Trevor, It all depends on what it is that I am selling. For DVD movies I use Mountain View Movies, for toys I use Empire Discount, and for everything else I use Dollar Days.
Hello
i sign in dollardays and i noticed that many products cost more than ebay.Are you continue using them?
I do not use them as much as I once did. But yes, some of their prices are more but on a lot of their prices hey are cheaper if you are a member of Dollar Days. Non registered members will pay more.
Hello Robert,
Useful information, I am from Greece and I have started 3 months ago with ds domination platform(elite).However, I’m not fully satisfied..I have only 10 sales and none with elite training.
My questions are:your platform has the information,ds domination gives you.?especially monopoly?the suppliers are the same with elite and unlieshed or just wholesalecentral.com? How easy or difficult is for a person outside USA to be drop shipper in USA?
Thank you for your time.
The wholesalecentral directory lists about 75 different drop shippers within the USA. So drop shipping within this country should not be a problem. Each drop shipper will have their own rules for how you are to do business with them. You will have to read the Terms of Use agreements of the drop shippers you choose to use. Some will charge a little bit, especially with you being outside the USA, but some can be free as well.
They will give you instructions on how to list the item on eBay. Most of them allow you to copy the images they have within their catalog and will give you item specifics for your eBay listings. Many of them will also drop ship to other countries, but that more than likely will cost a little more money.
Hello Robert
Thank you for your time in sharing all this valuable information with everybody.
What do you think about DS domination GENESIS program ?
For what I understand it teaches how to do FBA ( Fulfilled by Amazon ). They will give a lot of info about drop shippers in China and how we can use Amazon to sell them
Thank you
Khaled
Hello Khaled, I have been doing some research on this and will be posting a blog about this soon warning people that it really is NOT for everyone and you will need a few thousand dollars to possibly have it work for you. Even the owner of DSD says that it is NOT for everyone and it has nothing to do with China drop shipping products for you. Those China products are shipped directly to you and YOU have to ship it to Amazon for them to ship it to your customers. Again, like all of the other DSD programs, it is WAY TOO EXPENSIVE for the risk you must take and in my opinion, not worth the hassle.
I meant you have no products listed to sell in your Ebay account
Yes, I know what you meant. See my previous reply for my answer. Or you can go up to my eBay account and see the items I have for sale now.
I just clicked on your Ebay profile and you have products listed to sell what happened???
Hey Craig, You must have gone up when my page was empty. There was a couple of days that my sales page was empty. I was having problems getting to post items for sale. But I have about 50+ items up there now.
Hi Robert,
Surely glad to have found your site. You give so much great information, thanks!
Hey, one quick question. How do you price legit Military memorabilia? My wife’s grandfather left lots of things that we have no use for, would like to sell some stuff, but have no idea about pricing this stuff.
Thanks!
Hello Tim, To price legit military items the best way to do it is to go up on eBay and do a search for the item you are looking to list. If you can’t find it on eBay, do a search for it on Google. Look for any listings from any places that may be selling what you have or similar to what you have. Then when you list it on eBay, list it as an auction and set the starting bid for the lowest you would accept it for, especially if you know that it could sell for more, because this will help to drive the final auction bid higher.
Hi, Robert. I would like to know is that possible to earn money from selling in eBay from newbie and quit the job, maybe one or two years? It seems like the DS Domination simplified the whole thing. I have a friend who invited me to join this program and sadly, I joined. Now thinking of quit this program….
It is possible but you must be able to become a PowerSeller first and you can only do that by selling a lot of items making at least $3,000.00 per year. If you can continue to do that and sell a great number of products every week, perhaps in a few years you could quit your job. But as a newbie, you cannot make enough in one or two years to quit your job, and especially if you join DS Domination because you would have to not just make money but also make enough to pay your monthly membership to DSD. That is the problem that DS Domination is not truthful about. In order to make good money you MUST be a PowerSeller and you CANNOT become a PowerSeller until you have been consistently selling on eBay for at least 12 months (1 year).
Hi Robert
Nice article. Everything you said about selling on E-Bay is true. The same applies to what you wrote about drop shipping. I belonged to a drop shipping program that was 100% legit. My problem was that other sellers were able to sell their products cheaper than I could. These are some of the problems that I encountered while trying to sell on E-Bay: people wanted to get products for nothing, someone would put in a high bid for a product and didn’t want to pay until they received it first, I often had to put a reserve price on my items ( a “no, no if you can avoid it ). I eventually gave up selling on E-Bay.
Yes Chuck, some people that buy on eBay are cheap! And if they do not want to spend on the prices I set, that’s their problem. But about 50% of the time I will offer Free Shipping and that almost always guarantees a sale and for more than my asking price. As for a Reserve Price Auction, I have never done that and never will. It is a great way to not get a sale.
The problem of not putting a reserve price on a dropship item is that you have to pay the difference if a bid does not meet what your cost is.
Then set your starting bid higher so there is no need for a Reserve price. More buyers are turned off by a low starting bid with a Reserve price than they are with a higher starting bid and no Reserve price.
Wow!! This article is jam packed with valuable information! I bookmarked this page to use as a reference. Selling items on ebay is something I do for fun, but now I might consider making a business out of it thanks to you!
Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing!
You are welcome Diana. I am glad you enjoyed my article. You really can make money selling on eBay if you do it correctly AND you do not have to spend a ton of money to do it either.
I’m not that much of a internet reader to be honest but your
blogs really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your
site to come back in the future. All the best
Thank you for stopping by and reading my blogs. Please if you find any of the information helpful, share it with your friends on social media. Thank you for your comment.
Excellent article Robert!
I have looked into drop shipping in the past and have considered selling on eBay as well.
Your article explains a lot of my questions that I have had about this.
Thank you for such a helpful post!
John
You are welcome John. Selling on eBay can be rewarding but like all businesses it requires research, effort, and time to grow it. If you do decide to do drop shipping make sure it is legitimate drop shipping and not something like DS Domination because that is a total waste of time and especially money. DS Domination is not drop shipping it is arbitrage. But if you go to that directory on Google that I provided the link for in my post you will find hundreds of different wholesalers that have drop shipping programs, those are the ones to use and not DSD.
Was funny that I was just thinking about this subject before I happened to stumble upon this post today. I really appreciate how you have broken this all down and it makes a lot of sense to me.
One question I have for you is how do you ship items that are opened and avoid getting scammed by the buyers and how eBay protects them? My wife was selling a bunch of old D&D books I had and we got scammed twice by dishonest buyers and eBay sided with them even though their stories were pretty pathetic. One guy asked for combined shipping on two items and claimed the second more expensive item was not in the package. The second took a piece out of the item and then claimed we didn’t send it and shipped it back to us without the piece. We got charged for him to ship it back and for his gas to drive to the post office. We actually ended up paying him to steal from us.
Wow James, sorry to hear about that. Yes, you have to be careful because some customers will try to scam the crap out of you. For all opened items I always take multiple pictures of everything that is included as well as list everything that is and is not included should I know if something is missing. I also set my return policy to state that the buyer has to pay for the return shipping and that all items that were sent have to be sent back in order to get a full refund. If everything is not returned then I may just give a partial refund. Fortunately I haven’t had anyone who has gotten more over on me yet.
Good stuff Robert! I haven’t sold on eBay in years. And when I did it was a mix of stuff I bought to sell, and stuff from around the house. Your post has given me pause to examine the idea further. I’m still a member and still have my sellers feedback as well as feedback from stuff I’ve bought over the past few months. I’m guessing the process of becoming of ‘power seller’ is automatically granted after selling so many hundreds (or thousands) of units? I’m not ready for that yet…but would appreciate some extra money for the time being.
Hey Ben, You need to list for sale at least 100 items per month on a consistent basis for, I believe, 3 months to become a PowerSeller. Then as a PowerSeller you will get at least 50 free listings every month and if you are a Top Rated PowerSeller you can get at least 20% discount off of your seller fees.
But as for selling there are a lot of different ways to find products to sell. You just have to find the ways that are right for you.
This is an outstanding post. I have often thought about selling on Ebay but always thought that it was a really daunting task. My daughter sells stuff there and does quite well but I have never really talked to her about how she got started and how she really does what she does. After reading your post though I am going to consider it again. While it is quite a bit of work, and that’s okay, the way you have presented it gives a pretty good roadmap to get me started. If I do decide to sell on Ebay I’m sure that I will be using your 7 tips. Thanks for a great post and for the help you are giving the thousands of folk thinking about becoming Ebay sellers.
You are welcome Donald. I hope people who are thinking about starting to sell on eBay read this post because there are some companies out there that are charging people a lot of money to do something that is somewhat deceptive. Plus the things they are teaching that are legit can be easily learned for free either here on my website or from eBay themselves. If you should ever have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask me.
great post! i’ll have to try this out at some point
Thank you Ben. eBay can be quite rewarding if done correctly and without spending a lot of money up front. What little money you could spend can be made back in your profits.
Hi Robert, this is a great post. I use ebay very rarely but your tips on here provide really good insight in to a good money making source. Knowledge is power!
Cheers bud.
Tony.
Thank you Tony. There are many ways to make money on eBay, some require investing a little money and some do not. You just have to try them out to see which ones are right for you. Yes, Knowledge is Power!
It’s funny I should come across this article today. I am moving in November and will be moving into a much smaller space. So I have lots of stuff to get rid of. I decided rather than have a moving sell, that I would sell a lot of my books, dvd’s, cd’s and other items on eBay. So I really appreciate your tips.
You are welcome Wendy. One of the reasons why I started on eBay was because when my parents were downsizing they would have garage sales that took a lot of setup and tear down work and haggling with customers. Then I would start selling the items on eBay and sometimes make 300% more than what I made at the garage sale. Best of luck in your sales.
Good info – your experience matches mine – especially the “become a buyer before a seller.” That really helped me know what to expect when mailing items to buyers and how quickly they expect a response to questions. Actually, I have a few things to unload and this has inspired me to list some more things. Thanks.
Thank you Don. I definitely feel (as you do too) that becoming a buyer first really helps to start your selling experience on eBay off on the right foot. It also makes the whole process much easier to understand and implement. – I’m glad my post has sparked your desire to sell a few things Don 🙂
Thank you for the great article! I have dabbled in ebay, and has some small success, but never knew how to find drop ship whole sellers. Great tips! I may look at it again 🙂
The link to the resource directory of wholesalers and drop shippers that I provided in my post above is the most comprehensive directory I have ever found on Google. In the 14 years I have been selling on eBay I have not found a better directory. There are still many parts of it that I have yet to explore.
I will be following up with you on this. This is incredibly powerful information you have shared here!
Thank you, Shell
You are welcome Shell. You can email me anytime for further assistance.
Great tips..all the information I need is here.
Thank you Patrick. I’m happy you found my information helpful.
Very good article and good direction for anyone wishing to give ebay a go, I notice every now and then ebay also give free ad days to. will have to give more thought to all of this and work out what will work for me, thanks for the info it will be of good help
Yes Katie, eBay does offer days when you can list for free instead of the 10-30 cents per auction. Plus once you become a Power Seller you get an automatic 50 free listings every month. So there are some nice little perks you get by giving great customer service and also becoming a Power Seller.
Thank you Robert for all the great advice. Very impressive positive feed back.
Thank you Jazmin. The better you take care of your eBay customers and give them quality products with descriptive information, the higher your positive feedback rating goes and the more sales you can make from repeat customers. 🙂
wow. very comprehensive article. Very great work there.
Really learned a lot. must read especially for a newbie like me.
GOOD JOB!
Thank you! Glad you liked it. Selling and making money on eBay is actually quite easy once you set it up and if you do so correctly. That is the reason for this post. To give everyone some tips on what has worked for me in the 14 years of selling on eBay.
Hi Robert,
Thank you for writing a great article and including some valuable resources.
Also, thank you for the warnings and tips. I have wasted time and money in the past on ‘Drop-Shippers’and some less reputable one’s certainly go to great lengths to have a very convincing online presence.
I will be Bookmarking your site for future reference.
Thanks again and Blessings Be,
– Rich
You are welcome Rich. I have been successfully selling on eBay for 14 years and too many people are being suckered into these so-called Drop Shipping programs which are not real drop shipping opportunities. With my Tips and the resources I provided for FREE, anyone can do what I did and make money selling on eBay. Unlike others who are charging for information I have no problem giving it away for free here on my website.
Robert, great tips from a man who has been
in the trenches and knows how it works.
Thank you for sharing.
You are welcome Ken. Yes, I’ve been in the eBay trenches of selling for many years and like all business you have to work it to make it profitable. But if you do it right, you can make money on eBay. Thank you for your comment.
Hey Robert,
I had commented the other day and found myself reading your post again.
Which brings me to why I came back.
Do you have any advise for finding wholesalers in and around the area where I live instead of using the internet ?
And would it be easier to find a lower sales price this way ?
Thanks
Jason, Like I said at the beginning of this post, you must do your own research. If you go to the link that I provided to you it will give you the area that all of the wholesalers are located. Then when you find the one closest to you, read their Terms of Use and Purchase so you can determine the lowest sales price for yourself.
This was a very nice well explain article on ebay selling, and I thank you for that. I know how the buying part works, but I never fully understood the power seller part. This article has given me some great ideas on what to sell on ebay, I love the way you have outlined this in a easy way to understand. It’s not so hard to make a profit on something if you get it for the right price I guess. Thank you very much.
Thank you Craig. It is important find a great source of products to sell on eBay and to find them at a low enough price that you can make a profit. Just like with starting many businesses you must do your research. Even though I provided a list of products that sell well on eBay for me, there are many more products that sell well too. This is why a person looking to sell on eBay must do their own research to see if what they like or have to sell will be profitable on eBay. Just like a niche content website there are thousands of products one can sell on eBay.
Hey Robert! Thank you for sharing valuable information! Really helpful, you deserve a cookie!:)
I’m honestly thinking about reading the whole think again and learn how to do It.
Keep sharing great stuff! I wish you great abundance!
You’re welcome. I am happy that the tips I provided on my post you found to be helpful and valuable. Please share my web post with anyone who you think could benefit from my tips. Unlike other eBay sellers out there, my information is free! – Thank you for your comment!
This is something I have struggled with and after reading this I see that I may have been going about some of it the wrong way.
Absolutely wonderful read and I have to say that I learned a little something.
So thanks for the knowledge Robert
You are most welcome Jason. I’m glad the information I have provided was able to shed some light on to how you should be selling on eBay. Best of luck to you and please share this information with anyone you think it will help.
Thanks for the info!!! Can you tell me is there a specific time when You post? Sundays only or anyday ect.and is there a time of the day that you believe is better regiarding ending date & time. How many listings are you posting per week on average
Hello Keisha,
Everyone has their own favorite times to post and it is something you need to experiment with to see what is right for you. However I personally like to post 7 day listings every Friday between the hours of 1:00 PM to 9:00 PM Eastern Time Zone. I sometimes will also post on Saturday but mainly in the evening hours between 5:00 PM to 11:00 PM Eastern. I generally post at least 20 items per week but depending on inventory and of course if it is during the holiday season I will post more per week.
During the holiday season I always post my 7 day listings the Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday BEFORE Thanksgiving and start the auctions at 11:00 AM Eastern. This way when the auctions end they will be available to buyers on Thanksgiving, then Black Friday, the Saturday and Sunday afterwards and then on Cyber Monday which is the busiest online shopping day of the year.
I hope that helps you out Keisha. Thanks for stopping by. Check out my eBay profile. I just added the link at the top of my blog post near the end of the first paragraph.