Sell Used stuff on eBay: How to earn $1000 a month on eBay.

First, let me assure you that by the end of this post you will be able to sell used stuff on eBay and for sure make money. How to earn $1000 a month on eBay solely depends on your effort.

Most of us are familiar with eBay as the place where we can sell old, unwanted items that clutter our homes, garages, and attics. In recent years, eBay has evolved beyond simply being a place to sell unwanted junk. How to sell on eBay is always the question newbies ask?

As an authority in the world of e-commerce, eBay has maintained its status as a pioneer since its founding in 1995, just a year after Amazon.

From its early days as an auction-driven marketplace for used items and collectibles, eBay has gradually transformed itself into a fixed-price marketplace. In addition to selling new products, it is now a great place to display them. 

eBay’s Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) has shifted dramatically away from its auction roots, with 90% of GMV coming from fixed-price and “Buy It Now” listings. 

Selling on eBay is a great experience because of the choice of fixed price listings or auction-style listings, uploading your own product photography, adding your own descriptions, and selling (practically) anything. 

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Sell Used stuff on eBay. How to earn $1000 a month on eBay.

The common question people ask me is can I sell used stuff on ebay. The answer is Yes.. A big yes.

You can buy and sell items on eBay both new and used. There is a note about the condition in each listing such as New, Like New, Used, etc. Unless otherwise stated, a seller is required to specify the condition of each item. To determine this, be sure to carefully read the item description.

Here is my little story about sell used stuff on ebay. In the past, I’ve bought a used washing machine on eBay.

There was a clear indication that the items had been used, and a brief history of their use was provided in the description. It was a fully functioning washing machine sent back to its original owner.

The seller reputation score and seller photos can be accessed through the seller description, the seller profile settings and the seller’s photos.

You can read the customer feedback for every sale.

Moreover, buyers and sellers can meet up in the forum for a chat.

Depending on what type of item you buy or sell, you might find it helpful to understand how to grade items for their condition. Some items are titled and others have histories.

The package is still sealed from the manufacturer

An item that has been used at least once

It is brand new but has flaws

Recently, I bought a used birdcage, but most of it was still in good condition except for the damaged box. Everything else was fine, though.

How to sell on eBay as a beginner, step by step

Almost 25 million people sell on eBay, which is probably why it is so easy to set up an account and start selling! 

Selling on eBay is also easy. The process of creating an account, listing products, and selling them all takes place in one day. Selling your old stuff on eBay is a great way to get rid of it and make some money at the same time. 

eBay success is totally up to you; what began as a decluttering exercise could turn into a full-time business, or make up for your current income completely. 

The following differences between Amazon and eBay might be of interest to you as a seller on Amazon:

• A seller can create their own unique listing for a popular product instead of competing for the Buy Box on an eBay listing for that product
• Listing optimization on eBay is more robust than on Amazon

 

#1. Choose your business model

The first thing you have to do on how to sell on eBay is Choose a business model. Choosing the right model is important when starting out on eBay, as it outlines how you’re going to provide value to customers and earn money.

An eBay seller lists an item, the buyer purchases it, and then the seller fulfills the order. This step will go over the general concept of what this means. 

Selling on eBay has the advantage of allowing you to start small. Almost everyone has old books, electronics, and toys that collect dust around the house. Sourced products require little or no initial investment. 

Ecommerce entrepreneurs get bitten by the e-commerce bug after selling unwanted items from home and quickly want to build a full-fledged business. A new eBay business can become a solid supplemental income source, or even a primary income stream, by learning what to sell on eBay from the very beginning. 

Have you made up your mind about starting an eBay business yet? Let’s talk about eBay’s business models (what is sold) if you don’t already know them. 

The eBay business model: 

• Used items: There’s a good chance that you can find it on eBay if you know what it’s called. You can sell used electronics, video games, clothing, furniture, books, loose legos, board games, sporting goods, even furniture if it is in good condition.
• Collectibles: eBay is often used for vintage toys, watches, coins, and watches.
• Cars: Selling cars on eBay is possible!
• Vintage and antique items: The term refers to the wide range of items including records, furniture, plates, memorabilia, toys, clocks, china, silverware, trinkets, old blank media like VHS tapes, and cassettes, stuffed animals, etc.
• New items: Big and small brands sell their wares on eBay, which is still able to attract a loyal clientele despite fierce competition from other eCommerce giants such as Amazon and Walmart.com. There are several popular business models for eBay that Amazon sellers may recognize: 
  1. Private labeling can also be a success on eBay, just as it is on Amazon
  2. Purchase and resale of other brands’ products as a wholesale
  3. Buying discounted merchandise from in-store or online retailers, then reselling it on eBay
  4. Customers buy products directly from manufacturers, who fulfill orders and ship them directly to them
• Random items: You can be as creative as you want here. For sure if you have anything that might be of value to another person then sure you can sell it on eBay. Anything from cooked to unused toilet paper or old cartons

Don’t worry if you’re not sure what you want to sell yet. Later I will help you know what to sell by evaluating potential products’ profitability, demand, and competition, you can determine which products are the most profitable. So you can decide what to sell based on data, and as a result, you’ll reap more profits. 

For sellers who are just getting started on eBay, a seller account is free – that means there is no monthly fee to run your business. As your eBay business grows, you will be able to create your own eBay Store, which has both traffic- and sales-boosting advantages. If you want to expand your business, you can upgrade your eBay account from a free seller account to an eBay Store. 

Although eBay doesn’t collect monthly fees from its free users, every seller who lists or sells on its marketplace pays a small fee. 

# Sell Used stuff on eBay

#2. How to set up a seller account on eBay

Setting up an eBay store is a simple process. The store can be up and running in less than an hour.

Step 1: Create an eBay account

You can create a free account by simply entering your name and email address on the Create an Account page. After clicking “Create account,” you’ll be redirected to your eBay homepage as a registered user. If you want to change your eBay username, go to “My eBay” under “Account,” and then click “Personal Info.” eBay automatically creates a user name for you.

You should set up your payment options before you begin creating listings so you know where your sales money will go.

# Sell Used stuff on eBay

Step 2: Add payment method 

Paying eBay fees and receiving payment from customers can both be achieved with the addition of payment methods. 

Click on “Selling” under the “My eBay” dropdown menu in the top right corner of the eBay home page.

Click “Account” next.

You’ll find the “Payment options” under “Payments.” Enter the bank account information to which you wish to receive eBay sales payments. 

PayPal used to be the method of payment for eBay sellers in the past. Nevertheless, eBay announced that PayPal will no longer be an option as a payment method by the end of 2020. Rather than using a third-party payment system, eBay will now use its own Managed Payments system, which directs payments to sellers’ bank accounts. 

Additionally, you’ll have to provide eBay with a method to pay the seller fees. It might be best to set up a way to pay each transaction fee as it occurs, so you can pay it automatically. If the fees are not paid automatically, the amount could add up to a large sum at the end of the month, which could be hard to manage when manually paying.  

# Sell Used stuff on eBay

Step 3: Start selling! 

That’s it! Now all you have to do is list your items on eBay and start selling. 

#3. Product Research on eBay

Almost anything can be sold on eBay. It doesn’t matter whether you’re looking for loose ends in your own garage or dreaming about selling your own private label, you may have some ideas about what to list. If you want to find out which products are profitable and at what price, you’ll need to conduct some product research. 

eBay products shouldn’t just be picked at random. Before you list your product ideas, you need to evaluate them for profitability, demand, and competition. In this way, you can be sure your investment will pay off.  

The next step will cover how eBay fees impact profitability, how to determine demand, and other techniques for conducting product research. 

What to consider when finding profitable eBay products

1. Product Profitability

When you spend money sourcing products for eBay sales, you want to make sure you get your money back and more. Additionally, when running the numbers, take into account eBay’s seller fees.

The insertion fee is applied when the item is first listed on eBay, and again if the item is relisted, duplicated for auction-style bidding, or listed in a new product category. While eBay offers each seller 200 free listings a month (or more if you run an eBay Store), inclusion fees are not refundable regardless of whether the item sells. In most cases, you will pay $0.35 per listing if you list over 200 products. 

A fee is charged after each sale for the final value. It is a percentage of the amount the buyer pays for the sale, including shipping. Each order is charged $0.30. Most sales on eBay are charged a selling fee of 12.35%. 

As a result of this fee, your gross profit is relatively high compared to other e-commerce marketplaces. 

Fees are not the only thing to consider. You also need to consider product costs (what you would pay for an item you found at a thrift shop, for example) and shipping costs. The majority of U.S. consumers are willing to spend more for faster shipping when shopping online. Ask your customers for shipping costs upfront.   

To help you understand the profitability of your sales, there are a few free eBay fee calculators available.  #Sell Used stuff on eBay

2. Product Demand

When deciding whether to sell a product on eBay, you can easily look at the data provided. 

It’s important to know the sell-through rate, or the percentage of products sold versus active listings, in order to identify products with strong consumer demand. There is a high proportion of active listings that are attracting buyers, indicating a healthy level of demand. Based on the eBay search results, it is easy to calculate the sell-through ratio. 

You should choose products that have a minimum 50% sell-through rate if you want to sell products quickly. Below that price point, it may take a month for your item to sell, since there isn’t much demand for that product. 

A 90-day history of active and sold listings for a particular product can be found on eBay. Learn how you can easily calculate current sell-through rates using search filters. 

3. Product Competition

There will be stiff competition for customers, whether sellers run their businesses on Amazon or eBay-but they’ll compete in a different way.  

The sale of each item on Amazon is done via one main listing, where hundreds (read: thousands) of sellers can participate. Even if the seller has their own listing, they must compete for control of the Buy Box — the widget that allows their customers to make purchases.  #Sell Used stuff on eBay

Sellers on eBay do not condense their product listings in this fashion; each one has their own unique listing, complete with images, descriptions, and shipping options that are different from the listings created by other sellers. The same Xbox Series X console might appear on eBay in tens of thousands of different unique listings. 

So, it’s understandable if your eBay listing gets buried under a sea of search results. Ensure that your listing is optimized with high-quality images and competitive keywords to ensure more potential customers see it. Detailed information about listing optimization will follow soon. 

A product’s popularity can be determined by the amount of competition it faces. It’s important to make sure a product you’re listing is also selling at a high volume in order to justify listing it with so much competition-like the Playstations and Xboxes. #Sell Used stuff on eBay

As a starting point, let’s look at eBay’s most popular product types. 

What are the best-selling products on eBay?

In no particular order, here are a few of the top eBay categories:

Home & Garden: Lawnmowers, vacuum cleaners, parts and accessories for power tools, small appliances, and light bulbs.

Health & Beauty: Trimmers & Clippers, Gel Varnishes, Nail Art & Accessories.

Garden & Patio: Furniture sets for the garden and backyard, garden lighting, awnings and canopies, and windshields and panel fences.

Toys & Hobbies: Toys & Model Vehicles, Board & Traditional Games, Contemporary Puzzles, Building Toys, RC Model Vehicles & Kits.

Sporting Goods: Strength Training, Bicycle Components & Parts, Fitness Equipment & Gear, Camping Equipment & Gear. #Sell Used stuff on eBay

#4. Where to source products to sell on eBay

Sourcing products for eBay might look different than sourcing products for Amazon because there are so many business models to choose from. Now with how to sell on eBay, it is time to find the product to list. The obvious choice will be to check your garage for any valuable product that you can sell. In the meantime consider your business model.

Shop garage sales/estate sales

Garage sales are the best. You should not hesitate to negotiate a little bit with homeowners who are desperate to get rid of all the furniture, books, artwork, clothes, and other items they’ve accumulated over time. You can find something worth a lot of money if you are consistent, even though it can be hit or miss. 

The difference between estate sales and regular sales is that everything in the house is up for sale. Aside from finding unique items and fine jewelry at estate sales, you can also find odd and unusual items.

Here are some websites you can use to locate local garage sales and estate sales:

• Estatesales.net
• Garagesalefinder.com 

You can use them both for free, and they will let you know about every sale in your area! It is also possible to search when outsourcing garage sales with Garage Sale Finder’s app.  #Sell Used stuff on eBay

Source products from China with Alibaba

Private labeling or selling your own brand is a proven path to success on Amazon, and the same holds true for eBay. 

Private labeling offers the following benefits: 

• Branding and creating your own products is possible 
• With great photography and an engaging description, you can set yourself apart from the competition
• When you buy products from suppliers outside of the United States, you can save money.

Find products to resell at retail stores

Buying and reselling items from Walmart, Target or your local grocery store is a classic eBay business model. You can make money from retail arbitrage if you are consistent and know what to look for.  #Sell Used stuff on eBay

Check local thrift stores 

Visiting a thrift store is like going on a treasure hunt because you can find hidden treasures for a fraction of the market price if you look hard enough. The items can be easily flipped on eBay.  #Sell Used stuff on eBay

Look out for the following: 

• Clothing consigned by designer labels and vintage labels. 
• A toy, video game, or board game that has been used but is still functional. It’s true that 90% of what’s on the shelf looks beat up, but you never know when you’re going to find a mint-condition Guitar Hero game.
• VCRs and DVD players are obsolete media players. There are a lot of old electronics available in thrift stores that people will still pay for.
• There are tons of used books at thrift stores! It can be time-consuming to search for rare books, but you may uncover a book with a high value that a very specific buyer is seeking. 

You should always check eBay if you are uncertain about anything! There might be an interesting item there. Once you start sifting through thrift stores, you’ll learn what to look for. 

#5. Integrate your Shopify store with eBay

A merchant can manage their eBay Shopify business from a single cloud-based dashboard, thanks to the eBay Shopify app. Your inventory can be consolidated, orders can be managed, and sales can be increased seamlessly.

In addition, you can:

• Utilize built-in messaging to communicate with your customers 
• Become more visible on eBay’s global marketplace
• You can reach millions of potential customers on mobile and the web with your products

Shopify and eBay can be integrated more easily than you think. The steps are as follows:

1. From the Shopify App Store, install the eBay app.
2. Follow the prompts to log into your Shopify store:
3. In your Shopify dashboard, click Add channel. 

Your online store should also be set up as an eBay sales channel. It is necessary to configure the eBay app settings, which can be done under the Sales Channels section of the eBay channel. 

To access eBay’s business policies, click Account > Business Policies. Next, click Create Policy to create policies for shipping, payments, and returns. You can add policies to Shopify using Force Sync from eBay if you have existing ones. 

Then, you can sync your eBay Sales channel settings by clicking the Sync Settings option.

Once you have defined your default package size, inventory location, eBay tax table, and inventory sync preferences, you can start configuring them.

Click Finish to save your settings.

#6. Start Listing Your Products

The Sell button is located at the top of any eBay page. Complete the form details on the eBay page to list your product. Using the “Save this listing as a template” checkbox, eBay sellers can create templates for their listings.

Shopify products can also be listed directly on your website. To add a listing, click the eBay Sales Channel option under the Listings menu. Configure the listing as follows:

• Title and description
• Details and category
• Quantity, weight, and price
• Package settings

In order to use Shopify product values, the last two settings can be left blank. 

Save and publish your listing when you’re finished.

#7. Subscribe to a Store plan

You get discounts and free listings when you subscribe to an eBay Store package. Additionally, you get bonus marketing tools that help you market your business. 

Signing up for payouts requires connecting your checking account. To compare plans, you’ll need to know the Store’s features before you subscribe. 

With an eBay Store subscription, you will only pay $4.95 per month if you sell up to 250 products per month. Up to 1,000 product listings are included in the next subscription plan for $21.95 per month, and final value fees are lower. A subscription to eBay’s high-volume merchant program starts at $59.95.

As soon as you subscribe, you’ll be given the chance to name your eBay storefront. You should choose a store name that matches your brand and describes the type of products you sell.

#8. How to promote your eBay listings

You should market your listings if you want to increase sales. eBay provides direct marketing services.

This will help you gain the top spot in eBay search results. You’ll find the link at the bottom of the listing summary page. 

eBay’s promoted listings are much easier to set up than those on other marketplaces such as Amazon. By checking one box and setting one amount, you’re all set. Keywords, daily budgets, and other parameters do not need to be specified. 

In exchange for eBay promoting your product, you will pay eBay ad rates based on the item’s final sale price. When compared to promotions on Amazon, it’s a great deal: you only have to pay if the buyer buys the item. eBay does not offer PPC (pay per click) advertising, which involves fees. 

The recommended ad rate within the search results will be shown by eBay, however, you can choose to go lower. 

Suppose you set your ad rate at 4%. 4% of the sale price will be charged when someone buys from your promoted listing. 

You won’t be charged anything if they don’t buy. Thus making it an affordable and predictable advertising method. 

It is a requirement to have recent sales activity in order to gain access to promoted listings.

Final words

eBay is a good place to promote your products since it has over 154 million users and a range of prominent brands. It is an ideal way for store owners to sell products beyond their main store because of its low barrier to entry. For sure this post on how to sell used stuff on eBay will guide you step by step till you sell your first product.

Connect the two platforms once you have installed the eBay Shopify app, then you can start selling your Shopify products on eBay. Now, if you implement those steps correctly then be sure to watch out for cash flow as soon as possible. 

In order to maximize the potential of your eBay e-commerce store, you’ll need to do the research, put in the effort, and be patient. eBay offers diversity and breadth of unique products that are not found in any other marketplace, allowing sellers to sell products that are not found anywhere else.