1. Selling your stuff on eBay
I’d be remiss if I didn’t start off by talking about eBay – the online garage sale. eBay is incredible in that it has established itself as the marketplace for anything and everything and everyone is looking to score a bargain. Because of this, thousands of people have flocked to eBay in an attempt to get rich as quick as possible. The great news is that people are able to make a full time living, merely selling things on eBay. While this article won’t show you how to quit your job and become a PowerSeller overnight, you will get some great tips on supplementing your income just by selling things you find or don’t need.
First things first: you’ve got to have stuff to sell. Let’s face it, we all have junk sitting in the garage/attic/basement/back of the closet/trunk/old refrigerator that we don’t need. Sort out the stuff that has value from the stuff that doesn’t (or you could try to sell that too) and put it on the list. During the summer when it’s garage sale season, keep your eye out for some undervalued objects – they can be a great source of inventory. Got some time? Do a quick search on craigslist or your local freecycle chapter. Sorting through the listings you might just find a diamond in the ruff.
Starting a listing. Now’s a great time to list your stuff – you get 5 free listings a month. So if you were afraid your old dorm poster of John Belushi chugging the fifth of whiskey wouldn’t sell, you can test the waters. eBay’s listing process is a breeze: type in a few keywords to get the category, fill out the 5 sections and your done.
It’s not that easy. There are well over ten million listings – how will they find you? The most important thing you’ll do to sell stuff on eBay is to draft a kick-ass title. You’ve got 55 characters so don’t waste them on ridiculous crap like “L@@K” or “Rare”. Include keywords that you would type in if you were searching for your item. Try to be specific but still catch anything that’s closely related. For example, I was selling some old computer speakers (hey, why not?) and included “iPod ready” in the title. Chances are people won’t be looking for speakers when they search for iPods but the exposure might entice them to take a look. Not to mention they are iPod ready (all computer speakers are).
After they hit your listing, why would they buy it? Make sure to describe the item, including any flaws (see below), and try to add some personal character. If there’s a charming story to go with grandma’s antique tea set, people dig that. If the signed A-Rod ball was the game where he hit 3 home runs, that’s great too. Or he struck out four times. Whatever.
A picture is still worth a thousand words and a gallery is 35 cents. Pictures will provide people with assurance that the item is real and in good shape (for that reason, I would stay away from stock photos). Try to get the picture from different angles, identify special features, show flaws (still see below). One good tip is to light the object from two different angles to cut down on weird shadows. The more professional a picture looks, the better.
Schedule the ending time/date during a sweet spot. Take into consideration when people will be home just waiting to snipe that sweet deal on the tea set. Ok, so this example might be a bad example with the weird antique people who don’t really have a job (sorry weird antique people) so there is no real “best” time. But normally you would want to schedule it for evening (keep in mind west coast time) and on a weekend when people aren’t at work or working on their yard or eating dinner, etc.
If you’ve got an item that looks too good to be true, it probably is. People are looking for bargains but everyone has their own BS meter. If you have a small town boutique clothing store and you need to move inventory, mention it. If you need to sell your 46” 2 year old LCD TV to make room for the 52” LED-lighted LCD TV, tell them that too. People love deals, hate scams.
If you’ve got something hot, list it at 99 cents. Why? Because it’s cheaper (list prices are scheduled; higher the list price the more you pay) and because you want to create bidding buzz. You know that the 16 GB iTouch will clear $150, so list it low and get it on people’s radar. Watch during the closing minutes as the price skyrockets because all those clever buyers wait until 2 minutes before they bid and bid again and bid again…
Skip the reserve (with obvious exceptions). Nobody wants to see some hidden reserve price when they’re thinking about that iTouch. There are so many other sellers there that they don’t want to mess around with the regret of offering a decent bid and getting rejected because you want $300. It betrays trust. And speaking of trust…
Ok finally, exaggerate flaws. Wait, what? That’s right, take extra pictures and describe in detail how the stereo has these horrendous, awful 1” scratch on the back of the left speaker, right above where the speaker wire goes in (especially if it has a great story). Every time you go to disconnect or reconnect the wires you get so pissed at yourself for trying to fit too many CDs in the same box when you were moving. Oh. It’s only an inch and it’s on the back and it doesn’t affect performance at all? This ends up building trust, showing that you’re giving complete disclosure.
Paypal. It’s a necessity. Paypal offers credit card processing at a reasonable rate and it takes a lot of the stress and hassle out of waiting for checks and money orders to clear. Bidders also trust Paypal. Set up is incredibly easy; there’s no reason not to.
Don’t gouge on postage but make sure to cover your ass. It’s tempting to sneak in a couple of extra dollars on postage (“Haha, I got you!”) but eBay has made it so transparent that everyone knows. That being said, make sure to CYA when it comes to listing. It sucks going to the post office and covering the difference. Bye bye profits, Buh bye.
You need to include a return policy. There are ways to get your listing fees refunded but it will require a solid return policy. Not to mention, that if you make everything clear up front then you have a leg to stand on when someone isn’t happy because they got caught up in the bidding game and spent a little too much. Check out this site for some good suggestions.
These are just some of the basics I’ve found surfing around on the internets. While this will give you what you need to get the job done, the sky truly is the limit. There are other options, such as setting up eBay stores, finding items wholesale/bulk lots to resell, or setting up drop-shipping arrangements to name a few. If you’re interested in reading more I would suggest checking out the following books:
No related posts.