New to selling on Ebay

[jonnys-bitsnbobs]

Hi All,

Just jumped on the bandwagon and would like to turn a decent-ish profit here if at all possible. I have no real target items that I am going to be selling yet apart from what I see is trending (right now it seems to be pokemon and Harry potter stuff)

Apart from keeping an eye on market trends, is there any advice any one can give me starting out?

Thanks in advance

[siayan]

Read this board regularly. 

[nicgola-0]

Be very, very careful about selling electronics. Research items before you buy them to resell, look under "sold listings" and see what things are actually going for. What's trending can change pretty quickly.
Clothing is a highly saturated category and a toss on if anything will sell or not.
Be very detailed in your description and photos. Understand "no returns" doesn't mean anything when it comes to eBay policy, eBay returns will always trump your personal policy. If in doubt, come here and ask, we have a ton of well seasoned sellers that are happy to help.

Good luck!!

[jonnys-bitsnbobs]

Thanks guys all good stuff so far. Still doing a lot of research before I buy any major stock until I figure out what is selling. Basically I dont have massive aspirations of becoming the next ebay millionaire, but I would like to have it as a positive side income with my normal job.

[siayan]

If you are thinking about buying stock keep in mind what ever you buy more then likely has already been tried. Unless you have something unique save your money. 

[coolections]

Don't sell iphone cases, clothes, dishes, jewelry or anything else that everyone in the world is trying to make a buck off, or anything that can be found at every thrift store you go to.

Type an item you are considering selling, click on completed items, then compare to sold items. 1500 completed, 250 sold items. That means there are 1250 seller complaining and swear Ebay is not letting buyers see their stuff.

200 completed items, 130 sold items then there is demand. Assuming you stick to the price range others get you will do OK. Thinking you will list at the highest ending price will be a disaster especially being a new seller. Some sellers have a following and always get the most. Try not to think you can compete with the top selling seller because you won't.

No need to keep piling on more stuff not in demand thinking you will make more $$ as doing that will make things worse. Ebay determines who get the best sales and puts those people ahead of others on best match. Many who rarely get buyers will be on the bottom and buyers don't look that far down the list.

[siayan]

Another tip. Although many people post here on posting id's, many do not. 

If someone here talks positive and sounds like they are selling, look at what they sell and have sold--Selll That

If someone one here complains and doesn't sell anything, look at what they sell--Don't sell that.

[duncanvr]

Watch the selling fees you can pay them as you go from paypal in the ebay my account area. If you don't stay on top of them you will get a big fee invoice to pay monthly in one hit and you don't want to suddenly realize you haven't enough funds to cover such a bill in one go. Advise to check whats oweing every few days and pay it before it goes over $50. I've heard of sellers running into trouble when they can't pay all the fees once the bill comes through. Look at the collectible market as well.

[coolections]

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@siayan wrote:

If someone one here complains and doesn't sell anything, look at what they sell--Don't sell that.

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Or sell that, but sell it for less than the complainer is asking. Some folks here have over-priced items and cannot get buyers. Many of those items they list do get buyers, but at a much lower price.

[myboardid]

Do not buy "major stock" of anything at all, not in the beginning.  You will be restricted on how many items you can sell - all new sellers are - and it will be a low number at first. 

[retrose1]

OP, you should know that trending and high demand equals high risk and high scam on ebay.  Especially on a new/low recent selling feedback id.

Also you should know that ebay is not the easy to sell on and easy to make money site that urban legend and ebay ads would have you believe.  Most sellers are lucky to get a sell through of 25% or less and if you do a search on these boards, you will see daily threads about how sales are dropping and low sales.  As a new seller, you will do well at first and then sales will drop like a rock. 

I advise to not list anything worth over $25 until you have as much selling feedback as the dollar value of the item so you can get a sense of how ebay operates.  There are many scammers on ebay that count on new sellers not knowing how ebay works.

As far as what to sell, sell what you know.  I specialize in vintage clothing and can tell you that 90s style is coming back, but that is clothing, I haven't really seen it in vintage merchandise.  Other sellers have other experiences with their specialized genres.  And know that you are not the only one out there with this idea.  Every sale I go to there are dozens of ebay seller wannabes checking out merchandise on their cellphone to see what is selling and for how much.

[duncanvr]

Buy and resell my items its a niche market and a high sell through rate

[auronar7]

Always log in to your paypal account and check that the money is actually there BEFORE you ship.  ALWAYS.

If something seems odd or a transaction just doesn't seem "right" come to the boards for advice and help in solving any problems.

[rolenboy01]

My initial advice would be to avoid large/bulky or heavy items for awhile, for heavy items do not mess with them unless they will fit in a flat rate box, avoid glass atleast initially and avoid electronics unless they are small and light and have little that can go wrong think tiger electronics hand helds.

[rixstuff]

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@jonnys-bitsnbobs wrote:

Hi All,

Just jumped on the bandwagon and would like to turn a decent-ish profit here if at all possible. I have no real target items that I am going to be selling yet apart from what I see is trending (right now it seems to be pokemon and Harry potter stuff)

Apart from keeping an eye on market trends, is there any advice any one can give me starting out?

Thanks in advance

---

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@jonnys-bitsnbobs wrote:

Hi All,

Just jumped on the bandwagon and would like to turn a decent-ish profit here if at all possible. I have no real target items that I am going to be selling yet apart from what I see is trending (right now it seems to be pokemon and Harry potter stuff)

Apart from keeping an eye on market trends, is there any advice any one can give me starting out?

Thanks in advance

---

Seriously?  I read that and expected this to be a zombie thread from 2001.  Not so much with hot trend.  Best to start off selling stuff from your own house first with no capital outlay.  Do some sales, learn the ropes, get some feedback.  You wont be able to list enough items to bother with buying stock for some time. (You are limited to only 10 items your first couple of months).