Asking for advice for a new Ebay seller

Question

I have been an Ebay user since 2018 but only started selling items two weeks ago. I have sold 30 items so far and my average sales price is $12.06. I am four years away from retirement, and want to Ebay full-time when I retire. Right now, I sell mostly books. There is a used book store near me that sells every book in stock for $1.50. I am making a profit on every book I sell, but in order to make a living from Ebay, should I be selling higher ticket items? Ebay listing fees and the cost of promotion eat up a lot of my profit. Thank you for your time.

onlinecentral · Accepted Answer

Your average sales price of $12.06 is similar to mine, excluding the auto parts category.

My Buy-It-Now listings start with an average of 60 units. I do the appraising, photography, description composition and listing creation once. Compare that to your labor to create listings for 60 different books.

We live in the streaming era and people are buying less media, including books.

janet9988 · Answer

@tippecanoe1841 wrote:
I have been an Ebay user since 2018 but only started selling items two weeks ago. I have sold 30 items so far and my average sales price is $12.06. I am four years away from retirement, and want to Ebay full-time when I retire. Right now, I sell mostly books. There is a used book store near me that sells every book in stock for $1.50. I am making a profit on every book I sell, but in order to make a living from Ebay, should I be selling higher ticket items? Ebay listing fees and the cost of promotion eat up a lot of my profit. Thank you for your time.

yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1786davycrockett · Answer

@tippecanoe1841

While there are several eBay sellers who are able to "make a living selling on eBay," the vast majority do not -- it's generally a side-gig, added to a firmer source of regular income.

Until you are able to depend upon a monthly Social Security check (starting at age 66 if born between 1947 and 1954; or age 67, if born after 1960), it would be unwise to believe that eBay is the "goose that laid the golden egg" for a steady source of high income.

And many of my friends that decided to take early retirement at age 62 have regretted that choice ever since, particularly during the past year.

While you may be currently enjoying an early euphoria during your first month of eBay selling, you need to expect the downturns, as well -- and keep in mind that most poets don't make a living only selling their poems, so don't find yourself overstocked on volumes of poetry.

You are maintaining a very nice selection -- just don't overwhelm your site with overhyped "best sellers."

Good luck.

pickapaper · Answer

@tippecanoe1841

Are familiar with Google Lens? It's a great way to research items.

Regarding those pressed glass dishes you have listed. I wouldn't even bother to list those as no one wants them anymore. Seems like they show up in estate sales and garage sales all the time, usually for 50c or $1.00 and they usually just sit there.

A few things I noticed in your listings are:

One of your "Paperblanks" journals is listed as "Paperbacks".

Your pewter gravy boat is Wilton Armetale.

Your "heavy decorative glass vase" (which no one will find titled like that) should have the words "Lead Crystal Vase with Frosted Tulips Czech Republic" in the title. If you research it, you will find several and see how others have titled theirs.

And lastly, a plain background looks better for taking photos (like poster board or a plain sheet or towel). eBay has photo editing tools available with their photos and the cropping tool would help your photos a lot, to get rid of unnecessary background, especially unused space and body parts (toes).

johnrj1226 · Answer

My rule of thumb was for every 1 dollar of item cost I needed to at least sell the item 5 to 6 times what I paid for it. With that I could net a 46% profit on the item. Shipping and handling charge was extra (didn't sell S/H for cost either). As I saw it buyers paid all my costs (before taxes). Certainly, If I could sell an item for much more I would in a heart beat.

az93 · Answer

I agree you need more expensive items listed. But for the items you have listed, I suggest you put the word book somewhere in the title.

cityslickercreations2004 · Answer

I think you are on the right track to sell niche books. Poetry, history and cooking books seem to be popular topics. Once you retire you might be able to make some road trips in search of inventory.

Paying a $1.50 might be a little high but for a niche books perhaps not.

I doubt you can truly compete with the larger stores that sell mainstream fiction. The exception might be if you have a complete series. e.g. Last year I purchased the complete Sue Grafton series.

There are some ebay book sellers on you tube that you might find helpful.

My understanding is books in Australia cost more than books in the USA.

rosachs · Answer

Welcome to the wonderfully wacky world of eBay! I've been around a bit and at times have done quite well. A few things I finally figured out (way back when, you tossed everything 'at the wall' and a lot actually sold) a few things that can help.

#1 - Work for foot-pebbles instead of mile-stones. Especially when you are just starting -- create the opportunity to celebrate more achievements and the misses won't sting as much. Make them realistic, achievable, and in support of a larger goal.

#2 - Know Your Numbers. Selling a consistent product (books for you, elongates for me currently, shoes a few years back) makes it easier to know what things will cost, what it will cost to ship (including the cost of shipping supplies - tape ain't free ya know), what you are spending on storage, and especially what you want your profits to be. With time, this becomes automatic - you look at the box size, the weight, and you are 90% sure on average shipping cost. That kind of thing.

#3 - Automate as soon as it makes sense, fits your budget, and can assist your bottom line. The automation I use has a record of everything I've listed and sold almost back to 1998, when I first started using v1.0 of the software. We're up to v4.xxx currently, and it just keeps getting better. Even without an application package, you can still automate things like descriptions, pricing, short/concise terms... anything to make the process of creating a new listing faster. This includes imaging and storage as well -- it does you no good to sell something at a great price and then have to spend hours trying to find it. Those hours would have been better spent creating more listings.

#4 - Organization is critical. It doesn't guarantee success, but it does make it easier to achieve. When I was consignment selling shoes, every box had a sticker that tied it back to the item & listing my software generated for me. This made it super easy to locate quickly after a sale... and to find the stale inventory that just wasn't selling and needed to go back to my client for disposal.

#5 - No need to rush, you'll get faster with repartition. When I wanted to increase my listings by 15% within a year, I broke that down to 1% increase a month, which was very each to do month after month after month. I ended up increasing listings almost 20% by the end of the year, and sales went up a few percentage points more. As I did more and more, I found new ways to do that faster and/or with less work. Shoes were great - one set of pictures worked for every size of that style/color. New color meant new set of pictures, but that only saved me time again when more sizes of that new style/color showed up. With my elongates today, creating a listing takes about 1 minute, excluding pictures. I have a listing template that completes 90% of the info needed - I add the title, pictures, and a quick blurb to the stock description details. Pictures take a bit more time - I want a clear, high-res, full frame image with an erased-to-white background. I found a good camera, set up a quick/easy/inexpensive setup for taking clean shots, and have an online background removal tool (free for my needs) that can strip the background and replace it with white toot-sweet.

Grow at your pace. I agree with several others - books will not cover retirement, but they can teach you the basics to allow you to find products than just might. I just retired Dec 1, 2025 and my wife will be retiring when she darn well feels like it. ðŸ™‚ We are financially OK, so we will both be able to indulge in our hobbies...as long as we don't tell the kids when/where we are traveling to! ðŸ™‚

Asking questions is a great start! And you've found a great group of people to provide the answers you need. Listen to them all and then choose those that most closely align with your own compass. There is no "right way or wrong way" to sell on eBay. Some things help, others don't. Use what works and keep the rest for later, because the only constant on eBay is that things will change.

-Bob.

PS: Once we finish downsizing, I'm considering returning to my shoe client and see if they want to do it again. You never can tell.....

kh-light · Answer

Hi everyone, This discussion has gotten a bit off topic. Please bring the discussion back to subject established in the original post. Thank you.

kibble-net · Answer

@tippecanoe1841 wrote:
I have been an Ebay user since 2018 but only started selling items two weeks ago. I have sold 30 items so far and my average sales price is $12.06. I am four years away from retirement, and want to Ebay full-time when I retire. Right now, I sell mostly books. There is a used book store near me that sells every book in stock for $1.50. I am making a profit on every book I sell, but in order to make a living from Ebay, should I be selling higher ticket items? Ebay listing fees and the cost of promotion eat up a lot of my profit. Thank you for your time.

$1.50 books are a great way to get your feet wet in the world of resale. As you become more comfortable selling I would try to expand into other niches. Thrift stores are a good place to source. If you have a lot of swap meets or garage sales in your area those may be fruitful as well - maybe not in the winter, but you get the idea.

Higher ticket items are ideal, the more familiar you are with a niche the better you'll get at spotting them. Find a few niches you're knowledgeable and/or passionate about and start from there.

Fees are a cost of doing business. They aren't going away. It takes money, time and lots of sweat to build a platform to sell on. If you're about to retire, I'm assuming you probably won't be starting your own online sales platform anytime soon. So leave that to ebay and focus on what you CAN control - sourcing quality inventory with a strong sell through rate!

One final tip - ignore ebay's recommended promotion rate, just go with the minimum 2% - if you decide to even use it at all.

christworks · Answer

@tippecanoe1841 Welcome to eBay. Congratulations on your sales. Looks like you had your first one on January 8th. I think a lot of people here would love 30 (your eBay account shows 26) sales in 10 days.

There are multiple ways to do well at eBay. One way is to sell items that have more value and are also in demand. Some people can do that quite easily if they have a connection so a supplier with that kind of stuff. A lot of us rely on volume sales, because our average sale per item is less and it takes more sales to make the same amount of money as someone who has a higher average sale price.

There is PLENTY of good stuff out there. Don't let anybody tell you there isn't. I had two sales today well over $100 each. One I paid nothing for, the other I paid 0.50Â¢. I still rely on lower value items to pay the bills because I don't have a connection to higher value inventory that is also in demand.

Books are a tough category, especially anything mass market. You have sellers who have warehouses full of books. They offer them dirt cheap, often taking a marginal loss if a buyer only buys one book. That's why they offer really good deals, because their profit comes when people a) become returning customers and b) buy more than one book.

It is really hard for small time booksellers to compete with that.

You said your neighborhood bookstore sells every book for $1.50. IMHO that is a rather high cost to pay, and not worth it for a book that you can only sell for $10. I see you lotted some books together, and that helps. Still, $1.50 is a lot for a single book.

Obviously if you are going to pay $1.50 a book, try to find ones that are worth more. There is an unwritten rule in reselling that you don't pay more than 10% of what you believe you will get for an item. If I am paying $1.50 for a book, I'd want to sell it for at least $15-$20, excluding shipping. I don't always follow that rule. I'm cheap. I don't want to pay more than 5%. LOL ðŸ¤£ But, it also depends on what demand is like. If the item is in good condition, doesn't need cleaning/prep work, and is in demand, then I'll pay $40.00 to profit $15.00. I wouldn't want something like that sticking around and having my money tied up for too long.

What you may do in order to get your cost of goods down is to talk to the bookshop owner. Ask them if they would do a bulk deal for you if you buy X number of books. For example, I might ask them if I buy 100 books today, would they take $1.00 each for them, or maybe $1.25. The worse they can say is no.

As far as promoting, if I were you, I would try to sell without promoting right now. See how you do. If you find promotions help (and they may), then consider a lower percentage. I used to be of the mindset that a bigger ad rate percentage meant more sales. That isn't necessarily true.

ryry-jj · Answer

Yes.

But remember, FVFs are a cost of business, they aren't eating up your profit, you need to account for those costs in the items you sell. Same with promotions/advertising, you can adjust those costs, but they still needs to be accounted for, as well as all shipping. What hurts sellers bottom line the most is not covering their costs in the price of the items they sell...& in that case the more you sell the more you lose.

l5vw · Answer

Get your toes out of your listings ðŸ¤£

lakefor94 · Answer

@tippecanoe1841 wrote: " but in order to make a living from Ebay, should I be selling higher ticket items? Yes.