It’s always worth making an effort to make money with eBay on the side, regardless what other work you’re involved in. It’s one of those side jobs that really helps to supplement your income. It also helps you to keep your home decluttered!
Even if you don’t feel you buy that much, you probably find you have a constant churn of things you don’t use anymore. With two small children in the house, we certainly have a steady churn of abandoned toys and baby gadgets…
A Source of Steady Extra Cash
Going back several years, eBay has long played a part in my ability to make money from home. I don’t rely on it anymore, but having it there provides a pleasing sense of security. I know that if I ever find myself struggling to pay the bills at the end of the month, I just have to grab my computer, log on, and get listing.
Is it easy? No, not really. When you tot up how much time it takes to make money with eBay (including all the photography, wrapping, and time at the post office) the hourly rate can come out pretty low. But I get really quite irritated when people turn their noses up at eBay.
At the very least, eBay turns clutter into cash – and it’s possible to make it do far more than that.
Is it worth it to sell on eBay?
How worthwhile selling on eBay is depends a lot on what you have to sell. Some people make a full-time living from eBay sales.
A better question is whether it’s possible to make big money.
To that, I’d have to be honest and say that eBay wouldn’t be my first port of call if I was keen to become a millionaire! But it’s great as a way to supplement income. In fact, I’ll be so bold as to say the following:
If I had no other work to do, I feel I could confidently bring in a four figure sum within a month (in excess of $1000), from clearing clutter and investing in some things to sell on.
What Sells Well on eBay?
People sell literally everything via online auctions, but here are some categories of items we’ve always found to be the best things to sell on eBay:
The Ten Best Items to Sell on eBay
- Computer gadgets and games – these tend to get what they’re truly worth on eBay, making it a good marketplace for them.
- Perfumes and cosmetics – we’ve often been surprised how well these go, even if you’re selling partially used items. They’re also some of the easiest things to sell on eBay thanks to their small size.
- Used laptops – like other computer gadgets, these sell for fair prices on eBay. However, the seller’s fees can eat into this significantly.
- Designer clothes – clothes can go well, so long as they’re in great condition and ironed before listing.
- Toys and games – collectable toys that are “on trend” go particularly well, with some reaching staggering prices!
- Baby stuff – there’s a huge demand for everything from infant toys to clothes bundles.
- Cellphones – from iPhones to old vintage handsets, phones typically go very well.
- Fitness equipment – people are always picking up and dropping new fitness regimes, so the related equipment goes well.
- Shoes – we’ve been surprised to get great prices for everything from trainers to golf shoes.
- Collectables – there’s always a solid market for collectables and memorabilia.
A 10 Point eBay Selling Strategy
There’s nothing secretive about my way of doing eBay, so I happily share it below.
Before I start, however, I must emphasise that this isn’t easy money. My wife and I have a good system going for eBay. I tend to do the listing, picking and photographing, and she does the customer service and the posting.
At times, we only have a few items listed at a time, and use it for pocket money. At other (leaner) times, we ramp it up to make “real” money. Either way, it’s money we wouldn’t have if we didn’t do it.
1. Maintain an “eBay pile”
We always have an “eBay pile” on the go. We’re fortunate enough to have a summerhouse-style office in the garden, and we have some shelving racks to keep everything organised. The photo below below shows an example selection of the kind of things we typically have waiting to list. The actual pile is far bigger!
The point of the eBay pile is that you put everything on it that you don’t need anymore.
Ours includes completed video games, CDs we don’t want, books we’ve finished with, leads we only needed once, and even perfumes and cosmetics that we’ve used a little of.
All of this stuff sells. We’ve even sold half bottles of perfume in the past.
Yes, there are things that may not fetch enough to be worth the hassle, but anything from unwanted Christmas presents to equipment from abandoned hobbies is fair game for the eBay pile.
The other really important thing is that we always maintain the eBay pile – even when we have freelance work piling in and we don’t need the income. This means that whenever we hit a lean time, our “stock” is sitting there waiting for us.
2. Keep your gadget boxes
Our garage is stacked with empty boxes from everything remotely valuable we’ve purchased over the last decade.
The reason for this is that we always try to eBay (or otherwise sell on) things we don’t need any more.
Unless we buy something we intend to keep forever, we keep the box, because everything on eBay fetches better money when it’s boxed.
3. eBay for other people
If you live a minimalist lifestyle, you may be saying “well, this is all very well if you actually have stuff to sell…”
If you really don’t (and are being honest with yourself about your clutter), you have the option of eBaying for other people. Many people don’t have the time, the computer skills or the inclination to eBay their clutter – so offer to do it for them.
You can do this for family and friends, or even take it further and offer it as a service. I’ve personally done this with computer equipment as a sideline to running an IT support business.
You’ll need to agree a rate, but charging 50% of the sale price, less any fees, is an agreement people have always been happy with in my experience.
4. Find a speciality
To make money with eBay reliably, it makes sense to specialise in certain items. Ideally, these should be items you know about and have a passion for.
My personal favourite eBay niche is vintage computing and gaming items. I love playing around with the retro kit, so cleaning it up, photographing it, writing about it and making sure it works is all part of the fun. I also keep some of the best bits for my personal collection!
Knowing your market in a specific area also means you will see things in your day-to-day life and know that there’s money to be made on them. Several years back ago I used to buy several copies of certain printed UK Nintendo magazines, because I knew the bundled giveaway gifts would be collectable in other countries.
I made some decent money from this and similar “hustles.” Buying low and selling high is always a bit of a buzz – even on eBay!
5. Learn eBay’s advanced search
eBay’s Advanced Search is central to making decent money on the platform. It allows you to see what items typically sell for, how rare they are and (most importantly) how much you can expect to make.
In addition, using this feature can also highlight when it’s NOT worth selling something on eBay. There have been times when I’ve found out a much-loved game or record is only worth a tiny amount, and decided to hang onto it rather than sell it for so little.
6. Make use of Gumtree
Gumtree (and other classified ad sites) can sometimes prove a rich source of items to resell.
As a specific example, I have some saved searches for specific items that I collect and resell, and receive an email notification is anyone lists one. Usually people on these sites only allow people to collect the items and won’t box them up and send them, so nine times out of ten the item is out of reach.
However, on the odd occasion I find something for sale just down the road, the price is often far lower than it would be on eBay, allowing me to sell it on for a healthy profit – simply because I’m willing to deal with the listing and posting.
7. Hit the yard sales
Similarly, another option is to buy things at yard sales and car boot sales and resell them on eBay.
We need to be honest here, however: People have been doing this for years, so really profitable items are more of a once a year lucky find than a regular occurrence.
That said, there are people who do these sales as a one-off clear-out, often selling things they don’t appreciate the true value of. If you stick to searching for items you genuinely know about (as per point four), you can cash in here. But be aware you won’t be the only person trying to do so!
As a quick aside, it’s perhaps worth mentioning we have a “car boot sale pile” as well as an eBay pile. We haven’t actually visited a sale as a seller for a long while, but it’s always nice to know we could if we needed some emergency cash.
We know from past experience that certain things do well at car boot sales / garage sales. These include electrical adaptors and chargers of all kinds (don’t ask me why!) clothes (must be ironed!) and books.
These sales aren’t the place for high value items, but for things too cheap / bulky / impractical for eBay, they’re another good way to swap clutter for cash.
8. Know when NOT to use eBay
Over time, you come to learn not to use eBay for certain things.
We never have much luck with books, as an example. The combination of low selling prices plus high postage costs makes selling them there rather thankless and not very lucrative.
Amazon tends to be a better bet for books, and Discogs is good for records – in our experience at least.
In additional, Facebook’s selling pages provide a hassle-free alternative to eBay. They’re particularly good for furniture and bulkier items that are a pain to post. We have a detailed article on Facebook Marketplace here, explaining which items do – and don’t – go well.
9. Keep packaging for EVERYTHING
Continually buying postage boxes and rolls of bubble wrap can quickly eat into the money you make from eBay.
As such, we don’t waste any packaging – everything from Amazon boxes to jiffy bags get reused in our house. It seems a little over-frugal at times but it means you don’t just make money with eBay, you make a tiny bit of profit on the packaging too – and it all adds up.
10. Improve your IT skills
There’s very little in the way of home working that’s not made easier with better computer skills.
The ability to quickly process photographs, copy and paste regularly used snippets of text, and respond to queries from your phone (just three examples) are all things that will speed up your eBay business.
If you want to make money with eBay, your computer skills will help you make it much faster.
Are you making money with eBay? Do you think my strategies are good? Do you have any of your own to share? Let us know in the comments!
Founder of HomeWorkingClub.com – Ben has worked freelance for nearly 20 years. As well as being a freelance writer and blogger, he is also a technical consultant with Microsoft and Apple certifications. He loves supporting new home workers but is prone to outbursts of bluntness and realism.
A great article for those over 45 that aren’t in touch with new ways to sell via many apps and other, more progressive sites.