How to Sell on eBay —— A Practical Guide for Beginners in 2023

Founded in 1995, eBay has a history of nearly 27 years and is one of the earliest e-commerce websites.

Perhaps your impression of eBay is still that it is a website where you can sell the clutter and junk in your home, garage or attic. But after years of precipitation and development, eBay is no longer just a website for selling these useless items, it has developed and changed differently from before.

Since eBay’s inception, it has maintained its position as an authority in the e-commerce field. While eBay started out as a marketplace site based on auctioning used items and collectibles, it has slowly transformed into a fixed-price marketplace, and it’s now also a great place to sell brand-new items. the

In fact, 90% of eBay’s total merchandise sales come from fixed-price or “buy it now” listings, representing a fundamental shift away from the auction market. the

Perhaps the beauty of eBay is that you can list items for a fixed price or as an auction, use your own product images, add your own descriptions, and sell just about anything. the

You might be asking yourself, do people still buy on eBay? Yes they have! eBay has 147 million active buyers worldwide, with more than 78% of its traffic coming from the United States. In addition, there are about 17 million eBay sellers worldwide, while there are nearly 10 million Amazon seller accounts worldwide, and 28% of Amazon sellers are currently selling on eBay.

So do you also want to start your own way of making money on eBay? So for beginners, how to learn to sell on eBay? How to make money on eBay? Read on, in this post I will analyze the most asked questions and then I will give you the most practical tips on how to make money on eBay. I believe that after reading this article, you will gain something.

Platform Advantages of Selling on eBay：

1.Abundant sites, covering North America, Europe and other regions. Compared with other platforms, eBay has a lower threshold for opening a store, and the procedures are not too cumbersome.

2.eBay has a variety of pricing methods, including bidding with a reserve price, bidding without a reserve price, selling at a fixed price, and buying a deal at a fixed price.

3.For sellers, eBay has a dedicated customer service, which can be communicated by telephone or online conversation to solve the problems existing in opening a store. eBay’s customer service also provides good technical and operational support for Chinese sellers; eBay’s ranking is relatively fair, and sellers can obtain better rankings and more exposure through auctions.

Differences between selling on Amazon and selling on eBay:

If you’re considering selling on Amazon or eBay, here are some of the differences you need to know about selling on Amazon versus eBay:

• Every eBay seller can create their own unique listing instead of competing for the buy button on a popular product listing.
• eBay offers sellers stronger listing optimization than Amazon.
• Selling on eBay is cheaper than Amazon, although Amazon offers services that can ease the burden on sellers, including Fulfillment by Amazon or FBA, among others. However, Amazon offers you the service, and of course they will charge you.

How do I sell an item on eBay?

In fact, anyone can easily set up a seller account and start selling on eBay – which is probably why there are nearly 17 million eBay sellers! the

Because becoming an eBay seller is so easy, you can create an account, list a product, and sell it the same day. If you have old stuff in or around your home, selling it on eBay is also an easy way to deal with it — and make money at the same time. the

And how successful you will be with eBay will depend on your initial plan of decluttering, which will likely turn into an ongoing side hustle, or may completely replace your current income. the

So how to make money on eBay? Let’s take a look at how to sell on eBay so you can set yourself up for success.

1.Know the basics

Business model on eBay:

eBay’s success stems from its unique business model. First of all, eBay conforms to the unique social and consumption habits of the United States. Secondly, eBay is an online virtual market without inventory and logistics, and does not require a large amount of initial capital investment. The fixed cost is very low. At the same time, the positioning of eBay’s online virtual market means that eBay’s scalability is extremely strong, and eBay’s profit method is also unique.

• Collectibles: Items such as rare coins, watches, and antique toys are common on eBay.
• Cars: Of course you can also sell cars on eBay!
• Antiques and Vintage Items: A broad category that includes records, furniture, plates, souvenirs, toys, clocks, china, silverware, trinkets, stuffed animals, and more.
• New Items: Many brands (big and small) sell their products on eBay, and despite stiff competition from other e-commerce giants like Amazon and Walmart, eBay has its own loyal customer base.
• Used Item: If you can name it, it’s probably listed on eBay. Sell your old electronics, video games, shoes, clothes, furniture, toys, books, loose legos, board games, sporting goods, pretty much anything used.
• Random Items: This is exactly what it says it is – you can get creative here. You can go through the items you have in mind and you’ll have customers who want to use them for crafts or home decor! Other random items include wine bottle corks, empty toilet paper rolls, egg cartons, mugs, old board game pieces, and more.

If you’re not sure what to sell yet, don’t worry. In Step 3, you will learn how to assess the profitability, demand and competitiveness of a potential product. This way, you can make sales decisions based on data, resulting in higher profits.

When you first start with eBay, you get access to a free seller account, which means you can start your business without paying a monthly fee. As your eBay business grows, you’ll have the option to create your own eBay store, with a monthly paid subscription offering the benefits of increased traffic and sales. Upgrading from a free seller account to an eBay store isn’t required, but it can help you scale your business if that’s your goal. You can find out more about eBay stores in Step 6. the

Keep in mind that while it doesn’t charge monthly fees to free users, eBay does charge a small fee to all sellers to list and sell products on its marketplace. We’ll also discuss these fees in depth in Step 3. Now, knowing them is a manageable aspect of selling on eBay. Once you figure out what to sell, you’ll need to think about your fulfillment options.

Fulfill the order

Fulfillment requires packing the item, entering package details, purchasing a label, labeling the package, and then handing the package over to the appropriate carrier, who delivers the package to the customer. the

Fortunately, eBay makes fulfillment fairly simple. In a later step, we’ll walk through all the details you need to know about successful fulfillment.

2.How to set up a seller account on eBay

Signing up to sell on eBay is an easy process, and your business can be up and running in under an hour!

Step 1: Go to the Create Account page and enter your name and email address in the appropriate fields. You will then create a password for your account.

After clicking “Create Account,” you’ll land on the eBay home page—login to your new account. eBay automatically creates a username for you, but you can change it in the My eBay section under Account, then select Personal Information.

Before you start building your list, add your bank account so you know where your revenue from product sales goes.

 Step 2: Add a payment method After adding your checking account, you can receive payments for customer purchases according to your preferred payment schedule. the

In the upper right corner of the eBay home page, find the “My eBay” drop-down menu and click “Sell.”

Next, click on Account.

Under “Payment” you will see “Payment Options”, enter the bank account information where you would like to receive payments for eBay sales.

NOTE: Past eBay sellers paid via PayPal. However, eBay announced that they will no longer offer PayPal as a payment option by the end of 2020. Instead, eBay turned to their own payment system called Managed Payments, which sends payments directly to sellers’ bank accounts.

With managed payments, eBay automatically deducts selling fees from your sales proceeds prior to payment.

 Step 3: Start Selling! It’s that easy, you’re now ready to list your item for sale on eBay.

3.Conduct Product Research

You can list products on eBay in minutes—you can even do it on your phone. This also simplifies the process of uploading product photos – just select them from your camera roll.

So, how do you list your items through the eBay app?

In the “Sold Items” filtered search results, click on the first listing, here is where listing on eBay is made easier.

Click “Sell one like this”.

This will take you to the Listing Summary page, essentially you will create a copy of your successful listing to use in your product. eBay auto-populates most product information, but you should still check to make sure your listing is as descriptive as possible. As the product is used, please verify its condition is exactly as described.

I recommend editing the title and description so you don’t copy other sellers verbatim. Add any relevant keywords that customers might use when searching for your product. Also, it’s best to measure and add your own weight and dimensions for accurate shipping costs.

Note, never use another seller’s image, you can replace any duplicate images with your own. Take your product photos in good light and make sure to take them from all angles, as customers are likely to check them out thoroughly.

You can choose from “auction” or “buy it now” pricing, and for most items, “buy it now” is usually the way to lock in the price you want. You can choose to accept a customer’s offer for your item if you’re willing to drop the price.

Finally, after setting the price, weight, dimensions, shipping information, you are ready to publish!

Click “List Your Items” and wait for your sale to begin.

You can sell almost anything on eBay. You may already have an idea of what to list, or you may need some inspiration. Whether you’re scanning your garage for unsolved problems or dreaming of selling your own branded products. In any case, you’ll need to do some product research to determine which products are profitable and at what prices.

Note that you shouldn’t just pick any product to sell on eBay. If you really want to be successful, you have to evaluate the profitability, demand and competition of your product ideas before deciding to list them.This way, you can ensure a return on investment. In this step, we’ll discuss profitable product ideas, how eBay’s fees affect profitability, how to determine demand, and more product research essentials.

Finding Profitable Products to Sell on eBay: Things to Consider

1.Profitability

If you put money into sourcing products to sell on eBay, you want to make sure you get that money back, and then some. You also need to keep eBay’s seller fees in mind when crunching these numbers.

This is an insertion fee when the seller initially lists the item on eBay, and if the seller relists the item, duplicates listing information for auction-style bidding, or lists the item in a different product category. Listing fees are non-refundable even if an item doesn’t sell, although eBay offers up to 250 free listings per seller per month. In fact, it’s even more so for sellers running eBay stores. If you list more than 250 products, you will be charged $0.35 per product for most products.

A final value fee is charged after each sale and is calculated as a percentage of the total sale (including shipping) paid by the buyer, plus $0.30 per order. Below is a breakdown of final value fees by product category:

Generally 12.9% for most categories

Books, DVDs and movies, music: 14.6%

Clothing, Shoes & Accessories > Women’s Handbags & Handbags: 15%

Jewelry and watches (except watches, parts and accessories > watches): 12.55%

Jewelry & Watches > Watches, Parts & Accessories > Watches: 15%

Art > Art NFT: 5%

Select Business and Industry categories: 3% ($20 listing fee)

Musical instruments and equipment > Guitar and bass: 6%

Select apparel, footwear and accessories category: 8%

Note that rates for some categories decrease after certain price thresholds are reached. All told, you can expect to pay a selling fee of 12.9% for most transactions on eBay. This fee is cheaper than other Commerce marketplaces, leaving you with a relatively high gross profit.

In addition to fees, you’ll also need to consider product costs (for example, what you paid for an item you found at a thrift store), as well as shipping costs. When shopping online, 47% of US consumers are willing to pay more for a product for faster delivery. So don’t be shy about asking customers to pay for shipping.

1.Demand

The easiest way to determine if a product is selling well is to look at the data that eBay gives you. To identify products that are in high demand from consumers, you need to know the sell-through rate, or the ratio of the number of sold items to the number of active listings for a product, expressed as a percentage.A high sell-through rate indicates a healthy level of demand for a product—a high percentage of active listings is attracting buyers. You can easily calculate sell-through rates using data from eBay search results.

If you want to sell your product quickly, look for items with at least a 50% sell-through rate. Below that, you may have to wait a month or so for your item to sell, as there isn’t a lot of demand for the product. Plus, eBay will show you active and sold listings for any product in the past 90 days.

Of course, you can also use data tools built for other e-commerce marketplaces in your eBay product research. Such as daily and monthly sales figures, as well as historical sales data, can even highlight emerging product opportunities. These insights are backed by robust data analytics, so you can ensure your product choices are backed by real-time sales data, not just hunches about which products are likely to perform well with consumers.

eBay sellers can browse and sift through millions of Amazon products in the product database tool to quickly identify profitable opportunities that can be converted to eBay. Plus, sellers can select specific product categories they are interested in, set minimum and maximum prices, monthly sales quantities, product weight, and more.

After setting a few different filters and clicking search, the product database will fill up with hundreds or thousands of results to sort through. As you scroll through the results, keep an eye on your monthly income and sales, identify your best-selling products and search for them on eBay. Typically, these products perform well on both platforms.

3. Competition

Whether they’re running their business on eBay or Amazon, sellers will face stiff competition for customers — though they’ll compete with other sellers in different ways.

On Amazon, each product unit is sold through a master listing where multiple sellers can participate. To maximize product sales, sellers must compete for control of the buy button, allowing customers to make a purchase widget, even if it’s their own listing.

On eBay, product listings are not compressed in one way, each seller creates their own listing for each of their products, combining images, descriptions, and shipping options, unlike listings created by other sellers.

Naturally, it’s easy for your eBay listing to get lost in a sea of search results. To ensure more potential customers see your listing, optimize it with competitive keywords and high-quality images, we’ll cover listing optimization in a later step.

Having a lot of competition can indicate a product’s popularity, but in order to justify selling a product with many competing sellers, you need to make sure it sells at high volume as well.

First, let’s take a look at eBay’s best-selling product types.

Which products sell the most on eBay?

Here are some of the best performing categories on eBay, in no particular order:

Toys & Hobbies: RC model cars & kits, modern puzzles, board & traditional games, building toys.

Sporting goods: fitness equipment and equipment, bicycle parts, strength training, camping and travel equipment.

Crafts: Ornaments and finishes, embroidery and cross-stitch supplies, jewelry making, wire and wire, painting supplies, fabrics.

Video games and consoles: Controllers and accessories, video games, prepaid game cards.

Computers/Tablets & Networking: Webcams, Readers, 3D Printers, Printer Ink, Toner & Paper, and Gadget Accessories – Cases & Cases.

Pet Supplies: grooming, training and obedience, bedding and poultry products.

Home and Garden: Vacuum cleaners, power and air tool accessories, light bulbs, small appliances, lawn mowers and seeds.

Health & Beauty: Scissors & Trimmers, Nail Art & Accessories, Gel Varnish.

Gardens & Patios: Garden and backyard furniture sets, garden lighting, awnings and canopies, paneled fencing and weatherboards, BBQ tools and accessories.

Toys & Hobbies: RC model cars & kits, modern puzzles, board & traditional games, building toys.

Sporting goods: fitness equipment and equipment, bicycle parts, strength training, camping and travel equipment.

Crafts: Ornaments and finishes, embroidery and cross-stitch supplies, jewelry making, wire and wire, painting supplies, fabrics.

Video games and consoles: Controllers and accessories, video games, prepaid game cards.

Computers/Tablets & Networking: Webcams, Readers, 3D Printers, Printer Ink, Toner & Paper, and Gadget Accessories – Cases & Cases.

Pet Supplies: grooming, training and obedience, bedding and poultry products.

While you may face a lot of competition from other sellers when listing products in these categories, you will benefit from their popularity with eBay customers.

What if you’re still confused about what to sell?

A great place to list inspiration is eBay’s Trending Deals page, which highlights the latest offers on popular products. Here are some strategies to keep in mind when narrowing down your product search.

• Find new versions of popular items：You can take advantage of product releases and updates, for example, resellers often buy up inventory of just-released consoles to resell on eBay soon.

• keep up with new trends：Here you can consider the fidget spinner, a seemingly random object whose sales still exploded during a brief but lucrative period for online sellers. If you take advantage of emerging products like fidget spinners early, you can make a fortune fast.

• seasonal strategy：The winter holidays are a boom time for e-commerce and a great opportunity for eBay sellers to list gifts, holiday decorations, and apparel. January and February are prime times to list Valentine’s Day merchandise. Inflatable pools are doing especially well online in June. etc..

• Daily necessities are always in short supply：In normal times, everyday items are always in short supply, and while it’s great to sell exciting, trendy items, reliable e-commerce bestsellers are often hidden. Think household items like socks, paper towels, or shampoo.

• Keep an eye out for old or vintage items：If you’ve found something interesting in the utility room or attic of your home, but you’re not sure what it is, look it up on eBay to see if there’s a market for it. Remember, one man’s idleness is another man’s treasure.

• try on used clothes and shoes：If you don’t mind sifting through old hangers at the thrift store, you might find some hidden gems that are worth your money. Alternatively, you can also look out for old logos from name brands.

• Kids’ Toys and Electronics：If parents can’t find brand-name toys such as Lego and Marvel in stores, they will sell well on eBay.

4.Where to Source Products to Sell on eBay

Find products to resell at retail:

• The classic eBay business model: buy and resell items from Walmart or your local grocery store. Retail arbitrage can pay off if you are consistent and know what to look for. Product research for retail arbitrage is easy – you can do it while you’re out shopping.
• Use the eBay app on your phone to scan barcodes to see which products have a high sales rate.
• Look for products in the clearance section, toys section, and electronics section – these sell well on eBay and have potentially high profit margins, depending on demand (more on that below).

Check local thrift stores ：

Going to a thrift store is like going on a treasure hunt — if you look carefully enough, you can find some hidden treasures priced well below market value that make flipping on eBay easy.

Please note the following：

• Obsolete media players, such as VCR or DVD players, most thrift stores have plenty of old electronics that people still pay big bucks for。
• Remotes, I’m sure you’d be surprised how much people spend on old TV remotes。
• Consignment designer labels and vintage clothing。
• Used but fully functional toys, video games, or board games。
• Used books at thrift stores, while rummaging through rare titles can be time consuming, you may find a high value book that a very specific buyer is looking for.

If you’re not sure about something, look it up on eBay! Since it might be worth some money over time, I’m sure you’ll find profitable thrift stores.

Shop Garage Sales/Estate Sales:

In fact, homeowners are often very eager to get rid of all the furniture, books, art, clothes, and other clutter they’ve accumulated over the years, so don’t be afraid to negotiate. While they can be hit or miss, if you’re consistent, you can find something worth your money.

Estate sales are similar, except usually everything in the house is for sale. You can find quirky and unique items as well as fine jewelry at estate sales.

How to use the eBay app:

Before you go anywhere to find something to sell, make sure you have the eBay app downloaded to your phone. You can scan or photograph the item you want to sell, and eBay will show you the current listing for that item.

Use the Sold and Completed listing filters in the app to see how well that item is selling。

Remember that just because an item is listed at a certain price doesn’t mean it will sell for that price. Always check sold and completed listings, not just active listings.

Once you open the app, you’ll see a search bar at the top. Type in the product you are searching for or click the little camera icon to bring up the barcode scanner.

Scan the barcode of the item you are looking for, filter by “Completed Items” and “Sold Items”, and view the results.

NOTE: Your actual shipping charges may be lower or higher depending on weight, size and shipping location.

5.How to List and Ship Your Items 

Listing items on your computer follows the same protocol, and uploading your own images will involve transfers across devices. All in all, I recommend posting listings directly from your phone – it’s easier.

How to promote your eBay items:

In order to get more sales, you should market your listing, which you can do directly on eBay.

At the bottom of the listing summary page, you’ll see a section called “Sell Faster.” This allows you to elevate your listing to the top of eBay search results.

Setting up a promotional listing on eBay is much easier than advertising on other marketplaces like Amazon. You just need to check the box and set your ad rate. No need to choose keywords, daily budget or other parameters.

The advertising rate is the percentage of the final sale price of an item that you pay to eBay in exchange for their promotion of your product. This is a great deal compared to running a sale on Amazon, where you only pay when the buyer purchases the item. There are no PPC (pay-per-click) ads and associated fees on eBay.

eBay will show you suggested ad rates for the best placements in the search results, but you can choose to lower them.

Note: To access the promotions listing, you must be an above par or top rated seller with recent sales activity.

How to ship your item:

After you’ve made a sale on eBay, you’ll need to purchase shipping labels, enter tracking details, and then package and ship the item to your customer.

If you’ve never handled order fulfillment yourself, it will take some getting used to the process. Unless your phone can connect to your printer, it’s easiest to do it from a computer.

When a customer purchases your product, you will receive a notification in your eBay account alerting you to the promotion. Click the notification to enter shipping information, print a label, and mark the order as shipped.

eBay makes it easy to buy shipping labels through their system, all you need to do is enter the weight and dimensions of your package and they should already be in the listing.

If you plan to sell several different items on eBay, be sure to have your packaging supplies ready so you can ship your order as soon as you receive it. Customers love prompt order fulfillment.

Supplies needed to complete an eBay order:

• Protective inserts and padding, such as wrapping paper or bubble wrap. Make sure to protect the items you ship so they arrive in the same condition as they were sold for.
• Shipping boxes and/or envelopes, which you can buy at Walmart, Target, Home Depot, or office supply stores.
• Self-adhesive shipping label paper, which makes it easy to print, peel and apply labels to packages.
• Pay attention to the packing tape.
• Pay attention to package size and make sure you are shipping the package at the correct weight so you are not paying too much or too little shipping.

Try to ship any order you receive the same day or next day, it will provide a great customer experience and they will most likely leave positive seller feedback too! (Tip: Most eBay buyers leave feedback because sellers get to rate buyers in return.)

Once your order has been packaged, you will need to drop them off at the appropriate carrier or request a pickup.

6.Tips and Advanced Strategies for Selling on eBay

Now that you know the basics of buying and selling products on eBay, let’s review some advanced strategies you can follow to take your eBay business to the next level.

Find profitable deals online：

Regarding the search for the store, I think you can do some research online at home first so you know what to look for in the store.

Follow Resale Groups：

If you are new to selling on eBay, or have little experience reselling products in general, finding resale communities online is a great resource.

Search Instagram for “resale” and other similar keywords, and you’ll find tons of accounts posting tips about things for sale. You can also check out our in-depth arbitrage guide for proven reselling techniques.

If you’re willing to pay for product leads, there are many paid groups you can join that will tell you exactly what’s for sale, where to find it, and how to price it. These types of groups can be gold mines if used correctly.

Start international shipping：

The great thing about eBay is that you have the option to enable global shipping – with the Global Shipping program, you don’t have to pay extra or have a headache.

When entering all product information in the “Listing Summary” section, there is a section under “Delivery” titled “International Shipping”.

If someone from another country orders your product, you’ll send the eligible item to eBay’s domestic shipping center, and once it reaches them, your job is done. eBay will manage the international shipping and customs process for you.

Sign up for an eBay store：

When you first sign up as an eBay seller, your account is free. As your sales and listings grow, you have the option to upgrade to an eBay Store subscription. You can subscribe to different levels of stores and enjoy different levels of benefits.

Benefits of an eBay Store：

1.Customizable storefront homepage and URL

2.Ability to set up “Featured Items” to showcase your products

3.Larger list organization with store categories

4.Use other tools to manage your business

5.Discounted seller fees plus additional free listings

6.Instant access to promotion listings, promotion manager and exclusive tools to optimize listings.

Offers 30-day returns：

Unlike Amazon’s general and strict return policy, eBay allows sellers to set their own return policy. Please note that if buyers receive an item that does not match their order, they are covered by eBay’s Money Back Guarantee.

This flexibility allows you to not offer returns for your listings, but it may affect your conversions. In fact, eBay reports a 17% higher conversion rate for listings with a 30-day free return policy and a 34% higher conversion rate for listings with a 60-day free return policy.

Try offering returns and see if it boosts your sales.

Improve and grow your account Feedback:

Getting positive testimonials from customers will give you more credibility in the market. The more trusted you appear, the more customers will buy from you.

Of course, when you first start selling, the amount of feedback on your account starts from zero. But the great thing about eBay is that you get feedback on the products you sell and buy. Here’s a tip to quickly build positive feedback on your account, buy some cheap items from different sellers on eBay, then give each seller some positive feedback. This will prompt the seller to put you in a good word if they haven’t already done so.

When a seller reaches a certain level of feedback, eBay will award stars of different colors. Your goal is to win red shooting stars – symbolizing 100,000 or more Feedback Points!

expand to other markets：

As your eBay business grows and becomes familiar with e-commerce, you should consider expanding your business on other e-commerce marketplaces like Amazon and Walmart.

1.Sell on Amazon

Amazon is a huge marketplace, so it only makes sense to expand your eCommerce business there. Selling on Amazon allows you to take advantage of its comprehensive fulfillment network (Fulfillment by Amazon) and reach 121.3 million US Amazon Prime consumers.

2.Sell at Walmart

Another emerging market for e-commerce businesses is Walmart’s online store. In 2021, more than one-third of U.S. consumers will shop online at Walmart, a sign of its enormous market power.

With Walmart’s online marketplace currently boasting approximately 130,000 sellers compared to eBay’s 17 million sellers, now is a great time to sell on Walmart.com due to relatively low competition and popularity among consumers.

At last

If you’re looking to start a side business, or looking for a new job that might replace your current income, selling on eBay is a great way to start your e-commerce journey.

The platform’s low barrier to entry makes it ideal for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Hope this guide has given you some pointers and helped you get started selling and making money on eBay!