Whether you’re decluttering your home, selling an old phone, or even auctioning a car, eBay is a fantastic place to sell your goods to make a bit of extra income. Selling on eBay is easy; anyone can create an account and get selling in less than 10 minutes. That being said, if you take the time to go through the following steps, you’ll have a far better chance of successfully selling your old things on eBay. If you want to learn how to make the most out of your eBay account, follow these 5 top tips for selling your old things on eBay.
Build up your eBay profile
People are reluctant to buy from someone that is completely new to the site. Ideally, you’ll want to set your profile up with a picture and a tiny bit of information in the description. Like many online marketplaces, buyers like to look at a seller’s profile to gain an idea of the seller’s reliability. To build up a good rating on your profile, try selling and buying a few small things on the platform in order to earn yourself some good reviews and ratings.
Research the items you’re selling
Each day sees thousands of new listings on eBay, so it’s vital you put in the research before setting up your listings. Make sure your description is accurate, that you place your item in the right category, and that you use eye-catching and clear images of the product. Some websites can help you to find the best search terms to use, for example, ‘men’s trainers’ is a more popular search term than ‘trainers’.
When you list an item, eBay will trawl its site for items that are similar and provide you with a ‘sell one like this’ option. If you press this, eBay will automatically fill the description fields with relevant information from suggested titles to pricing and postage fees.
Make the most of free listings
Each month eBay gives users an allocated number of listings free of charge, depending on the type of eBay store you have. After this number of listings, you’ll be charged a fee per item you list on the site. Listing fees are a separate fee from the selling fee, so take that into account when pricing up your item.
To find out how many free listings you have left on your account, log into your eBay account and from the right-hand corner, select ‘Selling’ under the ‘My eBay’ category. Scroll to the bottom of the section to see your free listings and any additional eBay promotions, such as free listing days.
When to list your items
The longest period of time that your auction can run is 10 days, therefore you should select this option to give yourself the most amount of time for potential buyers to find your listings. According to eBay’s data, the busiest time on the website occurs on Sunday evenings. To make the most of this, try to ensure your auction finishes on a Sunday evening as that’s when the most users will be active online. If ending a listing on Sunday evening isn’t possible for you, try to make sure that the end time doesn’t clash with times when people are likely to be busy, for example on the weekends, or during big sporting events that are shown on TV.
Not sure what to charge for postage?
The Royal Mail price finder gives you an accurate postage price based on the weight and measurements of the package. This gives you a pretty good idea of how much posting is going to cost you, but also don’t forget to factor in packaging materials such as boxes, envelopes, and bubble wrap.
Always make sure you request proof of postage when selling items through eBay and where possible, use a trackable postal service. Payment via PayPal is the best method for selling on eBay as PayPal can protect you from many potential payment issues.
