How to Sell on eBay for Beginners

Today there are a lot of people looking for ways to make extra money. Learning how to sell on eBay can be an easy way to get yourself some extra cash without having to give up the time that a second job would require.

I've sold many items on eBay and at my busiest I was a Powerseller. I've backed off on my selling now because of some other pursuits, but I still list at least a few things a week to make some extra money and because I have a garage sale habit that I have to support!

Many people are intimidated by the idea of selling on eBay simply because they have never done it before and they don't know where to start. The actual act of listing an item on eBay is quite simple once you get the hang of it. If you can take a picture and type up a short, honest description, you are most of the way there.

Some people torture themselves or talk themselves out of starting to sell by trying to find just the right thing to put up for sale. Some people never get started because they spend all of their time searching for some perfect wholesale item to sell on eBay at a profit. The simple truth is that there is no telling what will sell on eBay. Sure, there are some things that will almost always get snapped up. Bust out one of the first Barbie dolls ever produced, still in its packaging and the eBay doll collecting crowd will beat a path to your door. There are many more mundane things that sell on the site however and you probably have many of them sitting around your house right now collecting dust or getting pushed from one corner of the garage to the other to get it out of the way.

Honestly, the idea of stressing out about what sells on the site is actually a bit silly. There are plenty of people who have been selling for years, and they were smart enough to put together guides that tell you exactly what sells on eBay.

Many people start selling out of a feeling of desperation for money.  To be honest, that is what finally motivated me to get started.  The first item I actually sold was a newspaper from the day after the Super Bowl.  It cost me 50 cents and sold to someone across the country for something like $18.00.  That was enough of a profit margin to get me hooked.  After that I started looking for things around the house that I had been thinking about putting out for a yard sale.  To my amazement, things that I was ready to ditch for two or three dollars were getting bid up to ten or fifteen bucks each!  I certainly didn't have anything spectacular to offer.  I would guess that you have many of the same types of items in your home.

If you are thinking about listing something on eBay, just do it.  If you are unfamiliar with the process of shopping on eBay, sign up and then buy yourself something small for a couple of dollars just to get the feel for what it feels like to complete an eBay transaction.  Believe me, they have pretty much dummy-proofed the process because they want to make it as easy as possible for people to spend their money on the site.

Once you are familiar with the buying end, take a look around your house and ask yourself what you would sell if you were going to have a yard sale. You can even go further and ask yourself what you have been meaning to drop off at the thrift store. Make a list and then sit down in front of the computer and look to see if any similar items have been selling. If you have signed up for a free account, you will have the option to see "completed" auctions. That simply means the auctions that have already ended. These are an invaluableresourse for you as a seller because they show you what items have sold and how much people were willing to spend on them. Just looking at live items won't give you an accurate picture because most bidding occurs in the final few minutes of each auction. The completed auction prices will give you an idea of what your items are worth on eBay.

Once you have found signed up and found something lying around that you can sell, take some good photos of it with a digital camera. Later you can get fancy and do videos if you like, but most people stick with still photos. Follow the simple instructions to upgrade your account to "seller" status (the upgrade is free, they just want more information so they can bill you for listing fees and their cut of the money you make). From here, the seller form will guide you through uploading photos, filling out descriptions and getting your auction started.

A couple of items I see a lot at yard sales that could have done much better on eBay are vintage video games (yes, even the really old ones) and cheap designer purses that must have lost their appeal to someone when the next season's designs came out.

Here are some basic tips you might find handy as a seller:

• The time that you start your listing will be the same as the time your listing ends. That means that if you list your item at eight in the morning, it will end at that same time in seven days (or whatever time period you choose for your auction).
  
• The best times are usually in the evening when more people are shopping online. There is some discrepancy here, but Sunday night between nine and 10 pm is generally considered one of the best times to have an auction end. Your mileage may vary depending on the item you are selling.
• Be totally honest in your listings and describe any damage the item might have.
• If an item is new or in mint condition, highlight that fact for potential buyers.
• Charge a fair price for shipping. Don't pad your shipping costs. If you incur a cost for materials such as packing peanuts or a special box, you can build that in to your shipping fee, but don't ever try to gouge buyers by tacking on a $5 (or more) handling fee. That is simplyridiculous unless you are dealing with some very fragile merchandise and it gives all eBay sellers a bad reputation.
• Answer questions that are posed without getting annoyed.
  
• Some sellers write incredibly detailed instructions for buyers that almost sound like lectures. Relax. Tell them the basics of payment and shipping without being a jerk.
• Most of the people buying and selling on eBay are decent folks. Don't let the Internet connection between you make you forget that it is a real person on the other end. Be kind and fair and you will usually be treated the same way.
• Once you have received payment, ship the items in a timely manner and leave appropriate feedback for your trading partner.
• A very hot area for selling that seems to stay constant is vintage antiques.  Actually, that would be vintage items and antique items, but I've found that people often just search for that combined phrase.  You might want to keep an eye open for anything that would fall into that particular category as a seller.
  

There are entire books about selling on eBay and finding things to sell when your personal stash of merchandise runs out. This is a basic guide for getting started in selling on eBay. Once you have a couple of sales under your belt and you start to make some extra money, you will wonder why it took you so long to start selling on eBay.