How to make money on eBay?

Many people look to eBay to make some extra money for themselves online. There are literally millions of sales made every single day, which results in a lot of sellers making money for themselves!

Despite this, there is still plenty of room for you to get involved, whether you want to earn some part time cash or set up a whole new full-time online business.

But “How do I get started?”, “Where do I get stock from to sell?” and “How do I get ‘PowerSeller’ status?” Well, read on and find out.

Getting Started on eBay

It is really easy to get started on eBay and make some money online. Once you have signed up for your free account, the best way to get started is to sell off some of your stuff that you no longer want. Not only will you get rid of a lot of unwanted stuff and make more space, but you get a feel for what selling is like is on eBay.

You may think that nobody wants any of your unwanted items, but just because you don’t want them, doesn’t mean someone else doesn’t!

[quote]“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure!”[/quote]

That old series of comics that you collected as a kid, maybe there is a collector that would like them. Those clothes that you have outgrown, they might fit someone else. Your old computer that doesn’t work anymore, someone might want to fix it up or get spare parts from it. Etc.

Of course, some things will sell better than others and some things will not sell at all. A lot depends on the potential market, condition and the price of the item. I can’t see many people being interested in an overpriced, damaged, bright orange bathtub. But then again, if you are just getting rid of stuff, you only need one person to be interested!

A Niche eBay Business

If you are going to start your own eBay business, then unless you have an endless supply of unwanted items, you will be needing stock!

You need to decide what kind of eBay business you are going to start. You can, of course, sell anything you like, but if you want to make a name for yourself it helps to become known for selling a specific type/range of products.

You want to choose a market that is big enough to grow within, but not too big that you become overwhelmed. For example, pet supplies are a HUGE online market that you could get involved with. You could sell anything form, dog collars to cat boxes, hamster wheels to fish tanks, etc. To start with, however, you would be better focusing on one particular niche, such as products ONLY for dogs, or products ONLY for fish. This way, when people want to buy their pet fish supplies, they know that they can find everything from your eBay fish product business.

Selling What Sells!

If you are planning on making money on eBay, you need to find out what products are selling well within your niche market. You can do this by using eBay’s advanced search feature to find out what is selling and how much it’s selling for.

Perhaps, for example, you want to sell video games on eBay. There are literally thousands of different types of games that you could sell, such as PS3 games, Xbox 360 games, PC games, retro games, brand new games, sports games, strategy games, etc.

Now, if you don’t know which products will sell, you could lose money by investing in the wrong stock. By doing a simple search of the ended listings, you can see which types of products sell well and which ones will make you the most profit!

Getting Stock To Sell

So, now that you know which types of product to sell, you need to know where to get the stock from.

No seller in their right mind will tell you where they get their stock from. That would be like giving away the keys to their business. To find the best suppliers for your stock, you need to do a bit of work.

If you want to sell a specific product, the simple act of looking at the packaging can often reveal the name of the supplier. You can then check out their website to see what other products they sell.

You can also search for the suppliers of a product on Google, which a lot of people never think of doing. You can find some excellent suppliers through this method and over time, you will go from having a single supplier to having a number of sources to get your stock from, as you build up your product range.

There are two main sources for getting stock; Wholesale and Dropshipping. Both have their positives and negatives, it ultimately depends on which method you prefer.

• Wholesale – This method requires you to have the room to store the stock that you buy and the money to buy it in advance. The risk with buying from wholesalers is that you could potentially buy a stock that doesn’t sell, but as long as you do research and make sure to check completed listings before you order anything, the risk here should be kept to a minimum.
• Dropshipping – This method holds all the stock for you. When someone buys an item from you, your drop shipper company sends out the item for you to the customer's address. You only actually pay for the item once you have received payment from the customer. This method does require you to pay a membership fee to join the scheme in the first place though.

eBay Feedback

Building your online feedback on eBay is a vitally important part of being a good seller. People who buy from you, are able to leave feedback on the service you gave them, whether it’s the quality of the item, how well it was packaged, the speed of delivery, etc. This feedback can be seen by anyone that wants to buy from you and is a good indicator of how trustworthy you are. It helps to set you apart as being a dedicated seller and the quicker your feedback score rises, the closer you get to attaining the ‘PowerSeller‘ status. So, the higher your feedback score, the better.

Having a ‘PowerSeller‘ status symbol is highly prized among serious eBay sellers. This lets your customers know that you can be trusted, making them more likely to buy from you. There are five ‘PowerSeller’ levels to strive for, with the first being Bronze, which is actually a lot easier to attain than you might think. While you might set a goal for yourself to reach ‘PowerSeller’, you will find that if you build up your product range and gradually increase your sales, you will reach it in no time.

eBay Shop

You can open your very own shop on eBay, but it’s not necessary when you first get started. Often, you’re better off waiting until you have a good range of stock and have built up a nice amount of feedback before opening a shop since it will appear empty if you have only a few products to sell initially.

Product Price

Finally, the most important thing to remember is the price at which you are selling your items. Yes, you will make more selling a $50 product than a $5 product, however, there might be considerably more people wanting to buy the $5 product!

Always look to see what other people are charging for that same product. After all, if two items are being sold that are exactly the same, you would buy the cheapest. That’s certainly what your customers will do!

Summary

Ultimately, you need to find out what you enjoy selling. It takes a lot of work to make real money on eBay, so you are more likely to put the effort in if you enjoy what you are doing.

It takes time to build a successful business, no matter what area you focus on. If you are determined to be successful on eBay and you put the effort in, you will see results.

I hope you found this quick summary helpful. Please leave your comments below.