Recently I decided to attempt to do a little flipping of items. I had no idea how to sell something on eBay but I was able to get my first sale the other day! I was extremely surprised. I had never really used eBay much before; however, I’ve always had this fascination with buying and selling items for profit. I used to play Neopets and Diablo 2 a lot (haha), but I’d play them in an entrepreneurial way in which I’d essentially do retail arbitrage for video game currency. I’d trade or buy items from the marketplace to sell in my own store. I guess I always thought it was fun!
I’ve also been wanting to get rid of items around the house. I’m quite into minimalism, yet there’s so much crap around the place. Having traveled for 2 years with just a carry-on suitcase and a backpack, I know firsthand that we really don’t need that much stuff to live. It makes for a simpler life having less clutter – cause it’s less to think about, care about, and attach to.
Anyway, I decided to do a first test of eBay. It’s easy for me to steer away from projects that require me to learn something completely new, but I decided I should try once because I wanted to familiarize myself with potential income streams for future purposes.
To sell your first listing, you only really need to fill out the following information:
I was surprised because the entire process actually only took about 3 minutes. I took a photo of my toy and put up a title, image, description, and figured out the shipping and pricing settings. For the pricing and description, I looked around at other listings, checked out how much people priced similar products, and emulated how they described them. For the title, I used basic ideas of how I normally would search for those items. I also used the search engine results on eBay to figure out what is most searched.
In terms of shipping, I decided to go with First Class mail and use the recommended settings. I wasn’t very familiar with how to ship things but I figured that this whole process would give me an understanding. Even if I took a loss because I didn’t do it correctly, I would know for the future.
3. Getting a Sale
Lo and behold, someone made an offer on the toy 2 days after, and I decided to accept it. I was very surprised that the product received interest and an offer.
I noticed I had to send an invoice within eBay, so once I did that the buyer sent payment.
4. Shipping the Item
Afterwards I was able to go into eBay and actually print a shipping label. That meant I would pay eBay the shipping cost to be able to print the label. eBay also offers a bit of a discount for ordering your shipping with them. The part I was confused about was what type of mailer I was supposed to use. I’m kind of a newbie when it comes to mailing stuff.
I decided to use first class packaging as I was going to use my own box. Priority Boxes allow flat rate pricing, but you’ll need to get the USPS Priority boxes shipped to you to use, and the flat rate pricing may cost more than the first class mailing. First class packages are normally up to 15.99 oz. I discovered this by talking to someone at the post office, who told me that first class packages are limited only by weight and not by size of the shipping container.
I put the toy into a box and added a little thank you note within the package to let the customer know he was appreciated! In order to weigh your package, you should use a small scale like this ACCUTECK scale. This way you’ll figure out if first class packaging works for you or not.
Summary
The eBay experience got me thinking about attempting to sell a lot of the stuff around the house on eBay, Mercari, Poshmark, and Craigslist. We’ll see how that goes. I also ended up buying some stuff at a garage sale to test the flipping process. They haven’t sold yet but I’ll see how it goes.
So this was a small summary of the basic eBay listing and shipping process. This quick tutorial might be obvious for some. but may be helpful for those who haven’t used eBay. Let me know if you have any feedback in the comments below!
To sell digitally delivered items, you need to either become an eBay approved seller of digital products or list your products in the Everything Else > Information Products category of the Classified Ad format.
To sell on eBay, we'll need to confirm your identity at registration. We may also need to confirm your identity at other times. If you're a Registered Business seller, we'll need to confirm information about your business, as well as any beneficial owners, officers, directors, or account managers.
How many categories can i sell in eBay as a beginner. New sellers have a 10 listing limit for a total value of $500 per month. You should be able to list in any category.
New sellers typically experience holds for up to 30 days, although sometimes it may be longer. Previously restricted or suspended sellers will experience transaction holds for the 30 days after the restriction or suspension is lifted, while we confirm that the items have been successfully delivered.
Firearms, weapons and knives. Government, transit, postal items and official items policy. Hazardous, restricted, or regulated materials. Items encouraging illegal activity.
To open an eBay seller account, you will need a bank account or credit card, business tax information, and government-issued ID. If you are a business seller, you'll enter your taxpayer identification number or EIN. As a sole proprietor, you'll enter your social security number.
With that, let's take a look at the biggest pros of selling digital products vs physical products: Low upfront investment: You don't need inventory, shipping, or production costs. Those are costs you have to factor in when selling physical products – digital products are that much more profitable.
However, flipping can be used to refer to the purchase of any asset which is then resold for profit as soon as possible, such as crypto, shares, cars, concert tickets, or sports tickets. On eBay, you can flip almost anything that doesn't violate eBay's policies and regulations.
You may use images, videos or text on eBay as long as your use of that content does not infringe third-party rights and the content follows our Offensive materials policy.
For most casual sellers, it's free to list on eBay.If you list more than 250 items per month, you'll start paying a $0.35 insertion fee per listing. Category exclusions apply.
An insertion fee is the amount you pay eBay in order to list products on its marketplace. This will be charged every time you create or renew a listing, no matter if it actually sells.
Private sellers can list for free on eBay. After you've used your monthly allocation of 1,000 free listings (or more if you have an eBay Shop), you'll be charged 35p for each new listing created. Learn more about how free listings work, including the terms and exclusions for those listings.
Your first 250 listings each month are free and, after, there's a $0.35 insertion fee per listing. Learn more about fees - opens in new window or tab.. What's the best way to ship my item? eBay provides recommendations, but you can choose a preferred shipping carrier.
eBay charges sellers two standard fees per listing: a listing insertion fee and a final value fee. The final value fee is a percentage of the final sale amount including shipping costs. It does not pay for shipping. This is covered by the buyer, and then - depending on the fulfilment method - by the seller.
Introduction: My name is Francesca Jacobs Ret, I am a innocent, super, beautiful, charming, lucky, gentle, clever person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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