This slow economy has turned out to be a boom for some eBay sellers. Because many people are suffering during these slow economic times, many are trying to turn unwanted things into cash. And many do not have the knowledge or desire to sell things on eBay themselves. So they turn to successful sellers to sell their things for them.
As most of you know there are whole stores set up to sell people’s things on eBay. But many towns do not have these stores, so they try to find others to do it for them. It helps if you are already an eBay power seller because people know you have success in selling there. But what kind of things are people selling. Because this site is based on Buying and Selling Antiques, there are many who sell antiques and collectibles. But there are also many, many other things. And you don’t have to sell things for a big price to make some decent money that can help you in these rough economic times.
If you sold five things for just $10 each, that is $50. Do that five days a week and you earn an extra $250 a week. It adds up pretty quickly. I am writing this in early March, and it will soon be time for all of the garage and yard sales to begin. But until then or when the weather is cold, there are always thrift stores around. Many people have become very successful just buying things at thrift stores such as Goodwill and the Salvation Army. I have a friend that specializes in boots. She has done it long enough that she knows what kinds of boots sell the best. She cleans them up and gives them a fresh coat of polish, and sometimes even new soles, to make them look their best. She has shipped many pairs to Australia because they love a certain style of boots.
But you can start out finding things around your house. Most of us have some fairly decent clothes in our closet that we no longer wear, maybe even some with new tags that we have never worn. Maybe you have either gained or hopefully lost a lot of weight and many of your clothes no longer fit. Instead of throwing them out or donating them, sell them on eBay. If the computer scares you find an eBay seller and let them do it for you.
I read an article recently where one eBay power seller was really capitalizing on this market and was mainly selling for others now. They have so many people wanting them to sell their things that they can now be choosy as to what they will accept to sell. Since these people work on commission usually, the higher something sells, the more money they make. So it stands to reason that they would prefer to sell only items that bring, say $50 or more.
But there is more to just being good on a computer. Being able to take good photographs that accurately show the condition of what you are selling is vitally important. This is important for selling anything online, not just on eBay. The quickest way to get a bad rating is to have the buyers be unhappy with their purchase. This usually happens because the item was not described accurately, or the photos didn’t show flaws. Remember a picture is worth a thousand words, so good photographs will show the potential buyer exactly what they will get. Be sure to take photos of every side and angle.
Then once an item sells, the work just begins. It is so important to pack the item properly so it will arrive in the same condition that you shipped it. A friend that is a postman said you should be able to drop your package from shoulder height and it should survive. On fragile items, this can mean double boxing. You also need to have a good source to buy boxes and packing material inexpensively. In big cities, this is no problem. But in smaller towns it might be difficult to find all sizes of boxes that don’t cost a fortune. Buyers get very frustrated if the shipping costs are too high. So there is a good bit to do for every item sold online. If you are selling very many things, you will need to develop a system to keep up with everything. You want to make sure to stay in contact with each buyer to make sure they know when their item will arrive and to remind them to leave positive feedback. And you should do the same for them if the pay promptly. Sometimes you have to send a second reminder.
If you choose to have someone else do all of this for you, expect to pay around 30%. Some sellers might have a sliding scale for items that sale for higher prices. Be careful about selling things that are very large, like furniture. The shipping prices vary so much depending where the piece is going that you can spend a ton of time answering email from people wanting to know how much it will cost to ship that desk (as an example) to such and such. On those kind of items, I tried to set the opening bid high enough that it would weed out the tire kickers.
When people are trying to save money on everything, more people are turning to the internet to find things cheaper. So keep that in mind when offering things for sale. Not everyone needs an antique, but they need clothes and other necessities. Gently used toys and baby items are always in demand. So this is why some eBay sellers are prospering during this slow economy.
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