Selling on eBay: Advice and FAQs for Beginner’s
If you are eager to make some extra revenue, through online selling, as a side income, and you are thinking that eBay can be a feasible option, but you are not sure where to start, then this article is for you; wherein, I’ll discuss some useful advice on how to sell on eBay for those who want to start selling on eBay.
I’m going to offer you some instructions for new sellers and how to be a successful eBay seller. Also, I shall try to answer some frequently asked questions.
keep reading and let’s get started.
There are twelve steps to start selling on eBay. it seems too much and too hard, but once you get started, you won’t see it that hard.
How to Sell on eBay: 12 Key Steps
Step 1: You Need to Register Your eBay and PayPal Accounts
If you already have an eBay account then you probably also have a bank account or a PayPal account. Otherwise, you need to visit eBay and PayPal and register your accounts.
You can proceed now and register for a personal account, as you don’t need a business account at this point.
Step 2: Buy Cheap Products to Get Feedback
Although it can be an optional step, it is recommended. Particularly, when you are a brand-new eBay user, and you don’t have any feedback. The purpose of this step is to gain some feedback.
Buying some products from a seller, that has a lot of feedback, is the best means to get feedback. Hence, you may get approximately 25000 feedback.
This means, you don’t need to wait for that feedback, and as soon as you purchase that item you will likely get feedback. Though not guaranteed, for the most part, sellers who have a lot of feedback will send automatic feedback, as soon as you pay.
You should have at least some feedback so that your potential customers trust you, and rest assure that you are a good seller.
💡 Related Article: Pricing Strategies for Your e-commerce Business
Step 3: Find the Products and Make Research
Simply, look around your house and see what items you might be willing to dispose of, look them up on eBay, and go down to the filter where it says “sold” and you can see how much these products are actually selling.
It is good to survey the listed items and is better to look at the prices they are selling/sold for. As you can decide if it’s worth it to sell the same product and put the price accordingly.
💡 A side note: While you’re conducting this research, don’t forget to concentrate on the titles, pricing, and photos.
Step 4: Take Some Good Photos
I recommend taking photos in a bright room, to create bright and clear photos. When people are browsing through dark photos, they will scroll carelessly, because they can’t see clearly.
Today, our phones can capture great pictures, go ahead and just use them to take those pictures. We recommend taking at least 5 pictures, and the more is the better.
If you can take more pictures at more angles, or other sides of the product, that’s even better. The more photos you share, the more confident the buyer you get.
Step 5: List the Products
You need to:
- Log in to eBay.
- Click the “Sell” link at the top right, and you can start listing the product.
You can finish this task on your phone, but we recommend to carry out on a computer because it is faster. Besides, the eBay app is not that helpful.
Step 6: Write Descriptive Titles
It is very vital to make sure to write an attractive title with keywords; think about how would a customer search for “camping lantern”.
He/she will not write “beautiful light for camping.” The search keywords will be similar to this: LED, camping, rechargeable, lantern.
You may include the wattage; use in the title field as many allowable characters. eBay allows you to write 80 characters, use them wisely.
Step 7: Select the Correct Category
It is important that you work in the exact category. Also, to write the product’s specifics.
eBay will request you to fill in many dropdown lists and boxes. many fields are not required, and others are obligatory.
These are the fields that visitors are using to filter on the eBay app, or on the eBay website when buying; so, it is better if you fill in as many as possible.
If you don’t put red in the color in the color box and someone uses the filter and searches for red your item is not going to come up so use as many of those as you can.
Step 8: Write A Simple Description
Do not exaggerate, no need for a detailed statement on your policies, or similar clauses. Write the basic information about the product, its condition, dimensions, and defects (if any).
Keep the text simple, to be read in a matter of seconds, because this is the time visitors will spend on reading.
💡 Related Article: How to write Creative, Professional Product Description
Step 9: Decide the Selling Format
The seller has to decide whether you are going to choose “Buy It Now” or “Auction”.
I prefer “Buy It Now” for 99 % of products, only if you want to sell a product swiftly, for a cheap price.
Definitely, you may go for an “Auction”, if you have a rare artifact that probably there is a bidding war on it.
Choose “Buy It Now” and wait for a suitable buyer, given that you have a product priced competitively. As many don’t know how to put a price, the price is an issue many people get worried about, and this is where they have stumbled.
Step 10: Set Your “Shipping”
This is also an issue where people get confused. Probably, this is the most arresting barrier that I notice with beginners, they’re troubled of shipping that they don’t even start shipping.
To make it simple, bring a postage scale, use it to weigh the object in the box or in the Polly mailer, whatever method you’re going to use, to measure the total weight and the packaging included. Then, you can insert that product into “Listing” and select “Shipping”.
If it is below a pound, you may select first-class shipping.
If it is more than a pound, you may opt for Priority shipping or many other options.
You can also get Priority Flat Rate envelopes, or you can get free USPS supplies from the eBay website.
💡 Also, don’t forget to offer free shipping. It has a great effect in increasing your conversion rates.
Step 11: Double Check Everything
Double-check that everything is accurate, proceed and click “list”; that’s it, you listed your first product on eBay.
Step 12: Don’t Be Afraid of eBay Scammers
This issue intimidates everyone.
Whether selling online or in the physical world, returns happen, it is part of the selling process; scammers are rare, as long as you’re carrying your business with eBay.
If you allow them to petrify you into not launching this business, you will lose more money than you will lose due to actual returns or scammers.
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Do Not Do This on eBay
1. Don’t use stock photos
Please don’t use any photos that you didn’t take yourself, or you don’t have permission from the person who owns that photo.
Don’t Google product images and put them on eBay. Most of these photos are copyrighted, so you may get in trouble, and dismissed off eBay.
Please don’t do it. ❌
Although there are many people who do it without consequences, we recommend taking your own photos.
2. Don’t hide product defects
You need to take pictures of the flaws so that they can be clearly noticed.
You must mention them in the description, a lot of customers could not pay attention when they’re purchasing a product. Once they receive the flawed item, they would be angry.
If you can put it in many places so that they can identify the flaw, then there’s less possibility for them to bypass it.
Frequently asked questions that I want to share with you
Q1: Why do I have a seller limit on eBay?
If you have a brand-new account you will notice that there is a seller limit. Possibly, the seller can list a certain number of products, or up to a certain amount per month.
By this restriction, eBay is trying to be watchful, because they don’t recognize you as a seller, and they need to confirm that you’re a serious merchant before they allow you to make high-volume sales.
eBay administration doesn’t want an individual to register and start listing a thousand products, to skim as many of customers, only to unsubscribe from the platform.
Over time, those limits will be alleviated, after a month if you pass beyond your limits, and you’ve been selling products out on time, you may proceed and notify eBay and request to release these restrictions.
Also, on Google you can find “raise my eBay selling limits”, there should be a popup page with a button that says “request a raise in selling limits” and see the reply.
Q2: How much fees will I pay to eBay?
The list of the first 50 products is for free, but you will pay a final value fee for those products. In other words, you will not pay anything to list these products, but if they sell then you have to pay a fee, mostly around (10%) depending on the product category.
After you pass the 50-product limit, there is an extra 30 cents per listening. It so strange when users don’t list over 50 products, claiming that they don’t want to pay the extra 30 cents.
Nevertheless, if you’re earning $10 or $15 or $20 on a specific product, why would you refuse to pay 30 cents. Remember, the more products you list, the more sales you make, provided that you are selling good items.
Q3: Should I sell on eBay or Amazon?
The quick answer is: it’s up to you.
eBay and Amazon are entirely different enterprises.
You can’t sell on Amazon the same products you sell on eBay. You may not sell used clothing on Amazon; in the way you sell on eBay. You may sell some used products such as books, electronics, and similar items.
Selling on Amazon is out of the scope of this article, but I do find eBay a lot easier to manage, and it is also much easier to sell variable products on eBay.
💡 On this subject, you may read: Pros and Cons of Selling on eBay and Amazon
Q4: Can I really make money on eBay?
Yes, you can genuinely earn money on eBay. Many people are still selling on eBay, there are millions of buying and selling on eBay every single day.
Q5: How much do sellers make on eBay?
The short answer: it depends.
Sure, some people are merely selling from time to time, to get around $30 a month. On the other side, there are sellers who earn millions of dollars per year.
Simply, it depends on the effort the sellers put into it, and how they are able to get products.
Q6: Is selling on eBay worth it?
It seems there is a wide portion of people who see that it is a laborious task, or that selling on eBay doesn’t earn you enough income to be worthy.
If you have enough time, if you enjoy selling items online, then it could be worth it to you. In contrast, if you gain an appreciable income, and you don’t need to sell on eBay to earn an extra $200 per month, then don’t.
But honestly, you can make money, if you persist. The question of is it worth or not is totally up to you.
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The Bottom Line
Now, you know all the basics to successfully sell on the eBay store. There is so much information that I can comment on, but I tried to be concise as much as I can in this article, without losing vital information, I hope.
I know that so many people find eBay a little scary, but once you get involved, once you list your first products, once you ship those first products, you will acquire more self-confidence and the task will be much easier.
