10 12 Tips For Maximizing eBay Profits

People, we’re on vacation this week at this quaint place that doesn’t have wireless internet. This makes it hard to do new blog posts, and also there are these things called “family time” and “relaxation” that keep getting in the way of blogging progress. So today we’re in reruns–I’m bringing back a classic post for the benefit of people who might have missed it the first time around. This post originally appeared on December 8, 2008. Enjoy. Again.

Now that you’ve been working on your debt snowball, you might be wondering how we can get this whole debt-repayment process moving a bit faster. One of the easiest ways to do this is to look around your house for things to sell. On Friday, I outlined some tips for selling books, DVDs and CDs on Amazon, and today I’m going to give you some tips on how to use eBay to your best advantage when trying to sell off household goods.

1. Always consider shipping costs when listing an item on eBay. Not only do you need to have a shipping cost listed with your item’s auction, you need to keep an eye on price and ease of shipment with all items you list for sale on eBay. Learn to appreciate the value of selling small, light items–it is on these items that you will make your highest profits. Maybe you have a valuable piece of furniture you’d like to sell, but eBay is probably not going to be the best place for this kind of sale. Even if you use the ‘local sales only’ feature on eBay, the fact is that the market shrinks considerably when you are dealing with large items that will require the buyer to pick up the item or pay exorbitant shipping costs. Consider Craigslist or local consignment stores for these types of sales.
2. Be careful with fragile items. Though there is a good market for pieces of art and other fragile items on eBay, you have to be careful with selling this type of stuff, just ask anyone who has had to deal with breakage! The best bet with these items is to insure heavily or, again, look to a local selling option to avoid the headache.
3. Use 7-day auctions. Different ebay sellers have different strategies, but my experience is that the longer the item is up, the more time you have to attract sellers and drive up the price. There are people who say that setting your auctions to end on a Sunday night is a good strategy as well, since more people seem to be online and looking to buy on those days.
4. Communication is key. Letting your buyer know what is going on is the easiest way to keep them happy. After a successful auction, email the buyer and let them know when they can expect their item to be shipped, and via what method, etc. Remember to always receive your payment before shipping anything.
5. Do your market research. Some things don’t sell well on eBay for some reason–an example, generally speaking, is fine jewelry. Similarly, some things sell very well for a certain time, and then the sales die off. We can only offer conjecture as to why this is–sometimes it has to do with availability on the regular retail marketplace, as is the case with the sales of Ugg boots and Wiis for inflated prices before Christmas. Other times, it has to do with buyer confidence–there are some things people want to see up close before they commit to buying (again, this may be the case with the jewelry example). You should always look up an item on eBay before you attempt to sell it–find out what it is going for (price point), how many are on the market already (the competition), what the interest in the item is (are there any bids?). All of these factors should be considered in listing–in some cases, these numbers will guide you in setting a price, and in others, they will tell you whether it’s worth it to list the item at all. Other things that market research can tell you include: 1) should you sell an item as a set, or individually; 2) will the item get more if sold in a lot with other like items?; and 3) what is the best category for an item that could be listed several places?
6. Use low start-off prices and avoid using reserves. This is a largely psychological issue, but for some reason buyers feel like they’re getting a better deal when items start low, even if the end price is the same. For the same reason, I would often list items with a start price of 9.99 instead of 10.00, even though it seems like a superficial difference–there is a reason people have done this in advertising for years. My rule of thumb was to start off a low priced item at $1.99 or $4.99, depending upon the basic idea of what I expected to get for it. A higher priced item might start off at $9.99. Only in a very extreme situation would I inflate the initial price–let the market do its work in driving up the price (if you’ve done the research, you should be more comfortable with this). Similarly, only in a very extreme situation would I use a reserve (like a very valuable piece of jewelry or something, which I probably wouldn’t be selling on eBay anyway), because it turns buyers off and costs more to list.
7. Provide clear, high-quality pictures of the exact item you are selling. People like to see what they are buying. Don’t make them wonder–take a good quality picture and put it in your ad. Do not take other people’s pictures, or pictures off the web.
8. Right or wrong, feedback is king. There are a bunch of crazy feedback mafia types out there these days, I’ve heard, who will withhold feedback and/or threaten bad feedback if you don’t bend to their will. I’ve never personally encountered such people, but if you’re communicating well with your buyers and providing good products as advertised, you should be OK on this front. Make sure to leave feedback and try to please your customers–your rating does affect people’s confidence in buying from you.
9. Do your best to estimate a fair and reasonable shipping cost. One trick for getting more money per item on eBay is to inflate the shipping cost, and people have been doing this since the beginning days of eBay. Now that shipping costs are listed right next to the item price, it’s much more difficult for sellers to take advantage this way. Do your best to estimate what a fair shipping price will be. You should include materials (if any) in the shipping cost, and let your buyers know that the price includes these incidentals.
10. Utilize free shipping supplies whenever possible. The post office has standard sized priority mail boxes that go for a flat rate regardless of weight. These can be used for free when using priority mail–but you can also get a supply of them to use for your own regular parcels–just cover up the priority mail stuff with a brown paper bag (shhh!) or a priority mail Tyvek envelope (also free) that you’ve cut open and wrapped around the box. If you are questioned by any postal employees, don’t say you got the idea from me, though.
11. Online shipping. Kerry was kind enough to add the folowing tips to the comments when this post originally appeared. I’ll add them here to make this post EVEN BETTER than the first time around:
    

    You can order Priority Mail shipping materials (boxes, envelopes, etc.) for free through eBay, and have them delivered to your door. It’s also wise to print your postage online through eBay after the item sells (and is paid for), because it’s fast, and you don’t have to go out in the snow, and it automatically sends the buyer a tracking number. You also get free delivery confirmation (good for you AND the buyer), and a discount on the shipping price. I use the full-sheet labels for them (Avery makes them, but the Office Depot brand is cheaper and just as good). You cut them in half, put half on the box (because it has the address and postage and delivery confirmation barcode), and keep the other half (which is your proof of mailing, and also has the tracking number in case the buyer says they didn’t receive it).

    eBay has also changed its pricing recently to encourage fixed-price listings instead of auctions (they’re trying to compete with Amazon, which I think is a bad plan, but whatever). Once you have a really good idea of what your price point should be for your stuff, they’re a good deal. If you’re less sure what something should sell for, though, an auction is still a better bet IMO.

    Thanks, Kerry!

12. Schedule your mail pick up. Becky also added to the conversation by offering this advice on scheduling your post office pickups:
    

    And I’m seconding Kerry’s info about using the online shipping. It is so, so much easier to automatically pay for and print the label in Paypal, and THEN schedule a carrier pickup for the mail person to come get the package. That way you never never have to go to the post office, which is a total pain with little kids. You gotta hand it to those ebay folks–they really have streamlined the whole process.

Happy eBaying!

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