How to find things to sell on ebay
85A quick search on ebay will reveal millions of listings at prices that may be cheaper then home, leaving you wonder how some sellers can do it! There are many ways to find things to sell on ebay and I will explore a few of them here.
- Make it! - Many of the things sold on ebay and etsy are handmade. You can turn your crafts into cash. Ideas range from clothing to bookmarks to stockings, wreaths etc. If you can make it, you can sell it!
- Get rid of it!- All of us have unwanted gifts, clothes we outgrew or discarded, toys we don't need, ornaments we are bored of etc. Why not take the chance selling them. With 50 free listings per month on ebay you won't be out of cash if your items do not sell.
- Hunt it! - Bargain hunt. Find deals at yard sales, car boot sales, thrift stores, charity shops or wherever you may come across something of significant value at a cheap price. It is surprising how very often you can buy stuff and resell at 500 percent profit on ebay! How is happen? Well for one thing, people are ready to pay for quality and rare items so keep an eye for those when bargain hunting.
- Vintage it is! - Vintage items sell to collectors. Look around your (or your parent's) attic and basement and you may come up with loads of out of production vintage or collectible items. Many vintage items are collectibles especially if they are hard to find. Examples may include, old postcards, old coins, old toy figurines etc etc.
- Bulk it!- I have noticed many resellers on ebay. They buy in bulk off ebay or other sources and resell each piece separately for a profit. Many people are unwilling to wait for an item to arrive from China and would prefer paying a bit extra to purchase it from their own country. So if you stock up, you could still resell for a profit. Eg: purchase 1k toothbrushes and resell them in groups of 5.
- Dropship it!- Many ebay sellers do not even have an actual sample of the item they are selling. They are simply middlemen. Find a dropship company that sells for example mobile phones. Place an auction on ebay for the mobile phones the dropship company sells. When the mobile sells and the client pays you, place the order with the dropshipper and they send the mobile to your client. As an ebay seller you never even touch or own the product and the auction is at no risk to you!
- Buy it! - I have seen items that are sold locally very inexpensively selling very expensively on ebay. Why? Simply because that item is unavailable in that country. Take food. Certain brands of food are not available in your country. You may want to purchase these products but simply cannot find at your local stores. As a result, you may be ready to pay twice or three times the amount you would buy them for in their country of origin. This holds especially true with chocolate. I have seen some particular brands of Italian chocolates going for very high prices on ebay! Who knows how many other food products could be explored!
Everything sells on ebay. Even the items you would least expect to! Over the years I have sold many "useless" items, from toy figurines found in chocolate surprises to used clothing to craft materials. Even if you do not make much profit on ebay (although a good profit is entirely possible), you will have the satisfaction of knowing that unneeded items have found a good new home and are being reused!
If you are interested in starting to sell on ebay, you may wish to check out my other hub on How to Become a Top Rated Ebay Seller.
Have you ever sold anything on ebay?
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Well while its easier to sell in the USA due to lower shipping costs, it is still entirely possible to sell from outside of the USA. I am based in Europe and am a top rated power seller, selling to European and USA customers. I tend to sell items that are hard to find elsewhere are are low in weight so as to keep shipping rates as low as possible. I also sell gently used branded clothing that I pick up for next to nothing. I also sell collectable items which I find from yard sales and car boot sales.
Well that is great, congratulations for being a successful seller. Thanks for your valuable tips, I will think about what is difficult to find and light, available in Mexico and on demand in the rest of the world…. It is a tough one but it could be fantastic for my income if it does work. Thanks again.
Just to give you one idea, I am doing very well selling keychains that local shops seem to give out as advertisments. It is amazing how many people collect keychains from all over the world.
Oh! I would have never thought of that. I guess the possibilities are much more than I can come up with! Thanks again for the ideas and suggestions; there are certainly many local handmade and artistic key chains around here that cannot be found somewhere else. You have been very useful and kind. Cheers!
You may even think in the terms of food, many people are willing to pay extra for a particular brand of chocolate or whatever they cannot buy from home!
Thanks for the tips. Many of us find Ebay to be confusing or have heard the horror stories about getting set up there. It's not so bad. My niece does very well with Ebay.
Voted up and useful.
I think when you find your niche on ebay and set up some auctions, you will find it pretty easy to figure what will sell and what not! Ty for dropping by Xenonlit.
Nice hub...... All the tips are Good and helpful for those who can gain something by selling the things on ebay.
I have always believed in the expression - 'If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is'. But e-commerce has turned this notion upside down. Thanks for revealing the secrets behind ebay's unbelievably low prices.
After HubPages my next venture is ebay. Give us an idea of other online sellers and some advantages/disadvantages of the others you can mention, please.
Ty hoteltravel and Perspycacious . One must also keep in mind that some of the items on ebay may be stolen and the seller may not care what they sell for because whatever they get is pure profit! On another note, many online sellers are from Asia which have lower overheads but are selling at European and US prices!
Up and useful, you give some great tips! The bulk it one can work very well and normally makes a good profit.
Thanks, SOCIALLY SHARED.
I worked very hard as an eBay seller for a year or two. I concluded that the people who do well on eBay are usually the buyers. I am now a happy buyer. I may be unusual, but in my experience, it is quite difficult to find a steady supply of things to sell for a decent profit. Once you obtain an item, you have to hope that the bidders are going to put a reasonable value on your item, and too often they're just looking for ridiculously good deals, as I am now as a happy buyer. Cheers.
I do woodcarving and scroll art. I was thinking about sell it on etsy, but I never thought about ebay. Thanks for the inspiration. Thanks for SHARING.
Ty for your visit Brett. Thanks for sharing too! Yes bulk buying and reselling can work out well if you do have storage space and patience because items may take a while to sell.
giogatore. I do agree that the buyers tend to have it better off on ebay then the sellers especially since I feel the ebay buyer protection favours the buyer.
peoplepower73 - You probably would do really well selling on ebay. You should give it a shot. Remember the first 50 listings per month are free so you can try it out at no cost!
Thanks for the infomation. You are right, you can sell almost anything on ebay. I'm surprised on some of the things that I find no use for but feel really good when I know that something I have no use for can be readily used and valuable to somebody else.
KDF thanks for dropping by and your comments! Sometimes we need to get rid of the things we don't need to make space for the things we do need. Throwing good items may seem like a real waste and I for one do not manage to discard good items. Selling them, even for a nominal price makes me feel I have disposed of them the proper way.
Wow, I have never tried eBay because I thought it was just for people who sold collectibles from Gramma's attic. This really opened my eyes to the possibilities! Thank you for this great content. Voting up and bookmarking for future reference.
This is a nice introduction to ebay for me. I haven't looked at it yet, but will.
Ty Pamela Kinnaird W. Hope you manage to start out on ebay :)
Ty for the vote SMD2012
Claudia Tello Level 6 Commenter 4 months ago
Good tips, although many of them apply only to the USA.