Make money from eBay in five simple steps
Most of us have quite a bit of junk around at this time of year – the unwanted Christmas presents, the party outfits that no longer fit, that funny blue eyeshadow that you’ve been keeping ‘just in case’ it comes in handy one day.
If you decide it’s time to streamline your life then take an afternoon out and stick it all on eBay. It could end up to be pretty profitable. If you’re not sure how to make the best of your old stuff, the following ideas and tips should help.
MRS MAGPIE’S ROUGH GUIDE TO SELLING ON EBAY
1. Sort it
Not everything that you class as junk is going to sell on ebay. Half used makeup, worn-out clothing, anything broken and really worthless items of tat aren’t even worth bothering with. Even if you did sell them, the amount you’d get isn’t worth your time. Bin them.
Anything that’s not seasonal you’re better off holding on to for now, if you have the space to store it. For example, a floaty summer dress may fail to attract a bid or may sell for very little now, but put it on during a heatwave in July and you’ll get the best price. Got Christmas decorations to sell? Best to put them up next November if you can store them until then.
2. Photograph it
For the nicer items – new or barely worn clothing and accessories, new cosmetics, nice household items, technology, etc, make sure it’s all in good order and photograph it.
There’s an art to the photography – you don’t want to make it look perfect like a catalogue shot because buyers may be suspicious that you don’t really have the product and are just pulling a scam, nor do you want it to look too amateur.
The best method is to lay out a white sheet or huge piece of white card and photograph the smaller items on there. Clothing should be ironed, put on a nice hanger and photographed on the back of a door. The picture’s really what will sell your item, so make sure it makes it desirable. Look at magazines for ideas of how they photograph items and you’ll understand how to do it.
3. List it
Research is key when doing listings. If you’re selling something that’s still available to buy in shops, then why not state the price it’s selling for, and even give a link to the official website – that way buyers will feel they are getting a bargain.
Not bothering to provide a decent description of the item you’re selling is never going to help a sale. Make the item seem desirable, but don’t be too flowery – describing a pair of socks as ‘the must have socks this year’ or ’stunning’ is stretching the point and will put people off. But do tell people the brand, describe them well, talk about the colours in case the picture isn’t a true representation and highlight any imperfections so buyers will not be disappointed.
Lay out your postage rates – including those for overseas buyers if you sell a lot, as it will save you having to respond to individuals – and make sure they’re reasonable. Make sure you opt to accept Paypal payments, there’s no way round this really, most buyers will want to use it.
Oh, and try not to be rude by saying things like ‘re-advertised due to time waster’ or ‘negative feedback will be left after 7 days’. It kind of makes people not want to deal with you.
4. Communicate
When you sell on eBay your buyers expect to be kept informed every step of the way. Send a sale confirmation email, a payment received email, and a dispatch confirmation email.
5. Pack it pretty
Your feedback on eBay is really important for letting buyers know that you’re a good seller and trustworthy. Make a great impression by packaging things nicely. Invest in some cheap tissue paper, make nice printed notes saying thanks for purchasing and make sure that the packaging is secure so nothing gets damaged en route. If you’re feeling especially nice then you could even include a small freebie with larger items to make buyers really impressed. Check the eBay buyer’s address against the Paypal address and if they don’t match then query it. Take your package to the Post Office for weighing so the postage is sufficient and get recorded delivery at the least.
If things do go wrong and you receive negative feedback, the main thing is that you must respond politely and explain why it has happened so that future buyers can still have confidence in you.
