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In Our Words / Article

eBay 101: Using the World’s Largest Auction House for Fun and Profit

Part 4: Deciding What to Sell on eBay

By Justin Laby, Co-founder, Mouko, LLC

Introduction

If you are like many people, you have a lot of stuff to get rid of. Maybe your garage or basement is cluttered, full of junk or undesired knickknacks. You may have been considering having a garage or yard sale to get rid of all this accumulated stuff, for once and for all. After all, this stuff isn’t worth much, right? Nobody would pay more than a few pennies for your junk, right? Wrong! Believe it or not, the first item to sell on eBay was a broken laser pointer, sold to a collector of broken laser pointers [1], so your trash may be someone’s treasure after all.

But what should you sell first, and how should you get started? This article will give you some pointers.

Before You Sell Anything

The first thing you should do as an eBay seller is acquaint yourself with the buying process. As a seller it is important to understand all the parts and work that go into a listing, such as taking pictures, writing an item description, writing “policy” text (which describes, among other things, the payment methods you accept).

It is important to understand what people who see your items will encounter by first becoming a buyer yourself. Understanding the process from a buyer’s perspective will make you a better seller, because you know how people will perceive your listing.

Another equally important reason for buying several things before your first sale is to build up your feedback score. Having a high feedback score will make people more comfortable with the idea that you are an honest person and that you make good on your obligations. In some cases, eBay will not allow you to use features unless you have attained a high enough feedback score. For example, the Buy It Now feature is not available until you have a feedback score of at least 5.

What to Sell

You probably have lots of things you would like to get rid of, but how do you choose the one that will make you the most money? Before you rush to sell your most valuable items, start with something small and non-valuable. The first thing you sell should be something you don’t care about at all, because you are just learning the eBay seller ropes. If you don’t get a lot of bids or money on your first few items, it may be because you weren’t using the right features, or were using those features in the wrong way.

Look around your garage, basement, attic, or wherever you tend to store things you don’t use very often. Find something that seems like it could sell for $5-$20, and then look for similar items on eBay. How much money are other, similar items going for? How are people describing items? What title are they using to summarize their item? Which features are they using?

Maybe you will choose a book, an article of clothing, or some trinket you’ve been wanting to re-gift since the last holiday season. Don’t be surprised if your first item doesn’t sell, and don’t be discouraged. The point is not necessarily to sell your first item (although congratulations if you do!), it is instead to learn the process behind listing an item, which we will discuss in detail in the next article.

Reference

  1. How did eBay start?