Beginner’s Tips for Selling on eBay

As a mem­ber of the eBay Par­ent Panel, I had the plea­sure of trav­el­ing to Orlando for the eBay on Loca­tion event ear­lier this month! It was great to meet so many of the awe­some ambas­sadors, the PR team, and so many eBay employ­ees and eBay sellers!

{Photo Credit: Tonja Dee­gan of Air­foil PR}

We had lots of fun, but did a lot of learn­ing!! No, really, a lot!  In fact, I have over 20 pages of notes in my lit­tle notebook!!!

So, today, I thought we’d start with tips for the begin­ners, because that’s me too!

First off, it’s really impor­tant to remem­ber two things:

1. Any­one can sell on eBay! That’s the beauty of it–you can just get right in there & get started mak­ing some $$$$!

2. But, with that said, there is a def­i­nite learn­ing curve to becom­ing a suc­cess­ful seller!

So, here are some great “beginner’s tips” to get you started:

• Start small. For your first few items, try some­thing you’re ok with not get­ting as much money for. So, start with items that aren’t a high dol­lar amount and don’t have a high emo­tional con­nec­tion for you!
• Do some research. eBay has a “Get­ting Started” page, plus an entire Seller Infor­ma­tion Cen­ter on their site, which should def­i­nitely be your start­ing point. Make sure to review the seller pol­icy pages to avoid mak­ing costly mis­takes. Once you’re ready to list an item, check the eBay list­ings to see what sim­i­lar items have recently sold for so that you price your item competitively!
• Qual­ity over quan­tity.  Don’t list too many items at first. Start with one or two items (maybe three at most), to learn the process & fig­ure out how to opti­mize your listings.
• Think like a buyer. If you’re not famil­iar with eBay at all, it might be best to start as a buyer. But, even if you’ve never pur­chased any­thing through eBay before, you can still apply your “buyer brain” to sell­ing your items. What kinds of things are you drawn toward? What would you buy? What would make you more likely to buy an item (great pic­tures? low price? free ship­ping?)? Keep those things in mind as you make your listing.

So, are you ready to take the eBay seller plunge ?! If you want help doing your first list­ing, visit eBay’s “Cre­at­ing Effec­tive List­ings” page or check out fel­low eBay Par­ent Panel mem­ber Jill’s (aka Sin­gle Mom on a Bud­get) video on list­ing an item. (Click here for video)

What’s YOUR expe­ri­ence with eBay?

Are you new to eBay? What else would you like to know? Or, are you a long-time seller with more tips? Either way, let us know in the com­ments!

Dis­clo­sure: My par­tic­i­pa­tion as an eBay Par­ent Panel ambas­sador is a com­pen­sated posi­tion. Thus, my eBay-related posts are spon­sored by eBay. How­ever, as always, all opin­ions and expe­ri­ences are my own.