Yes, You Really Can!

Are you wondering how to make money on the side? Maybe you’d like to be able to pay one extra bill, or help you save up for an expensive splurge. Or, maybe you have your eyes set on a future of entrepreneurship. Either way, eBay is worth a look. 

Lots of people sell on eBay, in one way or another so why not you? Let’s take a look at how to make money on eBay in 2023.

Selling on eBay can be a gratifying and fun way to earn money, depending on how you go about selling. While the traditional way to sell on eBay, where you are finding and listing things you already own or things you find is not even close to passive income, there is a way to sell and get paid passively. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First things first.

What is eBay?

eBay is an E-Commerce company that was founded in San Francisco, CA in 1995. eBay did and still does operate as a consumer to consumer and business to consumer model. Anyone interested in making money in the E-Commerce space can utilize one or both models fairly easily. 

Typically, a seller will find an item on eBay and place a bid on the item. After a set period of time, the winner of the auction will be able to purchase the item. Sellers can also list a product as a Buy Now item and buyers can just purchase the item outright. The seller will then arrange for shipping to the customer.

How to Sell on eBay?

The first thing to decide is whether you want to sell from consumer to consumer or from business to consumer. Meaning, do you want to sell things you have lying around the house from time to time, or do you want to open an eBay store with the intention of treating it like a business? 

Do you want to have fun watching what items sell or do you want to take time to market your store to potential customers and build a brand? Both are possible, you just have to decide which is best for you.

Best Things to Sell on eBay

If you decide to casually sell items around your home to make extra money you should take inventory of the items you’d like to sell. You can sell practically anything on eBay; mugs, clothing, car parts, electronics, just about anything you have in your home. Make a spreadsheet of the items you have and separate them by categories based on the type of item. 

This will help you when it comes time to list the items on eBay. If you don’t have a lot of household items to sell ask relatives and friends if they have anything that they would like to get rid of. Most people can think of a few things they would just like to get rid of. Finally, and this is the fun part for me, start shopping! 

Yard sales, estate sales, and garage sales are some of the best ways to find items to mark up and sell on eBay. Most sales of this type a treasure trove of items that can be listed for sale. Finally, discount stores and thrift stores also provide a great source of reduced-price items. In order to make sure you price the items correctly go to eBay and search for similar items. 

Don’t lose money on items that will cost you once you sell and ship the item. Looking at comparable items can help make sure you don’t overprice your inventory.

Dropshipping on eBay

Dropshipping is permitted on eBay, but with a big caveat. Dropshipping where you fulfill orders directly from a wholesale supplier is allowed on eBay. However, listing an item on eBay and then purchasing the item from another retailer or marketplace that ships directly to your customer are not allowed on eBay. 

This is a violation of their policy and can result in eBay ending or canceling listings, hiding or demoting all listings from search results, lowering seller rating, buying or selling restrictions, loss of buyer or seller protection, and account suspension. 

eBay wants every seller to be responsible for the delivery of items to buyers and dropshipping makes it more difficult for sellers to ensure proper and timely delivery. While this policy prevents drop shippers from buying products and having them ship from Amazon and similar marketplaces, it makes dropshipping from any company way more difficult. For many sellers, it is cost-prohibitive and too risky to purchase items in bulk for sale on eBay. 

If you don’t have space in your home for the items you will have to pay a warehouse to hold the goods. You don’t know whether the inventory will sell, you still have to arrange for shipping of the items, and eBay charges a listing fee. 

Sellers may not want to have to pay a listing fee for an item that may not sell. On top of that, eBay does not make it easy to build your own customer base. So if you do manage to successfully drop ship to your customers you can only contact them with regard to items sold on eBay. 

If you want to build an eBay store exclusively, that is not a problem, but if you want to build a customer base for business outside of eBay, this may present a hurdle.

I Can Make Money on eBay Not Selling Anything, Huh?

Two words: Affiliate. Marketing. Affiliate marketing is where you get paid to promote another company. If you have a website, blog, YouTube channel, or any other audience or platform, you can request to become an affiliate and share a unique link provided by eBay. 

There are many affiliate networks out there, some easier to join than others. Once someone clicks on that link and makes a purchase, you will receive a small commission. All affiliate program terms are different, but eBay will pay you if someone who clicks your unique link bids on a sale or registers for an eBay account and bids on a sale within thirty (30) days. 

In order to maximize your profits, you can refer your audience to eBay and market your link on your social media platforms and search engines like Pinterest.

Is Selling on eBay Worth It?

It depends on what your goal is. If you want to start a dropshipping business there are easier ways to go about it. If you want to sell goods from consumer to consumer it can be a fun way to make money. 

If you want to become an affiliate marketer it can be very profitable. Just apply to become an affiliate, build an audience, and draw people to your link.

I have a small eBay store that my family uses to make extra money selling items we no longer need. We send old clothes to Goodwill or some other donation site but if there is a household item that I know will sell on eBay and can be shipped easily, it gets listed on eBay. We make about $100 per month with a very small inventory, which is great. 

My daughter loves the process of pricing similar items, listing them, and watching the bids. I haven’t tried selling items found outside of our home yet but maybe one day we’ll venture out to see how it goes. A great estate or tag sale is a lot of fun if you love to shop. It may be hard to decide what to sell and what to keep.

Now you too know how to make money with eBay. What will you do?

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