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Posts tagged Make Money
How to Make Money on eBay
2
3 years
I’ve been selling on eBay for years and I’ve noticed that, over time, it has become increasingly more difficult to actually make any money from the things you sell. With postage costs rising, PayPal and eBay both taking fees, and the sheer volume of items for sale, if you’re not a savvy seller, selling on eBay can take a lot of effort with very little pay-off.
So, today I thought I’d share with you all my tried and tested tips and tricks for making money on eBay, with a few of my own success stories thrown in too. I can’t promise you’re going to make a fortune if you take my advice, but you can at least earn a few extra pounds!
1. Use Keywords
The words you use in your titles can really influence how many people are finding your item when browsing eBay, and therefore how many people are bidding. Say you’re selling a black dress… Calling it ‘Black Dress’ will probably mean it gets lost amongst a whole host of generic black dresses, but if you add detail with fashion keywords you can really tailor your items, especially if you know what’s on trend at the moment, and what people will likely be looking for. In my experience, popular terms include ‘Boho’, ‘Gothic’, and ‘Biker’. Just make sure your item actually suits the trend you are advertising it as!
My Success Story: I recently purchased a faux leather jacket on eBay that, though it was nice and very on trend, really didn’t suit me. I only paid £2 for it, so I put it back on eBay at a similar price and would have been happy just to make my money back. However, I listed the jacket using a few keywords in the title that related to its style (such as ‘biker’, ‘punk’ and ‘goth’), and in the end the jacket sold for more than £16!
2. Go Charity Shopping
One of my favourite ways to make money on eBay is to go shopping myself first… If you’re willing to spend time hunting, you can come across some real designer gems in charity shops at low prices, that you can then sell on when you’re done with them. You won’t find something every time you look, but when you’re lucky it’ll be worth it.
My Success Story: A couple of months ago, whilst browsing a local charity shop, I came across a men’s t-shirt from Liam Gallagher’s ‘Pretty Green’ range of clothing. It looked brand new, and at £2.99 it felt too good to be true, but I checked the labels over and discovered that it was 100% genuine. I snapped it up with the intention of giving it to my partner but he didn’t want it, so again, I put it on eBay at a low price in the hope of making my money back. Within hours the t-shirt had gained lots of watchers, and by the end of the seven-day listing it sold for a whopping £23.
3. Take Advantage of Free Listing
If you list an item for under 99p, eBay allow you to list 100 single-quantity items per month for free! But if you want to charge more (as I suggest in tip 4) it costs, and the higher your starting price, the more it costs. For clothing it’s usually around 15p per item, which doesn’t seem that much, but if you’re listing several items at once it soon adds up! Paying to list items just eats into your profits, so take advantage of free listing days whenever you can. eBay tend to run a free listing weekend every other week, so I tend to prepare everything during the week (gather items, take photos, plan my listings etc), then list everything during a free listing weekend.
4. Factor in Fees
Unfortunately for us sellers, both eBay and PayPal take a percentage of the sale price of your items, including from what you charge for postage. PayPal take between 1.4% and 3.4%, plus an extra 20p, and eBay take 10% of the final value. So, if you actually want to come out of a sale with something other than a few pence, it’s a good idea to factor these fees into your pricing. I personally never list anything for 99p, because once all the fees have been taken away you’re left with next to nothing, so I tend to start items a little higher. Perhaps £1.49 for small items, or for labelled brands a bit more.
It might also be an idea to up your postage costs too. It costs £2.60 to post a small parcel in the UK, but if you charge £2.60 you’ll end up paying some of the postage out of your own pocket, as some will be taken in fees. I usually put mine up to around £3.00 as P&P does also include packaging!
5. Take Good Photographs
Ever found something interesting on eBay, only to find there’s one small, low quality image of the thing, probably taken on a mobile phone in a badly lit room? Chances are you’re not going to want to bid on something if you can’t see what it looks like, so good photographs are always important in making a sale! I like to take mine with a digital camera rather than a phone, in natural light, and I always include a few close up photographs too so buyers can really see what they’re getting.
Do you have any tips for selling on eBay? Please comment if you do as I’d love to hear them!
Happy selling,
Naomi x
Winter Wardrobe Wishlist
2
3 years
by Naomi in Fashion
Exciting news, Fashionistas – musicMagpie have long been helping us make money from our old CDs, DVDs, games and technology, and they’ve recently launched a new service which means you can now get cash for clothes as well! All you have to do is tell them what you want to sell by entering it into the ‘Get Value’ box, giving a few details about the brand, size, colour and suchlike, and then they’ll make you an offer on the item. Then, once you’ve entered everything you want to sell, you just have to send your items to them and they’ll pay you for them. Sending everything to musicMagpie is really easy, as you can send it boxed for free, or if you’re selling more than 25 items they will come and collect them for you, also for free. There are also four ways to get paid – bank transfer, cheque, e-Vouchers or a donation to charity. Easy peasy.
Now, I’m sure I’m not the only fashion fan who sees this as the perfect opportunity to clear space for new clothes, whilst also making the money to pay for them! I recently dropped a dress size or two, so I have plenty of clothes that I need to get rid of, and I can’t wait to replace them all. I’ve spent many an evening lately browsing the net for some brand new, gorgeous pieces to add to my collection, and I’ve found a few which I absolutely love, so here is my 2013 Winter Wardrobe Wishlist.
Internacionale Black Fur Collar Biker Jacket / Aura Que VELA Handknit Banana Yarn Snood / boohoo PU Sleeve Marl Knit Cardigan / ASOS London Rebel Studded Heel Shoe Boots / Thomas Sabo Sterling Silver Raven Pendant / River Island Black Lace Belted Maxi Skirt / boohoo Faux Fur Mittens / All Saints Reflection Boots
As I’ve mentioned before, the Autumn/Winter season this year is all about black for me, with the odd splash of colour. I’m becoming obsessed with mixing statement pieces with something simple, as well as different fabrics and textures to create interesting looks. I love the combination of leather, lace, faux fur, metal and knits in the pieces above and I want them all.
What would you buy with the money you could make from musicMagpie?
Naomi x
*This post is a collaboration.*
