The eBay store is the modern way of a megastore, as it is open 24 hours and you can buy anything that you want from the most niche item to the current trending items. However, for a seller is the best way to find a global market for all your products either new or vintage. In my 15 year of experience using eBay, I have learnt most of the advantages as I had found precious collectables while helping me find new homes for many of my unused items. I believed that everyone should use it, as every house has many hidden unused treasures that need a new home.
eBay is worldwide consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales websites, which was founded on 1995 by Pierre Omidyar in USA and currently operates in 32 countries. The website is free to use by buyers, however, sellers are charged fees for listing items (after a limited number of free listings) and for sold items. The products are sold by good descriptions and good photographs, as this is the only way that the buyer has to see the quality of the product and any defects in order to consider if this product has the quality that they required.
As a buyer, finding a specific item there are two ways of buying either new or second hand (used or refurbished). When buying second hand, there are many options as every seller selects a specific price and you can find the cheapest item in the best conditions according to your needs.
However, when buying new there are less options but you can still find the best options for your needs. There are always those unwanted gifts, which are brand new (sealed or unsealed) but they are unable to return and you can buy for less, but those items are rare as they are very desirable. The other option is to go to brand’s eBay store where you could find brand new items and sometimes PayPal allows you to pay it in monthly instalments by using PayPal credit (rules until 2019).
As a seller, you can also sell either new or second hand (house clearance or unwanted items). When selling brand new:
find your target customer, and
price correctly so that you make a healthy profit in order to have a viable business.
When selling second hand:
get all the specifications of the item you want to sell,
find the correct price of your item by searching similar items sold, this will give you an idea of what is the sale value of your item; however, if you want to sell fast, price the items below the sale value.
One of the main issues that people tend to forget is the value of the postage and packaging (P&P). It is important to find the correct postage and P&P price, if not it will cut through your profits. In order to achieve this:
weight your item by placing it in a plastic bag with all its package and use a luggage weight to obtain the exact weight.
search for a delivery courier either the local post office or a private courier, in any case search for a reliable courier that you are able to track as if the package is lost in transit you will have to refund the buyer 100% of their money and the proof of postage is your ticket for a full refund from the courier service. In some countries their local post office is reliable and they have the lower prices.
search for the postage price in the weight band of your selected courier.
add extra to take into consideration the package for the item like envelopes, bubble wrap, Sellotape, brown paper, etc.
It is important to be very precise about the P&P, as this will eat some of your profits. I found that if you separate the postage from the item value the buyer understands what they are paying for. However, make sure that the item sale value plus the P&P is around the same value as the items sold with free P&P, in order to have a fair chance of selling (specially the second-hand items).
The eBay store has two types of selling mechanisms. The first one is buy it now, which is straight forward like buying in a normal store where the price that you see is what you pay. However, there are some product that allows offers (Best Offers), which allows you to buy the product at less that the sale price. Personally, I like those products as I am able sometime to buy it for a less that the cheaper product available in that range.
The other type is auction, which has its own challenges. The items in auctions are always sold, however, the challenge as a seller is to reach the price that you want to sell. Sometimes auction starts at a very low price and could reach super high value depending on how many people are interested in this item.
Sometimes when you are selling a trending item, I start the bid with the minimum I want the item to sell it by and then see how the auction go. I those cases, when people are bidding in another item with a lower starting point and when that item reaches my value sometimes the bidders switch and I get an amazing value. I always set the auction for a 7-day period starting and ending on Sunday to maximise the number of people seeing the product and the bids. However, be mindful about the P&P as the buyers pay for it and you could have a very good profit but if you have a wrong P&P value you end of paying from your profits.
When buying at auction be mindful of the starting value, as auction with low value attract many bids and can get expensive very fast. Therefore, since the price can reach a very high value, my recommendation is before you place your bid, decide what it the maximum number that you are happy to pay for the item, including the P&P, and then set that value as your maximum bid and then eBay will bid on your behalf until either the auction ends or you reach your maximum bid.
I sometimes get an item with less that my maximum bid, but many other times the bid goes so high that I get outbid. In those cases, I start over and I find another item. However, sometime I find several items of the same type that I want to bid and I place them on my watch list. Then I bid my maximum bid on the first item, if I get outbid, I move to the next item of my watch list and place my maximum bid and so on. In my experience I always get the item in this way and at the price that I want but it takes a lot of time. I my watch list, additionally to auction items, I also find items that are buy it now, this allows me to compare the final price of the auction with the fixed price and see how far apart are and in many cases if I want the item, then I buy the price with the fixed price so I do not have to wait.
After buying an item at eBay the next step is the payment. As buyer, I only use PayPal and depending on the amount sometimes PayPal Credit, which allows to pay in monthly instalments.
As a seller, it is important to give as many options as you can to your buyers. In my case, my main source of payment is PayPal as it is a very versatile application which accepts all major credit and debit card. However, I sometimes accept cash on delivery for items that I am not able to post as they are collection only.
After payment, I send the item. In my case, as I live in London, I send all my packages with the local post office and I ask for proof of postage, as this ticket is necessary in case the item is not delivered in order to get a full refund from the local post office. In case of international shipping, please consult the new arrangements with eBay but consider this as this will allow you to have an international shop.
In case of the items for collection only, after payment I contact the buyer and set a time and place for collection. The majority of the people pay by PayPal but there are some that pay cash on collection.
After delivery, as a buyer you need to check if the item is as per description, if not you need to sort this out with the seller. And finally, give your feedback as this help the stores and buyers to build an online reputation.
However, as a seller there are some fees that need to pay. eBay charges 10% of all the money that the buyer pays including the item value and the P&P only for sold items, which is invoice at the end of the calendar month and I pay using PayPal. Additionally, the use of PayPal generates a fee of around 5%, as the fee is the sum of a fixed price and a percentage, which is charged per transaction and the money you received has already being charged.
Having an eBay store has many advantages and some disadvantages. The biggest advantage is being a megastore opened 24 hours every day and reaching a global audience, as long as you find a secure way to ship the items internationally. The associate fees on eBay only apply if the item is sold, as long as you avoid the insertion fees. The eBay store can be a profitable business as long as you take into consideration all the associated fees with eBay and PayPal, and set the price of the P&P correctly as this is paid by the buyer.
The biggest disadvantage is that it requires a constant infusion of new items as this will keep your store on top of the search list. Additionally, it requires for you to send the item shortly after the item is paid, if fail this will reflect on your online score which depicts the quality of your service. Depending of the quantity of products, you need a place for storing all this items in order to access them as soon as you sold them and them enough wrapping material for shipping them fast.
Personally, I have been selling second-hand items since my teenage years as a weekend garage sell (bazar or car boot sale) requiring me to be there while the store was opened. Fifteen years ago, I opened my eBay store which is easier to manage and virtually opened all the time. This has always been a good business just requires to consider the fees when selling your products and the best shops have good customer service.
Therefore, I believed that everybody should have an eBay store as every house has some unused treasures that need a new home. Use this quarantine period to clear some drawers and make some space for new treasures and sell your old treasures on eBay, as there is a buyer for all items as long as they are priced correctly.
So good luck, and hope you consider this year to have a new business venture with an eBay store.
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