FAQ Numero Tres: How Do You Make Bank On eBay?

A lot of people have asked me how I eBay. It's not that hard but amazingly there are a few people who genuinely have no idea how to use it. I started using eBay at the ripe old age of 12! My mom was the one who got me into it. When it first came out it was super easy to sell things. Almost all of my listings always ended with at least one bid. I has to use my mom's account back then of course because I did not have a debit card or a bank account. It is really hard these days to make money on there but not impossible. Here are a few tips for those of you who would like some extra income. There have been some weeks where I have made up to 130 bucks and others when I did not sell anything at all. See the below points to help you out in your Ebay carrier!

ALWAYS BUY THINGS THAT YOU KNOW WILL HAVE RE SELL VALUE


This is very important! If you buy clothing from places like TJ Maxx or Marshalls and decide that after a seasons worth of wear that you do not want them anymore you can pretty much just take them and donate them to the nearest goodwill instead of thinking about re selling them online. The main reason no name brands do not not sell on eBay is usually because they are cheap to begin with. Why would someone want to buy something for 12 dollars on eBay plus shipping charge (which is usually on average 5 bucks), than have to wait 4 to 5 days to get it in the mail? If someone wanted clothes like that they could just drive down to one of those stores and get it at a cheaper price and have it that same day. What I usually do is I buy new clothes every season. I make sure I buy from places like American Apparel or H&M because I know that clothes from these two stores have re sell value. People like to give me a hard time sometimes because I like to buy expensive clothes but I do it because for one, I know that clothes from stores like Forever 21, although cute, are cheaply made and usually fall apart after a seasons worth of wear. For two, I know that I am going to just end up selling them on eBay once the weather changes and I can no longer wear them. I may not get back exactly what I paid for them, but most of the time I earn back at least 15 percent (somtimes more) of the money that I spent to buy them with. I make sure to take good care of my clothes and I NEVER wash them. I dry clean them.. well I mean I wash my underwear and socks and t-shirts that can not be dry cleaned but everything else gets sent to my parents store because Dry Cleaning preserves the quality of your clothes. I do not mean to be a promo whore but if you want you can bring them to our store because we are the lowest priced in RVA (really we are).  Anyways it is a no brainer that fashionable, next to new clothing sells best.

VINTAGE CLOTHES, DO THEY SELL?

Yes and NO. How vintage are we talking? We all know that hipsters and other alt. cultures like to wear vintage styles of clothing, but what kinds of vintage clothes actually sale on eBay? If you want to know this I suggest you get yourself a tumblr account and follow as many hipsters and goths as possible so you can get an idea of what kinds of things they like to wear or want. You cant just go to the thrifts store and pick up anything that was made at least 20 years ago and expect to sell it. You have to know what is trendy!  Right now there is a whole grunge revival thing going on amongst subcultures. I know one hot item that sales for sure every time is velveteen dresses. Especially babydolls or bodycon style ones. I have seen one sell for 40 bucks before that I know for a fact was probably purchased at a thrift store. See image below for reference. ( I actually have one myself in black and I am wearing it in my facebook default pic)

I pulled this from a random ebay listing. its not me but she kinda looks like me a little haha!

Do handmade items sell well on ebay? If so what kinds of items should I make?

In my experience, no. But in other peoples experiences yes! The best way to become a good seller on eBay is to lurk other sellers accounts to get a feel for what sells. I have a few people i keep tabs on and i have noticed that sometimes they do sell homemade items. The best kinds of items that sell (at least from what I have noticed) are usually screen printed garments. In particularly, dresses. Anything with a band member from a popular band will sell just about. Often times on tumblr I see posts of dresses with Kurt Cobain printed on them or Morrisey. If you know how to screen print then you are in good shape! If you do not you can prolly find a place that will screen print blank dresses or t-shirts for you so that you can sell them. The later is easier and requires way less effort, although it will cost you more money, but it will save you time! see below example for reference. 

Bodycon  Mini dresses ALWAYS sell for the most part (e.i close fitting dresses)

Is Ebay Safe? Can people break into my account and take all of my money?!

Ebay is very safe. I have never had my paypal account hacked ever, although I am sure other people might have had in the past but it hardly happens. In order to sell on Ebay you must have a Paypal account. Getting one is free and easy. You just have to sign up for one. ALSO you MUST HAVE A BANK ACCOUNT AND DEBIT CARD in order to get a paypal account. Basically how Paypal works is when people bid on our item, the winner sends you their payment via paypal. In the olden days there was no such thing and people had to send money via cash, money order or check. Now you can only buy things if you have a paypal account. If you want to purchase something and your paypal account is empty no worries! You can transfer over money using your bank account because you can link your two accounts together. You always wait until after someone has sent you payment to ship out there item to make sure you get payed. Sometimes people do not send payment and you have to end up re listing the item if you still wish to sell it. I HATE when people do this to me. I have had it done to me twice and it is very annoying! 

How do I make sure I maintain good feedback?

People can give you feedback on items they purchase and vice versa. You want to make sure you get as much positive feedback as possible.  If you do happen to get a negative feedback from someone it is not the end of the world. In my whole ebay carrier I have had two negatives because I did not ship out the times on time. But that has not slowed down my sells. Just make sure you don't have like tons of negatives because that WILL hurt you. The best way to avoid negative feedback is to make sure you list a good description of the item. Sometimes items will sell even if they do have a small hole or stain, just make sure you list that so the buyer is aware of it. Another way to avoid it is to make sure you have good contact with the customer if you are running late on shipping. I have problems myself with timely shipping mainly because I am lazy. But I always send my stuff out (even if it is three weeks late). Most people do not care but others are really impatient and throw a fit when they don't get their item within 5 days. 

Ok so those are a few pointers on what to sell and how to sell. If there is anything I did not cover that you had a question on please leave a comment and I will address your question. I hope this is helpful to someone!