Yes, you read that correctly! This past week, I decided to add eBay to my list of reselling platforms and officially created an account. For many years, I have been very hesitant to join eBay. I have heard many horror stories about it and wasn’t sure that it was a platform that I wanted to spend my time reselling on. However, as time passed, I realized that pros of using the platform were outweighing the cons (at least for me). Today, I want to share with you how I decided that eBay was a good fit for me, how I am preparing to resell on the platform, and some tips that I have found helpful as a new eBay seller.
Why Join eBay Now?
That’s a great question! If you are unfamiliar with me and my business, I have been a reseller on Poshmark for 10 years, Mercari for 4 years, Kidizen for 2 years, and Vestaire Collective for 4 years. Why not add another one to the list, right?! This past year, my main objective has been to increase my gross sales and profits from 2022. I can happily say that I am on track to achieve that goal by the end of 2023. However, it has been very difficult to increase my numbers on the platforms that I already sell on. After comparing all of my options, I have decided that selling on eBay would be the best way to help me to achieve my sales goals moving forward. eBay is the oldest and largest reselling marketplace out there and they have an international customer base unlike many other reselling platforms. Although eBay is a lot more involved than the other reselling platforms that I currently sell on, I do believe that over time, it will reap some great rewards for my business.
Preparing to Sell on eBay
Whenever I join a new reselling platform, I always take some time to really learn the platform, the platform’s customer base, and try to decide which of my items will sell best on that platform. Each reselling platform is different and items that sell great on one platform may not sell well on another. Reselling on a new platform always requires a little bit of trial-and-error in the beginning stages. I will admit that compared to all of the other reselling platforms that I currently sell on, learning and navigating eBay has been the most challenging. If I didn’t have experience on other reselling platforms, I can understand how eBay can be very overwhelming for people who are completely new to reselling. [In my opinion, if you are a brand new reseller, I would not suggest starting off with eBay. Instead, I would suggest Poshmark or Mercari as those platforms are much easier to navigate as a brand new reseller.]
Over the past few days, I have been spending a lot of time on YouTube, Google, and eBay trying to learn the in’s and out’s of the platform. One resource that I highly recommend checking out if you are new to eBay is the eBay Academy (linked HERE). This can be found right on the eBay website and is a great overview to all of eBay’s policies and features. Each interactive module lasts between 10-20 minutes and doesn’t take long to work through. Personally, I have been working on a few modules each day. I have also been writing down all of my eBay information in a notebook to make it easier for me to go back and reference whenever I have questions.
Although I have joined the eBay platform, I do not have plans to start selling on the platform right away. Before I start actively selling on the platform, I really want to have a strong understanding of the platform itself and its’ policies. Additionally, I plan on using this time to build an eBay-specific strategy, make a few purchases to build my feedback rating, and give my account some time to age in order to minimize my chances of new account deactivation.
Helpful Tips as a Beginner eBay Seller
After I announced that I created an eBay account on social media, many of my followers who actively sell on eBay provided me with some helpful tips that I wanted to share with you:
1) Set Up Business Policies Right Away– This is something that I have already set up myself but it is a great piece of advice. On eBay, you have the ability to set up your own policies for returns, payments, and shipping under Business Policies. You can set up multiple policies for each category. Whenever you create a new listing, you have the option to choose which policy is most applicable for your item using a simple dropdown.
2) Set Up Generic Shipping Costs- When it comes to setting up shipping on eBay, the seller is responsible for determining the cost and shipping carrier. If you don’t want to commit to one type of shipping method, you can select the Standard Shipping option. This will allow you the ability to compare shipping carriers and determine which is the most cost effective for you and your business. Additionally, if you use PirateShip for shipping like myself, you can actually set up eBay integration for free on their website.
3) Make a Few Purchases as a Buyer For Positive Feedback- A few of my followers shared that when they started selling on eBay with no feedback, they were infiltrated with bot accounts sending offers and not paying. In order to combat this, they made a few small purchases on eBay in order to build some positive feedback on their account. Once they did this, the bots stopped spamming their accounts and actual buyers started shopping their items.
4) Be Prepared to Have Monthly Listing Limits- As a new eBay seller, you can only list up to 10 items per month or $500 in potential or past sales. This is unlike many of the other reselling platforms out there that allow you unlimited listing in the beginning. This number is reset monthly until eBay determines that you are a reputable seller and allows you to increase your limits. In order to increase your chances of making sales, you need to focus on selling items with high sell-through rates. (I will share exactly how to figure this out on eBay in tomorrow’s post.) If you would like to increase your listing limits prior to this, you will need to contact eBay’s support chat and explain why you need your listing limits increased. They will then determine whether or not your limits can be increased and what your new limit is.
5) Check Buyer Feedback Before Accepting Offers- This is actually something that I already do on Poshmark as a seller. In order to gauge if a buyer could be a potential problem, it can be helpful to check existing feedback. One follower shared that by checking buyer feedback prior to accepting an offer, she was able to avoid a potential problem with the buyer as they had some negative feedback previously.
I hope that you find this post helpful! If you have any questions or just want to chat, please reach out!
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