If you want to make money online, eBay is definitely one of the places to consider. Billions of dollars are exchanged every year between buyers and sellers on this giant online marketplace.
With more than 171 million active users in 2018, eBay remains one of the top online platforms for buying and selling products. It currently sits at the number 3 spot behind Amazon and Walmart in terms of visitor numbers, with an impressive 113 million visits per month.
- Why Sell on eBay
- Avoid Selling Problematic Items
- Learn to Package and Ship Items Properly
- Is Free Shipping a Good Idea?
- Get the Right Supplies
- Select your niche and products
- Make money online with eBay through dropshipping
- Making online income through eBay auctions
Read Also: Make Money Online Easily – Write And Sell Ebooks
Why Sell on eBay

Lower Fees
Compared to other merchants, eBay charges lower fees for product listing. Though it charges a final fee (a sales commission after the sale), that is also low and it depends upon the total amount of sales.
Fixed Price Listing & Auction Listing
When you have a bulk stock of products, you can always use the fixed price listing. But what if your stock is limited and demand is high. That’s when you benefit a lot from the auction listing while selling on eBay.
Worldwide Marketplace
eBay serves customers globally. This presents retail sellers to list their products targeted towards multiple nationalities. You may be selling from the UK while your target customers are average or business people in India. But that’s not it. eBay also solves the shipping problem of the global sellers.
Trust Factor
Though rumors fly around, there are many people who prefer to purchase from eBay while compared to the other merchant sites. Like every popular site, there are many loyal customers who prefer to purchase on eBay. Customers may prefer to purchase from merchants like these than a site that they land for the first time.
eBay Affiliates
eBay also offers affiliate programs through multiple affiliate marketers who will take your product link and promote your products in order to receive the affiliate commission. This will help to increase your sales. So in addition to running your affiliate program, you can also benefit from the eBay affiliates.
You can easily become one of the most successful sellers and start getting some online earnings by reading the following tips.
Avoid Selling Problematic Items
Unfortunately, there are plenty of unscrupulous and dishonest people waiting to pounce on new eBay sellers. Protect yourself and don’t fall victim to their scams. The best way to avoid getting scammed is to stay away from high-risk items. These include:
- iPhones and smartphones
- Designer handbags
- High-end designer clothing and shoes
- Electronics
- Anything with multiple parts or components that could be removed and the item returned
- Autographed items without COA
- Event tickets
- Commonly counterfeited items including designer handbags, designer sunglasses, expensive designer jeans, Nike shoes, Ugg boots, Otter Boxes, high-end cosmetics
It is best to establish yourself as a seller first before trying to sell any of these items. Also, if you sell a designer item on eBay and it is a fake (such as a handbag or other designer clothing item) you can be suspended on the first instance. Don’t let greed drive your eBay selling motivation. Slow and steady wins the race.
Learn to Package and Ship Items Properly
One of the biggest stumbling blocks for new sellers is the packaging. This is a skill that anyone can learn with practice and patience. Thankfully, there are thousands of tutorials on YouTube that show how to ship different kinds of items using creative materials like pool noodles and egg cartons.
Is Free Shipping a Good Idea?
There are two camps on this issue. Experienced veteran sellers are really divided here. Free shipping isn’t really free—you will build the shipping cost into the price of the item. Calculated shipping is really the fairest way for the buyer and the most accurate way for both buyer and seller.
If you are selling items that will fit into a padded flat rate mailer or box, you can charge a flat rate for shipping, or offer free shipping and increase the selling price by the amount of the flat rate shipping. eBay charges fees on both the sale price and the shipping cost, so you won’t save any money on eBay’s fees by offering free shipping.
Definitely never offer free shipping on large or heavy items. You can take a big hit on shipping if the item ships to a buyer geographically far from you. Always enter the dimensions when listing a large or heavy item as oversize charges may apply. If the shipping fees are too low, and you didn’t charge enough, you will have to absorb that cost.
Get the Right Supplies
You do not need a lot of expensive equipment to sell on eBay, although the internet will have you believe otherwise. Veteran sellers have done just fine since 1996 with just the basics — before the “after eBay market” appeared with a plethora of listing tools, photography equipment, photo editing apps, and research tools. All you really need is:
- 2 pieces of plain white poster board to make a solid background for photos
- A scale to weigh items when listing and when shipping
- Shipping supplies (get free Priority supplies from USPS, order polymailers on eBay for first class items)
Select your niche and products

Your success on eBay is determined largely by your chosen niche and the products that you choose to sell. Most people that want to know how to make money from home do not conduct proper research before they start.
Do not choose products that you like but those that people are buying. If you start with something that has an established demand, you will sell without making too much effort. You can check out the eBay pulse to know what people are currently buying.
You can also visit Amazon.com or Cj.com to know the niches that are presently popular. This will help you to narrow down your search and be able to select a niche that has high demand. This is the type of niche that will make it easy for you to make money online by selling on eBay. You can also visit forums and popular blogs in your chosen niche to get ideas about the particular products to sell.
You will make more money online with eBay if you specialize in a particular product line. A lot of sellers on eBay make the mistake of selling anything they can find to sell. This will not help you to make good money because you will not be focused.
Make money online with eBay through dropshipping
Dropshipping is one of the most popular methods for selling on eBay. All you need to do is to register with a drop shipper that has the products that you want to sell. You will list the products on your eBay store without any upfront payment.
Once you make a sale, you will send the buyers shipping details to the drop shipper who will be responsible for shipping the goods to the buyer. The products will be given to you at wholesaler’s price and you will sell at a marked up retail price. Make sure that you choose a drop shipper that has a good reputation. You can do this by checking reviews about them before opening an account with them.
Read Also: 8 Places Where You Can Sell Your Used Stuff Offline or Online
Making online income through eBay auctions
You can also take advantage of eBay auctions to make more money. You can get a small eBay store subscription for fifteen dollars monthly. When you become bigger, you can upgrade to the premium plan which is $299.the premium plan gives you advanced options which can enable you to make more money.
Make sure that you have a sales page that is very convincing. You can outsource copywriting to a professional if you can afford it. Make use of catchy headlines, bulleted lists, and sharp images. Make sure you have a copy that can quickly catch the attention of potential buyers of the products on your eBay store.
eBay is a great way to make some extra cash from the comfort of your own home. It is accessible to anyone, there are no barriers to entry, and eBay is a household word. Make sure you take the proper steps to educate yourself about eBay policies and rules before jumping in.