Making Money Selling on eBay - Tips for Success

Making money selling on eBay can be a great home income opportunity. Over $2000 worth of goods are sold every second on eBay! Join the hundreds of thousands of people who enjoy making money from home with eBay sales.

Follow these five top tips to successfully sell on eBay.

Choose the right items to sell

Sell something you know about or can learn about easily and quickly. It is very difficult to create a good listing or answer questions from bidders and buyers if you don't know enough about your product. Products that are hard to photograph well or to describe accurately should be avoided. If potential buyers have no visual concept of the product they will not click through. Think twice about items that are difficult to package and ship. Products that are easily damaged can often result in returns.

Find out the true value of your items on eBay

Pricing your item accurately is key to making the sale. Setting the right starting price or fixed price is not determined by what you want to get for your product but rather by the value of similar items on eBay. Before you buy anything to sell or create a listing do some homework, research what similar items have sold for recently on eBay and then work out if there is sufficient potential profit in selling the item. Consider your expenses such as the cost of the product, your eBay fees, packaging and shipping costs and PayPal fees plus the time you spend managing the selling process - the sale price should cover all these costs as well as give you a reasonable profit.

Create a great listing

Look at a couple of listings that your competitors have written for similar items. Don't copy but learn from them. What was good about the listing, what else would you like to know as a potential buyer? Use the right keywords in your item title so that your item is found by buyers. Popular keywords include the company brand name, color, size, origin and condition of the item. Accurately describe your item and thoroughly inform the buyer about your product. Include good quality photographs, preferably both a photograph of the entire item plus some close-up shots. This is important to capturing the buyer's interest.

Provide good customer service

This sets you apart from the competition. Make sure you respond to any questions from buyers promptly and thoroughly. Once you have sold your product make sure your item is packaged properly and shipped as soon as possible. Key to good customer service on eBay is accuracy, honesty and quick service.

Make use of the resources offered on eBay

There are many wonderful resources on eBay to help you with making money selling on eBay. Use the resources available for researching the price and popularity of similar items such as the "What's it Worth" facility. Get good ideas of what type of items sell well by using the "Hot List" on eBay. Connect with the eBay community to get help and advice on selling on eBay. Current sellers have loads of tips that they are willing to share. The Community button on the eBay site provides a number of options for networking with other eBay members.

Find out more about starting a successful business on eBay at eBay Home Business

Julia Derby has many years experience working in small business development. She left formal employment to be a work at home mom and has successfully started and developed a number of home businesses. Her free website  My Home Business Ideas provides excellent ideas and advice about home businesses.