EBay for Dummies (32 page)

Chapter 9

Selling in Your Bunny Slippers for Fun and Profit

In This Chapter

Discovering the benefits of selling

Looking for inventory in your own backyard

Knowing what to sell, when to sell, and how much to ask

Staying out of trouble — what you can’t sell on eBay

Paying the piper with eBay fees

Keeping the taxman happy (or at least off your back)

Finding items to sell can be as easy as opening up your closet (kitchen cupboard? car trunk?) or as challenging as acquiring antiques overseas (I even took the leap and imported custom items from Taiwan to sell on eBay). Either way, establishing yourself as an eBay seller isn’t as difficult as it seems when you know the ropes. In this chapter, you find out how to look for items under your own roof, figure out what they’re worth, and turn them into ready cash. But before you pick your house clean (I know eBay can be habit-forming, but please keep a
few
things for yourself!), read up on the eBay rules of the road — such as how to sell, when to sell, and what
not
to sell. If you’re interested in finding out how to set up your auction page, get acquainted with Chapter 10; if you want to read up on advanced selling strategies, the Appendix is where to find them.

Why Should You Sell Stuff on eBay?

Whether you need to clear out 35 years of odd and wacky knickknacks cluttering your basement or you seriously want to earn extra money, the benefits of selling on eBay are as diverse as the people doing the selling. The biggest plus to selling on eBay is wheeling and dealing from your home in pajamas and bunny slippers (every day is Casual Friday in my office — see Figure 9-1). But no matter where you conduct your business or how you dress, many more important big-time rewards exist for selling on eBay.

Most people starting a business have to worry about rounding up investment capital (start-up money they may lose), building inventory (buying stuff to sell), and finding a selling location such as a booth at a swap meet or even a small store. Today, even a little Mom-and-Pop start-up operation requires a major investment. eBay has helped to level the playing field a bit; everybody can get an equal chance to start a small business with just a little money. Anyone who wants to take a stab at doing business can get started with just enough money to cover the Insertion Fee.

Get a few transactions under your belt. Sell your old collection of postcards. See how you like the responsibilities of marketing, collecting money, shipping, and customer service. Grow a bit more, and you’ll find yourself spotting trends, acquiring inventory, and marketing your items for maximum profit. In no time, you’ll be making items disappear faster than David Copperfield (though you may have a little trouble with the Statue of Liberty — how’d he
do
that, anyway?). If you think you’re ready to make eBay a full- or part-time business, take a look at the Appendix. If you still want to go long on eBay, please take a look at my book,
Starting an eBay Business For Dummies
(Wiley Publishing, Inc). It gives you just what you need to ramp up from hobbyist to big-time eBay tycoon making a few hundred (or even thousand) dollars a month!

A fun way to get your feet wet on eBay is to buy some small items. When I say small, I mean it. Some of the least expensive items you can buy on eBay are recipes. Type
recipe
in the search box and sort the results by Lowest Prices First. You’ll find recipes for a dollar and under. You don’t have to pay a shipping charge, either. The sellers usually e-mail the recipe direct to you after the auction. You can also begin selling your very own secret recipes. This is a great way to become familiar with how eBay works, and you’ll be gaining experience with feedback — as well as building yours!

Finding Stuff to Sell

Finding merchandise to sell on eBay is as easy as checking your garage and as tough as climbing up to the attic. Just about anything you bought and stashed away (because you didn’t want it, forgot about it, or it didn’t fit) is fair game. Think about all those awful birthday and holiday presents (hey, it was the thought that counted — and the givers may have forgotten about them, too). Now you have a place you can try to unload them for cash. They could even make somebody happy.

In your closet, find what’s just hanging around:

Clothing that no longer fits or is out of fashion. (Do you really want to keep it if you wouldn’t be caught dead in it or you know it will never fit?) Don’t forget the pair of shoes you wore once and put away.

Any item with a brand-name label that’s in new or almost-new condition.

Kids’ clothes. (Kids outgrow things fast. Use profits from the old items to buy new clothes they can grow into. Now that’s recycling.)

Have the articles of clothing in the best condition possible before you put them up for sale. For example, shoes can be cleaned and buffed till they’re like new. According to eBay’s policies, clothing
must
be cleaned before shipping.

And consider what’s parked in your basement, garage, or attic:

Old radios, stereo and video equipment, and 8-track systems:
Watch these items fly out of your house — especially the 8-track players (believe it or not, people love ’em).

Books you finished reading long ago and don’t want to read again:
Some books with early copyright dates or first editions by famous authors earn big money on eBay.

Leftovers from an abandoned hobby:
Who knew that building miniature dollhouses was so much work?

Unwanted gifts:
Have a decade’s worth of birthday, graduation, or holiday gifts collecting dust? Put them up on eBay and hope Grandma or Grandpa doesn’t bid on them because they think you need another mustache spoon!

Saleable stuff may even be lounging around in your living room or bedroom:

Home décor you want to change:
Lamps, chairs, and rugs (especially if they’re antiques) sell quickly. If you think an item is valuable but you’re not sure, get it appraised first.

Exercise equipment:
If you’re like most people, you bought this stuff with every intention of getting in shape, but now all that’s building up is dust. Get some exercise carrying all that equipment to the post office after you’ve sold it on eBay.

Records, videotapes, and laser discs:
Sell them after you’ve upgraded to new audio and video formats such as DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) or DAT (Digital Audio Tape). (Think Betamax is dead? You may be surprised.)

Autographs:
All types of autographs — from sports figures, celebrities, and world leaders — are popular on eBay. A word of caution, though: A lot of fakes are on the market, so make sure that what you’re selling (or buying) is the real thing. If you’re planning on selling autographs on eBay, be sure to review the special rules that apply to these items. Here’s where to find them:

pages.ebay.com/help/policies/autographs.html

Know When to Sell

Warning . . . warning . . . I’m about to hit you with some of my clichés:
Timing is everything.
Sell what you know and know when to sell.
Buy low and sell high. Fast quarters are better than slow dollars.

Okay, granted, clichés may be painful to hear over and over, but they do contain nuggets of good information. (Perhaps they’re well known for a reason?)

Experienced eBay sellers know that when planning a sale, timing is almost everything. Fur coats don’t sell well in July, and as a collectible seller you don’t want to be caught with 200 Nintendo games during a run on Xbox. (Hold on to them; vintage games still sell well.) Star Wars action figures are traditionally good sellers unless a new Star Trek movie is coming out.

Some items — such as good antiques, rugs, baseball cards, and sports cars — are timeless. But timing still counts. Don’t put your rare, antique paper cutter up for auction if someone else is selling one at the same time. I guarantee that will cut into your profits.