Comments on: Tip #3: Sell something on eBay today

By: Ramit’s IWillTeachYouToBeRich.com Series — Tip #3: Sell something on eBay today — NMBankruptcyBlog.com | New Mexico Bankruptcy Law Blog

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 13:02:54 +0000

[...] Tip #3: Sell something on eBay today Today’s tip is to sell something from your house on eBay. But surprisingly, it doesn’t really matter what you sell. [...]

By: Terri

Terri — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 23:47:05 +0000

I’ve sold on eBay quite a bit, and the net ends up not really being worth it for me. Taking pictures of the items = about 20 minutes per item (including putting the clothes on the mannequin, taking about 5 pics, downloading to the computer, fixing the images in Photoshop, then uploading to the image-hosting service), writing the description = about 15 minutes per item (including taking the measurements – I usually sell vintage clothes), wrapping the item = about 10 minutes per item, taking it to the post office / waiting in line / sending it = about 20 minutes+, and let’s say miscellaneous = about 10 minutes per item. This is a conservative estimate (I sold on eBay nearly every week for a year, so I’m pretty sure I’m right). I’d say I end up making about $15 per item average. Fees from Vendio and eBay take about $1.50 of that. So this ends up being…an hour and 15 minutes for $13.50, at most. This is about $10.80 an hour, at most. My time is worth more than that. After a year of nearly full-time selling, I stopped. It was too much work for too little return, and the customers were sometimes really a pain (not all – many are really nice, but some…egh…). I do appreciate the philosophy of selling something, anything, to get the money moving, and that’s a good idea, but only to a certain point. In my experience, it does matter what I sell, and how much money I make for that item. That said, there are some amazing sales I’ve made. Beginner’s luck: that cheapo 60’s owl purse I sold my first week for $120. Owls were trendy that season.

By: Sonny

Sonny — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 05:23:46 +0000

Awesome info. Nice blog. I will keep reading.

By: Amy

Amy — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:12:17 +0000

There are a lot of get rich quick schemes out there so be careful.

It sounds like the person who is selling the product is making a mint to require that you buy the product once a month. What if you are not using the product up that quickly? Then it becomes a waste of money to you or what if you do not like the product that much? You cancel the autoship and you make no more money. There is a lot to consider here. Just be careful. With the economy being the way it is now, everyone is looking for a quck fix.

By: charlomac

charlomac — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 06:12:52 +0000

I think it is a great idea to sell something on ebay to make some extra money. If you are not using it, there is someone out there that is willing to buy it.
I have a question for all members, what do you think about starting a home based business to make some extra money? My friend told me about a health home based business where were you use a product and once it works great for you; you refer other people to buy it and your make money off of the product that your referrals buy. There is no cost to start the business but you must by the product on auto-ship every month to stay active and make money. I want to give it a try. The product cost $20 a month and there a a potential to make good money and I can stop at any time. What are your views?

By: bqueen

bqueen — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:17:45 +0000

Thanks for getting me off my duff. I recently made a Salvation Army drop-off, but still had a few things hanging around. I’d been talking myself out of selling them online because it would be too difficult. After reading your post about barriers, I realized that I didn’t actually KNOW it was hard to post, because I hadn’t actually TRIED it yet! So I got on craigslist.com, and voila! I have two items posted in less time than it took to read this post and all the comments! Thanks for your great work here.

By: TC

TC — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:29:46 +0000

I’ve lost money on eBay before, once you calculate the shipping, time put in and insertion fees. I’ve been decluttering my house instead. I gave 2 boxes of things to the Salvation Army that were garage-sale worthy (but this is the wrong season for garage sales here). I trashed 3 boxes of junk that way lying around the house. Less effort to clean that room now!

By: jon

jon — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 22:29:33 +0000

i sold a router last week for a net of $25.
i’ve a bit of music equipment i’ll bee selling when i make it back home next week that should net me between $300-$500 at least.

By: Ramit Sethi

Ramit Sethi — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:57:48 +0000

Louisa, fair enough. Out of curiosity, how much do you list them for? Try $0.99 to get the maximum # of bids.

By: Louisa

Louisa — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:52:45 +0000

I have had mixed, but mostly unsuccessful, results with Ebay – even as a buyer. I have found that Ebay is cluttered with new items (of questionable source) listed by sellers who do it professionally and that it is next to impossible to search for used items (and I have contacted Ebay to request additional filters of this nature). I think it affects sellers as well.

I have searched Ebay as a buyer for clothing, accessories, housewares, electronics, craft items, and vintage items, so I deem it reasonable to expect that such items could also *sell* – however my experience is that even when I list a large number of different items (within these types) and cross-reference them (at low prices with good photos and minimalist, informative listings), I simply am not able to sell them. The only real luck I have had with selling has been with collectors items, and even those sold at incredibly low prices.

I haven’t given up on Ebay as a means for de-cluttering and reusing/repurposing, but I don’t feel that it’s been a money-saving or money-making tool for me at all. The money I have lost to date is probably no more than $200 tops (on all my listing fees, etc, combined), but that’s still $200 lost, in the face of maybe $50 gained (a net loss of $150, guesstimated).

On the other hand, I have found that organizations like Freecycle and CraigsList have been infinitely more helpful to me in saving money and de-cluttering than Ebay.