The Real Way to Make Money on Ebay

There is a seemingly endless amount of websites and emails claiming their program will help you make tons of money on Ebay. If the website is incredibly vague about how their process actually works, and you have to pay money to find out any info, be careful. It could be a scam. Or, you could find out after paying the money that you have to buy items wholesale and resell them, or resell items in another manner. Just be careful what you're getting into.

If you're looking to make a little extra on Ebay, selling your own items is a good place to start. You can earn some money, but the amount will depend entirely on what you're selling. Some money can be made, however, if you follow a few rules of thumb.

First, pick sale items carefully. Some items (like used socks) will be impossible to sell. Others, like electronics, are usually fairly easy to sell. Also take into consideration how easy or difficult it will be to ship the item. You may need to make special arrangements for local pick-up if the item is very large.

Second, do not make the minimum starting bid really high. Look at how much other items similar to yours are selling for, and what the original bids were, then determine your own starting price accordingly. Outrageously overpriced items usually won't sell.

You don't need flashy listings with a lot of extras. A good, basic listing with accurate information regarding your item will usually do the job. Do include a photo, however. People generally don't like to buy an item if they have no way of seeing for themselves what condition it's in. Items with photos sell better.

Estimate the shipping cost as accurately as you can. When creating your listing, there are tools that can help you estimate. If you overcharge by much on shipping, you will likely have an irritated customer once they find out what the shipping really cost. Also, if someone is trying to decide between two like items to purchase, shipping cost can be a deciding factor.