Running a reselling business for eBay can seem like a great little money spinner, but it takes some planning and care to make sure that you don’t end up falling foul of eBay’s terms and conditions or sink money into things that will not sell.
One thing that a lot of people don’t realize is that while eBay is quite generous with personal accounts, you need a business account if you’re buying items with the intent of reselling. High volume accounts will get picked up on and potentially suspended.
How to Make a Successful Reselling Business for eBay
If you’re planning on reselling things, then you first of all need to choose a niche. Trying to sell things in too many different categories is setting yourself up for failure. Ideally, you should pick a niche that you know well, and stick to it. Choose something where you know enough to describe the products well, and you have a good idea of how much people are willing to pay for the item.
Things like comic books, clothes, jewelry or records can be good choices, but there are plenty of other options. The important thing is that you know the market well.
Know Your Costs
One of the main reasons that reselling businesses fail is that the seller doesn’t understand all of the ‘hidden costs’ of selling goods online.
You will need to pay for the packaging and the postage of the item, and this can sometimes be more than you expect. You can greatly reduce packaging costs by buying in bulk, which is a wise move if you are serious about selling a lot of items, but postage is always going to be hanging over your head.
There are also eBay listing fees and PayPal fees for receiving payments to take into account. Beware of e-checks (which a buyer can cancel before the money leaves their account), and also of charge backs.
Make sure that you have enough ‘buffer’ to cover the occasional charge back, and don’t ship items to a buyer before an e-check has cleared. Inform the buyer of the issue and explain to them how they can check the progress of the payment, so they don’t leave negative feedback about slow shipping.
Research the usual costs, and make sure that you build those into the prices when you list items. Make sure that there is enough profit in the items that you sell to allow you to buy new items to sell, and to make it worth your time running the business.
Be Patient
It will take time to grow your reselling business and to figure out what items are worth your time. Start small by perhaps selling items that you already own while you get a feel for the market.
This will help you to understand what buyers are interested in and what products they usually search for, so that you can enjoy good results and the best possible profits in the future. If you are willing to accept the odd stumbling block, you can succeed.
