Seven Tips For Getting Started With Your eBay Reselling Business

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Seven Tips For Getting Started With Your eBay Reselling Business

I’ve been reselling second-hand clothes on eBay for almost exactly a year now, and it’s shaped up to be one of my all-time favourite side hustles and ways to make money online.

There’s not much that I enjoy more than having a good old rake around in a charity shop or at a car boot sale to find items that I can flip for a big profit, and I’ve earned several thousands of pounds, part-time, in the process.

Each and every week is different with reselling. But as a quick snapshot of what my business looks like, my first month saw me doing around £400 in sales, and I’ve slowly but steadily increased that over the year – mostly just thanks to making sure that I’m consistently increasing my listings and finding good stock.

This week, I’ve sold 15 items, and those included a pair of shoes for £35 that I bought for £2.99, and a jacket for £20 that I bought for 50p. It also included a dress that I bought for £5 that I finally sold for £7.50, after it hanging around for months. So that one was a bit of a fail. They happen from time to time, like they do in any kind of business, but the wins outweigh them.

Though the premise of eBay reselling is pretty simple – you buy stuff for cheap, then sell it on at a higher price. Still though, it pays to have a bit of knowledge under your belt before you get things rolling, so you can maximise your chances of success and increase your profits from day one.

Here are seven of my best tips for starting your own eBay reselling business…

1. Declutter your home and start by selling your own stuff

Don’t try to run before you can walk. Before you even consider going out and buying any stock, it makes sense to have a thorough declutter in your own home and find items that you’re happy to sell. This is a great starting point because it costs you nothing, it gets you used to the listing and selling process, it clears some space, and it also puts some cash straight into your pocket.

You might initially think that you don’t have much to sell, but you’ll probably be surprised. Consider clothes, shoes, toys, electronics… You name it, you can probably sell it.

You’ll also quickly realise that one person’s trash really is another person’s treasure. For many people, it’s not unrealistic to sell a few hundred pounds worth of things that you’d long since abandoned, or even forgotten that you owned.

2. Learn how to research items so you know exactly how much they’re worth

One of the biggest questions you’re going to have when it comes to reselling is how much you can expect to sell your items for. After all, that’s going to play a big part in the kind of things you look out for, and how much profit you ultimately make.

Luckily, eBay makes this part of the process fairly easy. You can search the platform for sold listings, and see exactly how much items similar or exactly the same as yours have sold for in recent months.

Armed with the information, you can make informed choices about how much to charge for your item. This function is really easy to use, and you’re going to be using it a lot in your reselling, so make sure that you’re familiar with how it works.

It’s also worth checking out the reseller community on YouTube and Instagram. You’ll find tons of inspiration around the kind of brands and items that you should be looking out for to resell.

3. Don’t neglect the art of creating a great listing

How you create your listing has a big impact on how many people will see it, and how appealing it’ll be to them. This determines how many sales you make, so don’t rush into anything before creating your own strategy. Here, there are two big things so consider…

Firstly, your listing title. Here, you want to be as descriptive as possible and put yourself in the shoes of your potential buyers… What keywords would they be typing into eBay when they were looking for an item like yours? Ditch words like ‘stunning’ and ‘lovely’, which really don’t mean a lot, and aim to include the brand, the size, the colour, and the style.

And of course, a picture paints a thousand words. Snap your items in natural lighting, from lots of different angles, and ensure there’s no clutter in the background. I invested my eBay profits into buying a mannequin, which hugely improved my photos. It’s not necessary for getting started, but it’s something you might want to consider if you’ll be selling clothes. You can pick them up for about £25 on eBay. I also like to include measurements in my listings, as this helps people to decide if the item will fit.

4. Make life easier for yourself by choosing a niche

You really can sell pretty much anything you can imagine. Sometimes though, the sheer scale of what you could potentially sell makes things a little overwhelming. This is why choosing a niche can really set you up for success.

You can’t possibly know about everything… But if you choose just one area to focus on, you quickly learn the ropes. You discover the items you should pick up and the ones you should leave behind, and you realise where the best profits are.

I focus on clothes, and though I probably walk past other items every day that could be profitable, I don’t worry about it too much. I just make it my business to know and understand the clothing niche, and I’m building up knowledge and experience all the time.

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