If you have a ton of old stuff lying around at your home, be it CDs, books, clothes, games, or anything else, chances are you’ve thought about selling it all off to make some money. Holding a garage sale in the present day isn’t ideal because you would have to be on watch at all times to prevent theft and take the sales. Thankfully, there is a much better option available to you that avoids these issues: online selling.
Selling your old possessions online will give you many advantages over physical selling. Your “store” can operate all day, every day, and it doesn’t require your constant attention. In addition, your items will be available to interested buyers across the world, rather than just those in your neighbourhood. These two advantages make it incredibly easy to sell your old possessions, and they also have the potential to make you much more money than a regular garage sale.
How Can I Sell My Household Items Fast?
One of the most popular and most populated online selling solutions is eBay. As long as you have an account on their site, you can start listing your items for sale in mere minutes.
eBay streamlines the selling process for the seller to a great degree. Everything from setting up an appealing listing page to printing out shipping labels, everything is covered by them, and all you need is an item to sell and a package to ship it in.
At the end of the day, how well you sell on eBay depends on how much effort you put in. Below are some tips for getting the most sales and making the most profit off of your listings.
Check Out The Competition
Chances are that something you’re planning to sell is also being sold by someone else on eBay. Before you make your listing, check out how many other sellers on the site are selling the same (or a similar) item. Pricing your item even the tiniest bit lower than your competition can be what guarantees a sale in your favour.
Take Good Pictures And Describe Exhaustively
Buyers like having a good idea of what they’re getting before they pay. Since you’re not having a physical garage sale where people can pick up and examine your item, it’s up to you to make up for it with numerous pictures of your item from all angles, and plentiful descriptions of its condition in text. Be sure to explain and show any potential flaws your item has because if you don’t, it could work against you if the buyer complains.
Group Up Less Popular Items
Everyone’s clamouring to buy new and popular items, but you’ll probably have less luck selling an older, less relevant item to a buyer. To counteract this, you should consider grouping together more than one of your older items and selling it under a single discounted listing to increase your chances of selling.
Don’t group your items together at random, though; your chances of selling a bundle are higher if the bundle contains items that appeal to the same interest. For example, a bundle of hip hop CDs will sell better than a bundle of rock ‘n’ roll and classical CDs.
Buy It Now Or Auction?
eBay gives you two options when you sell an item—you can put it up for immediate sale to the first interested buyer or set up an auction for multiple interested buyers to bid on.
In general, the items that you expect to sell quickly are better suited toward an auction, and everything else is best listed under “Buy It Now.” Items that sell quickly generally have more interested buyers, which increases the chances of a bidding war. Bidding wars are in your favour since they increase the price at which your item will sell.
With these tips in mind, you’re now ready to be a successful online seller. Many people start by selling their old stuff, then take it further by starting their own eBay businesses sourcing and selling second-hand items, selling drop shipped products or buying wholesale.
eBay is a great place to start a new business. Opening an eBay shop is the next step to take to manage your listings better. Check out the shop fees on this page.
Once your store is established, you can then look into opening your own e-commerce website. I’d suggest trying EKM for 28 days free. Happy trails!
You may wish to read this post on the advantages of having an eBay shop: Should I Open An eBay Shop?
