Reselling on eBay: How to Make Money Reselling Products

Reselling 101

By RC Staff

31 March 2023

It’s been nearly 30 years, and eBay is still alive and well. Born out of the dotcom boom in the 90s, eBay survived the bubble, and has grown into the premier platform for online sales. You can list almost anything on eBay, and with so many users across the globe checking the site every day, there’s a good chance you’ll find a buyer for your item.

Reselling items on eBay is easy, profitable, and you can start today. Let’s not waste any time, and get right to it!

Why you should start flipping items on eBay

It’s easy to make tons of money from home, if you know what you’re doing. With the right items and know how, reselling products on eBay is incredibly profitable, not to mention easy. Since the pandemic, we’re seeing more and more people wonder how to start reselling, and eBay is one of the best places to start.

The advantage to reselling on eBay is that you can list nearly anything on the platform (with a few exceptions). Millions rely on eBay as their first choice for buying items, so your listings will likely be seen by the right people.

While you can resell all kinds of products on eBay, there are some items that resell better than others. Getting a hold of these items will maximize your profit, and finding popular items to resell on eBay means spending less time waiting for a sale.

So, what are the best items to resell on eBay? Glad you asked.

The best items to flip on eBay

As always, your first and last goal when hunting for items to flip is profit. Buying a brick is a waste of time at best, and a waste of money at worst. When looking for profitable items to flip on eBay, you should consider a few factors.

Limited production is a very good indication of whether an item will be profitable to resell. When researching an item, pay close attention to what the manufacturer says about production numbers. Items made in small batches with long production times are ideal. Additionally, pay attention to whether an item will restock after selling out.

It’s rare that a manufacturer will outright state either the total production numbers or whether it will restock. You’ll typically need to look at similar items or the manufacturer’s previous production. If they have a good track record of not restocking, you may be onto something.

Also pay attention to an item’s price tag and intended buyer. The best items to resell on eBay will be relatively expensive, and intended for wealthy customers. These items will typically be decorative, sentimental, or somewhat useless. Trinkets, essentially, that a customer will pay hand and fist for. The advantage of reselling items on eBay is that people from all over the world can bid on it, so you want to find items buyers will compete for.

Let’s take a look at some examples. Some of the best items to resell on eBay include:

• Collectibles. From huge IPs like Pokemon and Star Wars or hypebeast favorites like MSCHF, collectible figurines and artwork are a great opportunity for resellers. Buyers are already willing to spend loads of cash on them, and there’s a limited supply made available.
• Electronics. TVs and consoles may come to mind, but there are plenty of smaller and niche electronic devices that can resell well. Computer mice, handheld consoles, and video game collector’s editions are all popular items to resell on eBay.
• Vinyl records. We’ve written about vinyl a lot lately, and that’s because it’s establishing itself as one of the most profitable items to resell. Vinyl is tangible, collectible, and most pressings are in limited numbers, with long periods between represses.

Choosing a niche when reselling on eBay

Some resellers will tend to specialize in a particular product. The most common example of this is shoes, as many resellers started out as sneakerheads who sold off pairs they didn’t want, and recognized the potential profit.

Developing a niche is not necessary, but can be a good way to make money and combine your hobbies with your business.

For example, if you love video games, there are tons of ways you can leverage that knowledge to make money reselling. You can buy collector’s editions of popular new games, or buy collectible merch to resell.

If you choose to focus on one particular type of item to resell on eBay, customers can browse your listings to find other items they’re interested in. You may turn one order in three or four this way, and make more money.

Of course, you don’t need to do this. Many resellers prefer to buy and resell all kinds of items, and focus on whatever is profitable. If that’s what you like, that’s fine, but it can also be fun to focus on one particular niche and learn everything there is to know about an item that you resell.

How to flip items on eBay

So, you’ve bought up a few items to resell on eBay, but how do you go about making a listing? And are there any pitfalls you should look out for?

It’s very easy to start selling items on eBay. Simply log in or sign up on eBay’s Seller Central, and make a listing. If you have a popular item to resell on eBay, the process is pretty streamlined. Using past sales of similar items, eBay can autopopulate your item’s description, categories, and even pricing. Of course, you should always check what other resellers are charging for an item first, as prices can fluctuate. We even wrote a short guide on how to price your items to resell on eBay.

Sales on eBay are done through an auction format, where the seller sets a starting bid and buyers compete with each other for the final price. Depending on the supply and demand of the item, you may receive one bid or hundreds. Very rare items with no other sellers can have buyers get into a bidding war.

You can also set your listing to be open to offers. This allows potential buyers to offer to buy your item at a particular price. If you’re happy with it, you can accept it and make the sale instantly. Otherwise, you can make a counter-offer at a higher price, or simply reject the offer if you’re not interested.

What is eBay's selling fee?

It is free to list items on eBay, for the first 250 items per month. Past the 250 limit, you’ll start paying $0.35 per item.

When your item sells, eBay keeps a percentage of the final sale price. This percentage varies depending on the item category. Most items will incur a 13.25% fee, but some categories are higher. Jewelry, watches, handbags and purses all have a 15% fee for sales under $5,000, while other categories are lower.

It’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with eBay’s seller’s fees before listing an item. Additionally, there are other optional fees that can be incurred while making a listing. These are easy to avoid, and generally unnecessary.

Is an eBay store subscription worth it

For high volume sellers, eBay offers various store subscriptions. These range in cost from $5 a month to $2,000, with all kinds of benefits in between. They are primarily directed towards businesses that are already selling products to customers.

Most resellers do not an eBay store subscription. If you’re making thousands of dollars in revenue per month through eBay, the reduced fees per sale may be beneficial.

Shipping and handling orders on eBay

After you’ve listed a few items, it shouldn’t take too long before your first sale. When you list an item, you can filter through various shipping options, so make sure you give those a look before putting items up for sale on eBay.

When shipping an order, it’s highly recommended you use one of eBay’s integrated shipping services. Shipping an order through one of these company’s helps protect against claims made by the buyer against, and these will generally be the fastest, cheapest, and easiest choices to ship sold items on eBay.

While Amazon offers its FBA services, where Amazon will warehouse, pack, and ship orders for you, eBay has no comparable service. You will be expected to handle all expects of order fulfillment yourself.

It’s important that you ship your eBay orders as fast as possible, and always within the shipping window specified within your listing. If you tell buyers their item will be shipped in 3-5 days, it must be shipped by 5 days of purchase at most. Keeping your word when it comes to shipping orders is imperative to keeping a good eBay seller rating.

Handling eBay returns and feedback

As an eBay seller, you’ll need to put effort into maintaining a good seller rating. Your seller rating is one of a handful of metrics a potential buyer has to evaluate you as a seller, and even a single piece of negative feedback can cost you sales.

Of course, the world is full of unreasonable people, and negative interactions are inevitable. That said, here are some steps you can take to improve your eBay seller rating:

• Ship orders fast. We already covered this, but it’s worth restating. Just like you wouldn’t be happy if your buyer delayed paying you, buyers will not appreciate late shipping. If a delay is unavoidable, reach out to the buyer and explain the situation, and update them on when they can expect the item.
• Make your eBay listings accurate. Take good photos of the item from multiple angles, and be up front if there are any defects or damage. eBay will protect you from fraudulent claims of damage if your listings are documented well and you maintain a good seller rating.
• Respond to feedback. Sell enough items, and you will eventually get a complaint. Always follow up with the buyer as fast as possible and attempt to resolve the issue. Generally speaking, the easiest and most common way of resolving these problems is by issuing a refund.
• Be fair. While eBay does not require sellers to accept all refunds, you are expected to issue refunds and take returns for damaged items or situations where the listing did not accurately represent the item. In these cases, it’s best to play by eBay’s policy and preserve your seller rating.

Have fun and make money

Hopefully you have a good idea of what it takes to resell items on eBay. For most resellers, eBay is their first choice for listing items, due to the size of the platform and number of potential buyers. As you list more and more items, you’ll come to learn the ins and outs of eBay like the back of your hand.

To find the best items to flip on eBay, subscribe to our newsletter, and never miss the latest cook. New items to resell pop up everyday, and staying updated in the world of reselling is critical to keeping up.

As always, have fun, stay safe, and make money!