Anyone have any luck selling stuff on ebay? I'm a teacher turned SAHM & just wondering if this might be a way to earn some mad money. I've listed a few items & sold part of them, but didn't know if anyone had experience to say what types of stuff sells easily/quickly & any tips on shipping costs. I really had to eat some shipping on one of my first two items & I tried to use the shipping calculator - lol.

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Quality of life is not dependent on the quantity of possessions.

Yes Ebay CAN Pay off, but to be honest, its a full time job in itself. I'm actually looking to get started with ebay again, I'll probably open an ebay store and sell kids clothes. It is alot of work, but you can stay home to do it. I can do it while my kids are in school.

But as I said, it is a full time job. There is the sorting, picture taking, editing, loading, writing up descriptions, listing, checking daily for questions, packing, and shipping. And to be a good seller, you must list stuff daily to keep your name up or to actually MAKE money.

It could be rewarding though. Its definatly something you can do at home and it is possible to make a small amount of money. Not enough to live off of, but its possible to help supplement your household income.

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~Missy~Mommy
Meghan8.Samantha7,Cameron4

I research on ebay to see what will sell. I look for others of my intended sale item, check for prices, listings, and whether people are bidding on this kind of item. Then, I check completed listings to see if others have sold in the last month.

As for shipping, I try to think "Shipping and Handling". I include all my ebay costs and my packaging costs into the shipping cost (this is legal).

As Missy said, to do it right, it takes a lot of time. When I was a SAHM, I figured that the one thing I had was time! If you are just making some spare change, it can be fun to sell on EBAY, but if you really want to make an income, then you will have to think of it as a job and put in the required amount of time. I make some money selling, but I certainly couldn't support myself!

Marlene

I do it every once in a while. I sold some angels from my aunts home the other day. I have some stuff from her house after she passed that people did not want. It made me $50. It is my mad money. I use it to buy stuff I need on ebay and can't get other places. I just bought my daughters Wiggles invites and Thank you's and still have cash to spare.

I sell quite a few things on Ebay. For shipping, the easiest thing I have found is using USPS flat rate boxes to ship in. They have a few different sizes and the supplies are free. You can even order them on line to have them delivered right to your home. With that being said though, not all items fit in those boxes or even if they did, the shipping would be too high for some items. For those situations, I purchased a small mail scale so that I can weigh items and their packaging accurately. After weighing items, I use the USPS website to calculate shipping. That way, when I list the item, I have a more accurate shipping number.

I have found that buying shipping supplies really adds up too. You don't think that a special box would cost so much but they do! I keep a stash of various sized boxes along with any bubble wrap that comes on anything I buy. I also get creative in how I package items. For example, I sold a bunch of CD's. Instead of buying expensive CD mailers, I used large envelopes and cardboard to make my own sturdy mailers for just pennies.

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He who does not economize will have to agonize. ~Confucius

I've been selling on ebay for just over 5 yrs and even opened an ebay consignment store in my town. Just wanted to remind you not to be discouraged-- July and Jan are the worst months. Folks are vacationing but soon the back to school rush will hit.

Think school uniforms, gently used name brand kids clothes sell well also.

After back to school comes all the Holidays-- Halloween- think costumes- gently worn or new and then the HUGE Christmas rush on ebay. In November-- you can sell anything!

Good luck!

I tried to sell on ebay and avon, but in all honesty they kept screwing me over. I made a littl emoney but that was it.

So even with the recent fee hikes of eBay and the postal system you still feel that eBay is worth it?

The sellers pay the postal fees, so in that reguard, you aren't losing any money there. AS LONG as you aren't over inflating the shipping to make a profit, that just makes you a bad seller.

The Ebay hikes aren't too bad, its still doable. And ebay is now letting you add a REASONABLE S+H fee to help recoup some of those costs.

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~Missy~Mommy
Meghan8.Samantha7,Cameron4

I've been selling on Ebay for over 8 years. This past month I made about $800. I've noticed that profits have been down lately compared to what it used to be, but it still can be worth it, if you are willing to put in the effort. I agree with previous posts advice about using a shipping scale and the USPS shipping materials. You get better at it the more experience you have. Try selling some smaller items and get the hang of it. Also check out the Community Center where they have Member Boards of all different topics. I learn quite a bit from reading those. Good Luck!