What to sell on Ebay

Thousands make extra money selling part time or full time on Ebay.  You may have entertained the thought but not sure what could be worth selling since there’s many others selling the same items.  Unique items will have better odds of selling well since many categories are pretty saturated – like pre-owned clothing and Coach handbags.  Those might end up being more of a headache than a good money maker.

Although, if you find a unique way of offering pre-owned clothing or Coach handbags, sell them in a different context than all the others, then you could have a chance.  And this can apply to any item you decide to sell –

 

• package them different,
• put them in gift baskets w/other relatable items,
• use the Coach handbag as an upscale gift basket holding other upscale gift items inside like makeup, wines, or chocolates
• attach shiny stuff to them (can’t think of that term – bedazzle?)

Anyways, keep any eye out for any possibilities to stand out.

Unique items made by you could catch on and develop your own fan base  for your work.  MyMommysBracelets.com started out with an eBay and Yahoo store, then branched off with her own website after her sales picked up with a regular customer base for her custom designed bracelets.

One tip found is to find items that are easy, inexpensive, and low risk to breakage for shipping.  If you sell something large and/or heavy, your profits could get eaten up in shipping costs.

After browsing through some forums and websites, here’s some items sellers stated work well on these online auction sites:

• Maternity clothes
• Children’s toys (especially ones not sold in USA)
• Makeup not sold in the USA (Ungaro is apparently really expensive but popular in London)
• Buying books at library sales and reselling on eBay
• Resell brand name clothes from TJ Maxx or Ross
• New acoustic guitars in a starter pack (no details on the starter pack, but maybe something along the lines of guitar, pick, beginner’s guitar lesson book, DVD)
• Old iPhones to sell for non-USA buyers
• Unused, packaged discs for major Microsoft software
• Sell vintage jewelry parts in lots
• Unused cosmetic items from places like Bath and Body Works, Clinique
• Comment from one seller –

“The things I’ve had the best luck are upscale/designer pieces, hard to find sizes (especially in bras!) and interesting/odd things, like this one shiny gold leather jacket from Wal-Mart of all places that sold for quite a bit to Japan. I love dealing internationally even though some people don’t find it worth the hassle. Shipping and customs can be a pain, but the buyer pays extra for it and what’s a bit too wacky to sell here sometimes finds multiple buyers across the world”

• Another comment who found a unique item to sell (unedited)-
  “i make and sell personalised kids placemats and door signs i sell them on ebay and carboot sales and make quite alot of money, i sell them for £2.50 each or 3 for £6, I make them with all kids favourite charactors from pepper pig to harry potter, I take orders and can make them with any picture they like. they usually just tell me what there kids are into and then ill email them some examples and they decide which 1 they like best.
  I personalise them with any text they like, the most popular are the placemats as ive found alot of mums have found that they can get there kids to sit at the dinner table alot easier with them. they usually have somethin along the lines of EMMAS DINNER or JACK’S DINNER DO NOT TOUCH/ SOPHIE SITS HERE.
  I find this a great little money maker as people always love to be able to help design there own stuff for there kids.”

If you’re still not sure what to sell, find one or two things that interest you and google whatever you can about them to learn how their valued and how much they might be in demand, and demanded by what groups of people?  This will help in knowing if you’re getting a deal or not when purchasing and knowing how much to realistically mark it up.  Once you find and master these items, then can add another category to research and start selling till you build up a comfortable amount of items to shop for reselling.

Best of luck!