Making money on EBAY

[emilywebster07]

Hi Everyone ,

Please suggest me on this one. How easy it is to make money on ebay.
Help??

THanks.

[cicy33]

Originally Posted by emilywebster07

Hi Everyone ,

Please suggest me on this one. How easy it is to make money on ebay.
Help??

THanks.

In a word or two? It's not. and It is. Depends on what you have. Some things go well, some things don't. A few years ago DVD's were the hot thing, today they are going for an average of 1.50 each with shipping for the lots. Some are higher but those are usually the ones with the really good names. The thing to remember is this. You are charged a fee whether your item sells or not. You have to offer paypal (credit card) as a payment option. You are then charged a fee when it sells and paypal charges a fee for receiving the money. If you are selling something that is in high demand it can go for a pretty penny. But sometimes it is just hard to make a profit after all the fees. You must have a camera that you can upload the pictures to your computer. Granted you can list an auction without pictures but I wouldn't recommend it. Do your research. Sometimes craigslist is a better option. or a yardsale.

[emilywebster07]

Thanks for the information. I will try to gather some more information online.

[Johansen8]

Primarily, they build up a solid number of feedback and then they can make money doing anything. There are a large number of dropshippers that will let you sell their stuff, and you can turn a profit.
The key is to slowly gain feedback and credibility.

[Shane Watson]

Ebay is a big thing and getting in it is one of the easy way to make money. Ebay is also very good with affiliate marketing. You can look into that.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by cicy33

In a word or two? It's not. and It is.

I think the sums it up pretty well.

Ebay can be a great place to make money. Is it easy? Not exactly but it depends on how you are defining easy. Ebay can be a fair amount of work. Buying merchandise. Preparing it for resale. Photographing it. Editing and posting the photos. Writing descriptions. Posting the auctions. Answering questions. Packing and shipping items. Tracking sales and payments. Keeping financial records for tax purposes. It can be a lot of work. So if you are looking for easy money, forget it. No such thing. But if you are looking for a place to sell merchandise to a worldwide audience with relative ease, ebay is a great choice.

[Goldy1]

glad I got in while it was good, Those days are over. The fees and shipping go up every year. The policies change so often I stopped keeping track.

I have found it a useful venue to unload a lot of not needed personal items(NOT junk by the way)
They used to have a yearly free listing day. Over. I used to list all the junk around my house(dh's clutter) and it rid me of it basically. Now my house is pretty clutter free.
back in the day I sold most my dh's VHS collection which was hundreds. I at at the tail end of lisitng his c'd's. the only readon I get money for his cd's is b/c they are in MINT condition and he has a lot of out of print, first pressings, and not too common cd's. about 30% go for so little I am putting them to the side and not lisiting. I Can't be fooled with it to maybe make one dollar.
I just sold a lot of used baby clothes my son outgrew. Did I get a lot? No but worthy to list and more than donating it which I do for items often.

[techguru]

It's almost impossible to make money off e-Bay anymore. Everyone is doing it; margins are horrible; and paypal takes all your money!

[cicy33]

Originally Posted by techguru

It's almost impossible to make money off e-Bay anymore. Everyone is doing it; margins are horrible; and paypal takes all your money!

I actually have to agree with this. it is getting seriously hard to make money on ebay. Selling something that is $5 is not worth it. But it is possible.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by techguru

It's almost impossible to make money off e-Bay anymore. Everyone is doing it; margins are horrible; and paypal takes all your money!

Originally Posted by cicy33

I actually have to agree with this. it is getting seriously hard to make money on ebay. Selling something that is $5 is not worth it. But it is possible.

I partially agree and partially disagree. Yes, selling an item that costs $5 on ebay doesn't make sense. As postage rates have risen and fees have risen, it has made it cost more to sell and ship the item than the item is worth.

However, selling items of slightly higher value is still a perfectly good business. Why do you think there are still millions of items being sold on ebay every day? If I pick something up at a yard sale for $1 and sell it on ebay for $10, I pay about 15% of the total in fees. That's $1.50 in fees and $1 for the cost of the item itself. I still make a $7.50 profit on a $1.00 investment. Sounds good to me.

Also, if I'm selling unwanted household items, what I make on ebay is more than what I'd save on taxes by donating the items and more than what I'd get for the same items at a yard sale.

[GirlyChick]

e-bay is out. Look into affiliate marketing, you'll be much better off. I can suggest some to you if you like.

[Salmon Runner]

You can't look at it in that sense. You have to have the right business model even if it is ebay. Ebay has a huge pool of consumers and you can tap into any segment as long as you are selling something that's in high demand. I've worked on ebay before and I have to tell you that it was one of the best gigs that I have ever had. hope it helps

[jeffrey]

Originally Posted by RedThunderBird

Hi to every one : I have a question , that you may help me with . If I were to sell at E,bay , how much would I have to declare to I.R.S thank you for you help

Any profit that you make on ebay is taxable.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by jeffrey

Any profit that you make on ebay is taxable.

That is a true statement but I think it is incomplete. What I would say is that any income you earn on ebay is reportable. That is true whether you make a profit or not. From that income, you can deduct all of your expenses including the cost of the merchandise, ebay fees, paypal fees, postage, office supplies, etc. You would then pay taxes on the net profit.

I think that is an important distinction. When filing taxes, you don't just report profit. You report total income then subtract expenses/deductions and pay tax on what remains.

[jeffrey]

I meant to write what steve wrote

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by jeffrey

I meant to write what steve wrote

I thought so.

[cicy33]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

That is a true statement but I think it is incomplete. What I would say is that any income you earn on ebay is reportable. That is true whether you make a profit or not. From that income, you can deduct all of your expenses including the cost of the merchandise, ebay fees, paypal fees, postage, office supplies, etc. You would then pay taxes on the net profit.

I think that is an important distinction. When filing taxes, you don't just report profit. You report total income then subtract expenses/deductions and pay tax on what remains.

I believe it is also true, and please anyone correct me if I am wrong, you do not have to report the earnings if you are selling something you already own. Like your kids outgrown clothes.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by cicy33

I believe it is also true, and please anyone correct me if I am wrong, you do not have to report the earnings if you are selling something you already own. Like your kids outgrown clothes.

I'm actually not sure if the law says that you don't have to report it. I think it is just one of those things that the IRS chooses to ignore because they have more important concerns and there is no tax liability anyway. There is no profit and no tax deductible loss, so it is a non-issue from a tax standpoint.

HOWEVER, if you were ever to be the victim of an audit, you just might have to substantiate that income. The ideal way of doing so would be to show the original purchase receipts for everything you sold. Since no sane person would have that information, I'm sure they accept some more reasonable documentation. I guess you'd need to somehow prove that you were selling stuff you already owned as opposed to stuff you bought to resell. Lots of folks buy used clothing at yard sales and resell it on ebay. That would create taxable income but would look just like someone selling stuff their own kids had outgrown.

I've actually had a few instances where I made a profit selling my daughter's old clothes. They were items that we had bought secondhand. She wore them for a while and then I ebayed them and made a profit. Can't beat that deal.

[quizbiz]

I have collected all of my high school text books which I lost at the time or was given and I'm going to sell them on ebay. If I'm honest about the condition, I think it should do well. I just need to price it so that I don't pay out of pocket for shipping the hefty books.

I am debating between doing a bundle between all of my SAT related books or doing them one by one. Any advice?

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by quizbiz

I have collected all of my high school text books which I lost at the time or was given and I'm going to sell them on ebay. If I'm honest about the condition, I think it should do well. I just need to price it so that I don't pay out of pocket for shipping the hefty books.

I am debating between doing a bundle between all of my SAT related books or doing them one by one. Any advice?

Definitely weigh them before listing to be sure you are charging proper postage. Ship books by Media Mail for the best rates. In addition to ebay, check half.com. There are also some specialized sites for textbooks but I don't know the URLs.

As for bundling for selling individually, there are pros and cons to each. You'll probably make out better doing them individually. It is easier to find someone looking for one book than a bunch of books.