When you start to consider reselling on eBay, the first thing you need to decide is if you want to make a business out of it or you just want to sell some things on there. Selling a few things on there once in a while is a great way to get rid of some things you no longer want or need and all it really takes is setting up an account with eBay and then posting your item and hope that it sells. If you want to start a business selling on eBay, then it takes a lot more effort and planning.
Bookkeeping
I have a blog about things that you need to do to get started in terms of buying, posting, storing and shipping items on eBay, but this is more about the business end of selling. If you want some pointers for starting out, see my other posts. Let’s start with when you are actually setting up the area where you will be running your business. You will need supplies to start and when purchasing these supplies, you need to keep the receipts. Bookkeeping and tracking purchases, mileage, and other expenses is a critical part of running your business. I found that keeping everything together in one place is much easier when you start doing your accounting. A binder with inserts seems to work for us. It helps us organize what categories we need and holds receipts. Be sure to keep track of your mileage anytime you go thrifting or to the post office, it is part of doing business.
Attracting Customers
Another important aspect of starting a business is to attract customers. There will be some things that you sell on eBay that will sell themselves just because people are looking for them. But you still need to get your business on social media to get people interested in what you are selling. One of the best ways to do that is posting videos on YouTube. This is also one of the easiest ways to start your social media journey. We started with buying a Go Pro. It’s a little pricey, but we have gotten so much use out of it for posting videos. If videos aren’t your thing, you can make a business profile on Facebook or Instagram and refer them back to your eBay account. Even better, post on all of these.
One other thing we found helpful was to print business cards and include a thank you line on them to put in with our sold items. I know if I really like an item I bought and the seller includes a business card and thank you, I keep the card so if I need something that they sell, I’ll go to them first. We have had repeat customers using this method.
Conclusion
Although reselling seems like an easy way to make money and start a business, you must keep in mind that it is a business and you still have to treat it as such in terms of taxes, getting paid from your sells, etc. If you’ve never had a business before, make sure to research what you need to do so that you don’t run into problems later. If you want to see some of our reselling videos, click here:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwhGhIRZo-k6Gb5J1HP9YHg