Work From Home On EBay: The Basics

It is possible to work from home on eBay. There are many ways to make money from home using this online auction service. In order to be profitable, a few things need to be taken into consideration prior to placing your first item on the auction block.

You will need to have an eBay user ID if you do not have one already. When choosing an ID, try to make it have some relevance to what you are selling or wish to sell. Next you will items to sell. There are many considerations here. Take into account what holidays are approaching, time of year, what sports are in season – hockey, soccer, football, etc. Think about what you love to do. Is it collecting dolls, coins, postcards, antique toys? Are you an electronics junkie? If you know a lot about what you sell, you will be successful.

The best way to start to work from home on eBay is to use eBay like an online garage sale. Go through your house and declutter every room. Now you should have at least a box or two of items that can be sold. Stay away from very large, hard to ship items. For now, keep it simple. Get these items ready to be photographed. This means, all glass should be washed, dried, and shined to remove water spots. Items that are in boxes should be dusted. Silver should be polished. You want these items to be as new looking as possible. Take note of any damage as you will need to note this is your ad.

Get a camera. For ideal results a digital camera is best. However, this is a startup business so for now keep costs way down. If all you have is a 35mm camera then take really good pictures with it and ask them to put the photos onto a CD for you.

Now you are almost ready to write your ad. For starters, write up a rough draft into a word processor. Do this for every item. You will want a title, a short but accurate description and decide on your shipping and return policies. If you do this in advance, you will save yourself a lot of time later on. If you know html you can write your own designer ads and not pay extra: eBay fees will be discussed a little later.

Shipping your item is very important. There are some precautions you need to take in order to protect yourself from unscrupulous buyers. Always ship your products using US Post Office Priority mail with delivery confirmation for lightweight items. If the item is over a couple of pounds, you will save money with either UPS or FedEx ground. Be sure to require a signature. For fragile items, require the buyer to pay for insurance. Know what the cost of the shipping the item is going to be in advance. Make sure you know what you packaging costs are as well. These are hidden costs that can eat into your profits. Never ship an item until payment is received and cleared.

You are almost there, just a few more steps to take to setting up your work from home on eBay business. You need to accept payments. Do not accept cash payments through the mail. This is the fastest way to get ripped off. The buyer has no proof that they paid you. Many people use PayPal. You can start small and only accept checks or money orders payable to you. You can also set up a personal PayPal account and once it is verified you can accept PayPal payments from buyers up to $500.00 per month. After that you will need to upgrade your account. Only accept PayPal transfers from a PayPal account if you have a personal account. If a payment from a debit or credit card is posted, PayPal will hit you with a 4.9% fee plus a .30 transaction fee per item. This can quickly eat into your profits.

Finally, go out to eBay, list your item through a standard auction and see what happens. You can add a gallery listing which is when you pay a little more to have the items picture in the gallery. Once you get the hang of this, start looking for ways to improve how you sell. The eBay forums are a great way to learn about how to work from home on eBay.