Not So Easy Money On Ebay: UPDATE

Guys, I'm awful.

I promised this update more than a year ago now and did I remember, before now, to do it?

No.

I only remembered when I was going through my old posts and re-editing some of them. I saw the 'To
be continued...' on my Easy Money With Ebay post and I felt awful. So maybe a memory hacks post is on the horizon too!

I have now been selling on eBay for a little more than a year and it's had it's ups and downs. I have sold 253 items in that time, and I do consider eBay to be a part time job. Although, I'm not sure if I'd agree with my blog post title anymore. Easy Money? Easy? When you're photographing 50+ handbags that have been given to you by your gran, and then editing the photographs, and then listing them on eBay, I'm not sure I'd call it easy anymore.

Don't get me wrong here, eBay is a fantastic way to make money from items you don't need, but I underestimated a year ago how much of a job this would be. A welcome job, though, especially when you're unemployed. Some of the things I never realised would be a problem, are a huge problem for me. Like if you're going through your own house for stuff to sell, once you've photographed them, where do they go? Back where you found them? That makes no sense. So then you start an eBay box for things that are waiting to be sold, then it turns into two boxes, then three, then a set of plastic storage drawers and you'll find that you now have a room filled with things for eBay alone. Then the storage issue get's worse when people hear that things are going so well for you on eBay, so they give you their stuff to sell as well.

So here I am, sitting in the middle of 50+ handbags, inspecting them all thoroughly and realising how much time this is going to take. Yeah, there's another thing I never realised would be an issue, the amount of time photographing everything takes. The more photo's you have in a listing, the better. The more you have, the more you're showing your potential buyers and the less likely you'll be asked for a refund because the item supposedly wasn't as described. I describe eBay as a job for me now because it almost is, it takes up so much more time than you'll realise but it pays off in the end.

I had another huge problem when I did initially start selling, would you believe? When you're a new seller, eBay holds the payment from the buyer for two weeks, until they trust you're not a scam artist. But they do this for quite a few months, so you're paying the postage money out of your own pocket until your eBay pay day comes around, and that can leave you in a sticky situation! I had to start planning my eBay postage dates around when I had money to post the items! I understand why they do it, but it does make things significantly harder, but if you keep going, eBay will lift that 2 weeks off holding period off your account and you'll start getting your payments straight away.

One more tip I'd like to quickly throw in though. If you are selling an item as 'Buy Now or Best Offer', always go higher than what you'd actually like for the item, that way if you get knocked down, you're still happy with what they're offering and if someone buys the item at the higher price, even better for you!

Saying all that though, and that really is just a warning for anyone thinking about starting out on eBay, I love selling on eBay, and this post isn't sponsored, but I'd love it if it was *cough cough* eBay. Selling on eBay is a job that is hard work but it pays off in the end. Nothing in life is ever easy.

In conclusion, head these warning that I never thought of initially, follow my guide on how to sell on eBay here and remember, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Go have a look in your wardrobes, I bet you've all got something that still has the tags on it that you've never worn, and never will...

What have you got to lose?


Do you sell on eBay? Have you been thinking about starting? Have my posts been helpful? Leave your comments down below and don't forget to share with your friends!