Stress-free selling on eBay with Send It Now

selling-on-ebay

There are a few websites which I consider to be completely dangerous. Pinterest is one of them. I click a link to Pinterest, browse a little, and before I know it, three hours of time has passed in a flash. I swear, Pinterest has an actual time vacuum on the site.

Another website is eBay. I could (and actually do) spend hours looking for bargain buys – kidswear, nice bits for the house, random things for fancy dress costumes – and I’ve been getting quite into selling things too.

The first thing I ever sold on eBay was, believe it or not, a car. Around eight years ago, I had an old banger I wanted to sell and figured I see what I got for it on eBay. I think it went for around £150 in the end – I was happy and so was the buyer. Unlike me, it’s better to start off small when you start selling on eBay – it’s better to test the waters with some small sales before selling anything really big.

I’ve picked up lots of tips on selling on eBay – including using Send it Now to deliver to my buyers. Here are some of my top tips…

• Set up an account and start buying stuff small to work out how it all works. Learning the jargon and feedback system is worthwhile and will make creating adverts much quicker in the future.

Quick jargon tips:

BN: Brand new.

BNWT: Brand new with tags.

BNIB: Brand new in box.

BIN: Buy it now.

VGC: Very good condition.

NWOT: New without tags.

NWOB: New without box.

HTF: Hard to find.

NR: No reserve.

VTG: Vintage.

•  Don’t jump into selling too quickly. If you have under ten pieces of feedback, people might be suspicious of you and not sure if you’re reliable and trustworthy. Once you have your confidence, and have bought ten things, you should have ten good pieces of feedback on your account, so you can start selling.

• Consider selling things in ‘bundles’ – I bought a bundle of kids’ books recently and I’ve just sold a bundle of age 4-5 clothing that’s either too small for my daughter, or she refused to wear (charming!).

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

• Take lots of clear photos of your item(s) – daylight is best and photos from lots of angles will help potential buyers know what they’re bidding on.

• Add plenty of info on your listing – eg size of item, colour, fabric etc.

• Sunday evenings are a great time for your listing to end – it’s a really busy time on eBay. So either place a ten day listing on a Thursday evening or do a 7 day listing on Sunday evening. People tend to pay promptly on a Sunday evening too.

• Keep an eye out for ‘Free Listings Days’ when you can insert a listing with no fee.

• When you do sell an item, wrap it well – it will increase your chance of good feedback and minimise the chance of your buyer emailing to say they’re unhappy. (You can even collect free bubble wrap from the veg aisles of supermarkets!)

 

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

• Label your package clearly and post it promptly. I sent this package by Send it Now, which makes it even easier than normal. Once your item has sold, the buyer’s details automatically transfer to Send it Now, where you can print off an address label, stick it on your package and then either drop it off at a Post Office/Parcelforce Worldwide depot, or arrange a time for it to be collected from you. You and the buyer can track the parcel, and it will be delivered within two days (or there’s even a Next Day Delivery option). The cost of the service is always the same (up to a parcel weight of 30kg and 5m length and girth combined) which means you always know how much P&P to charge your buyer. Easy!

Do you have any tips for selling on eBay that you’d add to these?

 

How to sell successfully on eBay - top tips!

• This post has been written in collaboration with Send it Now. As always, all views are my own. To find out more about how I work with brands, see my Work with Me page. Top and bottom image: DTTSP

Follow:
Share:

7 Comments

  1. December 4, 2015 / 9:26 am

    Will have to check out Send It Now – I do sell things on and off on eBay and have a few big bags that need doing. The posting (and photos) are always what seem to stop me getting round to it. Regretting missing that bundle you’ve photographed 🙂

  2. December 4, 2015 / 10:26 am

    I use eBay a lot so this is such a useful post, thank you. I will certainly bookmark for future reference. Have a great weekend!

  3. December 4, 2015 / 1:22 pm

    You have no idea how timely this post is for me to read right now! I’ve been selling quite a bit on eBay over the past couple of months and am learning as I go, but there are some great tips here. Love the bubble wrap one – definitely going to make a trip to the fruit and veg section of the supermarket this weekend!

  4. December 4, 2015 / 7:22 pm

    I spend way too much time on my eBay app 🙂

    Tips I’ve for buying include knowing specifically what you’re after and choosing listings with poor key words and bad photos or poor descriptions as the cost is likely to be lower/fewer people will bid. I also like to use BidNip so as not to be tempted to enter a bidding war and I can set my price limit unaffected by adrenaline!

    Selling-wise, I think you’ve covered most of my top tips – aside from using good key words and a realistic starting bid price.

    Hadn’t heard of send it now – will have to investigate – do they provide the box, or do you have to?

  5. December 4, 2015 / 10:04 pm

    I’ve sold a few bits before but Send It Now sounds great…esp if I can get it collected from home!

  6. December 5, 2015 / 5:56 am

    My husband is OBSESSED with selling things on Ebay. I literally have no clue what I am supposed to do but do now! Fab tips! x

  7. December 6, 2015 / 9:53 am

    I’m about to check this out as I sold something on eBay yesterday and need to post it but it’s really heavy and I know the post office will charge loads. Great tips too, eBay is fab although one thing that drives me mad is when people ask you to post something when you clearly stated it’s pick up only!! x

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.