How does one go about making money from buying and selling on eBay?

I did a lot of selling over the summer, but it was mostly for collectible items I have acquired over the years. Some of the stuff sold really well (old Nintendo memorabilia for the late 80’s and early 90’s), but some didn’t sell as well as I would have liked (early 90’s toys in the packages).

A good way to see if stuff has a market at the current time is to use the “Completed Listings” feature. To do this, use the typical search bar to search for what you’re looking to sell, and then click on the “Advanced Search” link, which is right next to the green “search” button. When it takes you to the next page, click on the “Completed Listings” box under the “search including” heading. Then search again.

You’ll have to determine whether or not you’re willing to part with the item at below what you think it’s worth. A lot of people tend to overvalue their own items, which is why so many items have ridiculously high starting prices. These items almost never sell because they keep relisting it at the same price, and people are not willing to pay that much.

I would recommend getting acquainted with the eBay selling interface by selling a few items that you don’t really care about. Experiment with different starting prices and starting times. I’m assuming you’re in the UK, so you will have to determine whether or not you want to sell your items internationally, in which case, you will want to list them in times that the auction will end while people in the other countries will be awake so they can be awake for the last minute bidding action.

Free shipping is also a HUGE selling point, and if the item is small, I would recommend offering it, as it will most likely get a lot more bids.

As I said, you should do a bit of practicing before you jump in completely, test the waters a little bit and see what works and what doesn’t, what sells and what doesn’t sell.

Thank you so much, I’m sure your advise will really help.