Is selling things on eBay really worth it?
By maezee
@maezee (41988)
United States
January 31, 2010 6:15pm CST
Right now I'm putting up some of my used brand name clothes on eBay and I'm just rolling my eyes at all the fees involved. Not only do they charge your debit/check card 10% of your total earnings, but there are also listing fees and all that. And not to mention the work you put into it - arranging them, photographing them, making the listing, going to the post office and sending them out, and so on. Some days, it just doesn't seem worth it - especially when you're only going to make a few bucks extra on whatever you're selling (assuming it's small stuff like clothes). And then you have to deal with people who never pay you, and all those kinds of frustrations. *shrugs*.
Do you ever feel that it's just not WORTH IT?
1 person likes this
10 responses
@LaDeBoheme (2004)
• United States
1 Feb 10
Try craigslist. No fees. No fuss. No muss.
I use it with great success and little hassle.
@maezee (41988)
• United States
1 Feb 10
The only fuss is meeting the people in real life, waiting for the no-shows, and working around other people's schedules to try to find a meeting time. I've used Craigslist before but I have many frustrations I could vent about them. lol. But yes, they are free.
@Bethany1202 (3431)
• United States
1 Feb 10
I can so relate to this. Not only, as you said, do you get charged a listing fee and a monthly fee, etc etc but then after trying to list a competitive starting price and shipping... Sometimes it feels like it's too much effort to use eBay and similar sites.
Maybe back in the day people could make decent money, but now it's not fun at all, just a chore to sell things you don't need. Then, I have had people not pay and have reported them after making a valid effort to contact them and that's no fun, either!!
Auction sites are no longer for me!!
@maezee (41988)
• United States
1 Feb 10
Well I usually consign the clothes I no longer wear at consignment shops, but I haven't had time when the stores open to bring them in. So I wanted to try eBay out for the gazillionth time, but yeah! I feel like I'm putting too much effort in for such a little payout.
@uath13 (8192)
• United States
1 Feb 10
On most things it's really not. You'd be lucky to recover your expenses. If you actually do charge enough to cover everything & still make a profit then your likely going to be charging more than a local store would, so why would someone buy it?
I gave up on Ebay long ago.
@dianmelydia (2269)
• Indonesia
3 Feb 10
I think it depends on what kind of product you sell on ebay. Usually people selling used things on ebay, although some people selling brand new things on there as well. However, ebay is one of the most influence promotional place. Some company perhaps put their men to posting some good offers on ebay about their new products. I heard if some people or teams, they used to make fake offers on ebay which they will bid when the auction period is end themselves. So no one would really win the auction. Whether such thing is true or not, i don't know. Have a nice day and happy mylotting.
@teamrose (1492)
• United States
1 Feb 10
I sold on ebay for a long time. I still sell there occasionally. It is definitely worth it. You just have to have quality merchandise and be very organized. Mail priority mail and the post office will pick up your packages at the door. In fact, as long as one package is priority, they will pick up everything else also free. Use your computer to print postage and there is an additional savings.
@658294 (35)
• United States
1 Feb 10
I sell stuff on eBay "kenscrib" also and you are absolutely right about everything.But, to cut down on some of the problems a take full advantage of the services offered by Paypal such as shipping and payment matters. Although it is impossible to avoid the fees, to see a profit you must do what you are doing bigger on eBay you should go into clothing liquidation section and purchase a lot of clothing on eBay and resell them on eBay.
@cryw0lf (1302)
• United Kingdom
1 Feb 10
Why not try some popular but free listing websites? Such as gumtree.
But I agree in the respects of eBay charging too much for my liking. I just find 10% of your sales fee unfair. I can deal with the whole '40p' listing thing, an the effort you have to put in etc... But the 10% fee should be more like 5 maximum! And no more then a set amount for items that are worth more!
@mentalward (14690)
• United States
1 Feb 10
If you earn enough to have to do an income tax return, you could donate these things to charity and deduct up to $500.00 from your total taxable income. The only thing you would need for tax purposes would be a receipt from the charity and a list of what you donate and their current value, and that is only IF you get audited, which is rare. (I've done this every year for the past 20 years or so and have never been audited... knock on wood! LOL)
If you donate more than $500.00 worth, you'd have to file a charitable donation form. I make sure that what I donate is either at or under the $500.00 mark.
This way, you may not have to go through the hassle of selling your used clothes or at least you'd have less to worry about trying to sell.
I prefer doing it this way because it's still like getting $500.00 in your pocket, since we're supposed to pay taxes on any money we make, even from selling things on eBay. It's a whole lot easier.
@timhinyy (1653)
• United States
1 Feb 10
well as far as getting paid goes i never send any items out until i receive the payment, but what i love about that site is not only do you pay a fee to list your item, but you have to pay a fee when you sell it and then if they pay you through paypal which is owned by ebay they charge you a fee too. it does tend to get a little ridiculous unless you are selling something that is worth a nice amount of money that is the only time that it seems worth it and around christmas time when alot of people are looking for little items. i seem to do the best around that time of the year, but i don't mind the having to send the items out cause i don't usually go to the post office to do it where i go there isn't many lines as there normally tends to be at the post office.
@sumanadep (1228)
• India
1 Feb 10
Although I don't use ebay but one of my friend does and according to him he earns good money even after deducting all the charges. He doesn't usually sell used products instead he buy's stuffs when there are offers given at the local shop and then sells that product for the original price. By doing this he gets a good profit margin.