Start with what you already Know and Love
The year was 2007, I started collecting action figures during college. A store was closing and everything was on clearance. I grabbed as many action figures as I could, and since I had so many figures, I just continued collecting for years. Initially I never intended on selling them. May of 2014 was the first time I ever lived alone, my roommate had moved out, and I needed a way to supplement my income. After expressing my grief on Facebook, someone suggested eBay. All of a sudden I realized I had boxes full of action figures in my attic, having hid them away, displaying them on my wall had off-put a girl or two. My first sale was in July of 2014. I had only $600.00 USD worth of inventory at the time. Nearly two years later I have $12,000 USD worth of inventory. I began to consider my original investment to be pure capital, continuing to reinvest my profits. Since my my first sale my business has grown 2000%, this guide is intended to help you understand the steps I took to begin making money on eBay.
Your First SaleI suggest for your first sale to be an item you know the value of, whether or not you make a decent profit. You will learn a lot with your first sale. Most paramount is understanding shipping. Whatever service you choose will become second nature to you eventually. As a beginner to eBay, your funds will be held for nearly a week until they clear through PayPal. Eventually eBay will clear your funds immediately, however PayPal will hold your funds for three days. Don't worry, eventually your funds will clear immediately, until then this gives you the opportunity to continue to invest in your business, paying shipping out of pocket, using shipping funds to purchase more inventory.
Top Rated Plus Seller Status

To become a top rated plus seller, you have at have least 100 transactions with US buyers over the most recent 12-month period, and have at least $1,000 USD in sales with US buyers over the most recent 12-month period. You've also uploaded valid shipment tracking to eBay within your promised handling time for at least 90% of transactions with US buyers in the last 3 months. Having a printer and a scale is perhaps the most cost and time effective way to attain top rated seller status. You must have a 1 business day handling time, or better, and a 30 day money back return policy, or better. It took me over a year to reach top rated seller status, there are many benefits, and the hard work does pay off. Some of the benefits of being a Top Rated Plus Seller is 20% off seller fees, and more exposure. After 3 months they dropped my required valid shipment tracking to 85%, I however continue to maintain 99%, visiting my local USPS daily!
Label Printing through eBay

On the right is the printer I have for printing my shipping labels. The Canon Pixma MG5522. Why print through eBay?

1. Shipping Discounts of up to 32%
2. Neat and Professional
3. Tracking included, no need to manually enter tracking numbers

Through printing on eBay you can save enough money to pay for a printer after only a few sales! It's also very useful to have a shipping scale. A good one cost about $50.00 USD, being accurate on your shipping labels will save you tons of money right away.

Purchase eBay Shipping Labels
Self Adhesive Labels are very neat, professional, and saves tape! EBay also automatically deducts your postage directly from your PayPal account. Ink for the Canon Pixma lasts a while, I probably spend $10.00 USD per year.
Shipping Supplies

Remember, your not just selling an item, your selling a professional image. Try to spend less then $0.02 USD per yard for tape, $0.34 USD per yard for bubble wrap, $0.20 USD per label, and less then $0.40 USD per small box. Shopping on eBay, you can find all these supplies in bulk for half the price you can buy them from a retail store.

eBay Partner Network
Signing up for the eBay partner network is quick and easy, taking only a few days to check your credentials and approve your payment method. You can create links and RSS feeds that you can share in a variety of places. These links can be tracked back to your work and when someone uses your link to purchase an item you can make a commission . I've only just started utilizing the partner network, but the most important thing is to drive high quality traffic. Don't just paste your links on your personal Facebook page, or randomly email people hoping they will click and buy. High quality traffic will help you generate more revenue from the partner network. I suggest making a professional Facebook page, or a blog where you can suggestively post your links. You can link to your store items, others sellers pages, and anything on eBay.
Start a Professional Facebook page, and/or a Blog
You can directly paste your partner network links right into your professional Facebook page or your Blog. You can start your own website, obtain your own domain, and make your own make shift eBay page advertising the products you want. Having relevant content that engages readers is the best way to drive high quality traffic. If you don't want to sign up for the partner network you can still share your items on social media, like Facebook and more.
The Key is Time a Patience
Starting your own business, or just supplementing your income, takes commitment. Watching your auctions end and seeing your sales increase is very exciting, motivating you to keep pushing, and experimenting. Find inventory you enjoy collecting, adjust what you purchase based on what you find sells the best. Buy multiples of items, that way you wont have to constantly create listings and always have active items. Purchase a store front, even the basic store will help you understand your sales and your traffic/impressions. Write Buyers Guides, review products you've purchased, and create collections. These are just a few of the tools I've begun to use with my business, and I very much look forward to the impact all these tools will have on my business throughout the future.

2016-04-09T16:12:00-07:00

How to Start Making Money On eBay