How to Know What To Sell On Ebay And Make Money Doing It

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Time
Energy
Computer
Internet
Old junk
Camera
Imagination

Step 1

The first thing you will need to do is decide what you want to sell. Some people stick to selling one item and others sell everything. There are a number of ways to decide. Lets start with what you have available around you. Are you one of those people who has junk in the attic or garage? Has someone dear to you left you lots of items you do not need? Do you have access to collectible things such as military pins, fireman or police patches, or brewery items. I have sold lots things that I have at home. Example: When Buck Owens died, his birth place was the town I live in. The newspaper here had a big write up about Buck. I took the daily newspaper and sold it on eBay for $9.99! This is the type of mind frame you are going to need to be a success. You must use your imagination to think of what people really want. You may even want to look up coupons you have and see if they are worth anything. People will even buy coupons! 20% off from places like Home Depot are well liked. I have a friend who sells clothing. She goes around to thrift stores and buys name brand clothing and sells it for more on eBay. There are endless possibilities.
Step 2

Now another way to decide what you want to sell on eBay is by using your own life experiences. What do you know the most about? Do you know motorcycles, cars, stamps, coins, clothing, crafting, art or etc...? You may want to sell what you know the most about. I know a guy who sells the parts he takes off of his motorcycle.
Step 3

As time changes everything, it also changes what the buyers are looking for. Always check eBay to see what is selling and what is not selling.
Researching your items is very important. You must do your homework. You can list any item on eBay, but not all items are going to make money for you. In fact, you can lose money if you are not careful. EBay does charge listing fees. You will want to make sure that ten other people don't have the same exact item as you that is not to selling. The best way to do this is to check the ended or completed auctions. You will need to be logged in. Then to check completed auctions go into eBay and up in the right corner in the yellow you will see the words Advanced Search in blue writing. Click advanced search. You will see a place to type in your keyword. After you type in your keyword (item to be looked up), under that it has a box you can click on that says, Show complete listings only. You will need to check that box. Then click on search. This will bring up all the items listed recently of that type and show you if they sold or not. Items that sold are in green. Those that didn't sell are in red.
Step 4

While researching you may also want to go to http://pages.ebay.com/sell/resources.html

This page has a lot of resources on it. You can go to whats hot to also learn what is selling.
Step 5

Timing is also very important. You wouldn't want to sell summer clothing during the winter or winter clothing during the summer. Christmas items might sell better closer to Christmas. Putting the items in at the right time will pay off.
Step 6

Buying and reselling can be a challenge and quite fun. Places to go buy items are yard sales (go to these earlier than they start, always ask them to go down on the prices) local auctions, and thrift stores such as Good Will and The Salvation Army. I have even seen people who live in apartment complexes get items others have thrown away in the dumpsters. Some people buy big lots from eBay or wholesalers.
Step 7

How do you know what to sell? I can't tell you what is right for you to sell, but I can give you some suggestions based on past experience. You can start by selling things you have around the house that you no longer want. Do you have any clothing you no longer want? There are certain brands of clothing that sell for more than others and plus sizes sell very well. People collect lots of things and some people just do not like to go out of their homes to shop. Have your children outgrown their clothing or toys? Maybe you have some old casino ashtrays. I have even seen people take the really long pine needles from trees and sell them.
Step 8

Now I will give you some suggestions on what to buy at those auctions, thrift stores, and yard sales. Anything old or unusual! Here is a list of vintage things I look for.

Old license plates, Maps, Wedding cake toppers, Recipe books, Postcards, WWII memorabilia, Anything unusual, Autographs, Sports memorabilia, TV and movie memorabilia, Collectors cards, Military pins, Vintage Jewelry, Old black and white photographs, Vintage hats and clothing, Name brand clothes, Vintage hats, Some books, Railroad, Newspapers with things such as JFKs death, Magazines, Metal Lunchboxes, College books, Vintage medical books, Vintage Christmas ornaments, things made of old plastics like bakelite and celluloid, Very old buttons, Coins, Casino ashtrays, Vintage toys, Perfume bottles, Old glass or metal medicine containers, Metal coffee cans, Airline pins or misc airline items, Bakelite dominoes, Items made from Celluloid or Bakelite plastic, Brewery or distillery items, and etc.....