Ways to make money online {Part 2}
Welcome to Part 2 of how to make money online! In this segment I will be discussing various
ways to earn money by selling your items online. I’m a big advocate for online selling, I have
a 3 try process.
·
Try to sell in garage sale
·
Try to sell on ebay
·
Donate to others, shelters or Salvation Army.
I try to at least exhaust all selling aspects and what is
left I donate or give to others. Now
there are certain things I had that I just outright donated, baby gear,
waterbed etc. These were more difficult
selling online.
There are 3 main ways that I suggest in selling online:
Ebay –
Ebay for me is a hobby,
it provides me a little bit of cash for stuff I don’t need/want
anymore. But for others it’s a full time
business! I enjoy ebay and I go through
periods where I do a lot and times I don’t do any. Right now I’m on because I’ve been purging a
lot and am treating it as a garage sale since it’s so cold outside here. Ebay sales prices can vary greatly and once
you figure out how it all works it can benefit you. Last year I sold a bunch of kids toys and
clothes I profited $550 AFTER my fees to ebay.
Yes Ebay has fees, but in reality they aren’t bad. The pricing I use is typically based on the
items. Some things last year I listed at
a higher price. Right now the listings I
have are starting all at .99 because I have noticed that the .99 auctions
garner more attention than higher priced.
There’s a few rules of thumb I’ve learned about selling on ebay.
1.
If you
want a specific price for an item, list it at either a fixed price or list it
at that price. So if you are selling a
Nintendo DS and you want at least $20 either do the fixed price or list as
auction and start your bids at $20. You
are at least guaranteed for $20 plus your fees.
If you don’t care what it goes for then throw it out there at .99 and
let it go. Some may surprise you.
2.
Shipping, I always charge shipping based on
weight and I do priority mail unless it’s less than 12 oz and I can do first
class mail. It’s just easier and each
shipment has a tracking # for the buyer to track.
3.
Always always take good pictures and try to
document anything and everything. I’ve
had some people who were just plain rude and would say the color of blue didn’t
match what I stated. Sorry but blue is
blue in my book!
4.
Charging handling fee vs. no handling fee. This is entirely up to you, some people
charge it because they buy supplies to ship.
I usually get my boxes from the post office (they are free) another
reason for priority mail. Or I bring
boxes home from work. Some people charge
handling fees to cover fees for ebay or paypal.
I once had a lady tell me that shipping on a pair of toddler boots was
$16!! I about lost my mind. I asked for
an explanation and she stated that she wanted at least $12 for the boots (listed
at $4) but didn’t want to pay the fees to ebay so she added it all on to the
shipping charges. Nope sorry not
happening, I refuse to pay that shipping.
In my opinion that is bad ebay seller etiquette.
5.
What items to list.. that’s entirely your
choice, some people don’t bother with ebay except for high priced items. I usually try to list in bulk, so I’ll have
20-50 items at once, I’m more likely to get buyers interested in more than 1
item which helps me out! I’ve sold
various items from household to decorations to dishes. Once I had a Corelle clock that I bought back
in the early 90’s sell for $112, it was a $15 clock I bought at the Corelle
outlet. And it literally sold for
$112! I was completely shocked! It matched my dishes and everything
else. By the end I had sold my entire
collection and made over $700!!!! This helped me out as I need car repairs
done!
I love e bay can you tell? I don’t
just sell I buy, I love buying things on ebay.. kids clothes, games, dog
treats. You name it!
Here’s an example of an item I had that my son didn’t like,
so I listed it on ebay! Sure beats
throwing it away!
Facebook pages
Facebook pages have popped up all over for selling
items. Many are either county or city
based. I’ve only sold 2 things through
these groups . I sold a high chair and a
baby swing, I had to deliver one and then meet the person for the other, it did
cost me extra gas so I sold them for $70 and if you figure time/gas Io made $50 which isn’t bad,
but still. Now my sister in law has sold
over $300 worth of stuff on the pages she’s part of and everyone has come to
her house for pickup. She sells only
within her city but everyone so far has shown up to pick up their stuff with
their money, no problems she said. This
could be really helpful for big bulky items!
Craigslist
Personally I’ve never sold or bought on Craigslist. My family has though and they swear by
it. I’ve known many people who have been
very happy with their purchases through Craigslist. I will just say that please be careful and
never go by yourself I you are buying something or having someone come to look
at your item. Just better to be safe than
sorry!
Etsy
If you are a crafty person, Etsy is another option for
you. Many people are running their
crafty business and selling items on etsy like crazy. Personally I don’t have the time, space or
finances to work on my crafts at this time, but others do and they make a good
darn living at it! And I envy them! I miss my crafting time..
