Things You Need to Do to Start Selling on eBay

I've been thinking this week that for all my rambling, I've actually failed to give you one of the most important lessons I can impart to a new seller: how to get started. A few of my friends have emailed me after reading my blog to tell me that it's made them think twice about selling all the good but unused stuff that's been cluttering up their closets.

Here are some of the obvious and not-so-obvious things you need to do to start your eBay career:


Obvious Steps

1) Create a seller account. This is a pretty obvious first step, and also a pretty easy one. You can create your account by following this link: http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/seller_account.html. You'll have to go through a short process to verify your identity, link your seller account to a payment method and select the payment methods you'd like to accept from buyers.... which makes a great segue to...

2) Create a Paypal account. Now technically this isn't strictly necessary, but I've found it extremely helpful for a variety of reasons. 97% of eBay sellers list Paypal as a payment option and yadda yadda yadda.... you guys probably already know this. The real reason I've found it incredibly helpful is that when you use it to receive payments, Paypal imports all the information you need about the buyer. With this information, you can then print shipping labels, notify buyers their item has shipped and track each item as it makes its way to your buyer. Pretty nifty.

3) Clean Out Your Family's Closets. I try to be pretty selective about the quality of the items I list, but that doesn't mean you don't have a ton of items lying around that you don't use (and never will) that someone else would be willing to pay for. Gifts you didn't quite like (more about that later) are a great example of this. Moms, pre-pregnancy clothes and your children's gently used clothing and shoes are another goldmine. I mean, let's face it, if you're anything like me you're never going to be as skinny as you were before you got pregnant anyway, and if you do by the time you do your clothes will be outdated. This will be your inventory for the first phase of your business launch.

Not So Obvious Steps

1) Open up a Photobucket, flicker, or other photo hosting account. Having an account on Photobucket has saved me a TON of fees. eBay charges you for hosting more than one picture on their server. In other words, if you use the upload option to include more than one picture is your listing, eBay charges you for each additional picture. BUT if you use very basic HTML tags to display pictures that you are hosting on another server (i.e., Photobucket), it's 100%! Check out how I did it in this listing:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Polo-Carters-Baby-Gap-Spring-Shirts-Corduroy-Pants_W0QQitemZ200450405616QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Baby_Toddler_Mixed_Lots?hash=item2eabc674f0 . My dirty little secret is that I used to work as a Web Manager for Stanford Law School back in the day, and by doing that I picked up some basic HTML skills. In my next entry, I'll teach you how to use HTML to get free pictures into your eBay listing.... this entry is long enough as it is.

2) Get Some Shipping and Packing Materials. The Post Office offers free Priority Shipping materials. Because I ship mostly small articles of clothing, I use their free Priority Mail envelopes, which are rather large but sturdy and nearly weightless, to ship most of my stuff. Don't wait until the last minute. Quick shipping is a great way to differentiate yourself from other sellers, and having the materials on hand enables you to prepare your stuff for shipping at home in the evening and pop it in the mail the following business morning.

And finally....

Optional

1) Get a small scale. I've lost money a few times because I failed to weigh my items. The postal services charges you in 1 lb increments. Most of the time estimating is fine, but the difference between a 15 ounce item and a 17 ounce item can cost you over a buck.

2) Get a printer. I have to use my building's business center or my office printer to print shipping labels.... maybe I should take my own advice and buy a printer on eBay!

I think that's all for now, folks. I'll come back and edit this listing if I think of anything else. Also, if there's a particular topic you'd like me to write about I'm happy to take requests!