For those who are new or considering selling on eBay part-time – $1,000/month

[MrsKensington]

I just wanted to send a note out to people who are not full-time eBayers, like Jay and Ryanne, or who haven’t started yet. I’d like to encourage folks to just start and stick with it. I hope this isn’t too much info, but it would have helped nudge someone like me ahead when I was on the fence.

I am a part-time seller. I get most of my items from thrift stores, some from estate and yard sales and some from family members or my own home — even some things from neighborhood trash. I sell all kinds of things, but not many clothes. Most are vintage unusual things — prime random scavenged junk.

I have sold things to prop houses and famous music producers, but mostly to just regular old people, domestically and through Global Shipping. The best turn was some furniture I paid $60 for that sold for $1200. Next best was some fabric, $30 -> $500. Also a small leather item: $3 -> $250. All thrift store finds that I guessed would be profitable.

Here are some recent sales stats:
Last 31 days $1,782.74
Last 90 days $5,508.42
Transactions (last 12 months) 315
Sales (last 12 months) $15,737.94
This is nearly a $50 average selling price. My goal is 1 item per day on average, but I’m not quite there on an annual basis yet.
I’d say my profit in the last 12 months has been around $12,000 or so, backing out fees and COGS. These numbers don’t include shipping, which I consider a neutral. I probably spend 4-10 hours/week on this all told.

It has taken me the institutional knowledge of following this blog and all of you who participate, plus being in my second year of focused selling, to learn and remember things that are worth my time and things that aren’t. This institutional knowledge is KEY and is the MOST IMPORTANT INVESTMENT you can make in your eBay store. I also have started to recognize other sellers of random stuff in the stores I frequent. I note what’s in their cart, then look for it on eBay later, find their stores online and follow their sales. I have learned a lot this way. Another tip: Just search on ‘ vintage ‘ sold items within a few miles of your ZIP. You’d be surprised what people have sold.

Right now, I have the most items I have ever had in my store and it’s less than 200 things.
I store stuff in two file cabinets and one small closet.

Everything is good ’til cancelled. Most stuff over $45 or so is also make offer.

This is a low-space, low-commitment, low-investment way to make some income. We are using my store to pay back my husband’s student loans much faster than the minimum (ridiculous!). The loans could be done this year.

I guess my point is that if you are considering it or aren’t sure whether it’s for you, just go ahead and try it. Sell what you have around your house. Old magazines, a stack of books, look at your old kitchen items or hats or games or electronics or sporting equipment. Look in your shed and under your bed. This is how I started.

Here’s how I manage my time:

I shop mostly on one weekend day, and/or on the way home from work – dipping through each thrift store for 30 mins or so. After dinner during the week, I write up descriptions — everything but photos — while my family is watching TV, or hanging out, or after people have turned in for the night. I’m a fast typist. I probably spend no more than 30 minutes per night, 3-4 nights per week doing this. I don’t have a fancy light set up. I just use natural daylight and photograph stuff on an old cabinet in my office. On the weekend, once it’s daylight, I open the curtains, line up my items and use my phone app to take photos and push “list”. So in an hour, I can “list” about 10-12 things, and in to the file cabinet they go. I use free eBay and USPS supplies.

I’m somewhat picky – try not to buy things that have a lot of competing listings or things that don’t seem to have a profit margin of $30 or more. Or I may buy things that are lower profit, but are very easy to list, photograph and ship. I didn’t start this way. I definitely bought some things that were — ahem — revenue neutral at best when I first started. I also was thrilled with making $200/month at first.

This money has made a difference for us. I have a full-time job but live in a high cost of living area. I don’t want to jinx myself, but: I love my job and am very lucky to have it. eBay has sped up our freedom and we are already starting to plan our retirement by envisioning a time when we will be really out from under. My spouse is supportive; one thrilled child has already started listing her things on my account and has had success.

The other thing I now know, is that if my job should end for any reason, I have another way of making up this income. I can heavily ramp up my time sourcing and listing, and hopefully make enough to offset that income. I don’t have F-U money, but I have an F-U second job.

TL;DR – Doing eBay part time for a year allows you to start with a low investment and commitment, and learn what is worth your time to sell and what isn’t, so you can decide whether moving to full time is your jam. Even if you have kids, a spouse, a job and other stuff going on.

[Inglewood]

I agree with everything you said!

I’ve been an eBay seller for over 20 years – and the little extra income doesn’t hurt. Over the years I’ve been unemployed, underemployed, and working full-time and no matter what my situation, I always had eBay to get me through.

You can work as hard or as little as you want – for example, I typically scavenge once or twice a week at lunch, and maybe spend a Saturday once every 4-6 weekends out of town scavenging. I’ll spend the time when I feel like it listing.

The only discipline you need is to plan shipping time on a daily basis – we average anywhere between 2-5 items sold a day so I get up 30 minutes early every morning to put everything together, and my wife drops everything off at the post office.

With our skills, we average around $25-$30 profit per hour when we keep track of the time we put into eBay – the more we scavenge and list, we still consistently pull around that income.

We generally land between $1000 and $1500 a month in extra income – we both work other jobs, so it is great extra cash. We are going to have no issue retiring in our early 50’s at the rate we are going – but even then we’ve discussed our post-retirement eBay plans as we enjoy the process! Even at $1000-$1500 a month, it is enough to keep the bills paid and food on the table if things ever go really bad for us.

You have to love doing eBay if you work elsewhere 40+ hours a week – and we enjoy searching for items to sell, getting them ready to sell, and we especially love it when our phones make that great “Cha-Ching” noise throughout the day!

It’s also a great skill – I’ve worked for several places that shutdown or moved over the last 20 years – and everytime I’ve lost a job, I just ramp up my eBay sales and listings to get me through.

It is also something I find most people can’t do – you need to have an eye to find good items to sell, skills with the camera, and some computer/phone skills to list the items. The discipline to ship daily once is also something you need.

Basically, like any job that pays an hourly wage – the more time you put in, the more money you make.

[CTLady]

So true: “I have an F-U second job.” Love it!!! I find that combining FT job with ebay works well for me. I take the pictures at home on the weekend. My main current bummer is storage — I have my inventory in the attic and the lighting is bad and it can be hard to access. I just need to clean out the attic, which will no doubt yield more stuff to sell anyway.

[Jay]

“Institutional knowledge” really is key. We’re only getting better at finding the really cool items that sell for big money. We’re grateful for the $20-$30 shirts/shoes/jackets that sell, but our real success and fun are the $300+ items we find that no one else sees.

[Utahbill]

Thanks for posting this. It encourages me to keep at it.

My goal is to make a $1000 a month clear to supplement my pension when I leave my day job in a few years.

[T-Satt]

My advice would be to understand your numbers and be able to forecast. There is a wide spectrum of numbers on eBay, even on this forum.

Know your Sell Thru Rate, know your Average Selling Price, know your seasonality for what you sell.

Some sellers are Fast Burners (higher STR, lower ASP), so they get money returned fast, don’t need as much inventory space, but need to constantly feed the beast. For us, I have many items on this side (shirts, pants, etc.)

Some sellers are High Rewarders (lower STR, Higher ASP), so they get more money for their (listing) time, but require more inventory space, more shopping time, and sales are less consistent. J&R are a good key on this side, and that is me on suits and Veronica on Christmas items.

Knowing how you fall in this spectrum is useful to knowing how much time, capital, inventory space, and work required to get the profits you require.

[Habnab]

My approach — and my results — are very, very similar to Mrs. Kensington’s, right down to researching by the geographical searches for “vintage,” peeking in other people’s carts for items that I anticipate turning up on eBay, and following local sellers and tracking items I didn’t buy (to learn if I should have.)

In September I picked up a 30-hour-a-week job in education (long story) and I haven’t really noticed a downward turn in my sales. I get out of work in the early afternoon and hit a thrift before the kids get home from school. I’ve still managed to find really interesting pieces, even with all of the competition (and even with all the people who are at the thrifts when the doors open every morning. Things come out all day long, so don’t assume you have to get there first thing.) Recently, I’ve sold vintage lace and thread, vintage studio pottery, a painting, antique flatware, and a few pieces of jewelry. The lace was a low-dollar sale ($10) but overall my average sale price has been around $70. I’m aiming for a minimum average sale price of $50.

The institutional knowledge shared here is great. The other day I picked up a pair of Allen Edmonds shoes which I thought — correctly — were shell cordovan. $2. I wouldn’t have known about the brand or the cordovan without SL! Within 2 days I had 2 offers, each more than I make in a full day at my ‘real job.’ 😉

[Jay]

What did you sell the cordovan shoes for?

[Habnab]

My day job doesn’t pay much at all, but it’s immensely fulfilling work. It’s not really saying much — except as a comment on the low wages in education — that a pair of shoes will sell for more.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 4 months ago by Habnab.

[So Cal Joe]

I tried the Lyft thing, similar to Uber. Drove about 8 hours with a lot of 2 mile fares. I made about $60.. , and still had to pay for gas. maybe it was just a bad night.

In the meantime, I sold a hat for $30.. on Ebay..

I never drove for Lyft again..

[Habnab]

Right. For me, my job is fulfilling in a whole different way. It’s added a whole different dimension to my life. I would actually probably do it for less/no money (but don’t tell anyone.) If at some point I stop feeling this way about it, then we go to plan B. (Or, looking back over my life, probably plan M, version 5.9)

Anyway, Mrs. Kensington’s advice above is great. It’s a perfect profile of part-time work on eBay.

[Punk]

Thanks for starting this thread MrsKensington and thank you to all the participants. I’ve found it very encouraging and useful. I’ve sold on and off part-time and full-time (when my husband injured his back) on another site for years. I was able to cover the mortgage and bills when needed. Didn’t sleep much but slept better knowing we weren’t going in a hole. I truly love buying crap for pennies and selling it for $$$. I was scared of eBay and put off selling here regularly for years. I don’t know why, I’ve never had a problem as a buyer or a see seller. So, my new years resolution is to work both venues to the best of my ability. List,List,List and Ship,Ship,Ship.

My goal is to make enough to cover our daughters tuition. She’s a big help when I’m buying at church fairs. My no.1 bag carrier and clothing and shoe picker. She’ll be learning to list and ship over spring break.

I should mention I’m a hobby waitress 3 nights a week (which I love) and I help my gf with her cleaning / housesitting business when needed. Both jobs pay decent but buying and selling gee-gas and rust is way easier, imo.

Wishing you all BIG sales!

Punk

[Punk]

Gee-Gaws – —> stupid auto correct.

[Inglewood]

I work full time 9-5, M-F, but I do stack on other moonlighting jobs as I can to increase my income beyond just eBay sales.

I also work on the weekend helping people (mostly seniors) setup OTA TV Antennas, setup/mount there new TV, help them setup their computer/wifi systems, and other home entertainment gear. I also do odd jobs when someone asks for help like shoveling snow, cutting grass, planting gardens, help with there businesses when they get busy, etc.

I get a lot of calls asking for help with OTA Antennas and accessories lately – with channels changing locations in the next couple years, and the format changing again, it could be a good business the next 10 years if you don’t mind heights, ladders, and drilling holes in walls.

I always wonder how much work I could get if I put out on classified sites all the different “businesses” I could start…

[Punk]

That’s great! My husbands an electrical contractor and he’s done a few of these for friends. I’m going to look further into this. Ladders and drilling holes are his thing! 😉 Thanks Inglewood!

[Author]

Posts