How to Make Money Selling Items on Ebay

Every year you go through the process of spring cleaning. Mounds of junk are put on the tree lawn and transported to the landfill and with it, your chances of making several hundred dollars or more. To you it's just useless junk. But what's junk to you is another man's treasure. Before you get to the task of cleaning out your attic or garage and carting it to the street, you need to take a look at your "junk" and check out www.ebay.com to see if there's a market for it.

I've been selling on Ebay for years and the one thing I know for sure is that you never know what will sell. The first thing you need to do is determine how old the item is and how much it cost when first purchased. You also need to be realistic. If the item you're looking at is broken or parts are missing, it's probably best to put it in the garbage. So many people I know have thrown out old dolls and toys that could have netted them $100 or more. Things such as your grandma's old purse could have sold for $50. Old tools, old cameras, silverware, car parts--the list goes on and on. I would venture to say that almost anything pre-1960 can be sold for a profit on Ebay. As a general rule, the older it is the more it will sell for.

The first thing you want to do when cleaning out your attic is get 3 large boxes. One for garbage, one for maybe and one for Ebay. As you're sorting your items pay close attention to designer names, signed items and genuine metals and gemstones. Gold and sterling silver are desirable. Any jewelry, even costume jewelry that is very old will sell. Vintage clothing, shoes, purses and household items usually sell for top dollar. Old Barbie dolls and Barbie clothes, antique toys and games will sell. Even that old aluminum Christmas tree and ornaments is money in the bank. If you're not sure, put it in the "maybe" box. When you're finished cleaning, the next step is getting on the computer and signing up on Ebay.

Ebay is a simple to use website. They've made it easy to sign up and become a seller. All you need is a checking account and/or a credit card. Ebay charges a fee for listing and additional fees once the item sells based on a percentage of the final selling price. You also need to decide if you are going to accept paypal as a payment choice along with checks and money orders. I'd suggest that you offer paypal as a payment option because most of the Ebay buyers like to pay immediately after they win an auction. More information on what paypal is and the benefits of using it can be found at: www.paypal.com.

As soon as you've set up your account at Ebay, you need to start typing in some of the items you want to list. To do this just go into the "buy" tab located at the top of the page. Say you have a Scrabble game from 1952. Type in: Vintage Scrabble game" and you'll get a list of all the old Scrabble games being auctioned. You need to see how many are listed, if any are selling and for how much they're selling for. If there's 30 listings and only one is selling you know that the market is flooded and not to list the game. Just because the market is flooded today doesn't mean you should throw the game away. Hold on to it, because a month from now there may be no vintage Scrabble games up for auction. Sometimes you need to adopt a wait and see attitude to get top dollar for your items on Ebay.

When you decide to list an item for auction the most important thing is to make sure you've described the item in detail, including date (if known). If something is 18k gold, you don't want to just say "gold"-be specific. Same with name brands, manufacturers or signed items. The more detail and description you write about your item the more appealing it will be to buyers. This includes measurements, so make sure you have a measuring tape handy. You also need to take a picture. Buyers don't like to buy things sight unseen. List the item for 7 days and if you want to make your auction more appealing, start the bidding low at .99 and set a reserve. More information on setting a reserve can be found on the Ebay website.

The last thing I'd like to suggest is to make sure that the item you're selling is shippable and allowed on Ebay. Ebay has a list of items, such as usable firearms and alcoholic beverages that cannot be listed. The Ebay "community" pages have all the information about what can and can't be sold. You may also want to check the USPS and UPS websites to make sure of size and weight restrictions. Ebay does allow items to be sold or auctioned for pick up only if they are too large or cumbersome to be shipped.

Ebay is a great place to sell your old junk on a part-time basis. Not only will you have extra money in your bank account, you'll be helping to save the planet by cutting down your contribution to the land fill.