How I Make Money on eBay

For those of you who don’t know, I am an avid eBayer.  Yes, I am a hustler, and I make money on eBay.  I opened my eBay account back in the year 2000 and have been selling stuff on there ever since. When I first heard about eBay, I thought to myself, what can i sell on ebay to make money? I started off by selling stuff around the house that I no longer wanted or needed, and then slowly graduated to sourcing new products.  The holiday season is of course the season where I make the most sales, but I also try to keep up the momentum year round.  One of the biggest problems I face though, is coming up with things to sell on eBay.

When I heard about the upcoming Missoni for Target launch, I got very excited, not because I wanted any of the items for myself, but because special launches like these where items are highly anticipated and scarce are an eBayers dream!

The Missoni for Target collection, made by the Italian luxury knitwear designer Missoni exclusively for Target, consists of approximately 400 items which features the Italian designer’s signature zig-zag patterns.  The launch, was scheduled to run from September, 13th through October, 22nd.

I made a mental note to check it out, but of course totally forgot about it because I didn’t write it down.  So last Tuesday, after dropping my son off at school, I hopped on line to try to get a little work done.  I logged on to Twitter and just happened to see a tweet about the launch.  I though OMG, it’s today?  So without missing a beat, I grabbed my purse and car keys and headed to Target.  When I arrived, the selection was very, very slim, but I was still able to find a few items that I thought I would be able to sell on eBay.

As soon as I got home, I took pictures of the items I purchased and listed them both on eBay and on the Amazon.com marketplace.  Within minutes, I started making sales.

For example, I listed this baby at 11:01.  It sold at 11:07.  In just a mere matter of minutes, this item sold at a profit.  I paid $16.99 + tax and it sold for $31. Not bad, huh?

A few minutes later, this barrette sold.  Purchase price: $9.99, Sale price – $21.00.

Now I know a lot of people think that people who sell stuff like this on eBay for a profit are wrong for doing so.  I don’t see it as wrong.  For me, it’s a way to make ends meet.

For those of you who may be interested in making money with eBay and don’t know what to sell on eBay to make money, I would suggest you start off like me and sell stuff around he house so that you can get a feel for how the selling process works.  Once you have a little experience under your belt, think about stuff that you like to buy, or items that you may have had a hard time finding.

Last year, Z.E.N fell in love with a tiger costume that was being sold at Old Navy.  I procrastinated and when I finally went to purchase it, I could not find it in his size.  I visited several stores to see if I could find it, but had no luck.  It was also no longer available on their website, so I turned to eBay.  This is how I discovered that costumes, both used and new sell very well on eBay.  After that eye opening experience, I listed the costumes that Z.E.N had worn in previous years and they all sold. I didn’t necessarily make a profit off of them, but I really had no need for them anymore, so I was happy for the sales.

As you can see, making money on eBay is not that hard.  Have you tried selling stuff on eBay for extra money?  What types of items have you sold?