A SAVVY seller has shared how they managed to make thousands of pounds by flogging goods on eBay.
Joseph Holman made £250,000 profits as a teenager selling items on eBay, using the cash to buy his first Porsche.
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Joseph Holman made £250,000 by flogging goods on eBay
The Luton-based businessman became known locally as “The eBay King’”thanks to his ability to turn clobber into cash.
He now runs his own eco-friendly home furnishing brand, known as Green Doors, but he has been making money from eBay since he was just a kid.
As a pre-teen Holman invested his birthday and pocket money into a bulk order of magnetic ‘stick and ball’ games, which he then sold on individually.
Joseph, now 33, ended up netting a profit of around £2,000 in just six weeks.
“I was hooked on buying and selling anything I could,” he shared.
By the time he was 16 the savvy youngster had £30,000 saved up from eBay profits, eventually purchasing a moped to make deliveries.
The following year he bought a car, which he said made selling larger items possible as he could go and pick them up.
This decision helped him bag £50,000.
His friends started calling him the “The eBay King”, earning the name by selling everything from soaps to statues and baths to bikes.
He added: “By the time I was 20, I had made over two hundred grand, all from selling things on eBay.”
The EXACT items I bought at the car boot sale to turn a tenner into £500 on eBay – so have you got any in your cupboard
Joesph is sharing his tips for success after eBay announced it had scrapped fees for private sellers, making it more profitable to sell on the platform.
Now sellers using the marketplace can take home more money when they flog secondhand items including CDs, books, toys and furniture.
Before the change, private sellers had to pay an enormous fee of 13.22% when selling items on eBay.
These included a 12.8% “final value” fee plus 30p per order and 0.42% “regulatory operating” fee.
For a seller listing a chest of drawers worth £20 the change would save them £2.94 in fees.
Top tips for selling on eBay
NEW to eBay? It’s head of secondhand, Emma Grant, reveals how to optimise your listings:
- Use key words – eBay automatically filters listing titles for key words, so it’s crucial to use the terminology people search for – especially brand and product names.
- Choose the right category for your product – It might sound obvious but it’s important to always choose the most specific category to sell in.
- Pictures are important – Most users will not bid on items they cannot see. For best results, take photos in natural light against a neutral background and be honest about any scratches or damage to the item.
- Be as detailed as possible – Be honest about the condition of the product and be sure to note any wear and tear.
- Look at past sold items– eBay has a function that allows you to search for the item you want to sell and then filter the results by sold items. Here, you can view the price the item has sold for and get insight into how others have listed it.
- Selling Sundays – Get the timing right. The busiest time for buyers is Sunday evenings, so schedule your listings to end around that time. Opt for seven-day auctions to ensure the max number of bids. The longer your item is listed, the more chance of people seeing it, so unless it’s time-sensitive, pick seven days. December is the busiest month on eBay.
- Be realistic with pricing – Try searching for similar items on eBay, to make sure you’re going for the right price and always ask yourself “would I pay this price for this item?”
- Donate to charity – When listing your item, consider donating a percentage of the sale to a cause of your choice – from 10% to 100% – you can donate the funds raised from your item straight from the platform.
They will now take home the full £20 instead of the previous £17.06.
For items worth just one or two pounds the fee changes will have an even greater impact.
This is because previously there was a fixed 30p element to how the final value fee was calculated.
On a £3 transaction, this would be equal to 10% of the seller’s total profit, without including the other elements of the fees.
It comes just months after eBay slashed fees to sell secondhand clothes on its website in a bid to compete with other platforms including Vinted and Depop.
Here are Joseph’s top tips for making money on eBay.
Do your research
The eBay king recommends carefully researching the product you are selling – and taking a simple screenshot can mean bagging a buyer willing to pay more.
He said: “Try to find the highest original Recommended Retail Price (RRP) online, take a screenshot of this, and add it to the eBay photos.
The RRP is the price a manufacturer suggests a retailer should sell a product for, but in some cases they can charge higher or lower.
Joesph said by showing customers the highest RRP they can see how much they are saving if they bought it somewhere else.
Cause a stir
To make sure your product stands out Joseph said to list your items as “Buy it Now/Best Offer”’.
By listing your product as “Buy it Now” it means customers can snap it up immediately for a fixed price that you as the seller have decided on.
Alternatively, you can list it as “Best Offer” which allows sellers to invite buyers to negotiate the price of an item.
For example, you can list an item for £60 but be open to offers either higher or lower.
“This allows customers to quickly purchase your product, rather than waiting for an auction to end, which they might forget to bid on,” he said.
You can set your preferences to automatically accept or decline offers of a certain amount, and use the counteroffer feature to negotiate with prospective buyers.
The counteroffer allows sellers to come back with a different price than the buyer offered.
For example, if someone offers £40 for an item you can go back and suggest they pay £50.
The buyer has 48 hours to accept the new offer from the seller.
Ensure your item is looking the best
Joseph said it is important to know your audience and provide lots of pictures of the item you’re selling to ensure you make a sale.
He said: “Take the maximum number of photos you can upload and a video if necessary, so the customer can see all angles.”
The pro also said sellers should describe any defects to demonstrate that “you’re an honest seller, and provide a clear and engaging description”.
He added: “Understand the product and the type of customer it will attract – listings for a piece of art should be more detailed than those for an IKEA chair.”
Use keywords
When listing an item sellers should also consider using keywords to make their product stand out.
“The eBay title is crucial, especially the first four words, as they affect the algorithm,” Joesph said.
“Make sure to use relevant keywords first and use the entire space available for the title.”
When doing this sellers should pick three to five keywords that relate closely to their item.
Ask yourself what words people are likely to use in a search engine when looking for what you’re selling.
For example, if you are selling a dress from a specific brand make sure you use that in your title.
Once you have these keywords, use them appropriately in your listing title and item description.
You should make sure that you do not make any typos in keywords or listing titles as this can stop customers from finding your product.
eBay is not the only platform you can sell your goods on.
The Sun recently shared top tricks and tips for how to make your items stand out on Vinted.
You can read more about this by clicking the link here.
