When you start a business reselling items online it's hard to look past eBay. eBay is one of the biggest online marketplaces in the world, with hundreds of millions of users buying a whole range of used and new products all around the globe.

However, starting an online business as a reseller can be quite intimidating and overwhelming as a beginner. There is a lot to consider and knowing where to start can be difficult - but once you do take that first step, you will be glad that you did!

In this guide, we’ll go over how you can start an online reselling business on eBay from scratch - no matter what your experience level is, including steps on how to start and what it takes to scale up to a significant level of income.

Let’s begin by clearing up why eBay is such a good option for resellers, particularly for those who are just starting out.

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Why is eBay a Good Choice for Resellers?

ebay reseller

EBay is home to both sellers and resellers. While all resellers are sellers, not all sellers are resellers. That is because a reseller is someone that buys only existing products and sells them for a profit (like vintage clothing or jewelry), whereas a seller can also sell products they have made or manufactured themselves (like digital products or handmade goods).

One of the best sales channels for resellers is a website that has been around since the early days of the internet and remains one of the biggest ecommerce marketplaces for independent sellers to this day–eBay. With over 135 million active users, eBay has a huge market of buyers and sellers. You can sell just about anything on eBay, making it a great choice for resellers. Plus, eBay's global reach is another great advantage, meaning that resellers can reach an international audience and take payments from over 190 countries.

With such a diverse and vast marketplace eBay is a great choice for resellers, one that offers up the opportunity to reach a wide variety of customer segments and sell a whole range of products.

How Do You Resell on eBay?

EBay is a user-friendly platform for both buyers and sellers, and despite other reputable options like Amazon, it’s still a better choice in most cases, especially for beginners.

The platform has very little requirements for starting as a seller and is constantly pushing promotions such as reduced or eliminated seller fees, meaning that in many cases you can pocket top dollar on eBay as a reseller compared to any other marketplace.

Although starting is fairly simple, it’s easier to follow a step-by-step process that is proven to get you started, which we have for you below:

Reselling on eBay in 6 Steps

reselling

Before you start your reselling journey you need to understand how to sell on the platform. So, if you don't already have an eBay account, start by just selling one thing, preferably something that you already own that you don’t mind getting rid of. If you have already sold on eBay then skip ahead to the next section of this guide.

You simply need to create an eBay account, and from there, you will be able to make your first listing as a seller. By starting small, you won’t have to risk anything other than the small amount of time it takes to create a listing.

In this process of selling one thing, you’ll learn all of the essentials of selling on eBay, including how to create a listing and a description, how to make an appealing listing, how long it takes for an item to sell, and how to pick a good item to sell.

Now that you have experienced selling one item on eBay, let's take a look at how you can start an eBay reselling business.

1- Define Your Goals

As a reseller, there’s no limit to how much you can make–some of the most successful start from scratch and have a six or seven-figure business after putting in the work and the time. Others end up creating a nice side hustle that can cover bills and provide a financial cushion.

Your initial goals will determine the level of your business, so becoming clear on exactly how much you want to make as a reseller on eBay will help you to determine the amount of investment in both time and money you’re willing to put into your resale business. Keep your goals realistic, but don’t be afraid to reach if you have the drive and a winning strategy.

After making several sales over the course of your first few weeks or months of reselling, you can either keep or change your goals as by then you will have gotten a better picture of what your life looks like as a reseller.

2- Find your Niche

While you can sell a variety of items on eBay, the most successful resellers are specialists within a certain niche. By focusing on a certain niche, you’ll gain numerous advantages, including the potential of a loyal audience, a better understanding of the market and low-key opportunities within it, and more consistent profits as a result. 

You’ll need to pick a niche that has an established and active market.

Ideally, the niche you choose will align with your current interests, but even if you can’t think of anything that you like that sells well on eBay, you can try several different niches until you find one that you are most motivated to take the time and effort to learn about it and keep up with its market. 

Some top niches for eBay reselling include electronics, sneakers, vintage clothing, cards and other rare collectibles with loyal audiences.

3- Source Your Inventory

Once you’ve settled on a niche, you might be able to find inventory here and there, but without a system, you’ll be unable to establish consistent business or scale to any respectable level of income.

As you increase your expertise in a niche, you should focus on uncovering all of the marketplaces and sources that you can get inventory, including methods such as wholesale buying or dealing directly with sellers that aren’t easily found by the general public in order to give you a further edge over competition.

After finding all of the best places to buy profitable inventory, you can develop a system for sourcing inventory regularly that you can follow and use as a base that you can scale from.

The low barrier to entry for resellers on eBay is a double-edged sword: although this means it’s super easy for you to sign up and join, you’ll have many people doing the same in addition to a large group of established sellers.

Like it or not, being on a marketplace as public as eBay means that you’ll have to price according to competition. You need to keep up with what a fair market rate is for your item and how hot the demand is according to market trends.

As an eBay reseller, you’ll need to use all of these factors to forecast profitability and choose whether or not it’s worth purchasing inventory based on the markup you can make and what the current activity in the market looks like.

5- Consider Opening an eBay Store

EBay has two different general categories of sellers - individual sellers, and sellers who have an eBay store.

You may not want to open up an eBay store right away as it has a monthly fee and benefits that are really only applicable to sellers who are producing a certain amount of volume.

However, if you have established revenue within a niche that you expect to continue, opening up a store on eBay will give you a number of perks, including discounted fees, free listings, and additional tools to manage and promote your business. Additionally, having an eBay store means that you can secure a unique store name and URL that people can follow and receive notifications for whenever you make new listings, which increases revenue and establishes a loyal customer base.

You’ll be able to choose between different tiers ranging between $4.95 per month for a Basic Store all the way up to $2995 monthly for an Enterprise Level eBay store subscription, with each of them having benefits that are proportional to the level of revenue that your reselling business is generating. 

6- Get Organized with SOPs

Reselling on eBay can be a casual and easy side hustle, and since you’re your own boss, you can operate your business in whichever way you’d like. However, if you want to compete amongst the best, you’ll want to be efficient with your efforts so that you can get maximum output and thrive. You can do this by creating standard operating procedures, or SOPs.

By creating SOPs, you’ll have a system that you can use as a base to scale from either by yourself or by adding team members. Even if you continue operating as a one-person shop, having SOPs to follow will make everything more efficient and clear. An example of an SOP that you can create as an eBay reseller would be a step-by-step guide that walks through the inventory sourcing and listing process, including all details such as the different marketplaces to source an item and how to check whether or not a purchase is worth making based on projected profitability.

Finding Success as an eBay Reseller

ebay sellers

The most successful eBay resellers end up succeeding at impressive levels despite competition because of their competitive edge, which can come in many forms.

Although the specifics of how each high-level seller becomes successful will vary based on many factors, there are some common general guidelines, which include the following:

Have Patience, Persistence, and Curiosity

Reselling success, whether on eBay or any other platform, doesn’t come overnight. So, if you want to get to the level of the top dogs who are pushing serious numbers, you’ll need to consistently carry out steps over a long time frame, which requires patience and persistence.

The markets are always changing, as are the specifics and news within every niche, so you’ll need to constantly educate yourself. Having a high level of curiosity is the easiest way to stay educated, and it’s easiest to be curious about things that you find interesting, which is why you should ideally overlap your current interests with a reselling opportunity.

Develop a System to Scale

As we mentioned earlier about making SOPs, having a system is the essential base that you’ll need if you want to scale to higher heights. All top-level eBay resellers have all of their processes weaved together in a well-running system that covers everything from profitable sourcing to efficient to cost-effective fulfillment. This system should be easy to follow and repeatable, which will make your personal workflow more efficient and will also allow you to delegate to a team, a necessary step if you want to continue to expand your business to significant levels of income.

Constantly Set and Achieve Goals

If you followed this guide, you will have begun your business by setting an initial goal for your business. However, over time, your goals should shift and evolve based on that knowledge that you have gained through the experience gathered over time of operating your eBay reselling business.

Keep moving the goalpost to continually foster growth, and to make the goal setting systematic and quantifiable, utilize key performance indicators, or KPIs, to track your progress. Some examples of KPIs you can use to become successful include a monthly or yearly revenue target, an overall profit margin, and the number of products being bought or sold over a specific time period.

Growth typically doesn’t happen in a hockey-stick fashion with reselling, so by slowly increasing your KPIs, you’ll watch your business grow healthily over time.

Learn From the Best

Becoming a successful eBay reseller is a journey, and one that can come with mistakes and lessons along the way. While it’s possible to go it alone, you’re better off seeking advice from those who have already walked the path you’re on and have succeeded.

Search for those who have reached high levels of success, and if it’s possible, seek mentorship from them. Just about every entrepreneur who has succeeded in any niche, whether it’s reselling or general ecommerce, has learned from the best and put their strategies into practice.

Find eBay Reselling Success with Whop

whop reselling groups

Finding a successful reselling mentor who you can rely on for direct advice is incredibly difficult, and as much as you can gain value from watching videos and learning strategies online, nothing compares to having real-time support.

If you want to benefit from both mentorship and a like-minded community that motivates you to reach your goals, you should check out one of the many high-quality private groups right here on Whop. We’ve got a number of reselling communities that cover everything from retail arbitrage on eBay and Amazon to learning how to dropship. With a diverse collection of niches like tickets and sneakers, and exact strategies to succeed in each of them, finding a group that is best for you on Whop will be easy.

Ready to get started on your accelerated path to reselling success with the help of a Whop private group? Check out Whop reselling groups right here today!

Explore Reselling Groups

FAQs

How Much Money Can You Make Reselling on eBay?

Reselling on eBay can be a profitable business and the amount of money that you can make depends on the amount of work that you put in. Find items with high profit margins and keep your overheads low to increase your earning potential.

Is it Better to Resell on Amazon or eBay?

Whether Amazon or eBay is better for you as a reseller depends on your business model. To find out more about reselling on Amazon, read this guide.

Yes, you can resell legally anything on eBay, as long as it does not violate eBay's selling policies which can be found here.