How To Get Started on ebay and Where We Are 5 Years Later

Hey there! Let me start by saying that we’ve been eBay resellers now for a little over 5 years.  Although I’m creating this post to share with you a lot of knowledge that I’ve gained during those years selling, I sure don’t know everything there is to know about the eBay world! So! With that being said, I’m sure you’d like to hear a thing or two about how we like selling on eBay, and how we’ve progressed from year one to year 5. So let’s go!

How to Get Started on ebay – Rooted Drawers Style

The early days of us selling on eBay resulted in a little bit of sales and many flubs. Since Poshmark was our first reselling platform, it was a huge shift to move onto a platform that required so much more. It was intimidating to say the least. Alas, persistence has since paid off and eBay is now (and has been for years) our main selling platform! Hooray for learning!

The first many items that were posted had a huge amount of flaws in the listings (not to mention the flaws we missed in person), as we were still new to the reselling game and hadn’t quite figured out exactly how to shop for inventory yet. Oh how times have changed!

These days, we’re listing anywhere from 30 items or more EACH DAY and climbing. We have been through a ton of stages of confusion, grief, and annoyance on how best to run this crazy store.  However, we’ve learned a lot in these months and years and now use a strategy that we’d like to pass onto you as well.

Related: The Reselling Route: Maximizing Profitability with a Thrift Store Focus

I Know How to Get Started on ebay, Now What?

The strategy is simple. It’s merely consistency, planning, and following through.

Yes, really, it’s that easy.

I’ve known a lot of sellers over the years that have tried and failed and tried again, (myself included!).  Each time you try again you’ll gain a little more knowledge and a little more patience. In my opinion, reselling takes a HUGE amount of patience. You’ll be working with yourself (and probably your loved ones) most of your days, which means learning how to listen better and practice being a better human (to yourself and those around you!).

It’s been the biggest challenge for me personally to conquer myself as opposed to working alongside family members. As an entrepreneur, it’s hard to let go of controlling everything when it comes to your business, but sometimes that’s necessary (especially when your business starts to grow!).

Facing consistency every day and planning ahead still continues to be my biggest downfall, which is why I highly recommend having some drafts saved up for yourself whenever you’re feeling like taking a day off! However, if you feel like hitting it hard another day, by all means, work ahead so that you set yourself up for success! (Psst, that’s what I’m doing right now!)

When mentioning planning, I’m merely referring to setting enough time aside each day to ensure you’re actually working towards your goals, whatever they may be. If you’re reaching for 5 listings per day, shoot for 6, and maybe you can bank an extra for when you’re feeling under the weather or feeling some beach time! Either way, think and plan ahead and you’ll likely continue to stay on top of your game.

What Niche Should You Use On ebay?

During our time selling on eBay, we’ve switched up niches a zillion times. Of course this is not something I recommend doing, as it’s resulted in a ton of headaches and heartaches, but the lesson learned is that to simply just do what you’re good at. You really don’t need to listen to anyone else telling you what to do to understand where your skills lie.

If you see that everyone online is selling through in womens fashion, but you have the ability to score a ton of inventory that focuses more on kids, then by all means! Move those kids clothes, my friends! Or perhaps you want to see what the buzz is about with home decor, but loathe listing it and think it’s time consuming to deal with.

Are you well-versed in knowing keywords that revolve around mens fashion? Lean into that and focus your time and efforts on what brings you joy and what you know best. Most of us resell because we hated the daily grind of a “real job” as some call it, so, if you find yourself hating your job again, change it! Because after all, YOU are YOUR own boss!!

Related: Rooted Drawers is Bringing Back eBay Auctions, Will You Be There?

What Does Our ebay Store Look Like Today?

As time has passed and we became bigger sellers, a lot has changed. We’ve adjusted nearly everything in our home to better fit inventory properly and safely, we’ve adjusted schedules and vacations to adhere to shipping times in our eBay store, and we’ve gotten immensely better as a team selling anywhere from 5-20 items per day.

Throughout the years we’ve learned a lot. More keywords, more ways to photograph faster, more ways to list more per day. At this time, we’re selling in all categories, as that is what has become most available to us with the recent addition to our business with cleaning out local homes. Listing takes a little longer with hard goods (home decor & such), so typically I’ll list a few of those along with a lot of clothing so that my listing time stays approximately the same each day and doesn’t burn me out.

We’ve given up our holiday vacation time off and more weekends than I can count to work on inventory, storage planning and driving around to pick up more things, but I wouldn’t change it at all. It’s been a beautiful experience to first learn this all on my own, and to now be able to work on this business with my husband and loved ones. Consistency has taken a toll some days, leading to overwhelm and exhaustion, but overall it has made us better sellers.

Selling on ebay in 2023

Each challenge comes with a new silver lining, and I’m really grateful that eBay has been a big part of the growth that we’ve experienced together. If you’re considering if selling on eBay is still a thing in 2023, I guarantee you it absolutely can be. All you need to do is stay on top of your work and be balanced in all tasks. Take time for you when you need to, but make sure you’re taking care of eBay as well and I assure you your efforts will pay off in the long run.

 

Thank You For Reading “How To Get Started on ebay and Where We Are 5 Years Later”!

We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to all those who have supported us thus far on our journey. That includes today’s blog post about how to get started on ebay!! We deeply appreciate your ongoing readership. We hope that you will continue to visit us in the future. Please feel free to share any comments or suggestions below.

We’re always open to receiving advice, suggestions, or even hearing your own related stories! We make it a priority to remain active in the comment section and will respond to any questions promptly. We invite you to explore more helpful tips and tricks on Our Blog Posts Page while you’re here. Don’t forget to subscribe to stay updated on our future articles!

P.S. (This will also snag you a super sweet discount code to shop our store on eBay!)  If you are struggling with your journey, Rooted Drawers is here to help.  Allow our team to work closely with you for an ENTIRE quarter, side by side.  You’ll come out at the end feeling refreshed in your business with a new mindset and new goals to crush!

Get in touch! We look forward to making your dreams in the world of reselling come true.

Talk to you soon!

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Disclosure: You may have noticed a handful of links sprinkled throughout this post! These are all products or suggestions that I fully support and have tried out myself or plan to try soon! When you decide to invest in a product through one of these links, I will receive a small commission through Amazon or other companies that we work with. Thank you for your support!