I love selling off my unwanted items on eBay to not only clear some space, but also to make some extra money. Especially as my clothing size has been changing so regularly after weight loss surgery, I love being able to sell on my old clothes and get some money to buy new clothes. However, getting the motivation to sell on eBay can take me some time! It is quite a boring task that I don't particularly enjoy. The rest of the process, like getting bids, packaging up my sales and counting my money is super fun…but not the listing! If you are struggling to find the motivation to sell on eBay, I have some great tips I want to share with you.
Think of the money
When I can't get the motivation to sell on eBay then the first thing I think about is the money – how much money I will make from selling my unwanted items on eBay.
I try not to list anything for less than £4.99, so that before fees I am making around a fiver per sale. Of course I will look at sold listings to see if I can make any more money than just £4.99 – but anything under £4.99 I don't bother listing.
The extra money made on eBay might give you enough motivation to sell – afterall, you might be able to put it towards a debt payment, investments or savings.
Think of the free space
If money doesn't motivate you to sell on eBay you then perhaps the idea of freeing up some space in your home will help you.
The positive benefits of minimalism are becoming more and more apparent, with many of us wanting to remove items from our home to free up not only physical space, but space in our mind.
By selling on your unwanted items on eBay you can release some of the value of the items, and reclaim some of the money you paid for them.
Start with the biggest earners first
A great way to get the motivation to sell is to list your biggest earners first.
You might have some old mobile phones because you have just upgraded, or other high ticket items.
Get those listed first, before you start listing the smaller, lower valued stuff.
As sales for your more expensive items come in you will hopefully get more motivated to continue to list items for sale.
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Set a realistic goal
Progress not perfection.
If your goal is to list just 3 things on eBay then that is great!
Remember to set a goal and share your progress if you can. I share mine on my Instagram stories!
Batch the jobs
If you are lacking in motivation to list on eBay, why don't you start the task in small batches?
Step one could be to find items to sell, and put them aside.
Step two could be to photograph the items – if this is too daunting you could break this down even smaller and just photograph similar items, like clothes.
Step three could be to research the sold prices on eBay so that you can choose between an auction or buy it now listing, and set your prices.
Step four could be to draft your listings.
Step five could be to set them live.
Best of all, you could do this over weeks, or even months!
Wait for £1 max fee promotions
Did you know that eBay take 10% of your final sale price as their fee?
That means if you sell something for £100, eBay will take £10 in fees alone – before Paypal get their cut.
eBay often have ‘£1 max fee” promotional weekends (although they last from Friday – Monday) where you can list up to 100 items and only pay £1 max fees if they sell within their first listing period. This means if you list an item for a 7 day auction and it sells at the end of those 7 days, the highest fee you will pay is 10% or £1, whichever is smaller. If you item gets automatically relisted and then sold, the 10% fee remains in place. Similarly with Buy It Now listings, if your item sells in the first 30 days you just have to pay the £1 max fee (or 10%, whichever is smaller), but if eBay automatically relist it and it sells, you will pay the usual 10%.
You can take down your listings and renew them yourself during another promotional weekend.
Only paying £1 fees means that you will save money by using this promotion if your items sell for more than £10 each.
I recently sold mine and my husband's old phones on eBay – mine for £640 and his for £330. Since I listed during this promotion I paid just £2 in eBay fees (Paypal fees were on top) whereas I normally would have have to pay £97. That's a massive £95 extra in our pocket!
Job lot similar or low priced items
eBay listing can be really boring.
Really boring.
I hate it.
If you have lower priced items to get rid of, or similar items, it might be worth turning them into a job lot to sell all at once.
You can do this with almost anything! I have done it with make up, with leggings, with books and more!
Reward yourself
Did I mention that listing on eBay is boring?
You need a reward!
You know yourself best, and know what will motivate you.
For me it is usually a Netflix program on in the background, or dancing to music whilst I take photographs.
Set a timer
We can do anything for 5 minutes, can't we?
I am amazed by how many items I can get photographed in just 5 minutes.
Set yourself a timer to complete one of the steps to help you get closer to listing your items on eBay. We can all find a spare 5 minutes in the day.
Don't list them on eBay
You thought this post was all about getting the motivation to sell on eBay, and here I am telling you no to bother selling on eBay…what?
Okay…hear me out though.
Sometimes it just isn't worth listings things on eBay.
You know what price will make it worth your time to list something on eBay. As I mentioned above, for me it is £4.99. If I'm not going to sell it on eBay for at least £4.99 then I am more than happy to take it to the charity shop.
Whilst we were paying off our debt I wasn't in a position to be so picky, and every penny counted!
You might find that other places are better suited for you. For example, you might find that Zapper works better for selling your unwanted books, or you can take your old phone to a CEX store to sell it. You might even find Facebook Marketplace easier because you won't have to package up your item after it sells.
eBay is great, but there might be a better solution for you than listing on eBay.
