eBay research and advice.

muddyl

Hi all,

I’m wondering if anyone can help please. Apologies in advance if this turns into a long post.

I’m looking into the possibility of selling on eBay as an extra income. As with most people out there, any extra income is great. I’m aware that this will mean me declaring it and possibly registering as a sole trader, but I’m ok with doing that once I find out all the details of what that will all involve. (That’s a whole other thread ).

For now, I’m trying to find out a little more about eBay.
I currently have an account which I’ve had for years. Only bought/sold a few things but now I’m thinking of making it a regular thing to help towards holidays etc.

My questions are:
1/ What are the differences if I was to register with eBay as a business?

2/ Is it best to continue with the same account which currently has 100% positive feedback or start a new one as a business. That would keep things separate but of course would start with no feedback.

3/ Do you still pay per item that you list?

4/ Is there a quick/easy way to list items. Most would be similar but not the same so I’d have to do separate listing but all with the same general info with little bits changed and different pics. Can templates be used to alter things quickly and can things be listed quickly without going through the many steps which are involved as a normal user?

5/ Rather than paying for and posting items separately, if there are sufficient going out, is there postal deals available to make it easier/more cost effective?

6/ Linked to above, what about postage labels? Software to print them easier and invoice templates too?

So many questions but I’d like to do this properly if I’m going to do it at all.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and any help or advice is greatly appreciated. There may be more to come but for now I think that is plenty to be thinking of.

Many thanks, Mark

campdave

1/ If you're selling for profit rather than stuff you have lying around, you are a business and will need a business account.

2/ up to you. I converted my private account when I started a business.

3/ Pay per listing (unless you have an anchor shop) and final value fees

4/ I list my items by using "sell similar" and changing picture and the little bit of text that needs changed. If doing this way, ensure your listings are as good as you want them to be as it's time consuming to change them later. Bits that I need to change are held in graphics files which I store on my webspace and then upload new versions when needed so I don't have to change 1000+ listings

5/ Royal Mail business accounts are available, but I don't use them

6/ Labels can be printed from selling manager if you have a shop or pay the upgrade for it - personally, I copy and paste the address from the paypal receipt into the label software for my Dymo 450