This question[s] is directed primarily for those who sell a lot on these venues, and I particularly want to hear from people who are able to make a living from these places.
If I’m selling used items (like from Garage sales and thrift stores etc), do you have a ‘gut feel’ as to how many items you must have posted to have an adequate weekly turnover. (as an example, looking on Etsy seemed like an online ‘inventory’ per vendor of 175-225 average)
Is it hard to continually procure ‘inventory’? One day a week? Two?
How many days for shipping and handling? One day? Two?
Do you need a small warehouse (a few hundred sf) space for operations?
Is branding necessary? Or can you simply post items?
Some depends on if you are trying to do it as a sideline or as your primary income. I will assume you mean primary:
It depends on the value and profit margin on what you are selling. I did eBay well for a couple years but my items were selling for $25+ and were more than half profit. The smaller the margin the more things/inventory you need.
Again it depends a lot. I was selling collectibles/antiques (small sized) and I could land 100-500 items at one good sale. Most people I knew doing it full-time allowed 2 days a week for acquisitions. Put up items Thursday for 10 days, shop Saturday and Sunday and mix some fun into the trips, ship Monday. Wednesday was writing descriptions, images, and getting the next round ready.
These days, if you don’t have it at the USPS or UPS the next day and send the buyer a tracking number the next day you are going to end up flamed. Its one of the reasons I got out and would never do it again. Years ago, when I did it, you had maybe 3-4 days ---- now everyone seems to want it yesterday.
I worked out of my guest bedroom but again I was selling smalls.
Yes ---- a good name helps. It also helps if you can work it into the description as well so no matter how someone searches for you it pops up. Something like “From Feed-Raindog-Enterprises I offer you this incredible widget”.
Nine times out of ten the hassles and money aren’t worth the effort. But for that one time it can pay off big time; especially if you are lucky enough to inherit your initial inventory. I still stay in touch with a fellow seller who started with his fathers accumulation when he passed away. All that is long gone but he turned it into what has become a 6-figure income business that he really enjoys. He is rotating stock between eBay and a physical store and has a couple employees and always has a smile on his face. So there are success stories out there. If you are tempted, take a few days and get into reading through a lot of the eBay Community Message Boards - they can give you a feel for what you are getting into.
I don’t sell Full-Time, but I’ve sold about 150 items over the past year through various selling platforms… so I have some experience, but not a ton. I’ve been selling on eBay and Mercari (it can only be used through its App) for just over a year and I sell larger stuff on Craigslist locally. I also just setup an Etsy shop to sell a skin care products that my wife is making and trying to sell a few days ago.
I’m not sure if it applies to the Business Accounts, but when you begin selling on eBay with a Personal Account there will be a very low limit (10 I think) on how much you can sell in a month until you build up a good reputation as a seller. So you may need to plan for that and you’ll probably want to begin selling slowly anyway to get a hang of things.
If you selling on eBay, keep in mind that there will be a transaction fee for eBay and a transaction fee for PayPal. Also,eBay will let you list 50 items a month without a listing fee, but anything over that will be charged an Insertion Fee of .20 cents… this is for Personal Accounts, I think Business Accounts are different.
I typically ship items next business day, but I put 1-2 business days on my listings just in case I can’t get to the post office before they close. I go to the post office on my way home from work and usually get there about 15 minutes before the last pickup, so I don’t want traffic messing up my shipping feedback.
Get a digital scale (mine cost less than $20) to get an accurate weight of the products since an extra ounce can increase the shipping fee by a lot if your cross a weight class. The same thing goes for box sizes, once you cross a certain line from medium sized box to a bit larger, shipping can jump by another $10 or $15.
