Mike Perras

What Exactly Is Consignment Selling On eBay?

"eBay consignment selling" means selling items on eBay for other people. It costs the seller nothing up front, the only fee paid is when an item actually sells and the money has been collected from the buyer.

What it's not!eBay consignment selling is not a yard sale where things sell for .10 cents on the dollar. You will quickly discover that you can in fact make a very handsome profit on your items.

Why don't people sell their items themselves?If you have sold a few items on eBay you already know that there is a lot involved in the selling process. Of course it may seem or look easy and for many sellers the process is easy, because they enjoy doing it, but if you stand back and add up all the time involved in a typical sale, you could find that each item takes an hour or more to sell, and sometimes two to three hours.

An hour or more to sell an item may seem unrealistically long, but consider every part of the selling process step-by-step. You could spend 5 minutes to half an hour on each of the following tasks

• researching item and prices
• taking good quality digital pictures
• cropping, resizing and editing photographs
• writing a description that properly sells the item
• listing the item in the correct category
• answering all email questions within 24 hours
• corresponding with the buyer (ie: to obtain payment etc)
• paying by check
• monitoring your bank account for checks to clear
• packing the item
• shipping the item
• updating spreadsheets or accounting software
• posting feedback (and dealing with negative feedback)
• invoicing and paying the consignor

From the outside, eBay may look easy. Like anything else, it's a learning curve and that takes time. You may not have the time or technical skills.

Who exactly should be selling by consignment on eBay?

• people without the time to do it themselves
• anyone who wants to sell an item ... just not locally
• in need of cash for bills, a holiday or college expenses
• people with estate or inheritance items
• someone or group with a fundraising project
• a business selling overstock merchandise (special discounts apply)
• anyone disposing of obsolete equipment

Why eBay?In 2005 eBay had 147 million registered users in 30 countries. eBay owns PayPal with another 100 million users worldwide. There simply is no larger marketplace anywhere. When your item is listed on eBay people can look in from anywhere .. you go to bed at 11pm and at 2am your time, someone in Japan just bought your item. Your item is exposed to the world 24/7 and that is simply working smarter .. not harder!

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