eBay® for Dummies®, 6th Edition

Chapter 9. Selling in Your Bunny Slippers for Fun and Profit

In This Chapter

• Discovering the benefits of selling

• Looking for inventory in your own backyard

• Knowing what to sell, when to sell, and how much to ask

• Staying out of trouble — what you can't sell on eBay

• Paying the piper with eBay fees

• Keeping the taxman happy (or at least off your back)

Finding items to sell can be as easy as opening up your closet (kitchen cupboard? car trunk?) or as challenging as acquiring antiques overseas (I even took the leap and imported custom items from Taiwan to sell on eBay). Either way, establishing yourself as an eBay seller isn't as difficult as it seems when you know the ropes. In this chapter, you find out how to look for items under your own roof, figure out what they're worth, and turn them into ready cash. But before you pick your house clean (I know eBay can be habit-forming, but please keep a few things for yourself!), read up on the eBay rules of the road — such as how to sell, when to sell, and what not to sell. If you're interested in finding out how to set up your auction page, get acquainted with Chapter 10; if you want to read up on advanced selling strategies, the Appendix is where to find them.

Why Should You Sell Stuff on eBay?

Whether you need to clear out 35 years of odd and wacky knickknacks cluttering your basement or you seriously want to earn extra money, the benefits of selling on eBay are as diverse as the people doing the selling. The biggest plus to selling on eBay is wheeling ...