As you already know, I have been selling some items to earn money with eBay by clearing the house from unwanted stuff. Part 1 of this experiment posted last week, and it’s time to review the results.
Already mentioned not all profit & loss from this experiment will be included in my monthly income report, because I believe selling your stuff where you have paid full price and getting back 50% or less, can’t be called profit and it shouldn’t be promoted as a money-making activity.
Also, last week, I was testing upselling. Buying something cheap and re-selling at a higher price. Now it’s time to review how all of my sales have gone and did I earn much?
How much did I earn on eBay?
As you can remember, all items I was selling last week were infant “NIKE” trainers, “Tower” air fryer and board game “Dixit”. Only the board game was the experimental purchase to make a profit by selling on eBay.
The most disappointing sale was lovely “NIKE” trainers. These were brought for £15 and never used. I was expecting to recover at least half of the money. Auction started at £0.99 price + delivery charge £2.99. I thought if I get £10 in total, I will be satisfied. Unfortunately, there were only two bids and trainers were sold for £3.20 + 2.99 for delivery. It’s was far away from the price I have expected, and it left a bitter experience.
My second item for sale was “Tower” air fryer. Purchased a year ago for £34.99 and listed on auction at starting bid £9.99 + 7.99 delivery charge. And again, I expected to recover at least half of the money spend when I brought this air fryer. Item rarely used, in excellent condition and it did very well in the auction. There were multiple bidders interested in this fryer and auction ended at £21.00 + 7.99 for delivery. Very happy with the result, although I still call this a loss, sale was spot on with my expectations.
The final and most important item for sale was board game “Dixit”. I have brought this item £10 with only one reason, to make a profit and see how my money-making experiment with eBay will succeed. Looking at eBay last week I saw a significant demand for the board games, and seen many of “Dixit” games listed for £25 “Buy now” options, and thought that auction should reach at least £18-£21. The starting price for this item was a £9.99 + 2.99 delivery fee. And a week later, my hopes were blown away with auction ending at £15.50 + 2.99 for delivery. I still made a profit but much less than expected.
After taking all taxes and delivery costs from the final sale price, results are not so promising. A big part of the profits were “eaten” by eBay and PayPal.
eBay charges 10% of the total price (including delivery fees), PayPal fees are £0.2+3.4% of total cost. Below is the table of the results.
| Item | Purchase price | Sold | Tax | Delivery | Net profit | Profit/Loss |
| Trainers | £15 | £6.19 | £1.05 | £2.75 | £2.40 | -£12.60 |
| Air fryer | £34.99 | £28.99 | £4.08 | £7.45 | £17.46 | -£17.53 |
| Dixit | £10 | £18.49 | £2.67 | £2.75 | £13.07 | +£3.07 |
Final Thoughts, can you earn money with eBay?
Previously mentioned that “Nike “trainers were a most disappointing sale, air fryer was spot on as expected, but these items were not sold for profit, the idea behind this is to declutter your house and reduce loss by selling unwanted items. I will not include the results of the sales into the monthly income report.
Boardgame “Dixit” has made a 30% profit, it sounds good, but when we speak about low-value items, I consider it’s not worth the time. Either volume of sale must be on a much larger scale, or actual items should be higher value to see significant income from eBay. After the game I sold, I did try to investigate why this wasn’t as good as expected. I find out the version of “Dixit” I have had, was the older version. Probably new version would have higher demand, but I don’t think I would be able to buy for the same price either. Not sure how I could increase profit from this sale.
What could be done for better results? I could wait for the promo offers on eBay. Something like “Pay no more than £1”. With this offer, up to 100 listings, the maximum fee you pay after sale is caped to £1. This offer would increase profits on any sold item worth more than £10.
After this experiment, I will not be hunting for anything specific to sale for profits. Unless I spot something seriously cheap, I will take it; otherwise, bargain hunt is over.
Whats next?
I am still looking to do PART 3 next. I am not willing to give up on eBay so easy. I still see the potential to make money there; I just need to find the right way. Next to try is “bulk buy” and sell items individually. I will be looking to buy graded or returned items in bulk, test them and if anything is in good condition then sell.
I need to get a little more information about how it works. I found a few interesting websites offering this sort of business, and now I need to find the best option and location for me.
Keep an eye on my blog, I hope to will give a try before Christmas time. If all goes well, I see potential for loads of available items after New Year, when people will return their Christmas gifts. Fingers crossed, profits will be more substantial this time! 🙂
Hey, you can check it out how it all started in Part 1