The best things you've sold on eBay

[InceyWinceySpidy]

Just looking for inspiration really. We have a house full of stuff. I have issues throwing things away (I am getting better) and so I've been donating a lot to charity, and selling on eBay.

It seems that the things I thought would sell like hotcakes, barely do, and "junk" I had never thought to sell, will surprise me and go for £50 or so.

I know how to look up sold items so I can see roughly what similar things sold for, but I literally have a house full of stuff to get rid of, and so any information on what tends to make great money, and what's a waste of time, would be greatly appreciated.

So far I have discovered that it's a waste of time selling books, mens clothes and non branded women's/kids clothes.

Surprisingly sold well, were old bits of tech, children's toys, and American football team caps.

What's your best and worst?...

I've sold loads of stuff through my babies growing out of stuff and a house clearance. My big tip is to bundle clothes and shoes according to size, they usually go in bulk albeit not for a fortune.

I agree about old tech. I was surprised our old cordless landline sold at all but there was a bit of interest! Baby stuff - things like bouncers, carry potty - are what I've made most on.

We have DTwins and I have 3yrs of both their clothes to sort out and sell (shudder) but most is branded, so should be ok.

I FB for saled all their bigger baby bits, couldn't be bothered with the attempted postage, probably diddled myself out of quite a bit there.

A work colleague recently sold three Warhammer books for £500. I think they were about 30 years old. He's sold other ones for £100 each

A pair of children’s designer trousers I bought in TKMaxx for £7.

They were really skinny with a leopard print pattern, I can’t remember the make but they sold for nearly £80!

Good heavens!

I sold a pair of Hunter wellies for £70 when I had bought them on the Outnet for £30.

Comparethemarket meerkats had loads of bids back in the day.

Tech bits usually do well too.

Do people just put everything at a 99p start on a 7 date auction?

I used to, but now wait for the 80% off fees weekends, then list as buy it now/best offer at quite a punchy price as I think I get higher offers than if I just let an auction run.

Lego sells really well.
also DH’s mountain of old 80’s action figures went for a small fortune. One used scratched thunder cats figure went for over £80 plus the buyer paid another £30 to have it shipped to Mexico.
I always set things to finish on a Sunday evening. We wait for the discounted listings and generally have it as a 7 day bidding starting at about half what we think it’s worth.

Lego, is that full sets, or bricks (say a bundle of green) as we've got about 3 chests of drawers full of the stuff

It might be best to put an item on auction to start at the minimum you would like to get, having checked the completed sales to gauge the average selling price.g
That way you won't be selling things for 99p.

Both will sell. Do you have instructions?
We have bought bundles before of somebody’s whole collection but all mixed up with the instructions.
Sorted it out and let the kids build the sets and play for a while and then sold the complete sets individually for a profit.

For clothes etc I would use vinted. No fees and postage is much easier.

I've sold so much on there, clothes, toys, computer games. I looked on eBay sold listings and went a bit lower. People can make offers too. I think in the last 3 months I've made around £1500.

Lego - check out Facebook buy and sell groups dedicated to lego. Very helpful and knowledgeable people.

Old/vintage toys sell very well. I sold some well worn care bears for £8-10 each. An old polly pocket for £28. Pokemon items are really good money makers too.

Older/rare disney soft toys/figures. I sold an old battered Oliver (from Oliver and company) for £20 a few years ago. We paid 50p at a car boot! Similarly some wreck it ralph and bolt plushes sold for more than we paid too!

Clothes - band tshirts/merchandise have sold very well for me. Between £5-12 per tshirt. £25 each for some large flags.

A guitar amp I bought in a job lot for 30 quid. Sold the amp for 400 quid. Luckily I had a DS who knew what it was worth before I sold it for a tenner at a car boot!

I did try this, but found that if I put a higher starting bid, things went unsold. Do you get higher fees with a higher starting price on auction?

Half a used bottle of perfume - £25! And I've found old recipe books sell really well, price as a few quid under Amazon and they fly out!

I sell loads on eBay and have been for years . I also have started selling on Vinted clothes sell better on Vinted in my option.
Use a app called Ziffit for books and dvd or we buy books. I'm having a huge clear out as feed up with the clutter .
The best thing I sold was a old bit of trim I found in my car I was going to take it to the tip I made £97!! I now do buy it now instead of auction as things sell better that way

Just to add I've made £867 in the last 3 weeks . I'm a agency it's and work has dried up .it's been my lifeline

I think it's had its day. my great sales are from years ago.

I sold recently and my items did sell but hardly received any views. I was also recently scammed, if that's the right word, by a buyer who lied and claimed a clothing item wasn't new and had signs of wear. (categorically untrue, I had the receipt and photo evidence but I wasn't able to produce them as there's no case dispute option now, just the refund process. The buyer had first asked by message for a refund and to keep the item and I said no, understandably. I did call eBay to strongly complain and was able to keep my money but the buyer achieved their aim of my item and keeping their money as they were not required to return. It does rankle.
The only thing 'wrong' in the photo the buyer sent was short white hair covering it. The buyer fortunately admitted that was their own hair and that was the decider in EBay letting me keep my money, but I had to phone them or I'd have received something back not in the condition it had been sent, and had to cover the return postage.

I moved to Vinted which has its faults but a buyer cannot scam as above if you make sure to put a lot of photos of condition on they have to show it is different. EBay is just not as busy, and it's only worth selling with 80% off offer as the fees are ridiculous and they take a percentage of your postal costs.

I once sold a collectible Maileg mouse for just under £300. Years ago.

Name changed as that's quite identifying I think. I wouldn't bother using EBay now, and the place is comparatively dead. I never buy anything from there now either.

Cycling bits - bits of bikes, cycling shoes, accessories

Postage is easier? How so?

If you open an item at 99p and it sells with no other bidders then half the money goes on eBay fees.

There is no longer a variable fee based on starting price. It costs 30p plus a percentage of the final sale price
As you also pay the fee percentage on postage charged it’s common for people to make the mistake of undercharging and end up paying to give away the item, or if lucky break even at nothing

(reduced fee offers still have the 30p)

Make sure that you consider the weight / size of the item plus packaging - and then take into account that eBay will take a cut, which is fine if your sale price is high enough to cover charges

https://www.ebayfeescalculator.com/uk-ebay-calculator/

Stick to 7 day auctions, otherwise a listing fee is made (you get a confirmation page before finalising the listing)

Decide if you are willing or not to take offers - and set the minimum offer accordingly
People have different thoughts on what offers are. Eg you might mean ‘7 auction starting at £25 and I might accept an offer of £45 for an instant sale’ but offers will be made at £15

Charged post or free post? As fees are charged on the postage amount (because in the past sellers would list at 99p and then rock up the postage to dodge fees) then to a buyer it’s whether or not they are willing to pay the overall total. But some will be attracted by free post others by the lower starting price

I tend to list with ‘free postage’ for 2nd class, taking into account the cost in my asking price and offer alternative postage of 1st class etc topped up by the difference.
I also tick for local collection (and will arrange that at my friends shop in town)
If I’ve listed free post and free collection is taken, then on the odd occasion it’s happened the buyer hasn’t quibbled for a ‘discount’ and I’ve made an extra pound or two
International postage is an easy option now (as long as the item is suitable) just tick the box for the eBay service, you post to eBay and they charge the buyer a top up to forward it

With Vinted there is a sales fee, but they charge the buyer that
(Remember when setting your price that the buyer will pay a little more)

For Vinted postage, unless Royal mail is selected you are provided with a label to print or QR code to scan and that’s it

Generally clothes are better off on Vinted. But specific things may do better or worse on either Vinted or eBay

Search the item on both Vinted and eBay for what others are listing them for
(With ebay you can also search sold / completed items to see what they actually sell for)

If you charge more than others then you are unlikely to sell, unless they have rubbish listings / photos
If you charge the same then it’s pot luck as to who gets the sale
If you can charge a little less or tweak the item / postage price then you can draw sales to you

You select the size of the item depending on weight. The buyer chooses and buys the label and you are sent a qr code to print the label off. It then automatically shows tracking for both buyer and seller. Money is released to the seller once the buyer has confirmed delivery and everything is OK (only have 48hrs once delivered to say there's a problem or money is automatically released).

I have my options on vinted as just evri, yodel and royal mail (I don't really like using that as I have to organise the postage/uploading proof).

I've had one parcel out of approximately 250 go missing which resulted in a quick refund to both me and the buyer. I missed one fault on an item and I refunded which was quick and easy to do.

Plus the uploading process on vinted I find much easier. Takes me around 2-3 minutes per clothing item. Plus the bonus for me is its on there until it sells, I can reduce if I want it gone quicker. Buyers can send me offers too.