Is it profitable to sell on ebay?

[Christmascardsontheshelf]

Trying to earn a little extra on the side selling books I've read, clothes etc.
It says ebay takes 12% of your sale.
Plus the cost of postage and packaging. Is it worth selling anything? I do have a couple of watches I never wear, but for books. Is it worth it?
u have listed loads of things on shock and only sold 2 things, clothes and books just aren't going.

Yabu - don't bother
Yanbu- try it

It turned into a scammer buyers paradise, so no in my opinion.

I used to use it alot but no, don't think it's worth it at all anymore. Too much effort for not much return

I do - I generally get sales, but mostly I use vinted for the lack of fees. eBay is quite expensive for sellers fees. I generally just list in bundles that go for higher amounts and sell individual higher end items in vinted.
I've brought a few books myself through eBay, but if you have loads, I'd be note inclined to sell via something like FB marketplace.

@Muckymaisonette

It turned into a scammer buyers paradise, so no in my opinion.

In what way?

What do people use instead?

Has anyone used 'I Second That'? It seems a bit too good to be true that I can't imagine there is much return on it (and it's only for clothes).

Depends what you're selling and whether the piece you can achieve is worth the effort

I've stopped selling on eBay. Too many scammers & idiots. As already said, a lot of effort for not much return.

Vinted has been good for selling clothes
Ebay fees have got ridiculous and I just can’t be bothered with it
Marketplace is ok but full of time wasting idiots

I have gradually listed and sold the contents of several black bags from when DD moved house. I list about a dozen items at a time as the mood takes me. Listing is quick on the app. I buy postal bags on ebay.
In the last few months I have made about £700. Most items sell for around £8-15, better brands up to £30 or so. If you price reasonably it will sell.
The alternative was to donate to charity, which I did with about a quarter of the items.

Definitely not profitable.
I’m on eBay since 2004 and all I sell is my own stuff and I never made any profit.
I’m actually happy I sell items for half price or less I paid ( new items)

As pp said, try putting things in bundles so that the posage isn’t so onerous

how do you do postage? can you just get stamps or do you have to take the trip to the post office?

thanks for the advice everyone by the way

I gave up after 1 too many 'not received' items
Unless you send absolutely everything signed for delivery (which impacts your p&p costs) then it's too easy to end up having refund buyers when you're pretty sure they have your item as well. Ebay always sides with the buyer.

We sell loads of things like book bundles, dvds, clothes etc., but we always use fixed price buy it now, so never get caught with low bid sales. Can’t remember the last time we had an item not received complaint. I think using BIN weeds out a lot of the time wasters and con merchants trying it on.

I use Ziffit for selling books.
You enter each barcode online and you find out right away what it's worth (might only be 20p, or even nothing, in which case I take them to a charity shop).
Put them in a box, print a label, take to a pick up location (my local Co-op).
A few days later, after they've received and checked the items, they pay me via PayPal (my choice).
They also take Cds & DVDs I believe.

I am a business seller on ebay. My advice right now would be start small and specific. There have been major changes to categories which have cause uproar, a lot of visibility issues due to the algorithim and many long term sellers are thinking of leaving. You need to be prepared to wait to make sales at the right price. That being said, selling on ebay can be great. Re postage, you want to use tracked where possible to prevent any false INRs. I use Parcel2Go for couriers. Start as a private seller and see how you go. Fees as a business are higher, but you can get Top Rated seller if your metrics are good enough, which gives you a boost.

Vinted is good for clothes and jewellery. Easy transit and no seller fees

I make a living selling books on ebay, but they have to be the right books - paperback recent fiction is very unlikely to sell, as are glossy coffee table books. If you've got older fiction (preferably first editions with dustjackets) or niche hardback non-fiction, preferably vintage, you're in with a chance. Have a look at the titles you've got, if there's umpteen of the same book for about £2.50 you may as well give them to a charity shop.

It'll cost you nearly £3 to post each book unless they're quite thin, I use eBay's Packlink service, which provides tracked postage. Posting job lots is cheaper per book.

I've only had a handful of problem buyers in over 20 years of selling, and I've sold thousands of books - I think electronics and clothes are more likely to bring out the scammers.

I bought and sold a few low value item things a few years ago and went ok, but went to sell a few things after a move and struck a seam of grabby/scammy wheeler/dealer buyers trying to buy the items outside of eBay for low offers and getting arsey etc. etc. Also the eBay software platform seemed very clunky (Apple issue?) and had to put in new address 3 times in different parts of the site.

Just not a pleasant experience and the feeling some buyers know the weaknesses in system to scam you, so I won’t use it anymore.

@maximist how have you found the last couple of months? Hope the category problems and indexing havent been a trouble to you, they changed the books specifics earlier didnt they?

For books- probably not.
Watches - possibly but there may be better sites. Minted perhaps?
I think Ebay for individual sellers is best for branded clothes, handbags perhaps, antiques or anything where you know you can ask a decent starting price. If your starting price is less than £5 then Ebay's fees will swallow just too much for it to be economical.

I wouldn’t sell on eBay! Not after the last time where someone tried to scam me, and eBay always sides with the buyer. I’m also not keen on the new payment method, the t&c’s are a bit dodgy 🤷‍♀️ I never get any offers anymore either and the fees are stupidly high.

I haven’t even purchased much off eBay recently either I used to use it all the time.

I tend to use, Facebook, gumtree, & vinted now

I sell tons of stuff on Ebay but it's all vintage clothes so perhaps a bit 'specialist'. I generally price things at more than I would want to get for them. That gives room for negotiation, either by them making me an offer or me sending offers to watchers. As for postage, just charge what it costs to send.

Forgot to say, if you want any Ebay help/advice OP, just ask!