what's going on everybody I'm Ryan roots
I wanted to make a video today to talk
to the beginners just getting started on
eBay we have a bunch of new people that
are starting to watch our channel and we
wanted to just I wanted to kind of make
a video going through step by step how
to start an eBay business so this isn't
gonna be too much about like sourcing
and where to find wholesale that kind of
stuff it's going to be more about step
by step how to create your accounts and
how to list items and how to ship them
in our opinion for beginners and again
the main reason for me making this video
is because when we first started selling
on eBay there were a lot of daunting
things that we didn't know how to do and
we kind of like stumbled our way through
it but it definitely was difficult and
if we had a video like this it would
have made it a lot easier and then again
why should you even listen to me at all
we are we've been selling on eBay for
full time we've been selling on eBay for
about five years and total throughout
our e-commerce career we've sold over a
million dollars online so I know what
I'm talking about
and if if there's somebody that you
should be listening to it should be
somebody who does it every single day we
still consistently sell on eBay we do
six figures a year only on eBay so here
we go so what I've done is I've typed
out eight steps so eight steps on how to
start the eBay business and I'm just
going to go through it step by step I'll
probably cut to a few different things
and show you guys on my computer exactly
what I'm talking about but I'm just
going to go through these steps and I
made it like I said I try to make it as
simple and as easy as possible so step
number one is what accounts to open
you're gonna want to open an eBay
account and you're gonna want to open a
PayPal account now when you're just
getting started on eBay you do not need
to open an eBay store so you do not need
to open an eBay store and then on PayPal
you do not need to open a business
account the trick here is just to get
your accounts open everything can be
changed as you grow if you end up
starting an LLC you can change
everything over to your business if you
want to open an eBay store you can open
a store in the future and all of your
feedback transfers so you don't need to
open an eBay store and you
don't need a PayPal business account to
begin with so again the first step is to
open those accounts point number 2 here
is to know that you are gonna have
limitations on that account when you
first open an eBay account more than
likely you're going to be limited to
only being able to post 10 items or
$1,000 worth of value on that account
you can ask for increases on your
accounts I made a video about that which
I'll link up here somewhere on how to
ask eBay for account limits to be
increased but again it's important to
note here that there are going to be
limitations on your eBay account and
getting an eBay store signing up for an
eBay store will not take those
limitations away we've had people ask us
sometimes that they you know they open a
regular eBay account and they're like oh
I have limitations let me just pay for
an eBay store doing that will not take
those limitations away PayPal will also
place separate limits on your account as
well so PayPal has its own limits eBay
has its own limits on PayPal typically
they're gonna hold the money that you're
paid in your PayPal account for two to
three weeks depending it's kind of like
a probationary period to make sure that
you're actually shipping the items out
to your eBay customers but yes PayPal is
gonna place limits on your on your
account where you're not gonna be able
to use the money in your PayPal account
for two to three weeks so be aware of
that as well
after those initial few weeks when
PayPal fully activates your accounts
then you'll have instant access to your
money so don't be scared it's not always
gonna be like that it's just for the
first couple weeks so step number three
is what items should you start listing
on eBay well remember you're more than
likely going to be limited to 10 items
in total so the first items you list you
want to list items that are in high
demand and items that will sell very
fast so typically what we tell people to
do when they first started eBay account
is to take a look around their house and
look out for stuff like video games
video game consoles electronics camera
equipment sells very fast on eBay you
want to look out for stuff that's that's
desirable to people stuff that sells on
a daily basis and the reason why is
because with those types of items buyers
are more likely to look past your
feedback if the deal is good enough so
if I'm listing for example
if I'm listing this camera lens right
here I know that this lens is a highly
desirable item and even though if I
start a brand new eBay account with zero
feedback if I give a good enough deal on
this item because it's such a desirable
item buyers will look past my feedback
and still be willing to purchase it and
those are really the type of items that
you want to look out for and start
listing especially with those first ten
you want to get items sold as fast as
possible so you can start building your
feedback and start building your your
reputation on even so again step number
three what items to look out for make
sure you're only listing highly
desirable items and again electronics
camera stuff video games stuff like that
really really good Apple stuff sells
very very fast on eBay so step number
four when you're first starting in eBay
business is how should you list your
items there's two ways to list on eBay
you can list items as buy it now or you
can list items as an auction now where
we are currently in our business 99% of
the items that we list on eBay are
listed as by now the only time we run
auctions currently is if we want to
clear out old inventory and kind of just
like sell it for what we can get
that being said auctions can be a great
way to start because you're kind of
guaranteeing a sale instead of listing
Buy It Now and then waiting around for
the buyer to come to you so if I list
something as buy it now it could take 30
days for me to sell that item whereas if
I listed as a seven-day auction and I
get a bid that item is sold in a week so
auctions can be good when you're first
starting out if you want to make sure
that you're gonna get those sales but
going back to what I said listing highly
desirable items for a good price I still
feel that even when you're first
starting out on eBay if you're listing
as Buy It Now and you're listing for the
correct price with the right items your
items will still sell so I still suggest
that you do your research look for the
right price look for the right items and
then I still suggest that you list as
Buy It Now because more than likely if
you continue to go with this if you
continue to build this into an actual
eBay business more than likely that's
gonna be the way that you're going to be
listing in the future anyway and I don't
want you to get too used to only running
auctions okay which brings us to step
number five which is how to research
how much to list your items for this is
actually fairly simple on eBay because
you can go to sold comparable items on
eBay we call them sold comps it's very
easy you can just look for the actual
item if your listing something like
again this lens you can just type in
exactly what the item is look at these
sold comps on eBay and see how much
those items have sold for when you do
that you want to sort the items by
recently sold first and just look at the
most recent sales on the exact item make
sure that you're noting the condition as
well if the item is used make sure
you're looking at the used comparable
sales if the item is brand new
again make sure you're looking at new
comparable sales but the first thing you
want to do is go to those sold listings
sort by recently sold and start looking
through those
once that's done once you have kind of
an average price range there then you
want to look at what's currently active
what's currently being sold on eBay and
look at what your competition is selling
something for because if something sold
for $1,500
but it's listed currently for $1200 and
there's a bunch of people selling it for
twelve hundred bucks more than likely
you're gonna want to list it around that
amount and again because you're gonna be
a brand new eBay seller at this point
you kind of have to give a better deal
than other sellers because you're not
gonna have the reputation you're not
gonna have the feedback there to warrant
a higher price
so again if something's listed for
$1,500 by a very reputable seller with a
lot of feedback you may want to come in
and list that item for a hundred to one
hundred and fifty dollars less to again
give that buyer a better deal so that
they look past your feedback and
purchase from you so the next point I
want to talk about number six is
feedback I know I touched on it a little
bit but let's get into it a bit more
again when you first open an account on
eBay you're gonna have a total of zero
feedback um and feedback is your
reputation on eBay it's what buyers look
at to make sure that you are a trusted
seller I'm and again if you have zero
feedback it's not a bad thing it just
means it's your new seller but just be
aware that because you have zero
feedback you may not again get those
higher prices so a few ways to get start
getting good feedback you need to make
sure that your
listing your items well so describe them
as they are again don't sell something
that's used as new that's a that's a big
no-no so describe your items well take
very very good clear pictures if there's
any flaws on the items make sure you're
taking good pictures of those so the
buyers aren't expecting something and
then getting something that isn't as
described other things you can do make
sure your shipping very fast sometimes
will list items as longer shipping and
will ship it to them much faster than
they expect if you look at our feedback
on our accounts a lot of the feedback we
get is wow faster shipping than I
expected
so sometimes doing that just go in a bit
over and above for the buyer shipping it
to them fast that's a good way to do it
as well we also include a thank-you note
in all of our packages just saying thank
you for your purchase if you have any
issues reach out to us and if everything
is as expected please go and leave us
positive feedback so include a little
thank-you note in your packages we
actually print them out now so we have
like little colour postcards they'll be
put in everything but when we first
started selling on eBay we would just
type it out and print it out on a white
sheet of paper cut them out and put it
in the package you just want to make
sure you have something going in the
package saying thank you so the buyer
knows that you are an actual person and
they're not buying from a large
corporation so that's how it gets
positive seller feedback while you're
doing that one thing that we suggest if
you have again if you have zero feedback
if you just started your eBay account
one thing we suggest is to go on eBay
and buy some shipping supplies or
whatever supplies you need tape poly
bags like this because you're gonna be
shipping stuff in bags like that buy
your supplies on ebay from sellers that
have large accounts large amount of
feedback and the reason why is because
most of the time when you purchase stuff
from a large seller like that they're
gonna leave you automatic positive
feedback as soon as you pay for the
items so even our account right now our
seller accounts if someone buys
something from us on our accounts as
soon as they pay for it our account is
set up to automatically leave them
positive feedback and even though that
feedback coming in isn't seller feedback
it still does count towards your little
ebay feedback score so your score does
go up and it shows as you know one
positive feedback not a seller feedback
but still shows as one positive feedback
which adds to your overall reputation on
eBay as a good seller and a good buyer
so that's one way to to increase that
feedback is to buy your supplies the
supply that you need first starting out
buy them on ebay from sellers with a
good reputation lots of good feedback so
now let's talk about point number seven
which is pictures and listing the
pictures sell the product on ebay that
is 100% truth so again you want to make
sure you're taking clear good quality
pictures don't take it in a dark dim
area don't don't hang a shirts on on
your door and take a picture that way
don'ts don't lay items on your dirty bed
sheets and take pictures like that you
want to make sure you're taking clear
pictures and you don't have to go and
buy a ton of expensive equipment to do
that in fact you can go to the dollar
store and you can get a white poster
board and use that as your background
white white backgrounds that's what eBay
wants so that's the best way to do it go
spend a couple bucks and get you know
get just a white poster board and use
that as your background I suggest taking
your pictures using an iPhone to start
you can use an Android as well but
iPhone takes really good pictures
and I suggest taking them in the square
mode so you want a one by one aspect
ratio and when you're taking the
pictures click on the item scroll up
with it so that you can you can adjust
that brightness while you're taking the
picture just to make the items kind of
pop you can get great pictures as long
as you have good lighting good
background and a decent camera you're
gonna get good pictures and I'll also
link all of the supplies that we
currently use for our business on eBay
I'll link them in the description of
this video so you can go and check out
what we're currently using as well to
get the best pictures and then just a
couple more tips for when you're taking
pictures make sure that you're taking at
least four ebay once at least four
pictures do not use stock images so
don't go and Google something don't
Google the item and then use that
picture off somebody else's website make
sure you're taking pictures of the
actual item that you're selling and then
again if there are any flaws make sure
you're taking pictures of that
and notating it in your item description
so again clean clear pictures sell the
product make sure that you're taking
good pictures on either so that's item
number seven hopefully you guys are
following along and hopefully this isn't
too overwhelming I'm trying to keep it
very very simple while you know you got
to remember that I'm only touching on
maybe one to two percent of eBay as a
whole but this video again is for those
of you who are just starting out so
hopefully this video is helping if it is
helping so far please guys make sure to
hit the thumbs up button on the video I
would really appreciate it so the next
thing and probably the most daunting
thing for most new eBay sellers is
shipping it was the hardest thing for us
to learn and I could do I could do an
hour-long video on just shipping but
luckily Callie actually just did a it
just did a video for us on shipping so I
don't have to do that so I'm gonna talk
briefly on shipping one thing that I'll
suggest when you first start selling on
ebay is to to keep things simple so that
it's not overwhelming because there's 50
different shipping options on eBay
what we suggest for a brand new ebay
buyer or brand new ebay sellers to keep
things simple is try to try to fit
everything into three categories either
first class mail so items that way under
a pound that you can put in your own
poly bags or in your own box and ship
out try to keep things in there or go
for flat rate envelopes so you can get
flat rate envelopes or flat rate padded
envelopes and then the next step up from
that would be medium flat rate boxes
which are a little bit more expensive
there's cheaper ways to ship than that
but for those of you who are just
starting out if you can just keep those
three in mind it'll make things easier
for you and then you can learn as you go
from there there's definitely other ways
like regional a boxes which are really
good gonna be a little bit cheaper but a
little bit smaller than like a medium
flat rates you can use FedEx you can use
UPS there's other cheaper ways to ship I
understand that but for the sake of this
video for beginners I want you to focus
on those three ways to ship poly bag or
box under 16 ounces has to be under a
pound to go first-class mail flat right
envelopes again or pedofile rate
envelopes and padded or not padded but
medium flat rate box
the flat rate envelopes and the medium
flat rate boxes you can get for free on
USPS comm that in this in the
description of the video as well but you
can get those supplies for free on USPS
so when you're listing on eBay you're
only going to be choosing one of those
three options and again I suggest when
you start out that you use free shipping
make sure your items fit in your
packaging if it's under a pound again
make sure you're sticking the item in
the packaging weighing it get a little
scale weigh it before you list the items
so you know that it is gonna be under a
pound if it's not under a pound see if
it fits in one of those flat rate
envelopes if it doesn't fit in there
move on to again you can do the regional
a which is cheaper or move on to that
medium flat rate box but again keep in
mind that when you're doing free
shipping whatever price you list at
there are fees involved so eBay is gonna
take ten percent out of that PayPal is
going to take their three percent out of
that and then you still have to pay for
shipping on top of that so if you sell
something for $100 and you put it in a
padded flat rate envelope you're gonna
be paying ten dollars to ebay three
dollars to PayPal and another about
eight bucks to ship that item out so
just keep that in mind when you are when
you are listing but again to make it
easy we like to tell people to do free
shipping but make sure it fits in one of
those methods and then again you can go
and watch Callie's shipping video Kelly
is one of our employees she does all of
our eBay shipping for us and she made a
video on how we ship stuff on eBay it's
a much more comprehensive video but but
I just wanted to give you those three
options to make it super simple so now
we've talked pretty much step-by-step on
how to start your account through how to
list the only other things that I want
to talk about because the questions come
up as well is when you're listing an
item so when you're looking at those
sold comps when you go to list the best
way to do it in my opinion is to click
on sell similar and I'll do screenshots
of this as well as so you guys can see
what I'm talking about but you're going
to want to click on the button that says
so similar which will bring up the
listing on eBay from there you can
change the title
to make sure that it's the correct title
when you're when you're putting your
title in on eBay that's the first thing
that Google reads that eBay reads so you
want to make sure that your title is
perfect don't use all caps in your title
make sure you're using all of the
characters you have 80 characters I
believe make sure you're using all of
the characters up in the title that you
can list the brand first so again like
with this camera lens I would list saw
the Sony it's a badess or Z's I would
list
Z status first before before adding more
to the title so you want the brand to be
the first thing listed on eBay so make
sure your title is good make sure your
items specifics are in there make sure
that your listing a good description
doesn't have to be like a super long you
don't have to tell like the life story
of the item just make sure that there's
a good description and describing any
flaws again with the item so title
description very very important put your
shipping options in there make sure that
you've linked your PayPal account so you
can get paid and that's the easiest way
to to get your item listed onto eBay so
to wrap things up just a few things I
want you to keep in mind the first thing
is when you're ordering shipping
supplies it may take one or two weeks
for those supplies to get to you so
don't list on eBay if you don't already
have a way to ship those items out
because the last thing you want to do is
have a buyer waiting for their item
while you're waiting to get your
supplies so go in order your supplies
get them in and then start listing your
items remember that the more you list on
eBay
the more you'll sell again you're going
to be a bit limited when you first open
an account but moving forward as your
limitations get get higher and higher or
as you get more and more availability to
list items on eBay the more items you
list the more items you'll sell super
simple but we forget that as eBay
sellers sometimes we look at our
accounts and we're like why isn't
anything selling well it's very easy
it's because you're not listing enough
stuff so the more you list the more you
sell there definitely are scammers on
eBay a lot of them targets brand new
eBay sellers so just keep that in mind
as well look out for stuff like you know
offers if someone offers you more money
than your item is listed for just
decline the offer and move on if some
ask you for your phone number or email
address never send that to make sure all
communication stays on eBay never ship
an item to an address that isn't on file
with eBay so if you get like an email or
something from a buyer saying hey don't
ship this item here ship it here that
would be a no you wouldn't want to ship
into an address that they didn't provide
on eBay never ever ship an item out
until you have actually received payment
so until eBay says once the eBay says
it's okay to ship that item then you can
ship it you don't want to you don't want
to ship anything out until you have the
money and then one of the biggest things
to keep in mind is patience is key
you're not gonna list something and sell
it within 30 minutes and that's it's
something that's crazy crazy
sought-after
it just doesn't work that way you have
to wait for the right buyer like I said
earlier there's a ton to learn when it
comes to eBay I've only touched maybe 1
to 2 percent of it in this video so keep
learning is another good tip make sure
that you're doing your research watching
YouTube videos like this we also offer
mentoring so we have a mentoring class
coming up in September 15th
that's a month-long mentoring class
where we go through everything from
starting out on eBay to how to how to
build it into the actual business like
ours that does six figures a year and we
charge three hundred and ninety seven
dollars for that class and it lasts a
whole month so if you're interested in
that as well I'll put a link in the
description of this video where you can
go get on the waiting list for that
September 15th class but all-in-all guys
eBay as a business model can be really
really good it can be really really
profitable if you're taking the right
steps to make it work we started our
business with only 200 bucks and we've
turned it into what it is today so you
know keep a positive mindset bad things
are gonna happen to bound to happen it's
not all going to be smooth sailing
there's definitely going to be some some
bumps and some rocks that you're gonna
have to climb over but if you keep a
positive mindset and you move past it
the biggest thing that we see with brand
new eBay sellers is that they stop too
soon and obstacle will come up and
they'll just shut down they won't know
what to do and they'll just stop selling
on eBay so I'm gonna say you know make
sure that you are your your
we're that bad things can happen but
you're not like dwelling on them and
you're not gonna you're not using those
as an excuse to get out of selling on
eBay work through the obstacles and once
you once you figure it out once you get
going on eBay in a good way you'll be
able to tell that it can be a really
really good business and then again make
sure that you have some sort of a
support system there's a great reselling
network on Instagram
YouTube's another great way our
mentoring group is great just make sure
you have some sort of like a support
system to lean on when those troubles do
arise and there you go guys hopefully
this video helps out I try it again I
try to break it down as easily as I can
if you enjoyed this video please guys
hit the thumbs up button if you know
anybody who is a beginner on eBay or
they need advice or help please share
this video with them and if you have any
comments or questions make sure that you
leave them in the comments section of
this video subscribe to our YouTube
channel if you're not subscribed because
we put out a lot of videos just like
this so thank you guys so much for
watching I really appreciate it
again I'm Ryan roots and I will see you
guys on the next video peace up bye
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