I have been selling items on eBay for several years now. I know a lot of people looking for easy money making ideas and they often ask me how to make money on eBay. I have to be honest and tell them that making money with eBay is not easy but they still pester me to get tips for selling on eBay. So I thought I'd take a minute or two and jot down the approach I use to make money on eBay auction items. If you are planning to start an eBay business with the intent of actually making money on eBay (I'm talking about regular money) then the most important thing you can do is control your costs. That sounds simple, but it is the real key to making money with eBay. There are basically four areas of cost that require close attention. They are, the cost of acquiring merchandise (product) to sell, the costs involved with the actual eBay selling process, the costs incurred in packaging your sold items, and the cost of actually shipping the items to your customers.

Product

This could be a non-issue if you are selling items that you already own but no longer use. But if you are looking to make a business of what you sell on eBay you will have to find products that sell well and can be purchased in quantity for a reasonable price. Product acquisition is an important aspect of making money with eBay but is not really the topic at hand. Whatever you buy, wherever you buy it make sure you are getting the best price you can and be sure to get the lowest price possible on the shipping charges you will incur getting the merchandise to your door. It is the sum of the product price plus the amount paid to ship it that comprises the cost that you must recover before you can make a profit.

Listing & Checkout fees

You might be making money with eBay but you can be sure that eBay is making money with you. You will have to pay a listing fee for every auction item you list to sell on eBay. The fee schedule is available on eBay so I won't go over it here. Just understand that it is an increasing scale based on the initial price you set for the item you are selling. If you list an item for .99 cents then eBay currently charges .15 cents to list it. If you start out at a higher price then you pay a higher fee. What is important is to pay attention to the price points at which the listing fee goes up. Which is to say that you will save some money (control costs) by listing your item for $24.99 instead of $25.00. This fee is paid whether or not you sell your item.

If you are successful and get a buyer for your goods then you will pay a "final value" fee which is a percentage of the sale price. This fee has been changing lately so you should be sure to review the current pricing structure on the eBay site.

Having paid eBay its due, you may be thinking you are out of the woods. Well, there is that little matter of collecting your customer's money. You are now required to use PayPal for all sales on eBay. This isn't so bad if your buyer has a PayPal account and pays you directly from that. But if your buyer wants to pay by credit card - you will have to pay a fee to PayPal for that service. Again, the fee you pay goes up as the amount being paid goes up.

Packaging and Supplies

Once your product is purchased you must carefully package it so that it arrives safely in your buyers anxious hands. Costs here will vary by the size, weight, and shape of the item you are shipping. You will need padded envelopes or boxes, some kind of light weight packing material, and lots of packing tape. Some of these things can be purchased from other sellers on eBay. I always include the cost of the shipping label that I will use in this cost group. I buy labels in packs of 100 for $15.00 (shipping included). That means it costs .15 cents per label. It all adds up.

Shipping

This is one of the trickier costs to control overall. Usually sellers don't think of shipping as a cost point for them because they do (and you can) charge an extra shipping fee on the listing. Pay attention to the weight of the item you are selling (and consider how you will pack it for shipping) when you create your eBay listing. If you charge your buyer a certain price for First Class shipping and discover, too late, that the ship ready package weighs more than 13oz. - you are stuck paying the difference.

So that's it! It is easier than it sounds once you have the cost control mind set that is needed to succeed in making money with eBay.