2020 Ebay Reselling Results

In 2020 I decided to find out how much extra money I could make as a part-time Ebay reseller.  I've had an Ebay account since 2010, so I know the system pretty well. I have a basic account, which allows me to list 200 items or have $10,000 in sales per month. The most listings I had in a month was about 80, never coming close to exceeding the limits. During the year, I kept track of every sale, my expenses, and how much profit I made. The goal was to make a little extra money and to find out if selling full-time on Ebay is worth the effort.

Total items sold was 70 or about 6 items per month. Gross revenue from sales was $1494 for an average of $21.34 per item sold. Sounds great, until you start deducting the item cost, Paypal fees, Ebay fees, shipping costs, and materials. That came to $1034 for a net profit of $460. The average net profit on each item sold was only $6.57. The biggest fee was shipping at $407. Ebay and Paypal fees came to $211. The biggest material expense was a used laser printer for $172. Since 29 of the 70 items sold were my own, the amount spent on inventory was under $200. 

Continuing as a reseller would require that I put a lot more money into inventory. I still haven't found a niche item category to focus on. The original plan was to sell my handmade marble boards. But, they didn't draw much interest on Ebay this year. Craft items may sell better on Etsy where people are willing to pay for handmade products. Some of the most profitable items were my old big box computer games from the early 1980's. New Balance and Nike shoes in like-new condition fetched good prices. Electronics in like-new working condition also did well. I paid a dollar for two vintage Radio Shack calculators at a flea market that later sold for $45. You can't find gems like that everyday, but when you do, it makes you want to keep looking for more. I managed to maintain a 100% seller rating by shipping items quickly. But, shipping and selling fees make it difficult to justify continuing as a reseller.