How can a novice seller easily sell items on an eBay store and make money?
It is undoubtedly true that the eBay store is a fantastic place to sell pre-owned items. For some people, it has been the basis of an entire e-commerce business. It is only a downside to the eBay business that there is only a limited list of supported countries, at least for sellers.
This is also not a welcome development for international users who wish to profit from the digital retail monolith. You are in luck, though, if you are hoping to circumvent this situation, as we have an easy guide to help you set up an eBay seller profile so that you can begin selling products from anywhere in the world.
To sell items from an eBay account in the United States, people often wonder if they have to be physically present in the country. However, this guide explains how to sell items without being physically present in the country. You must have three things: a US address, a US telephone number, and a PayPal account (this may change in the coming months since eBay and PayPal are now separate companies).
It should be noted that this guide is not about how to hack eBay so that you can become a successful eBay seller, but rather a simple guide on how to start an eBay business or an eBay store while you aren’t physically located in the USA.
Everything you need
You will be guided through the process of setting up an eBay account in the USA and learning the pre-requisites, but we cannot assist you with obtaining a bank account or setting up a PayPal account. Consequently, please proceed as soon as possible if you have a verified PayPal account (provided in more than 180 countries). At this point, PayPal is a ‘must have’ for eBay stores… for the time being, at least.
Get the U.S.A. Address
Obtaining an address in the United States is the first step. Please keep in mind, when reading this post, that the entire point is to sell items from US eBay stores.
There is a large e-commerce business market in the United States, and if a buyer sees that you are located there, there is an implicit trust that they can contact you regarding any queries from customers. It is therefore imperative that you obtain an American address, and the best way to achieve this is by utilizing a package forwarding service.
You can find a wide variety of package forwarding services that give addresses in the United States, and I am sure that you can find one that will suit your needs perfectly. Which package forwarding service is best for you? A reliable service should have good feedback, the customer support team should respond quickly and be superb, and the service should have a phone number you can call or at least a live chat/online chat system if not. Lastly, their free storage should be extended for a period of 30 days or more. If the address provider has a good return policy, even better.
You must pay close attention to all those qualities, because without even one of them, not only will you find yourself in a pool of frustration, but your entire eBay business could be at risk if the address provider turns out to be unreliable or worse a scam. Therefore, choose your forward carefully.
Get a US Phone Number
There is no absolute requirement, but this is a “good-to-have prerequisite. How? The reason is that if your seller account profile indicates that you are located in the United States, eBay will require a contact number, which you can provide if you have one.
Therefore, to sell on an eBay account with a US address, you need a US contact number as well, since every business account requires a contact number to communicate with customers. You should use a VoIP service to obtain a US number.
Recent articles have discussed VoIP services that are reasonably priced, and many of them offer packages for which per-minute charges are charged rather than monthly fees. Even though these services can be forwarded to regular telephone numbers as well, you will not notice any difference in service.
Link it all to PayPal.
The last step consists of adding PayPal as a payment method as eBay prefers it and there is currently no alternative. It is therefore imperative that you have a PayPal and preferably a verified one.
How to sell from an eBay account
It is quite simple to sell on an eBay account… but why? The address, account, and phone number, a PayPal account, and hopefully a decent profile are already in your possession.
You will need to include pictures of your eBay listings and a reasonable sales price if you do not have the option to purchase the item immediately. If the item is not for sale immediately, the starting price should be low enough for you to break even on your list of items.
If this is your first time selling on eBay, please read the following carefully to attract potential buyers:
- If you like, you can buy wholesale items from AliExpress or Amazon.
- and ship them to your forwarding address.
- Please ask the forwarder to take good pictures of the collectibles or items you have purchased.
- Get pictures, dimensions, weights, etc. from your forwarder.
- Create a free eBay listing using “my eBay”.
- Maintain a low selling fee at the beginning to make the selling offer attractive to potential buyers.
- It is your decision whether to use fixed-price or auction-based pricing, but make sure the final value fee on fixed price items is worth it
- You should offer a low shipping cost and as many shipping options as you can because your forwarder will handle this. You should also add USPS, DHL, FedEx, or any other shipping method so you can attract more eBay buyers.
- If you accept debit or credit cards as a method of payment, it will go down as a welcome sign because you can guarantee more “buy now” and quick sales.
- You must add the shipping address information as soon as a payment is received to the forwarding provider’s account so that the items can be shipped out.
- Check your item’s selling limits regularly.
- You need to mark all sold items as such because all these little things contribute to your eBay sales and positive feedback score.
Once they gain trust and good feedback, eBay sellers can make money very easily. It is a great side hustle to make extra cash, and once you realize your eBay business potential, you can offer to sell similar items as your identifier for your online store.
Conclusion
The guide on how to sell from eBay stores has everything you need to become a successful eBay seller. I want to emphasize that, while some of these ideas are certainly out of the ordinary, they are all completely legal. Even if eBay hasn’t added your country to their list, you can still use their high-selling service.
