eBay & second-hand selling tips

There are a few little words every regular eBay seller loves to see in their email inbox: "80% off selling fees!"

Every so often, eBay runs promos where you pay a smaller percentage of the sale price on all items you list over a certain period. Sadly, the fixed 30p per-order charge stays the same. The promos usually run for two or three days over a weekend.

These periods can be a great time to get selling, particularly if you have expensive items you want to shift. 

eBay usually invites you by email, and you must actively accept the offer or you won't get it. Always hit the 'activate now' button on the promo invitation page to be eligible. It's easy to forget this, but if you don't click, you'll pay full whack.

It's worth noting all eBay items with fixed 'buy-it-now' prices now stay up until they sell (or you cancel the auction). Yet they need to sell within the first 30 days to benefit from the '80% off fees' promos.

While Ebay's hiked its fees, the best bit about Facebook's Marketplace is it's FREE to sell on, so you keep all the profit. Though with eBay you've a wider audience, as most Facebook sales are local. (Plus it's now free to sell clothes.) For a crash course in how to earn £100s this way, see our Facebook selling tips.

We wanted to put this to the test, pitting eBay against Facebook to see where you could get the most for your wares. So we crunched the numbers on sold prices for 20 items, from trainers to Nutribullets, to see which site pays best.

Our spot check found sellers got more on Facebook than eBay for 14 out of 20 items, once fees were factored in. For full results and more findings, read MSE Jenny's eBay vs Facebook – which wins? blog.

Selling on eBay is a balancing act: set the starting price too high and no one will bid; set it too low and there's a risk your item will go for a knock-down price.

As mentioned above, searching completed items will give you an idea of the prices similar items have fetched, giving you a guide to how much money you can expect to make.

Consider lowering your starting price to attract more attention; boffins at London Business School and Northwestern University in the US did some research on this topic, and found auctions with modest starting prices sparked more bidding and fetched higher final prices. 

The exception is products you expect little interest in; the petrol cap of a 1974 special edition VW Beetle may be niche, but someone who wants it could be willing to pay a good price for it. Set starting prices higher for items only specialist buyers will be after.

Think about seasonality – sell stuff at the right time of year; few will be searching for Christmas crackers in July or barbecues in December.

The closer you can get it, the better. If you're flogging an air-conditioning unit, for example, wait for a hot spell and pump up the price.

If you've heaps of similar small items, consider selling them as a job lot. Add eBay's 30p per transaction fee to the final value fee you pay on postage costs (see more on fees) and you can earn very little on low-value items sold individually.

Plus you'll often find buyers might not want to spend £4 on postage for one baby dress, but will happily pay that for seven dresses.

Selling as a bundle works especially well with kids' clothes, books, ornaments, old video games, Lego, vintage toys and camera equipment, though do check any vintage items aren't worth more alone before selling.

But sell expensive, rare or branded goods individually – don't bung Prada in with Primark.

To build an array of sparkling feedback ratings, you need to deliver goods speedily and in the condition advertised. While not a legal obligation, offering good customer service will boost feedback and protect you from problems.

So how can you get top marks? The key is to put yourself in the buyers' shoes – how would you like to be treated?

Describe the item accurately, reply to questions promptly and try to dispatch within 48 hours. Let the buyer know when you've dispatched, add the postal tracking number (both done for you if you purchase postage via eBay) and include an invoice in the package.

Another nice touch is to email a message along the lines of: 'Hi there, I've just sent your lovely puzzle/pineapple earrings/plastic parrot. Hope you enjoy it/them as much as I did – please shout if you have any questions.'

It's not just buyers who get caught out by the unscrupulous – sellers can too. One problem for sellers is a buyer winning a pricey item such as a MacBook, then saying it never arrived and claiming the cash back – even though they have the item.

If a buyer doesn't receive their item, they're entitled to a refund unless you can provide tracking information showing that it was delivered. For items valued at over £450, you'll also need signature confirmation.

You must also have sent the item within the number of days you promised in your listing, which eBay calls your "handling time" – read eBay's guide on this for more details.

Discourage dodgy buyers by adding a requirement that you won't accept bids from buyers with a certain number of unpaid items. To do this, in My eBay, click the 'Account Settings' tab, then in the 'Selling Preferences' section, scroll down to 'Blocked Buyer List'. 

You can also block specific buyers – if you get enquiries from a buyer before your auction ends and don't like the cut of their jib, just add 'em to your blocked list.

While most negative feedback is likely to be justified, buyers who casually leave negative and neutral feedback for sellers most people would consider decent are an issue. To check if you're dealing with a cranky curmudgeon, go to their profile, click on Feedback profile and then on the Feedback left for others tag. 

Consider setting up a bank account specifically for paying your eBay earnings into – that way you'll see the cash pile up, rather than it just disappearing into your current account. Some MoneySavers then spend what they've made on Christmas or a holiday – see the Top Savings Accounts guide for best buys.

With local classified sites, the buyer usually collects in person and pays cash on collection, which means no eBay, no PayPal and no fees – hurrah!

The king of 'local' classified sites is Gumtree, which covers the entire UK and lets sellers list for free. Interestingly, Gumtree is owned by eBay, but thankfully this hasn't affected its free community-based operations.

Many MoneySavers rate second-hand site Preloved*, where placing ads is also free. Try Loot, local online forums and your local paper too.

Also see MSE Jenny's 9 Ways to Turn Unwanted Clothes Into Cash blog for tips on clearing out unwanted clobber.

Ever watched Storage Hunters, the US show where people bid for the mystery contents of storage units? Once the lockdown eases, you can do it yourself at lost luggage auctions.

When airlines are unable to reunite lost bags with their rightful owners, they often sell them off via specialist auction houses for £10-£75.

Find a winner and profit is possible from eBaying the content. For a full guide, including which auction houses do this, see our guide to Lost luggage auctions. 

Top-quality goodies are available daily across the country for FREE. It's all about web communities, and the big names are Freecycle and Freegle. 

Instead of binning goods or trying to eBay them, people offer them to their local community for free. In return, they hope they can grab something they want – see our Freecycle & Freegle guide for more information.