How To Make An Extra $500 On Weekends Reselling On eBay (Full Guide)
Frey Chu
Table Of Contents
How To Make Money Selling On eBay
If you’re looking for a side hustle that can make you an extra $500 on the weekend, here’s the answer: reselling and flipping items on eBay.
Take it from someone who paid their rent (true story) for a year from 10 hours a week of reselling items.
In 2021, I paid for my $1,600/month rent purely by buying items at garage sales and flea markets on the weekends.
After years of reselling items on the side, I can confidently say that flipping items for a profit is the easiest, quickest, and lowest-cost way to earn an extra $500 to $2,000 a month working on the weekends.
To get started, you need have:
- Space to store inventory, package and ship items
- A smartphone or computer
- Transportation
- $100 cash ($500 to start quicker)
- Willingness to wake up early
In this blog, I’m going to share with you how to get started, the best places to source items for cheap and how I consistently earned $500 in profit within 3 months of re-selling.
Why Reselling Will Never Be Dead
5 Reasons Reselling Is The Best Way To Earn $500 A Month
Never listen to people who say that “reselling is dead.”
Valuable items end up in thrift stores, garage sales, and flea markets for many different reasons. Some reasons are out of necessity, like when someone in a family passes away.
As long as people continue to move homes, declutter, and die, reselling items for a profit will continue to be alive and well.
After trying several popular side hustles, such as drop shipping, real estate photography, selling digital marketing services, and e-commerce, flipping items for a profit has proven to be the lowest-risk method of earning an extra income.
Here are a few reasons why reselling is one of the best side hustles:
- It’s cheap to start; your main expenses with a reselling business are the cost of the products, shipping labels, and packaging materials.
- Opportunities are endless; valuable items end up in garage sales, flea markets, and estate sales often because the person giving them away doesn’t believe the cash value of their items is worth the time it takes to resell them. Also, people simply aren’t aware of the value of the items they’re giving away.
- There is low financial risk; when deciding to buy an item, anyone can check eBay’s sold listings for accurate, up-to-date market prices on the item. It’s not a big loss if you purchase an item for $10 and it’s either worth less or doesn’t sell.
- Your knowledge compounds; you may need to look up every item you’re going to purchase on eBay’s sold listings to confirm it’s worth the price, but every reseller has their knowledge of value. As you resell, you start to pick up on which items sell quickly and can sell for high value.
- You can strike gold; luck is a big factor in reselling. While there are plenty of items you can buy for $5–$10 and resell for $50–$60 (this is common), you always have the chance of finding something you can sell for 50x the value or more.
Finding items to resell truly feels like a treasure hunt.
Take my greatest flip of all time, for example. I was driving home from the flea market and saw a yard sale sign, so I decided to make a quick pit stop.
A couple of teenagers were running a yard sale in a typical middle-class neighborhood.
I saw a bunch of old collectibles, worn shoes, and shower heads (I know, random). Then, I spotted a box of about 50 comic books, which the teenagers said was $15 for the whole box.
Knowing nothing about D.C. and Marvel comics, I used the eBay app and scanned the UPC code to check the first comic on the top of the stack.
It turned out to be a rare first-print comic that I ended up selling on eBay, by auction, for $710.
How To Earn $500 Monthly
How To Get To $500 A Month Within 3 Months Of Reselling
If you start reselling, it’s important to go into it with proper expectations.
Can you learn how to source items, list them properly on eBay, and ship products within 30 days?
Of course! But it’s unlikely.
But it took me 3 months, a few hundred dollars, and sacrificing my weekends to improve my buying and selling skills before I consistently earned $500 or more a month from reselling.
While you may think 3 months is a long time, this is as “fast” as it gets when it comes to starting a side business.
In 3 months, you’ll need to take some buying risks to see what types of items sell well and what don’t sell at all.
You also need to learn how to negotiate (rule #1: always negotiate), list items on eBay with proper item titles and descriptions, grow your eBay seller status, and, last but not least, find the most economic ways to pack and ship products around the country.
Where To Buy Valuable Items
How Do You Find Good Deals To Resell?
Garage sales, flea markets, and thrift stores will give you the best chances of buying valuable items for cheap.
Personally, I think garage sales are the best and leave the highest chances for hitting a huge flip. If you’re just starting out, I recommend sticking to garage sales and flea markets only for the greatest chance at cheap goods.
To find garage sales near you, go to Craigslist > Search > for sale > garage & moving sales.
From here, set your location to as far as you’re willing to drive and look for garage sales that begin on Saturdays and Sundays.
Saturdays are always the busiest days for garage sales, so there’s a chance you’ll have too many to choose from. If this is the case, go through each listing, read the descriptions, scan the photos (if any), and start looking for items that you think can be valuable, easy to ship, and aren’t fragile or easy to damage.
Garage sales are a gamble, but if you wake up early and visit a few every weekend, it’ll be rare to leave the weekend empty handed.
Flea markets are another incredible place to source.
Most of the vendors at flea markets purchase in bulk from storage units, Amazon returns, and leftover items from estate sales. This means they’re typically willing to let items go anywhere from $1 to $10. For them, it’s a numbers game.
Tip: Always bring cash. I like to bring $100, divided by ten $1 bills, ten $5 bills, and two $20 bill.
How To Buy Items That Sell
How To Buy Items Guaranteed To Make You Profit
Want to know the best way to feel disappointed and discouraged? Buying an item that you “think” is worth more than what you bought it for.
This is inevitable in the reselling business.
One of my greatest mistakes in reselling was driving 76 miles (one way) to a garage sale where I thought I was buying a gold mine of rare beanie babies. A quick search on eBay made me believe I just bought a $2000 beanie baby, when in fact the most expensive beanie baby in the box was only worth $7 on eBay.
While it was a mistake, it served as one of my most valuable lessons: make data driven decisions. In other words, always check eBay’s sold listings before buying an item you plan to resell.
Here’s how to search for current market prices using eBay’s sold listings.
Go to eBay > search your item > Filter > Sold Items > Show results.
This will show you all the information you need to make your buying decision and greatly reduce your unprofitable purchases.
When looking up an item’s previous sold price, pay attention to things like:
- Whether your item is an exact match to the one you’re buying
- Number of similar products sold in the last week/month
- How often your item sells every week
- The lowest listed price from a competing listing
- Find this by un-toggling “Sold Listings” and Sort by “Lowest price + Shipping”
If you can’t find your item because it doesn’t have a brand, model number, or is just hard to determine, use descriptors including the color, size, shape, age (vintage or not) and material of your item.
Write eBay Listings Like A Pro
Here's 7 Tips To Make Your eBay Listing Look Professional
Is there an algorithm for eBay selling? Absolutely! The prize for listing an item on eBay correctly is a boost in the search listings. More visibility means more sales.
To maximize your chance at gaming the algorithm, eBay wants their sellers to create complete and detailed listings.
Your eBay listing should include the following:
- A minimum of 4 product photos
- A descriptive and full title (use most or all of the max word limit)
- Item specifics that include the product’s condition, color, brand, and size and model number (if any)
- 1-3 sentences in your item description
- Competitive pricing
- Free shipping
- Free Domestic Returns
The most important thing on this list is your listing title.
I always try to make my title as descriptive as possible, often using the entire character limit of 80 characters. Make sure to include things like the product’s brand, product name, model numbers, where it’s made, color, size, quantity and even the condition of the item.
Once you get it down, you can create a professional product listing on eBay under 2 minutes.
Here are a couple examples of eBay listings from my personal eBay store back in 2022.
You can even sell used or half full bottles of perfume
Did you know you can sell used perfume on eBay? Yes, it’s true. As long as you include that it’s used in your listing title and item specifics, it’s allowed.
Used perfumes was actually consistently my highest profit items. Most people look over half full bottles of perfume at garage sales and estate sales, but I’ve made hundreds of dollars buying used perfumes for $1 to $5 and reselling them for over $50.
Here’s an example of an eBay listing I wrote for a used perfume I sold for $75 on my eBay store.
Best eBay Shipping Methods
What Is The Best Shipping To Use When Selling On eBay?
The best shipping method to use all depends on the product you’re shipping. The size, shape, weight and where it’s being shipped will inform you on the best shipping options.
Without a doubt, the most affordable shipping methods for eBay sellers are found using USPS and UPS.
What's the best shipping option for eBay sellers?
The best shipping method to use all depends on the product you’re shipping. The size, shape, weight and where it’s being shipped will inform you on the best shipping options.
Without a doubt, the most affordable shipping methods for eBay sellers are found using USPS and UPS.
To keep things simple, USPS priority mail is the best option for most products that weigh over 1 pound and less than 20 pounds.
This is the case whether you’re shipping items across the country or just across town. The most common price for a postage label for USPS priority mail costs between $7 to $20. The heavier your item, and the larger your package, the more it will cost.
What is the cheapest way to ship sold items on eBay?
The cheapest postage label you can purchase, that’s not an envelope, is using USPS first class mail. For any packages that weigh less than 1 pound, you can buy your USPS first class mail label for between $4 to $7.
However, because of the weight limit, you’re limited to the type of items you can ship with this label.
For this reason, the best items to sell on eBay are light weight items that fit into a small box or package.
What is the cheapest way to ship heavy or oversized items on eBay?
For large items or items that weigh over 20 pounds, UPS ground is the cheapest shipping label you can buy. Prices vary depending on the exact weight and size, but typically you can spend under $25 for your shipping label.
Personally, UPS ground is my first choice when shipping anything relatively heavy (15 pounds or more) across the country.
How do I offer free shipping on eBay without losing money?
Free shipping is highly recommended if you want boost your eBay sales. The perception of free shipping is always positive – giving your buyers the impression that your product is priced with the best offer.
To offer free shipping without losing money, you must include the cost of shipping in your price. For example, if I’m selling a $20 product that will cost $9 to ship, I would list the item for $29.95 + free shipping.
But the trick to staying profitable while offering free shipping starts before your buy an item to flip. You need to be able to:
- Know an estimated cost for a shipping label , based on an item’s size and weight
- Know what the lowest price an item like yours currently sells for on eBay
Once you have this knowledge, work backwards when it comes to your pricing strategy.
For example, let’s take this PUR water filter that I sold on my eBay store.
At the flea market, I bought about 40 boxes of these brand new water filters, which come in a pack of 3.
Before purchasing them, I knew from experience that, based on the size and weight, USPS priority mail would be the best shipping option. I could estimate spending $7 for the shipping label.
Using eBay’s sold listings feature, I also knew that there were a ton of eBay sellers selling the same exact product for $27–$30.
To be competitive, I assumed that I’d be able to sell them quickly at $25 per box.
With this information, I was able to negotiate with the flea market vendor to ensure I’d stay profitable.
Initially, the vendor was asking $10 per box of 3 filters. If I took his offer, that means I’d be spending $17 per box of filters, only to sell them for a mere $25. Let’s agree that $8 in profit isn’t anything to get excited about, especially because this doesn’t even include eBay’s seller fees that add an additional 10% of your sale.
For these reasons, I knew I wanted to spend less than $5 per box of filters.
Due to the large amount I purchased from the same vendor, I was able to get it down to $4 per box of 4 filters, making my cost for the product and shipping labels to be closer to $11 – this left me with a gross profit of $14 for every box of filters sold (before eBay fees).
Since water filters are a necessity, I sold all 40 boxes in less than a month.
eBay Penalties To Watch Out For
What Happen When eBay Sellers Don't Ship Items?
What happens when you ship an item on eBay that gets damaged or lost? What if your item you sell arrives safely, but the buyer claims your item is not as described? The ugly truth is that 99% of the time, the seller takes all the responsibility.
In these situations, not only will the buyer be able to file a complaint with eBay, but eBay will side with the buyer 9 times out of 10. You’ll be forced to refund your customer and pay for their return shipping label, just for you to receive an item that may not be re-listed due to it’s condition.
Do eBay sellers get in trouble for not shipping?
Yes, if you’re selling products on eBay and don’t ship your order, your customers can report the item as not delivered and your funds will be held by eBay until you resolve the problem with your customer.
If you choose to ignore the customer, eBay will refund the customer and you may have a negative payout on your seller account. It’s common knowledge among eBay sellers that eBay will protect their buyers first before their sellers, so it’s best to ship your sales orders on time and with proper shipping materials.
What happens if my package weighs more than my shipping label on eBay?
If you haven’t shipped your item yet, you can simply void your original shipping label in exchange for a refund or eBay shipping credits, and repurchase a new shipping label for the accurate weight of your item.
If you’ve already shipped your item off, the postal office, whether it’s USPS, UPS or Fedex, may return the order back to the sender’s address. This doesn’t always happen, but it’s worth knowing that you’ll end up paying twice the shipping cost to ship your item if this happens to you.
Best Shipping Materials To Use
What Packaging Materials Should You Use For eBay?
For secure and safe packaging, all you need is bubble wrap, packing paper, and a box that can comfortably fit your items.
What is a best practice to follow when packaging items eBay?
For secure and safe packaging, all you need is bubble wrap, packing paper, and a box that can comfortably fit your items.
A general rule of thumb is to never ship an item in a box where your item is directly touching the inside panels of a box. This is an easy way to have your item damaged in transit.
When shipping any item, you should leave at least 2 inches of empty space on the each side of your box, where you will use your bubble wrap and packing paper to create a protective layer to absorb the impact of your box being tossed around in the back of a USPS or UPS truck.
How do I avoid expensive packing materials when selling on eBay?
Buying bubble wrap, packing paper, bubble mailers, packing tape, and cardboard shipping boxes at the store or Amazon is totally acceptable when you’re just getting started.
However, to avoid the expensive prices for packing materials, purchase them from wholesalers on secondary markets like Facebook Marketplace. Simply search for bubble wrap on Facebook Marketplace to see if there are any wholesalers that are selling packing materials for cheap. If you’re in a big city, chances are there are a couple you can purchase a small quantity from.
Otherwise, it’s always cost effective to save your cardboard boxes and packing material whenever you get the opportunity.
Best Tools For Growing Your eBay Store
Which Tools Might Help You Sell More From eBay?
If you want to save time, scale your eBay business and improve your eBay seller rating, you’ll want to invest in a few tools.
Here are a list of the tools that will help you sell more on eBay:
- Portable photography light box – get consistent and professional lighting when you’re taking your product photos
- Thermal shipping label printer – print standard 4×6 inch postage labels that peel off like a sticker, while never needing to replace an ink cartridge.
- Packing tape gun – tape your boxes and fragile products with bubble wrap quickly and securely
- Weight scale – accurately weigh your products to take the guessing out of choosing the best shipping option
- Storage racks – store more items as you source more products to grow your eBay store
Why You Should Start Reselling Today
Money Is Everywhere! You Just Haven't Noticed It Yet
There’s quite literally money just sitting in thrift stores, flea markets and garage sales all across the country.
It’s yours for the taking, if you’re willing to get your hands dirty and do the work.
Once you get into a reseller’s mindset, you’ll notice that opportunities are literally everywhere. You can walk into a thrift store, with your specific knowledge, and find an item that resells for a $50 profit, while all the other shoppers walk right past it.
There’s not a single side hustle that I’ve tried where it’s more straight forward to earn an extra $500 a month, while being full of exciting and exhilarating moments. Moments where you strike gold, like the comic book I bought for $0.50 and sold for $710.
If you’re really looking for a way to “make an extra $500 fast”, start reselling this weekend. Hit up a garage sale or flea market. Make a small bet, purchase an item, list it on eBay and start learning how to do business.