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How to sell on eBay
Practical tips for online sellers that can help drive sales on this global marketplace.
Since its launch, eBay has grown from an online auction site to a powerhouse e-commerce marketplace where you can find — and sell — practically anything.
The beauty of eBay for both sellers and buyers is that you can find nearly anything under the sun for sale on its marketplace, from clothing and everyday household items to toys and sought-after memorabilia and even high-end electronics and cars.
Popular eBay categories
Antiques
Books
Clothing, shoes and accessories
Collectibles
Consumer electronics
Health, beauty and baby
Home and garden
Motors and automobiles
Sporting goods
Toys and media
Prohibited or restricted items on eBay
Adult items
Alcohol, drugs and prescriptions
Animals and wildlife products
Drugs and prescriptions
Expired, unpasteurized and other foods
Firearms, knives and other weapons
Gift cards
Historical artifacts, cultural heritage and grave-related items
Real estate
Slot machines
Surveillance, lock picking or other crime-related items
Used cosmetics, underwear and other select items
How much does it cost to sell on eBay?
Consider four main fees when selling on eBay: subscription, listing, final value and PayPal transaction fees.
Subscription fees
If you want to open an eBay Store, choose from five paid subscription tiers to choose from: Starter, Basic, Premium, Anchor and Enterprise. You generally can shave savings off monthly costs with an annual subscription.
Starter
Basic
Premium
Anchor
Enterprise
Subscription fee
$7.95 monthly or $59.40 a year
$27.95 monthly or $263.40 a year
$74.95 monthly or $719.40 a year
$349.95 monthly or $3,599.40 a year
$2,999.95 a year
Free listings per month
Up to 100 fixed-price or auction-style listings
Up to 250 fixed-price listings
Up to 250 auction-style listings in Collectibles and Fashion
Up to 1,000 fixed-price listings
Up to 500 auction-style listings in Collectibles and Fashion
Up to 10,000 fixed-price listings
Up to 1,000 auction-style listings in Collectibles and Fashion
Up to 100,000 fixed-price listings
Up to 2,500 auction-style listings in the Collectables and Fashion
Ability to purchase additional listings
Selling fees
If you’ve run out of free listings or the item you want to sell doesn’t qualify for a free listing, you’ll need to pay a selling fee. A selling fee is a percentage of an item’s total sale price.
Basic Store package
Featured Store package
Anchor Store package
Auction-style listings
$3
$3
$3
Auction-style listings in Collectibles category
$1
$0.05
$0.05
Fixed-price listings
$0.50
$0.20
$0.05
Fixed-price listings in Media categories
$0.05
$0.05
$0.05
Classified Ad listings in Real Estate category
$49.99
$49.99
$49.99
Classified Ad listings in other categories (except Motors)
$19.99
$19.99
$19.99
Final value fees
You also pay a fee when your item sells on eBay — called a final-value fee.
These fees are calculated as a percentage of the total sale price, including postage and handling. Amounts range from 4% to 10%, depending on a complicated fee system that involves your membership level, the category you listed your item in and sometimes the item itself.
Managed payments fee
Another fee to look out for involves payments processing. The company charges two types of fees for managing your payments:
Processing rate. A fee equal to 2.7% of your total order amount.
Dispute fee. A fee of $20, excluding taxes, if you’re found responsible for a chargeback or other disputed amount.
You can avoid these charges by receiving buyer payments to a PayPal account, but PayPal itself will charge a fee based on completed sales and method of payment.
Seller tip: The importance of an eBay fee calculator
With all these fees to consider, it’s easy for an item that sells for $50 to return you only $43. I’ve had moments where I’ve dropped the price of my unwanted threads to $0.99 plus postage for a quick sale — and wound up at a loss due to all the fees.
Before you decide on a price, check out an eBay calculator to see whether you’re fairly pricing your goods. You’ll find numerous apps and online calculators online.
Is selling on eBay worth it?
It can be. A globally recognized online marketplace, eBay is a major player in the world of e-commerce, and so lots of eyes could potentially land on your listing.
But profits depend on converting those eyes into a sale, and that’s not guaranteed. Multiple eBay fees and general business costs of selling — like packaging and posting — can chip away at your bottom line.
Understand the risks involved in running an online business before getting started.
How to start selling items on eBay
To sell on eBay, sign up for an account as a hobbyist or professional seller. Simply click Register and enter a credit card to get started.
Should I sell as an individual or as an eBay Store?
It all depends on how much you intend to sell.
If you plan to use eBay as part of a side hustle for extra cash, selling everyday items like gently used clothing and household items you no longer need, sign up for an individual account. If you’re looking to offload multiples of items in a business inventory, you can save money on insertion items and more with an eBay Store.
Selling as an individual
Free to list up to 50 items a month
Fees start at 10% on every sale, including the cost to ship
eBay Store
Five subscription tiers starting at $7.95 a month
Fees start at 4% on every sale
How do I start selling on eBay?
Kick off your eBay business by signing up for an account online.
Go to eBay’s homepage and click Register. Under Create an account, click Create a business account.
Enter your business name, your email address, a password and your business phone. Confirm you’re not a robot by entering the eBay-generated number, then click Register.
Choose whether to pay your eBay fees through PayPal, with credit card or debit card or through a bank transfer.
Wait for either a text message or phone call, and confirm your identity through the instructions provided.
Click the My eBay link at the top right of screen and then select the Account tab. Enter the details of your preferred payment method where indicated.
From the My eBay menu, select Account, Subscriptions and then Subscribe to an eBay Store. You can then choose the package you want and begin customizing your store and listings.
How to price your items
The main factors to consider when working out how to price items on eBay include:
Your costs. Consider how much it costs you to source, store and ship the item you’re selling. Remember to also include eBay fees and other overhead in your calculations.
The market. Research similar products on eBay to discover how they’re priced and how different price points affect sales success.
Your buyers. Learn what represents a reasonable price for the buyers you expect to your listings. You can do this via market research and experimenting with pricing strategies.
After trial and error, you should be able to find the perfect price point that represents a decent profit for you and good value for shoppers.
What types of payment does eBay accept?
Main options include PayPal or PayPal Credit, but depending on the category, you can select from a range of payment methods that include:
Credit or debit card payments through a merchant account
Payment on pickup, including cash
Bank transfers
Checks and money orders
Select online payment services like Xoom or Allpay
How to get paid by international buyers
When accepting international sales on eBay, you must find a way to convert your buyer’s currency into US dollars.
If you’re a high-volume seller, it could be worth opening an online seller account. These multicurrency accounts allow you to receive payments in multiple currencies at stronger rates than your bank’s or PayPal’s.
Check out the table below for details of the features and fees of a range of online seller accounts.
Disclaimer: Exchange rates change often. Confirm the total cost with the provider before transferring money.
How to ship on eBay
There are a couple of eBay shipping options available:
Ship items yourself. You can ship items either standard or express through the US Mail, UPS or FedEx. A built-in postage calculator can help you calculate domestic and international shipping rates based on your package type, dimensions and weight and shipping ZIP code.
Use a fulfillment partner. Leave the picking, packing and shipping to a third-party fulfillment for easier, faster delivery on your behalf. Private third-party companies like ShipBob, Deliverr and Ware2Go integrate with eBay and even ship internationally .
Compare a range of shipping platforms like ShippingEasy and ShipStation to find the best fit for your inventory and budget.
How do I market my products on eBay?
If you can’t get your listing in front of potential buyers, it doesn’t matter how tantalizing your stock. That’s where eBay’s marketing and promotion options come in.
Sign in to your eBay account to learn more about:
Promoted Listings. Increase the visibility of individual or multiple listings to potential buyers. You pay an ad fee each time a buyer clicks one of your promoted listings and then buys the item.
Promotions Manager. Free for all Stores, this tool helps you attract and encourage repeat buyers. Run promotional campaigns with defined start and end dates for large-order discounts, codeless vouchers, promotional postage rates and sales.
eBay Deals. Increase exposure to your listings with inclusion in the platform’s best offers among other trusted sellers.
The nature of the marketplace game is that not all products will sell. Here are a few tips I’ve learned from my time flogging my unwanted wares on eBay.
Sell new — or newish items. If it’s a dress you’ve never worn that includes with an original tag, then it will likely appear to a buyer more than jeans you’ve worn to patches. That doesn’t mean all worn-out clothing is off-limits: Your short might’ve been worn out by somebody famous, making it a collectible.
Put effort into images. People shop with their eyes. And if they see something visually appealing, they’re more likely to click. Take high-quality photos at different angles against a nice, clean backdrop, so that the item doesn’t get lost in a potential buyer’s feed.
Price your product below competitors. Buyers come to eBay to snap up a bargain. So yours must be the best option out there. Suss out the competition to keep your prices competitive.
Focus on description. This is particularly important if you’re selling secondhand items. Be upfront about any faults with your item. If you aren’t, your buyer has grounds to claim it wasn’t as described, requesting a refund that could put you out of pocket.
Get your feedback up. Key is building confidence in your buyers, and a zero feedback on your purchases and sales can erode trust. If you’re finding it difficult to get your business off the ground, consider purchasing a few items you need through eBay to build up feedback and establish yourself as a serious user.
What to watch out for when selling with eBay
Like many marketplaces, eBay extends a healthy list of services to protect both buyers and sellers against fraud, nondelivery and misrepresentation:
Unpaid item disputes. If a buyer doesn’t pay you for a sale and stops replying to your messages, you can open a dispute through eBay’s Resolution Center. It then intervenes to try to resolve your issue. If the buyer is at fault, you’re refunded your fees related to the listing.
Ability to block buyers. If you’ve had an issue with a buyer, you can block them from bidding on your items in the future, thereby protecting you from repeated hassles.
Customer feedback. Feedback can be a double-edge sword. Positive feedback encourages customers to buy from you, but negative feedback can keep them moving on. If you feel you’ve received unfair negative feedback from a buyer, dispute it with eBay. If eBay agrees, it removes that feedback from your account.
Potential issues every new eBay seller should be aware of:
Fees. Fees can get complicated, what with subscriptions, listing and final value costs. Avoid surprises by using a calculator to make sure you understand what all those separate charges add up to.
Competition. The marketplace attracts millions of sellers and products to the platform, which can make getting noticed more difficult than on other sites.
Limited customization. You’ve got options to make your listing pop, but the marketplace doesn’t offer much in the way of personalizing your eBay Store.
Read more pros and cons of eBay in our comparison of selling on Bonanza versus eBay.
We update our data regularly, but information can change between updates. Confirm details with the provider you're interested in before making a decision.
In the world of online selling, eBay is difficult to avoid. It’s touted the “world’s largest marketplace,” after all, offering so many wares to every corner of the world.
Whether you’re a hobbyist or an expert seller, you can get your listings in front of millions of people. But watch for complicated fees and restrictions on select items.
Frequently asked questions
Generally, not if you’re selling as a hobby. However, if you’re running a business, you must declare your sales income to the IRS.
In addition, if your business has an annual turnover of $75,000 or more, you’ll need to register for GST.
No. But direct sellers may need to report sales income to the IRS if you’re a business or selling items for more than you originally purchased them. Learn more about taxation with the IRS.
It’s eBay’s short-lived fulfillment program for sellers designed to compete with Fulfillment by Amazon. The end-to-end service was announced in July 2019. But by February 2020, eBay had quietly announced the closure of its pilot program with “no announcements made regarding its expansion.”
Click Sell at the top of any eBay page and follow the instructions. Use eBay’s Selling Manager or a third-party listing tool for bulk selling.
It isn’t a set fee or rate. Rather the ad fee for Promoted Listings depends on:
The ad rate — or percentage of the item’s sale price — you select when launching your campaign.
The sale price of the product.
You might need to experiment with Promoted Listings for a few items to get a sense as to whether it’s worth the cost.
Stephanie Yip is the travel editor at Finder and has been writing about travel and lifestyle for over a decade. She has written for a range of travel publications including Thomas Cook Magazine and Showpo. Stephanie has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Technology Sydney, Australia, and has visited over 50 countries (and counting). She has a passion for sharing her experiences and knowledge of travel and helping consumers stretch their travel cash while on holiday.
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