Selling online is a convenient and easy way to make money. The best thing about selling online is that you can post listings anywhere even in the comfort of your own home, as long as you have access to the internet. Here are some helpful tips to become successful when selling online. Are you a beginner at Poshmark? Click here for tips for selling on Poshmark as a beginner.
How to Make Selling Online a Full Time Job
1. Post hundreds of items for sale to sell online.
This tip goes for just about any selling platform such as eBay, Poshmark, Etsy, and Mercuri. Unless you share your listings multiple times or pay for advertisement on any social media website, you need to have numerous listings to generate a steady income. Declutter around your house and start posting! Need help decluttering? Click here to read how to declutter fast.
By numerous, you will need to post 500 to 1000 listings per month to really generate some decent income.
If you are selling luxury items that make more money, the amount of listings can be less but should still be over 200 listings. In the beginning, set a goal is to sell at least one thing per day. Listing can be a tedious process, but it only takes a few minutes. Plus, you can work in your pajamas.
2. Build Your Online Rating Before Buying in Bulk to Sell Online
Your online rating is very important. It is one of your selling features. If you have 1000+ stars next to your username, a buyer has full confidence in purchasing something from you. It can be very easy to build up your rating to gain more sales.
If you just look around your house, there are many things, if not everything, that can be sold online.
For instance, school teachers are always looking for gently used items for their classroom such as books. You can sell one lot of 12 books on eBay and use media mail to ship. It also gives you an opportunity to declutter (if you are selling your own books), and receive good feedback for your seller account.
Sell Stuff Around Your House First to Build A Reliable Seller Profile
The best way to build your reputation on any selling platform is to go look in your basement, garage, look in junk drawers, anything that you do not mind selling cheap and with low shipment costs.
Just by digging into my craft drawer, I found several craft supplies that I bought years ago, still in packaging, but had forgotten about and never used. I listed scrapbooking stickers on eBay starting for $0.99 with $1.00 for shipping. They sold for $1.25 and I sent them in an envelope with 2 stamps. They sold in a couple of weeks and the buyer gave me a good rating.
3. Be Organized (plastic bins, clothing racks for specific websites) for Storing Items You Are Selling Online
If you are going to have a large inventory of items to sell online and sell things on different accounts in different websites, it can be easy to get disorganized and confused. Make inventory charts on Excel. Update it every time you sell something. Make sure you have a designated area, boxes, or clothing racks for each website. For instance, if you are storing things in your garage, keep toys in clear plastic containers (I love Walmart for bulk large plastic bins) you will be selling on eBay, pink bins for Poshmark and yellow bins are for Etsy (labeled with the website, of course). If you keep everything organized you do not have to risk the chance of thinking, “oh my gosh, what am I going to do? I just sold that and I have no idea where it is.”
4. Make Sure to Ship Your Sold Items Right Away when Selling Online
Buyers love it when they receive their item as soon as possible. It shows that you took the sale seriously and are professional. Most apps require you to ship within 2 or 3 days, but beat them to it. Try as best as you can to ship the item the same day. The faster you ship the item, the faster the good ratings will add up.
Keep Shipping Supplies on Hand When Selling Online
The United States Postal Service makes it too easy for you to order their USPS Priority boxes and envelopes from their website (click here). At no cost to you, the priority boxes are free to order and ship. Once you put in your order on the USPS store, your mail person will deliver them to your door. Also, if you cannot get to the post office, you can schedule a free door pick up online, and your mailman will pick up the packages from your doorstep. This makes selling online super easy!
The only catch with ordering these free Priority mail boxes is that the item needs to be shipped with the Priority Mail Service. You cannot ship something first class in a priority box. The shipping service needs to match the service of the box, otherwise it will not be mailed and be returned to you!
5. Be Honest and Kind When Selling Online- “Do Unto Others as They Would Undo to You”
It is best not to sell anything that is broken, stained, shrunk from the dryer or smelly unless you make it absolutely clear in the listing. Honestly is the best policy. Your buyers will notice that something is not right and they can submit a case against your account. This will not look good in your account for potential buyers. If you are not honest about the items you list, you may as well just give up. If someone has a bad experience and they leave a negative comment, it will be hard for you to be successful at selling since that negative comment will always show under your profile.
Also, please be kind. Life is hard for many people. You do not know what people are going through. Always demonstrate kindness, respect, and gratitude even if you are just doing business online. I get upset when Alexa talks back. Ooof. Ever receive smelly clothes from a Poshmark seller? Click here to know what to do.
6. Selling Online Is A Full Time Job
Selling anything online whether it be on eBay, Poshmark or any other online store can be difficult but you really need to treat it like a full time job. Keep consistent when listing. A good rule of thumb is to post 20 new listings each day. If you are not consistent with posting, your listings may not get recognized or sell quick. For the average Mom with kids, time is everything. If I need to get rid of things very quickly, I will either post listings quickly or bring it to my local consignment store.
With consignment stores, it is just too easy. Click here to learn about how consignment events are a fast and easy way to make money and get rid of your stuff quickly! You clean the item, bring it into the store, they either accept it or they do not. They will either pay you on the spot, give you a check after your item sells, or create an online account for you. As your things get sold, you will be able to see your account balance and could also use it at the store as a credit.
When the consignment stores do not accept an item, I will save it for a consignment event, sell it online (find out how to sell it on Poshmark here) or donate it. A very easy way to get rid of a large item is to post a free listing on Facebook. I usually only post to the Moms group in my town instead of making a public post.
Most consignment events are less picky about the brand name or the age of the clothes/toys. Price the old items right and they sell immediately at the consignment event. However you decide to sell your gently used items, you need to try to do it consistently over a period of time, even if it is one listing per week to make sure you account is in good status. After you receive plenty of positive feedback on your account, you can start researching other items to buy and resell to make even more money online. If you need help with supplies for your consignment event, click here.
Check out some of my other blog posts you might be interested in:
Is it Worth It to Sell Online?
My Top 5 Healthy, Budget-Friendly, Non-Dairy Frozen Smoothie Recipes
Awesome Ways to Purge Your Dvd Collection Quick!
6 Tips for Cheap Weeknight Meals
How to Make a Bundle as a Seller
How to Take Photos for Poshmark