eBay is a household name and a giant in the ecommerce realm. Over the last 7 years, the marketplace has consistently made around $10B each year.
Source: Companies Market Cap
With more than 132M monthly visitors, eBay remains one of the web’s top destinations for buying and selling products in 2024. If you’re thinking of selling on eBay, keep reading. In this post, we’ll discuss how to set up your store, how to sell on eBay, and best practices for making sales and finding success on the platform.
7-step guide for beginners
1. Set up your eBay account
To create your eBay store, sign up for eBay as a Business account and fill out the details.
Source: eBay
Then, select your business type.
Source: eBay
Fill out your Personal details and add payment information to let eBay know how you want to receive your payouts.
To finish setting up your eBay business, review all information and finish the registration process.
Do you need a subscription plan?
Not necessarily. The subscription is optional for new eBay sellers. If you sell on eBay without a subscription plan, you get 20 monthly listings for free. Once you start making more sales and want more free listings, you must choose a subscription plan starting at $4.95/month.
Source: eBay
2. Decide how you’ll fulfill orders
There are multiple ways you can go about selling on eBay. For example, you can sell your products and fulfill orders with print-on-demand or dropshipping. It’s important to know that eBay has certain policies for eBay dropshipping and print-on-demand.
In short, you must work directly with product suppliers (not marketplaces or retailers) and arrange a way for your vendors to ship items to your customers once they’ve placed an order.
A simple solution is partnering with a company like Printful so you can integrate directly with eBay. Simply connect your Printful and eBay accounts, sync your products, and enter your shipping and tax details. When the integration is set up, you can start marketing your products and let Printful handle printing and fulfillment.
Dropshipping
With eBay dropshipping, you can sell trending products without holding any inventory. A supplier ships the item directly to your customer once you make a sale.
eBay allows dropshipping only from wholesale suppliers—businesses that sell products to other companies for resale. This differs from retailers like Amazon or Walmart, which sell directly to regular customers. eBay doesn’t allow dropshipping from retailers because you’re essentially buying products as a customer, not as a business buying in bulk for resale.
Valuable read: A Beginner’s Guide to eBay Dropshipping: How to Get Started in 2024
Pros
Cons
No upfront inventory cost
Lower profit margins
Easy to launch and manage from anywhere
Relying on third-party suppliers for shipping
Valuable read: Print-On-Demand vs. Dropshipping: the Similarities and Differences
Print-on-demand (POD)
The main difference between dropshipping and print-on-demand is customization. Typically, dropshipping doesn’t allow much personalization, while print-on-demand allows you to sell custom designs on products like custom t-shirts, mugs, and many others. Once sold, the item is printed and shipped directly by the supplier.
Valuable read: A Complete Guide to Selling Print-on-Demand Products on eBay with Printful
Pros
Cons
No upfront inventory cost
Lower profit margins
Ability to design unique, custom products
Limited to specific product types
Easy to launch and manage from anywhere
If you go the POD route, you’ll have to choose your print-on-demand supplier. You should look for:
Competitive pricing
A wide selection of products
High print quality
Before you commit to one supplier, evaluate the entire process: create your designs, order product samples, test out customer support, and see what the real shipping times are.
Valuable read: The 14 Best Print-on-Demand Companies
Yourself
Fulfilling orders yourself means handling inventory, packaging, and shipping directly. Do-it-yourself (DIY) printing typically means buying products in bulk and customizing them using a personal printer at home or in a small workspace.
Valuable read: 10 Differences Between Print-on-Demand vs. Do-It-Yourself
Pros
Cons
Full control over products and packaging
Requires upfront investment in inventory
Higher profit margins
Time-consuming to manage
In this article, we’ll focus on print-on-demand dropshipping for selling online.
3. Choose what to sell
Your product selection will depend on your POD supplier. With Printful, for example, you get 365 premium products to customize.
Source: Printful
You can focus on evergreen best-selling eBay products, like custom clothing, accessories, and home goods. But one aspect will dictate which products from each category to start with, and that’s your niche.
Know your niche
Clearly defining your target audience and knowing your niche is a crucial step to building a successful ecommerce store. It helps you target people with specific interests or needs. As the saying goes, when you target everyone, you won’t reach anyone.
The best approach is to choose a niche that aligns with your passions or interests. A genuine passion for your niche also leads to creativity and authenticity, which customers appreciate. Plus, it will be much easier to overcome challenges, stay motivated, and connect with your potential customers if you have first-hand knowledge of what your audience is going through.
Valuable read: How to Find an Ecommerce Niche for Your Online Store
A wonderful resource for doing your research on niche-specific products is Product Research and Sourcing Insights.
Source: eBay
More specifically, eBay’s Product Research allows you to:
See how products are performing
View clear, easy-to-understand statistics, graphs, and charts
Get an overview of popular products successful strategies for attracting buyers, and potential areas to improve
Search by keyword or product and use the filters to get the information you want
The best part? It’s completely free for all eBay sellers!
Source: eBay
If you have an eBay subscription, you can also access Sourcing Insights, which helps you identify categories with high demand and low supply.
Source: eBay
Once you have an idea of your niche’s potential, you can analyze competition, evaluate profitability, and choose products.
Valuable read: The Best Print-on-Demand Products to Sell on eBay
Customize your products
Once you know which products to start with, it’s time to create your designs. Depending on the POD partner you’ve chosen, you may get access to free design tools or resources. For example, with Printful, you can use the Design Maker with built-in tools for free.
Alternatively, you can opt for other free design tools like Canva.
Source: Canva
Valuable read: How to Create Designs for Print-on-Demand Even If You’re Not a Designer
Your designs have to appeal to most eBay buyers in your niche and reflect who you are as a brand. From a purely practical perspective, your designs also have to meet print or embroidery file guidelines. To make this process easier, we’ve compiled all of the essential guidelines in one place—the ultimate graphics and embroidery guide.
Source: Printful
Let’s say you want to start a clothing brand. 2 garment categories that work for almost any niche are custom t-shirts and custom hoodies. You can test different designs on them and see how your audience responds. Or, start small by testing a few products, then scale up based on what sells. This way, you can limit the risk of wasted time and effort while figuring out what works best for your eBay store.
4. Create eBay listings
When you have your product selection ready to go, you can move on to listing them. For detailed guidance, you can visit eBay’s step-by-step guide for creating listings.
Source: eBay export
Here are the best practices based on current guidelines to create a top-tier eBay listing:
Titles: Write concise titles (80 characters max) with relevant keywords. Avoid acronyms and use clear, searchable terms like “Brand name, product, size, color” (e.g., “Nike Men’s Running Shoes Size 10: New”).
Photos: Use bright, high-resolution images with a plain background. Show multiple angles and detail close-ups. eBay recommends at least 800 pixels on the longest side for clarity. Avoid overlaying text or using flash photography.
Descriptions: Make the descriptions truthful, detailed, and easy to read. Include key benefits (e.g., thermos maintaining the drink’s temperature for 8+ hours), materials, and measurements in bullet points.
Item specifics: Fill out all relevant fields like size, color, brand, material, fit, and model to improve your listing’s searchability. This helps buyers find exactly what they need.
Pricing: Conduct market research by checking similar product listings. Always take into consideration your costs and desired profit margin.
Shipping and returns: Clearly state shipping options, costs, and delivery estimates. Provide a transparent return policy (e.g., 30 days, buyer pays return shipping) to build trust.
Here’s an example of a well-written, easily scannable product description.
Source: eBay
5. Improve your listing performance over time
The “set it and forget it” approach doesn’t work on eBay. You have to monitor the performance of your products, pay attention to your competition’s activities, and adjust your strategy accordingly.
All new sellers go through a trial and error process until they find the winning formula for their business.
Here are 3 strategies you can use to improve your listings:
Use eBay’s Seller Hub: Track your listing performance through the free analytics provided by eBay. This shows you how many views, watchers, and sales each listing gets, helping you tweak what isn’t working.
Test different pricing strategies: Experiment with tweaking your product pricing, like lowering the price slightly or using “Best Offer” to see if it leads to more sales.
Bundle products: Offer bundles or multi-buy discounts. For example, create a package deal for related items, encouraging buyers to purchase more.
Valuable read: 10 Effective Tips for Selling on eBay: Sell Smarter, Not Harder
6. Make sales
Once your listing is live, shoppers on eBay will be able to view it, and—if all goes well—purchase your products. When this happens, eBay will send you an alert notifying you that your item has been sold.
The next step is to check on the payment status of the item. According to eBay, the timing depends on your buyer’s payment method. If your customer uses PayPal, the money will be sent directly to your PayPal account. If the buyer used a credit card, the transaction will first be processed through PayPal’s payment gateway before the funds are added to your PayPal account.
In any case, you’ll be able to manage your sales and orders in Seller Hub. Simply go to Orders and select “Awaiting payment.” When the payment is received, the order will be marked as “Awaiting shipment,” which is the next step of the eBay selling process.
Source: eBay
7. Connect your store and ship items
At this stage, your product has been sold and paid for—great! If you’re selling print-on-demand products, your supplier will handle this step. Depending on your vendor, you may be able to connect your eBay with their system so that orders are fulfilled automatically once the sale is completed.
Printful allows you to sync your Printful and eBay accounts, so all your orders will be synced and fulfilled automatically.
To connect your eBay store to Printful, log in to your Printful account. In the Dashboard, click Stores > Choose platform > find eBay and press Connect.
Source: Printful
From there, just follow the 5 steps to set it up, and you’ll be good to go.
Source: Printful
Valuable read: A Complete Guide to Selling Print-on-Demand Products on eBay with Printful
Ready to sell on eBay?
As you can see, online selling on eBay doesn’t have to be complicated. With the right know-how, you can get up and running fairly quickly. The eBay website is a solid platform for selling various products.
Interested in selling on eBay but don’t want to carry inventory? Printful’s print-on-demand platform seamlessly integrates with eBay so you can sell products without dealing with fulfillment. Get started today!
Read more: A Beginner’s Guide to eBay Dropshipping: How to Get Started
Frequently asked questions
Learn how to sell on eBay with this easy step-by-step guide—no prior experience needed!
Amazon’s Impact on Global Supply Chains and Logistics
Amazon, the global e-commerce behemoth, has transformed not only the way consumers shop but also the intricacies of global supply chains and logistics. Since its inception in 1994, Amazon has grown from a small online bookstore to a trillion-dollar enterprise that has disrupted industries across the globe. Its influence extends far beyond retail, profoundly impacting supply chains, logistics, and even the environment. This article explores Amazon’s multifaceted impact on global supply chains and logistics, examining how the company has reshaped these industries and what this means for the future.
The Evolution of Amazon’s Supply Chain
Amazon’s supply chain is one of the most sophisticated in the world, characterized by its efficiency, speed, and scale. The company has invested heavily in technology and infrastructure to build a supply chain that can deliver millions of products to customers in a matter of hours or days. This rapid delivery is made possible by a vast network of fulfillment centers, sophisticated inventory management systems, and a logistics arm that rivals traditional carriers like FedEx and UPS.
One of the key innovations Amazon has introduced is its Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) service. FBA allows third-party sellers to store their products in Amazon’s fulfillment centers, with Amazon handling the picking, packing, and shipping of these products. This service has not only made it easier for small businesses to reach a global audience but has also significantly increased the volume of goods flowing through Amazon’s supply chain. As a result, Amazon has become a central hub in the global supply chain, connecting manufacturers, suppliers, and customers across the world.
Disruption of Traditional Logistics
Amazon’s influence on logistics is equally profound. The company’s relentless focus on speed and efficiency has forced traditional logistics providers to rethink their strategies. In many cases, Amazon has bypassed traditional logistics networks entirely by building its own. Amazon Logistics, the company’s delivery arm, has grown rapidly in recent years, with a fleet of planes, trucks, and delivery vans that allow the company to control every aspect of the delivery process.
This vertical integration has enabled Amazon to offer services like same-day and two-hour delivery in many urban areas, setting a new standard for speed in the industry. Traditional logistics providers have struggled to keep up, leading to increased competition and innovation in the sector. For example, companies like FedEx and UPS have had to invest in new technology and infrastructure to remain competitive, while others have formed partnerships with Amazon to leverage its vast logistics network.
Amazon’s logistics network has also expanded globally, with the company establishing regional hubs and fulfillment centers in key markets around the world. This global expansion has allowed Amazon to offer faster and more reliable delivery services in regions where traditional logistics infrastructure is underdeveloped. In many cases, Amazon has played a role in building out this infrastructure, partnering with local logistics providers or investing in its own facilities.
Impact on Global Supply Chains
Amazon’s impact on global supply chains extends beyond logistics. The company’s demand for speed and efficiency has rippled through the entire supply chain, from manufacturers to suppliers to retailers. This has led to significant changes in how companies operate, with many adopting new technologies and strategies to keep up with Amazon’s pace.
One of the most significant changes is the increased reliance on automation and technology in supply chain management. Amazon has been at the forefront of this trend, investing heavily in robotics, artificial intelligence, and data analytics to optimize its supply chain operations. For example, the company’s use of robotics in its fulfillment centers has reduced the time it takes to pick and pack orders, while its AI-driven demand forecasting tools help ensure that the right products are always in stock.
This emphasis on technology has influenced other companies to follow suit, leading to a wave of digital transformation across the industry. Manufacturers and suppliers are increasingly using data analytics and AI to optimize their operations, while retailers are adopting new technologies like blockchain to improve transparency and traceability in their supply chains.
Another significant impact of Amazon on global supply chains is the shift towards a more customer-centric model. Amazon’s focus on the customer has forced companies to rethink their supply chain strategies, with many now prioritizing speed, convenience, and flexibility over cost. This has led to the adoption of new fulfillment models, such as just-in-time inventory and dropshipping, which allow companies to respond more quickly to changes in customer demand.
The globalization of Amazon’s supply chain has also had broader implications for international trade. By connecting sellers and buyers from different parts of the world, Amazon has made it easier for companies to access global markets. However, this has also led to increased competition, with companies now competing on a global scale. This has put pressure on manufacturers and suppliers to lower costs and improve efficiency, leading to changes in how goods are produced and distributed around the world.
Environmental and Social Implications
While Amazon’s impact on supply chains and logistics has been largely positive in terms of efficiency and convenience, it has also raised concerns about the environmental and social implications of its operations. The company’s emphasis on fast delivery and the constant movement of goods around the world has contributed to increased carbon emissions and environmental degradation. In response to these concerns, Amazon has committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2040 and has invested in initiatives like electric delivery vehicles and renewable energy projects.
However, critics argue that these efforts are not enough, and that Amazon’s business model is fundamentally unsustainable. The constant pressure to deliver goods faster and cheaper has led to concerns about the working conditions in Amazon’s fulfillment centers and the treatment of delivery drivers. Reports of long hours, high injury rates, and low wages have sparked protests and calls for better labor practices across the company’s global operations.
The Future of Supply Chains and Logistics
As Amazon continues to grow and evolve, its impact on global supply chains and logistics is likely to deepen. The company’s investments in technology and infrastructure will continue to set new standards for speed and efficiency, forcing other companies to innovate and adapt. At the same time, the environmental and social challenges associated with Amazon’s operations will require the company to rethink its approach to sustainability and labor practices.
In the future, we can expect to see more companies adopting Amazon-like supply chain strategies, with an emphasis on speed, technology, and customer-centricity. However, these changes will also require a greater focus on sustainability and ethical practices, as consumers and regulators increasingly demand more responsible business operations.
Conclusion
Amazon’s impact on global supply chains and logistics is undeniable. The company has reshaped the industry in its image, setting new standards for speed, efficiency, and customer service. While these changes have brought many benefits, they have also raised important questions about sustainability and labor practices. As the world’s largest online retailer, Amazon will continue to play a central role in the future of global supply chains and logistics, driving innovation and change across the industry.
