How To Make Money With eBay – Expert Interview with Jason Butler | Ep. 250

Intro/Outro: You know what it is? That’s right. It’s time to talk money with your money nerd and financial coach. Now tighten those purse strings and open those ears. It’s the money talk with Tiff podcast.

Tiffany Grant: Hey everyone. I am excited because I have Jason Butler on the line now, Jason. We are blogging buddies. Um, and we met in person at FinCon.

He is such a joy to be around. We had a lot of fun. So I am excited for what he came to talk about today, which is eBay. Now I know y’all might be thinking eBay is still around. Yes. eBay is still around and yes, people are still making money from it. So, Hey Jason, how are you today?

Jason Butler: I’m doing pretty good.

Tiffany doing pretty good. How are you today?

Tiffany Grant: I’m doing pretty good. Pretty good. I’m excited to jump into this conversation because I have never sold anything on eBay. And I’m like, do I need to get into this?

Jason Butler: You have a lot of excess stuff around the house. Yes. Because you’re probably sitting on a few hundred bucks.

Tiffany Grant: So let’s just start off with that. Like what can we sell on eBay? Like what will make us money? Are there any tips and tricks? Cause I know people are not looking for my junk. So what, how do we find out what will actually make money? And

Jason Butler: believe it or not, well, three, two, one, two. Believe it or not, you could actually sell anything on eBay.

I tell people to usually start off with what they know. Like, for example, I know a whole lot about sports, Jordans and things like that. So when I started back in the day, the first items that I used to sell were jerseys. I’ll never forget. I went to a Salvation Army, um, found the Dwayne Wade jersey for 3, took the jersey home, took pictures, put it online for 45 bucks.

It’s sold within two days. So I’ve ripped that was a 42 profit ever since then I’ve been testing out different things Such as shoes board games coffee mugs. So believe it or not almost anything sales when I tell people to just Are starting out with eBay start with what you know, just like, for example, as I stated earlier, I know sports and I know Jordan’s you may know board games or purses or clothes or something like that.

So the first thing that you should do is start off with what, you know, because let’s just say you had a, um, a purse. Like, I don’t know a famous person name or something like that, because that’s not really my niche, but let’s just say you had a nice purse. You might’ve spent. 50 bucks for it, but the designer stopped designing that purse.

And that means it’s like a rare thing now or collectibles item. So people may want it. So you may be able to sell that 50 purse for 250 or 300 bucks, depending on the brand or what type it is.

Tiffany Grant: Interesting. So literally anything around my house, I can sell on eBay. Um, are there any like tricks to know, like for instance, what will it gain the most money?

Like how do you do your research around that? Or do you do any

Jason Butler: research? Yeah, I do a lot of different types of research. Um, on eBay, there is a thing in the dashboard that shows you Like the highest selling items right now. Um, it’s typically always electronics. Like electronics is going to do good whether you’re in a recession or not because people still going to break bread, whether it’s cell phones, gaming systems, um, even old car radios or things in that nature.

That’s one thing that I do also with the ebay app You can actually go into stores and you can scan the upc barcodes and see how much things are selling for So basically, let’s just say I go in a store. I see a Brand new monopoly game if I scan the game it shows me how many are currently listed and how many recently sold So for example, if the board game is like three dollars And goodwill or salvation army.

I can see if it’s so I can see how much it’s sold for online. And let’s just say it’s selling for 40 or 50 bucks. I’m definitely going to purchase that game and flip it and make some money off of it. And then another way that I do research, I check other sites, not just eBay. Like I look at Poshmark, I look at Makari and I also see what’s selling on those sites as well, because if the items are selling over there, nine times out of 10, it’s also selling on eBay.

Tiffany Grant: Interesting. I’m over here like, let me go ahead and download right now so I can start going around my house scanning stuff. Yeah, because I’m the type of person, so I grew up with hoarders, okay? So, I don’t like a lot of stuff. stuff. Um, when it starts becoming too much, I’m quick to have a yard sale, garage sale, whatever, or just start giving away stuff for free because I don’t want all of that clutter around me.

So I’m over here like, yeah, it’s getting about that time and it’s crazy that eBay has a whole like where you could just scan it. I didn’t even know that. So I’m about to download the app right now and start scanning stuff around my house.

Jason Butler: As long as the item has a barcode, you can scan it. And then once you scan it, there’s an area where you can click on the left side to go to see, to see where items sold.

And then you could actually filter it and have it, um, organized to see the items, how they sold from the least amount or the highest amount. And that helps me out a lot. Now,

Tiffany Grant: let me ask you a question. Do you buy stuff particularly just to sell on eBay? Are you just selling off like your older stuff, your

Jason Butler: old stuff?

No, at least. Three, at least three weekends out the month, I’m at a thrift store or yard sale, finding items, um, to flip like back in the day when I first started, I was selling the old things, but the stuff sold really quick and I was running out of inventory. Yeah, so I started going, I started going to yard sales, starting going to thrift stores.

I’m like right now, thrift stores are one of my favorite places to get items online.

Tiffany Grant: Yeah, I love thrifting. Um, that’s one thing that I didn’t like. I must admit, I was late to the game on thrifting. I didn’t start thrifting until I started working at a thrift store. Um, cause up until then I was like, I’m not buying no thrift clothes or no used clothes.

Like, you know, that type of thing. I had that attitude. But after I started working there, and I saw like all the doctors and lawyers and all these people that really had money in real life. Actually going to the thrift store buying stuff. I said, Oh, so this is

Jason Butler: the cheat code. Whether you want something for yourself or you want to flip something.

Tiffany Grant: Yes. So I will definitely be trying this next time I go to the thrift store, um, to see what I can find now. When it comes to eBay, are there any like, um, I mean, you already gave us some cheat codes, but some other cheat codes are things that we should be looking for. If we’re trying to start, like, is it easy to set up an account or like, how does that process work?

Jason Butler: Yep. eBay is a hundred percent free to set up an account. Um, you can, I want to say they, they changed the list, the free listings though. At one point you had up to 50 free listings. I think it’s up to 1000 now, but I actually, I actually, um, opened the eBay store about three years ago. So I have a, I have a lot more than a thousand listens that I could add per month.

Um, let’s see what else, what else was that? And with it, with you having the free listings, It gives you a chance to see if you want to do this as a main side hustle or just do it as something that you Do a couple times per month so you’re not really spending too much You’re not really spending a lot of money if you do it that way and then last but not least They do have like finer final value fees Basically, then when something sells, um, eBay takes a little bit of, takes a, takes a small fee out of it, which is about maybe like 10, 11%, which is not bad at all.

Um, but yeah, it’s, it’s very easy to get started with cause you can, you can actually set your account up for free and do it in less than 10 minutes.

Tiffany Grant: Oh, see, and see, that’s different than Amazon because see, I used to sell on Amazon when I was in like seventh and eighth grade. I tell people, you know, I used to flip books.

So I love to read and I couldn’t fund it because I didn’t have a job. And so when my mom would buy me a book, I would Read it. And then I would resell it on Amazon and see back then it was free now because I had tried to go on there. They charge like 35 just to set up a seller account. So it’s good to hear that.

Um, eBay is free for you to list and they only charge after you sell the item. So I’m like, I might go ahead and go ahead and look at eBay instead of Amazon now. Now, Since I’m thinking about that, let’s talk about competition. Cause like Amazon, for instance, there’s a lot of competition. Um, is eBay the same or is it a little easier to get stuff sold?

What do

Jason Butler: you think? So good. That’s a great question. Um, let’s see, how could I start? I start off with. The first point Amazon for me, Amazon, I don’t sell on Amazon. And the reason why is that I say a majority used items. Um, you can’t really sell you stuff on Amazon. And then not to mention the fact you said it, they charge you to like set up an account and it’s, it’s more fees.

Like when I, when I did try to sell on Amazon a few years ago. I kept running into like roadblocks with fees and stuff like that before I could even set my account up a hundred percent. So with that, I tell people to go straight with eBay. eBay is like the number, number one, it’s like in the top five, top three, four online marketplaces in the country in the world, as a matter of fact.

And that basically means that you have millions of people. They could basically see your item. Anytime, like whether it’s day or night, then because of that, you can make money while you’re sleeping, depending on what you’re selling. Um, I think anybody would want that. The only thing that I would say kind of affecting eBay right now, it’s actually affecting all these, all these, um, online selling platforms.

The economy, um, with inflation up, with, with inflation as high as it is right now, people aren’t selling as much as they used to. Like I’m in tons of. eBay, um, groups and a lot of people like not selling. Like, thankfully I still get about shoot five sales per week, but maybe two years ago I was getting 15 per week.

So the game has definitely changed a little bit, but it just means you just need to pivot, sell different items, lower the prices, do some sales. So it’s still money to be made out there.

Tiffany Grant: Okay. And I have a few questions now after you said that. All right. So one, inventory. Okay. So for instance, I sell merchandise, um, for money talkative.

If y’all interested, I’m on Etsy right now. But. I think about like the t shirts, like sometimes I’ll get t shirts made in bulk and I’m just sitting on t shirts. And so how does that, like have you ever had issues with your inventory not turning over? And if so, um, what do you

Jason Butler: do? Yeah, this is, this is a, that’s a great question.

I actually, two years ago I did some research. And I saw on average, it takes my items about three and a half months to sell. Um, during that time I had about a year’s worth of items still in my, um, in my, in my apartment at the time. So what I did to get those items out quicker, I did a few things. I took more pictures.

I updated my descriptions and I also sold things in lots. Basically, a lot is a group of items. Like, for example, let’s just say I got five pairs of shoes that I want to sell. They not selling. So I’m going to put all five of those shoes together, put a price out there and sell them as a lot of five shoes.

When I started doing that, I got most of my old crap out, out the store ASAP. Just like, it’s crazy. Like before we got on this chat, I was looking at my items and I’m actually just, I just took a picture. I just took some pictures of some more shoes cause I’m creating another shoe lot. Cause I got some stuff I need to get out and I’m creating a hat lot, a hat and visor lot.

And I have right now, currently I have about 40 items in my store that’s a year or older, which is Which is great and right now I would say my items probably take about two and a half months to sell So they don’t they don’t last too long But every every once in a while you do have something that’s in there in in the store for like a year a year and a Half, but I always go I eventually I always eventually sell that stuff It just takes a while for like for like the random.

Excuse me It just takes a while for the random things for time to time

Tiffany Grant: Gotcha. Gotcha. So now I’m over here like, okay, so where do you put all this stuff? So like, for instance, if it’s somebody, they’re like, I really don’t have space, but I really want to get into this. What are some things that they could do, you know, for their inventory?

Okay.

Jason Butler: Like for me. Like when I was living in my apartment before I moved, I used to have stuff in the living room. Like I actually have a, I have a shelf full of a five, a shelf with five different rows on it and just got tons of crap on there. Um, now since I’ve moved, I have a few things in my office, but in one of the guest bed bedrooms, I have stuff put, put all over that bedroom.

Like stuff is on that shelf. Stuff is in the closet. A couple items are in some tubs. This is near the guest bedroom. So if you want to get into it, you could like put stuff in a corner. You can put stuff in a, in a random closet, but a lot of people also rent, um, storage units. Like, I don’t feel like doing that because that’s extra money going out, but if you have extra money.

And if the storage unit is pretty cheap, that’s also an option for you.

Tiffany Grant: Gotcha. Now, speaking of inventory and storage and all that good stuff, I know dropshipping has been, um, a really popular topic again now, because it used to be popular like back in 2008, 2009. Now it’s getting popular again. Have you ever tried that with eBay or what are your thoughts?

Jason Butler: Let’s see, um, if you have the time to research it, you probably could make some money off of it. But I don’t really have time, but I’ll feel like searching for this searching for suppliers from China somewhere in the Middle East at the weight have to pay extra money for certain things. It’s just too much.

Like, it’s a lot. It’s definitely a lot. Like, I’ve heard of eBayers in their accounts. Um, shoot suspended or deleted because you have somebody doing some drop shipping, they prices change, they don’t send stuff and get caught up in customs. It’s a whole lot that can happen with drop shipping. As far as how I get my merchandise, I go to the thrift store, to the yard sale shoot.

It’s at, it’s at the house with me in 10, 10 to 15 minutes. So you can’t really beat

Tiffany Grant: that. Yeah, I agree with you there. So if y’all are listening and y’all love to shop, might as well use your skills to make some money.

Jason Butler: And then not to mention, since you said love to shop, I didn’t even bring up going to like, let’s see, going to Burnington, going to Marshall’s when they have sales.

Or even just on a regular day because they always have their items like marked down. So let’s, let’s just say you go to, go to Marshall’s. As a matter of fact, I went to Marshall’s a few months ago found an Atlanta hog shirt that was selling for like 20, 25 bucks online, pay 5 for it. Easy flip. So you can do that type of stuff any weekend, to be honest.

Tiffany Grant: Interesting. Well, you definitely have my wheels turning. Cause I’m like, I need to get rid of some stuff around here for real. And I never even thought about selling on eBay. And I know a couple of people, a few people that make good money off of eBay, including yourself. Now, let me ask you one more question.

And if you don’t feel comfortable answering, I understand. But, um, about how much do you make like a month, for instance, uh, selling stuff on

Jason Butler: eBay? I’m 100% comfortable with answering that question. Um, before inflation, I was making 1, 200 a month. Right now, it’s about half of that.

Tiffany Grant: Nice. I mean, even still, I mean, I could use an extra 600 a

Jason Butler: month for sure.

It’s still pretty good. Um, but I just remember when it was better, but I just keep it real. Like I, I’ve known a lot of people to stop actually selling within the last couple of years in life. You got to ride the white shoes. Sometimes things gonna, sometimes things won’t be as good as it was in the past.

But it’s not going to last forever. So just ride the wave.

Tiffany Grant: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And like I tell my audience all the time, you can’t time the market. So just hop in and see what you can do, why you can do it and then go from there. So thank you so much, Jason, for coming on the show today and sharing all of your information about eBay and selling.

I’m definitely about the download this app and start looking and seeing what I could sell. But if people were interested in finding out more about you or your blog, your platform, how could they

Jason Butler: find you? Yeah. You guys can check me out on my money chronicles. com. That’s my website where I talk about side hustles, personal finance and a little bit of travel.

I can be found on YouTube at my money chronicles. And Instagram at my money Chronicles one. Thank

Tiffany Grant: you. Thank you. And if you all did not get that, I will have all that information in the show notes. So check out the show notes there. Highly recommend Jason’s blog. I love his blog. I’m on it almost every day.

Um, and so I highly recommend you get on it too. Thank you so much Jason for coming on the show and I hope you have a wonderful

Jason Butler: rest of your day. Thank you Tiffany for giving me the opportunity and have a great day as well. Bye.

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