How to Make Money Reselling on eBay [Side Hustle Case Study] (2024)

Here’s the next instalment in our side hustle case study series, where real people share how they make extra money in their spare time!

This week I’m excited to share an interview with Emma Drew from Make Money Without A Job. Emma is the queen of making money online, and in this post she’s sharing her experience of one of her many side hustles: reselling on eBay.

How to make money reselling on eBay with Emma Drew

Please tell us a little about yourself and your side hustle.

My name is Emma Drew and I live in Cambridgeshire with my husband and our 3 cats. I was lucky enough to give up my full time job over 3 years ago to run my blog full time. I decided that I wanted something else to do to diversify my income. I love spotting a bargain so I thought that reselling would be for me.

Reselling is where you buy an item, usually from a charity shop, auction, car boot sale or Facebook marketplace and then sell it on eBay (or elsewhere) for a profit. In America this is known as flipping.

How long have you been an eBay reseller? How did you get into it?

I’ve dabbled with reselling for years, always being able to spot a bargain and flipping it. As a teenager I was actually the first person on eBay selling jewellery making kits. I would go and source the items from the high street myself, then put them together as a kit. My cost was £5 and at the height of popularity I was selling them for £49.99!

I’ve been properly reselling since January 2017.

What does the work actually involve? What does a typical day/work session look like for you?

Reselling on eBay is just a side hustle for us – working on my blog is my main focus. I am extremely lucky because my husband takes care of photographs and listings, so I get to help out with sourcing items (the best bit) and packaging them up which is the second best bit.

There’s no typical work session with reselling. Sometimes you will find loads in a charity shop and sometimes you will find nothing. Sometimes items will need cleaning and repairing and other times they are good to go.

It is a really fantastic side hustle for anyone who needs variety in their life.

How much can you make reselling on eBay?

Reselling is one of those side hustles where what you earn is in correlation with how much time and energy you put into it. You can buy as many items as you want, but if you don’t get them listed then they can’t earn you any money.

Reselling on eBay has just been a small side hustle for us – we don’t do it full time and our numbers show that.

Are there any start-up costs and/or ongoing expenses with this side hustle?

The great thing about reselling is that you can start with a very low amount of money. Usually £10 is enough to buy stock.

You can save on packaging by recycling what you get in the post, or pick some up cheaply at places like Poundland.

Other ongoing costs will be mileage for sourcing and posting your items, as well as eBay and Paypal fees.

What advice would you give to somebody who wants to get started?

Don’t keep aiming for perfection – just go and buy something and get it listed. Don’t forget to accurately charge your postage costs as this stings most people. List your items as ‘buy it now’ with a price you are happy to accept – don’t run the risk of making a small sale with auctions.

Any recommended websites or resources?

There are lots of resellers sharing their journey online for free, so watch as many YouTube videos as you can and join as many Facebook groups as you can. I also really like bidkit (https://www.bidkit.com/) to help you find collection only job lots nearby.

Where can we find you?

Blog: https://makemoneywithoutajob.com/

Instagram: www.instagram.com/emmadrewinfo

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emmadrewinfo

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/emmadrewinfo

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCyWdVTS3OIccMT1XtpVp_g

Thank you Emma!

Anyone else tempted to give eBay reselling a go?

You can find the other posts in the side hustle case studies serieshere.

I’m currently looking for more contributions to this series! If you have a unique side hustle you’d like to share, please contact me and let me know what it is!

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