@sea4trade wrote:
I have a number of good items I would like to sell but after reading some of the posts in this forum I question whether its worth it.
After all the shipping costs and my labour to package things up and ship I may be giving the stuff away. Not to mention the shipping cost if tracking is included.
Most items I would sell would be valued between $10-$50 ea but a few things $50-$500 CDN.
It's always hard to know what to say to this sort of question without knowing more details, but here are a few factors that may help you decide:
1) How much time per day do you have to devote to creating and monitoring listings, and packing/shipping items sold? Individual listings can take longer than you think to prepare properly, including time spent photographing the items properly. If your time is limited, focus on higher-priced items that are in reasonable demand on eBay.
2) If time isn't an issue, start by listing a variety of higher and lower-priced items, and see which sell best and are easiest and cheapest for you to ship. You will find that the best lower-priced items are those that will fit into a maximum 38x27x2cm bubble envelope (#4 envelope). Those can go by lettermail within Canada and Light Packet to the U.S. at relatively reasonable rates (without tracking). Use tracking selectively -- it's not necessary or even wise for most items of lower value. I find Light and Small Packet to the U.S. is almost as fast as domestic letter-mail.
You'll also soon find out whether your main market is in the U.S. or Canada. Frankly, I'd stick with just those two countries, at least at first. That's probably the best advice I could give anyone starting to sell here.
3) Are your items breakable, perishable, or subject to other sorts of damage or thievery in transit? Those will be more of a challenge to ship at reasonable cost. If so, start with the items of mid- to high-range value, on which you can justify tracking (and insurance if necessary).
4) Are you selling only personal goods, i.e. items you originally bought for your own use? If so, you will likely not need to declare the income for items valued under $1,000. This is one advantage to "cleaning out the attic", as opposed to actually running a business. Check the CRA site or an accountant for details, as things may change for 2017 now that we have a new government.
5) Have you done some research on eBay to determine what demand exists for your type of items? Check sellers of similar items and see how much they are selling, and at what prices (look at their FB received, and at "Sold Listings", which you can get to by clicking on "Items for Sale", then scrolling down the left panel of options). This will give you some idea of whether it's worth your time and effort, and how much you can expect to sell in what sort of time frame.
6) As others have mentioned, when you have a specific question, come back to the boards to get input beforehand. It's so much easier to avoid a potential problem on eBay than to try to fix a transaction that's gone wrong, or avoid a defect after the fact.
The bottom line: it can be worth it if you can balance your time input with money earned over a reasonable period, and keep shipping challenges within bounds.
Best of luck!
