Being a student is hard work enough without lots of financial worries thrown in. A good way to keep on top of the costs is to look at buying things second hand from places like Ebay. Selling on your own used items in the same way can bring in enough money to buy the next lot of things you need too.
Ebay is actually a lot easier to use as a seller than you might think. If you don’t have an account, the first thing you need to do is register for one, and then have a look round to see what’s being sold on there and think what you have that you no longer want. Work out how much it’s going to cost you to list the item, how much it will cost for you to post it, and how you want to be paid – remember Paypal HAS to be offered as an option now, and they charge fee’s too. Once you’ve worked out what it will cost you to sell the item, you will have a good idea how much you might start your item at, and then it’s easy.
There are a few things you can do to help you get it right of course.
* Take a good photo – if people can see your item clearly it really does help.
* Use a package like word to write a bit about what you’re selling, then paste this into Ebay when you write your listing.
* Write your blurb clearly and concisely – no one needs to know you’re selling that album because you only bought it because your girlfriend liked it. What they do need to know is that the corner of the case is cracked, but that the CD plays perfectly.
* Have a look at what similar items have sold for recently by doing an advanced search, and don’t start your price too high.
* Use colour – it doesn’t cost anything to change the text colour on your listing, and something that’s written in a nice font with a nice colour can make yours stand out a bit from the rest. Don’t go for yellow on white though, or no one will be able to read it!
* Don’t waste money on extra pictures for something that’s only going to sell for a couple of quid. But, if you’re selling a car or something else big and expensive, take several pictures and spend a little extra to show the car off to it’s best advantage.
You may well be amazed at how much you can make by selling your old stuff that you don’t want any more. Text books, clothing, CD’s and DVD’s that you no longer want, any of this and much more can be sold on Ebay to help you fund your student years.
