Ever heard of those people with side hustle that earn boatloads of money and are able to quit their jobs and live happily ever after?! Well, I’m not one of them…yet… but I’m dabbling to see what works for my family in order to meet our goals and kick financial stress in the butt. So far I’ve found that opening an Ebay store has been exactly what my family needed for a side hustle.
There are few things I hate more than stressing about money so I’m figuring out ways to end this unneeded stressor. Much to my surprise, one of the things that has worked the best for us is selling items on Ebay through an Ebay store.
I bet the thought has crossed your mind at one point or another about selling that ugly bridesmaid dress or that Crock Pot (“Slow Cooker” for those of you who don’t live in the Midwest) you received for your wedding. I also bet it’s safe to assume that back in 2003, you even considered selling those exact items on Ebay. But if you’re like me, you’re thinking “this is 2018, isn’t Ebay outdated?” My answer for you is “absolutely not”! And I’m here to give you the inside scoop on Ebay Stores and explain how you could have been using this as a side hustle all along. But first…let me give you a little bit of back story on how it all started.
Close your eyes and picture this…it’s 9:00 pm on a frigid Wisconsin night of -15 degrees. The snow is whipping across the yard and I can hear its force making the house creak (so I’m being a little dramatic but I’m trying to paint the picture for you!) I’m standing in the entry, holding my month old baby girl in my arms and I’m crying. Why? Because my husband is leaving for his PM shift and I know that I will not see him from now (Monday) until Thursday. And on Thursday, I will only see him for about 30 minutes total. Then, because he will be so exhausted from his school/work schedule, he will pass out and get up at the very last minute to head back to work.
Meanwhile, I’m at home with my newborn (first child I might add) trying to figure everything out and running the house/family like I’m a single parent from Monday-Friday. Side note- HUGE shout out to all of you single Mamas or Mamas whose husbands work on the road for weeks at a time. I have no idea how you do it! Ok, back to my pity party…not only is this hard, but I’m still hormonal from being 1 month post-partum…so when I say crying, what I actually mean is sobbing.
I pretty much do this every night for 2 weeks before I decided that enough is enough and I NEED to find a better option for my family. I missed my husband and the last thing I wanted was for him to miss the first year of our daughter’s life! So that is when we went back to the drawing board and started praying.
This is when we decided to start our Ebay Store endeavor, allowing my husband to ease up on is crazy schedule and not feel financial stress. Through sales in our Ebay store, we are able to earn enough money for my husband to only work part-time at work so that he can get enough sleep to function AND be home with us more during the first few months of our daughter’s life. Bye bye nightly bawling sessions and hello husband.
Even as our financial/work situation changes down the road, I still envision using our Ebay Store to help pay off debt. Or, we can also use it to give us a little boost if there is something we are saving for like a vacation, new appliance, new furniture, etc.
I’m making the assumption that you all have your own “whys” when it comes to finding a side hustle and that many of you are in similar or even worse places than me and you’re trying to figure out your next step. My suggestion to you would be to consider opening an Ebay store and flip items to help fill in the gaps.
I’m a strong believer that everyone has the ability to make changes to improve their lives. So if you don’t like being stressed about finances (like me!), then stop worrying and do something about it!
There are MANY different ways to go about selling on platforms such as Ebay and Amazon but what works the best for my husband and me is flipping items. What I mean by this is that we find used or new items at places such as garage sales, thrift stores, and even clearance sections of stores like Wal-Mart at times and we sell them on our Ebay store for a profit.
Sound too good to be true? Let me be the first to tell you it’s not. You can EASILY make a profit on Ebay by using this method. Why? Because Ebay takes away the searching and puts items at others’ fingertips with a click of a button… and this is what you are being paid for.
Here are my 5 top reasons to open an Ebay store
1. You don’t need a significant amount of money to get started with an Ebay store.
Other side hustles are great, but you need $500 or $1000 or even more in start-up costs. I don’t know about you but we didn’t have that kind of money to throw out there. This involves VERY little startup costs since you are shopping at thrift stores. And if you really don’t have money to put forth, only start with five items and use the profit from those five to buy more items to flip and grow your business in that manner. I’ve even heard of people who start out by finding free items on Craigslist or Facebook buying and selling pages. These items are then flipped for a profit in their Ebay store. The profit is then put right back into the business, growing it a little at a time.
2. You can sell on Ebay on your time.
This was HUGE for me since I’m on maternity leave and heading back to work after my twelve weeks are done. I needed something simple and straight forward that I could work on during my baby’s naps. Sometimes it took me longer to get items listed because of a fussy baby but that’s OK. There is no crunch! Another plus is that if you start an Ebay store, you can put it on vacation mode. This allows us to leave for a week and not have to worry about shipping items late.
3. Ebay stores have reasonable seller’s fees.
I’ve also dabbled in Amazon FBA selling but there was so much money taken out in seller fees, taxes, etc. that I was struggling to break even. I also didn’t find it as straight forward as I have found an Ebay store to be. Plus, with the items I want to sell (thrifted items mostly) there wasn’t a big market for these on Amazon.
4. Quality time with my husband.
We both love to thrift. So when his schedule is permitting, we go thrifting together. It’s a fun “date day” where we are actually making money versus spending money. We also bring our daughter along, which allows not only for quality husband time but also quality family time.
5. Ebay stores really work.
Sometimes it feels like magic and sometimes I start to think “these items are never going to sell!!!” But then, my phone alerts me that another item sold! This happens time after time!
Did I hook you yet? I hope so!!! Because for my family, opening an Ebay store has been a great side hustle. We have found numerous benefits! These benefits have included decreased financial stress and allowing my husband to work part time so he can spend more time with us at home during the first few months of our daughter’s birth.
I also love to have multiple income streams to help cover for those unexpected curve balls life throws at you. Curve balls we have faced include car problems, storm damage, and new appliances. Oh the joys of “adulting”….
My goal is to use our Ebay store money to buy a new couch but every time I have saved up enough money, we have another curveball thrown our way. Part of me is always sad about not purchasing that elusive couch, but the other part of me rests easy knowing that we have money to fall back when things don’t go quite as planned!
What about you, have you opened an Ebay store and sold on Ebay before? What are some of the reasons you chose Ebay as a side hustle?
Stay tuned for my next post “Make Quick Money on Ebay” where I give you twenty-five tips and items to sell on your Ebay Store in order to help your sales go up and your wasted time go down!