Reselling

If you are selling on eBay Australia, the fee structure has changed significantly. From May 12, eBay is rolling out free selling for casual sellers, and restructuring its plans for everyone else. This guide covers exactly what you will pay — no marketing fluff, just the numbers. We have already covered how to choose between eBay and Gumtree as an Australian reseller and how to optimise your eBay listings for faster sales. This post focuses on the one thing that directly determines your bottom line: fees. ...

If you run an Australian consignment store and you’re not on Facebook Marketplace, you’re leaving money on the table. If you’re only on Facebook Marketplace, you’re leaving even more. For Australian resellers, Facebook Marketplace is the most accessible sales channel in the country. It’s free to list. It reaches millions of local buyers. And for certain categories — furniture, bulky items, whitegoods — it has no serious competitor in terms of local buyer density. ...

If you do not know your profit margins, you are not running a resale business — you are running a hobby that occasionally makes money. Here is what the numbers actually look like for Australian resellers, and how to improve them. The Honest Numbers Resale profit margins vary wildly depending on what you sell and how you source. But here are realistic benchmarks: Category Typical Gross Margin Notes Luxury handbags 40-60% High ticket, high margin, slow turn Branded fashion 30-50% Good volume, competitive market Electronics 15-25% Fast turn, thin margins, risk of depreciation Op shop flips 60-80% Lowest cost basis, highest relative margin Consignment (your cut) 30-50% No inventory cost, but overhead is higher Vintage/collectibles 40-70% Requires specialist knowledge These are gross margins — revenue minus cost of goods sold. Your net margin after platform fees, shipping, storage, and time will be significantly lower. ...

You have got 50 items to list. eBay takes 5 minutes per listing if you are fast. Gumtree takes another 4 minutes. That is 7.5 hours of listing before you have sold a single thing. There is a better way. Why Multi-Platform Listing Matters Items listed on more than one platform sell up to 3x faster. It is simple math — more eyeballs on your items means a higher chance of finding the right buyer quickly. ...

If you are reselling in Australia, you have probably asked yourself: should I list this on eBay or Gumtree? The answer is not one or the other — it depends on what you are selling, who you are selling to, and how much time you want to spend managing listings. Here is a straight-talking breakdown for Australian resellers. The Quick Answer eBay is better for: branded goods, electronics, collectibles, items with a clear market value, and anything you want to ship nationally. Gumtree is better for: bulky local pickup items, furniture, cars, and quick cash sales where you do not want to deal with postage. Most successful resellers use both — and that is where the real challenge starts. ...

Every Australian reseller hits the same crossroads eventually: consign this item or sell it myself? It seems simple — consignment means someone else does the work, right? Not quite. The real answer depends on the item, your time, and how much margin you are willing to share. Let us break it down with real Australian dollar figures. The Case for Consignment Consignment means you hand your item to a store or platform. They photograph it, list it, handle buyer questions, ship it, and deal with returns. When it sells, they take a commission (typically 30-50% of the sale price) and send you the rest. ...

Price an item wrong and two things happen: price too high and it sits for months eating shelf space; price too low and you leave money on the table. Here’s the framework that consistent resellers use to get pricing right. The Three Inputs to Every Price Every price decision comes down to three numbers: Market value — What comparable items have actually sold for recently Time value — How long you’re willing to hold the item Platform cost — What it costs to sell on each channel Miss any one of these and you’re guessing. ...

Whether you’re running a consignment store or flipping finds from Abbey’s Auctions, your eBay listings are only as good as the strategy behind them. After analysing thousands of Australian eBay listings, here are the seven patterns that consistently outperform. 1. Front-Load Your Title With Search Terms eBay gives you 80 characters. The first 35 show on mobile. Put your brand, model, and size up front — not adjectives like “Stunning” or " Gorgeous." Buyers search for “Louis Vuitton Neverfull MM,” not “beautiful designer bag.” ...