How to sell on eBay UK: the beginner's guide that actually gets sales

eBay is still the deepest marketplace in the UK for second-hand and returned goods, with millions of buyers searching every day. Selling on it is not complicated, but a handful of habits separate accounts that sell within days from listings that sit for months. Here's the whole process, in order.

1. Set up the right way

Start with an ordinary personal account; you can sell immediately. New accounts have modest selling limits that rise automatically as you sell and earn feedback. If you're buying stock to resell (rather than clearing your loft), register as a business seller once you're going: it's free, honest, and unlocks higher limits.

Before listing anything, buy a few small things and leave prompt payment and polite messages. A little feedback history makes early buyers trust you.

2. Price from sold listings, never from hope

This is the one rule that pays for everything else. Search your exact item, tick the 'Sold items' filter, and look at what it actually fetched in the last few weeks, not what other sellers are asking. Take the middle of the range for your condition, not the best-case outlier.

Sealed items sell close to retail. Used-but-working sells at a clear discount. 'Spares or repairs' is its own market. Match the exact model number; one brand name can cover a £40 product and a £400 one.

3. Listings that convert

• Title: the words a buyer would type: brand, model, key spec, condition. 'Shark IZ300UK Cordless Vacuum, excellent condition' beats 'AMAZING hoover BARGAIN!!' every time.
• Photos: natural light, plain background, the real item, and photograph every flaw. Buyers forgive a mark they can see and punish one you hid.
• Format: use Buy It Now for anything with a known price. Auctions are for genuinely rare items.
• Price: at the sold-price middle to sell steadily; a touch under it to sell this week.

4. Know your costs

This depends on which type of account you're selling from. Private sellers pay no final value fee on most items (that changed in October 2024). Business sellers pay a category-based final value fee plus VAT and a small per-order fee, typically landing around 15 to 17% of the total sale. Either way, weigh and measure before you list so postage never surprises you; a £3 misjudged parcel is the entire margin on a £25 item. See our eBay fees UK explained page for the full breakdown, with worked examples for both.

You'll be paid directly to your bank, usually a couple of days after you mark the item dispatched.

5. The part nobody teaches: sourcing

Listing skills are worthless without stock worth listing. The most reliable UK source is the returns auction pipeline: auction houses like John Pye sell brand-name customer returns and overstock every day, often from £1. Buy at a third of the eBay sold price, all fees in, and the listing almost sells itself.

That's the exact gap RedGem covers: it watches six UK auction houses, values every lot against real eBay sold prices, and tells you the most you can bid while keeping your target profit. There's a free, fully unlocked deal on the homepage each day, so you can see a real example before you sign up for anything.

Quick answers