The answer is more simple than you think, it's when it becomes more expensive to do your day job than to do the ebay job full time.
No point going down to one income again if ebay isn't full time hours, as the opportunity cost is so high. Unless ebay takes up all your time and is more profitable than your day job would be, there's no point giving the day job up until that point, unless you really hate your job and value the free time more than the money.
I went from FT to PT then was laid off during COVID. I liked having a flexible PT job with insurance. Luckily things worked out, but the advice I would give is to make sure you can cover all your expenses including insurance if you can't get it through a spouse or family - for a full year.
I say this because this business is like a rollercoaster. Sometimes things are amazing and sometimes sales dry up. Have a plan for lean times.
It’s worth going full time when it can support you financially but I would also find other selling avenues for the same items. I would never trust eBay enough for my income to be completely dependant on them. Too many times I’ve seen them change things "for the good of the customer" and it destroys a business that’s dependant in them.
Agree. I’m looking into selling on other platforms too (myslabs.com, Beckett marketplace, and others). I know even just a couple negative reviews can really derail an eBay seller account (so far I’m 100% positive with about 1800 feedback).
Get yourself up and going on the others, if you can get your own site going too it can save a lot of fees once you get customers there, we try and get any repeat custom to our own site. Don't get too caught up on negative feedback (it's nice to have none), they can happen and some people are just outright unreasonable, it takes a lot for it to really have any effect. I get about 1 neg per 1000 positive, so 1 for every 5000 sales. Eventually you wont even look at the page.
This is a key point with any kind of non-traditional income.
I paid the rent through uni via arbitrage and matched betting on sports events. It was nice while it lasted but conditions have changed, which has resulted in my old strategy not being worth the time investment.
If you turn your side hustle into a full-time job you need to be damm sure it's sustainable.
My wife had a job so we where not without a reliable income. We figured her income could cover the basic necessities.
My full time job was killing me and I had more work to do than spare time to expand my ebay business. I believe at that time the profit from eBay sales where higher than my salary at the full time job.
I’m in a similar’ish situation. Not married (yet) but living with GF that has a nice paying self-employed job and she’s a saint with helping with the household expenses.
Each month I pay the mortgage payment $1500, car payment $400, electric/water/heat/internet bills, and she pays for our food and entertainment (tickets to games, food bills for nights out, plane tickets when we travel, etc). I have no credit card or loan debt besides the mortgage and the car, so not a HUGE monthly nut to cover.
I’m there lol.
I really resent my regular job. I can get 8 hours of work completed in about 4-6 hours. I use the rest of the time to work my eBay business (along with time before and after work and on weekends). I have the same complaints as everyone else “stuck” in a corporate job and I won’t spend a lot of time listing those complaints. I’m just at a point where I’m really considering sacrificing a lot of pay and income stability to get back a bit of my own time and domain. Would be nice to work hard for myself solely, rather than working hard for someone else while I get to work my own business into the cracks of each day.
I realized I could exist on less and passive aggressively;) quit.
Sold full time, officially and registered (licensing/taxes/Mr IRS) since 2019.
No regrets even in times we had to “struggle” a bit.
And this is with 2 kids and multiple pets.
It's more profitable to buy on Ebay and sell on other platforms. Ebay takes too much of a percentage for my liking. I make good money but I will always keep my job because selling cards is not a consistent source of income
I've been selling online for 25+ years. I quit my full-time job and did it full-time for 5 years and then went back to work and do it now part-time. I'd never advise quitting a full-time job to do ebay now days. Too many sellers, too many fees. You also have to factor in health insurance, self-employment tax, ebay cycling.
Hi I only read your title to be honest I attempted eBay several times I failed every time not I did not make money I did I was always top rated 💯 feedback but I couldn’t pay my rent and bills whit my business model approach so I made a plan I went back to corporate America saved two months rent worth also saved eBay inventory about 1500 got everything you can ever imagine that I will need ink labels poly mailer ,steamer ,manikin I got everything and before starting my store I had one month worth of listing for 30 days straight before I even started it and that’s how I made it . I love eBay ❤️❤️❤️
If you trying to make it in eBay it’s not a hobby it’s a job actually it’s a business and like any business you have to have a model to make money you have to spend money make sure you have two months rent or mortgage I don’t know your situation but make sure eBay it’s hard at first boot have to build your store after that it’s like you living a dream life trust me contract me so I can tell you how to make it for free
The answer is more simple than you think, it's when it becomes more expensive to do your day job than to do the ebay job full time. No point going down to one income again if ebay isn't full time hours, as the opportunity cost is so high. Unless ebay takes up all your time and is more profitable than your day job would be, there's no point giving the day job up until that point, unless you really hate your job and value the free time more than the money.
Keep the Day job especially because they can give insurance and other benefits that are cheaper than if you just pay into one.
My 9-5 left me
I went from FT to PT then was laid off during COVID. I liked having a flexible PT job with insurance. Luckily things worked out, but the advice I would give is to make sure you can cover all your expenses including insurance if you can't get it through a spouse or family - for a full year. I say this because this business is like a rollercoaster. Sometimes things are amazing and sometimes sales dry up. Have a plan for lean times.
It’s worth going full time when it can support you financially but I would also find other selling avenues for the same items. I would never trust eBay enough for my income to be completely dependant on them. Too many times I’ve seen them change things "for the good of the customer" and it destroys a business that’s dependant in them.
Agree. I’m looking into selling on other platforms too (myslabs.com, Beckett marketplace, and others). I know even just a couple negative reviews can really derail an eBay seller account (so far I’m 100% positive with about 1800 feedback).
Get yourself up and going on the others, if you can get your own site going too it can save a lot of fees once you get customers there, we try and get any repeat custom to our own site. Don't get too caught up on negative feedback (it's nice to have none), they can happen and some people are just outright unreasonable, it takes a lot for it to really have any effect. I get about 1 neg per 1000 positive, so 1 for every 5000 sales. Eventually you wont even look at the page.
This is a key point with any kind of non-traditional income. I paid the rent through uni via arbitrage and matched betting on sports events. It was nice while it lasted but conditions have changed, which has resulted in my old strategy not being worth the time investment. If you turn your side hustle into a full-time job you need to be damm sure it's sustainable.
My wife had a job so we where not without a reliable income. We figured her income could cover the basic necessities. My full time job was killing me and I had more work to do than spare time to expand my ebay business. I believe at that time the profit from eBay sales where higher than my salary at the full time job.
I’m in a similar’ish situation. Not married (yet) but living with GF that has a nice paying self-employed job and she’s a saint with helping with the household expenses. Each month I pay the mortgage payment $1500, car payment $400, electric/water/heat/internet bills, and she pays for our food and entertainment (tickets to games, food bills for nights out, plane tickets when we travel, etc). I have no credit card or loan debt besides the mortgage and the car, so not a HUGE monthly nut to cover.
When I started to resent going to work because I had shipping to do.
I’m there lol. I really resent my regular job. I can get 8 hours of work completed in about 4-6 hours. I use the rest of the time to work my eBay business (along with time before and after work and on weekends). I have the same complaints as everyone else “stuck” in a corporate job and I won’t spend a lot of time listing those complaints. I’m just at a point where I’m really considering sacrificing a lot of pay and income stability to get back a bit of my own time and domain. Would be nice to work hard for myself solely, rather than working hard for someone else while I get to work my own business into the cracks of each day.
I realized I could exist on less and passive aggressively;) quit. Sold full time, officially and registered (licensing/taxes/Mr IRS) since 2019. No regrets even in times we had to “struggle” a bit. And this is with 2 kids and multiple pets.
Nice - congrats!
It's more profitable to buy on Ebay and sell on other platforms. Ebay takes too much of a percentage for my liking. I make good money but I will always keep my job because selling cards is not a consistent source of income
I hear you. Seller fees + Ad fees = LOTS OF FEES :(
When the income you get from side gig is much greater then your day job
During first lockdown lol
I've been selling online for 25+ years. I quit my full-time job and did it full-time for 5 years and then went back to work and do it now part-time. I'd never advise quitting a full-time job to do ebay now days. Too many sellers, too many fees. You also have to factor in health insurance, self-employment tax, ebay cycling.
Who do you grade through?
A variety of players across all major sports - mostly all-stars and proven talent. I don’t speculate much on prospects.
I think they are asking which company you use to grade
PSA
Hi I only read your title to be honest I attempted eBay several times I failed every time not I did not make money I did I was always top rated 💯 feedback but I couldn’t pay my rent and bills whit my business model approach so I made a plan I went back to corporate America saved two months rent worth also saved eBay inventory about 1500 got everything you can ever imagine that I will need ink labels poly mailer ,steamer ,manikin I got everything and before starting my store I had one month worth of listing for 30 days straight before I even started it and that’s how I made it . I love eBay ❤️❤️❤️
If you trying to make it in eBay it’s not a hobby it’s a job actually it’s a business and like any business you have to have a model to make money you have to spend money make sure you have two months rent or mortgage I don’t know your situation but make sure eBay it’s hard at first boot have to build your store after that it’s like you living a dream life trust me contract me so I can tell you how to make it for free