Six essentials for eBay sellers

As one of the cheapest and simplest businesses to set up, more people than ever are starting up their own eBay business, selling a whole range of products. Before you take the plunge, let's look at some of the business essentials you could need in order to make your internet selling business fly.

Shelving

No matter what you are going to sell, it is safe to assume you are going to need somewhere to store it. Whether you are converting a garage, home office or spare room, to maximise your stock space, some shelving is going to be required. Options here range from full-scale pallet racking capable of supporting around a ton per bay to a more modest chipboard and steel storeroom shelf.

Packing Bench

Once your stock starts selling, then you’ll need to package it up and get it send out in an efficient manner. A packing bench can hold all your postage consumables and give you an effective flat surface on which to prepare items for postage. An economy packing station will cost around £220 ex. VAT and comes with roller bars for both paper and bubble wrap. Talking of packaging, you’ll also need…

Cardboard Boxes

We couldn't leave out the good old-fashioned cardboard box. Protective and good for the environment, cardboard boxes are plastic-free, can be reused and recycled. Available in an array of sizes you'll find one suitable for almost anything. There's a choice of standard single-wall cardboard boxes or double-wall cardboard boxes which are ideal for fragile or heavier items.

Parcel Tape

The cornerstone of packaging has to be some good parcel tape, and you’ll quickly find out it is impossible to have too many of these brown rolls of sticky greatness. For extra efficiency, you’ll want to pair this with one of those cool hand-held dispensers for big parcels and one of those slightly less cool bench-mounted ones for small items.

Heated Bag Sealers

A professional appearance is vital if you are going to be a top seller, so if you are going to be selling small items packed in bags, you will want to create a good impression by heat sealing them in individual bags.

Weighing scales

Once the packing is done, you’ll be wanting to send your items, either via a courier or Royal Mail. No matter how you want to dispatch, in order to price it correctly you will need to know how much things weigh. A simple set of bench-based Salter Brecknell weighing scales can help you to know exactly how much you are going to have to pay to send something out, as well as enabling you to accurately describe the weight to prospective customers.

K-Bins

Not everyone sells ready-made items on eBay, it could be that there is an element of assembly involved; it could be that you are making jewellery or other small craft items. In this case, the ability to store tiny items in their own easily accessible bins becomes essential. K-Bins offer a very cost-effective way to keep elements needed for assembly separate and yet close to hand.

So there we go, hopefully you now have a shopping list for things you’ll need to open an eBay shop. Good luck and if you decide to buy from us to set up a business, drop us a line and we’d be thrilled to feature you as one of our customer stories right here on this Blog.