Selling Retail Arbitrage on Ebay for a Profit

It’s been a while since I’ve done a sales update!  What with being busy with sourcing and listing and life getting in the way I just haven’t been in a blogging frame of mind.  But I’m back in a routine now so here’s my 7 eBay sales this week including a couple of retail arbitrage pickups.

Item:  Per Una Fit n Flare Dress

Paid:  £5 (retail arbitrage from M&S clearance sale)

I happened to wander into an M&S clearance outlet a couple of months ago and they were having a sale so I took advantage of the chance to pick up some retail arbitrage.  I picked up some dresses, skirts and some boots and this dress is the first thing to sell.  I have had them listed for a few weeks but apart from the boots they are all summer items, so let’s hope they’ll start to move.  I actually tried this dress on with a view to wearing it to a wedding I was going to but unfortunately it just didn’t look right.  Hopefully it’s new owner will look fab in it.

Sold:  £27.99 + £2.95 shipping

Profit after eBay & PayPal fees:  £17.89

Item:  Pack of Slide & Serve BBQ skewers

Paid:  £5 (retail arbitrage from Asda)

I bought 4 packs of these about a year ago but only two of them sold last summer.  I quite liked the look of them, sliding the food off the skewer with a little handle rather than burning your fingers.  But maybe people prefer to use wooden skewers or don’t want to pay a lot of money for something they won’t use very often.  Whatever the reason they’ve been slow sellers and I probably wouldn’t pick them up again … unless they were very cheap of course.

Sold:  £19.99 + £3.99 shipping

Profit after eBay & PayPal fees:  £12.52

Item:  Joseph Joseph Sink Tidy

Paid:  £8 (retail arbitrage from TK Maxx)

Lots of retail arbitrage items selling this week!  I’m not sure I’d even pay £8 for a sink tidy for myself (I’m more of a Poundland or B&M shopper) but apparently this brand is quite upmarket so when I saw them in TK Maxx I thought I’d give them a go.  I picked up three red ones and a green one and I’ve only got the green one left.  Which is strange as I thought the green was more popular.   I’d definitely pick them up again at the right price.

Sold:  £20.00 + £2.95 shipping

Profit after eBay & PayPal fees:  £8.37

Item:  Chuggington Train Bundle

Paid:  £10 for the carry case with the smaller trains.  (Facebook Marketplace) – I had the other ones left over from a bigger pickup so they didn’t owe me anything.

Chuggington always sells well for me, so I get quite excited when I see it for a good price … which isn’t too often.  The trains are die cast metal so they’re very sturdy and the little carry case is really cute – great for little hands.  I added the bigger trains plus a train torch and a sealed dvd which I had left over.  I feel adding a relevant dvd, book or soft toy to a play set seems to help it sell better … that’s my theory anyway.  I had it listed for £49.99 but as I was trying to get rid of some larger items in my stock room I took an offer on this.

Sold:  £40.00 + £7.50 shipping

Profit after eBay & PayPal fees:  £22.67

Item:  Next Jacket (New with Tags)

Paid:  £3 (car boot sale)

I’ve had this jacket listed for well over a year.  I really don’t understand why it’s taken so long to sell because I think it’s lovely and it was brand new with tags.  The price has been up and down like a yoyo over the last few months … I think at one point I had it listed for £9.99!  Very strange.  I’ve stopped picking up jackets and coats, for some reason I just find them really difficult to sell.  Do you think my keywords were wrong?  Let me know in the comments below if you think I could have added something different 🙂

Sold:  £19.99 + £2.95 shipping

Profit after eBay & PayPal fees:  £13.36

Item:  M&S Floral Sandals

Paid:  £4.50 (charity shop)

How gorgeous are these sandals?!  Someone else thought so too as they were only listed a couple of weeks.  I think this style of sandal is very popular for summer holidays and the embroidery really made them stand out.  Maybe I could have gotten a little more for them but I prefer to get a quick turnaround.  Just a small note – I’m getting very paranoid when it comes to listing the size of shoes.   I’ve had a couple of returns recently where I’ve actually listed the wrong size.  Note to self … make sure you’re wearing your specs when reading the label.  I’m pretty certain I got it right on these ones.

Sold:  £19.99 + £4.05 shipping

Profit after eBay & PayPal fees:  £12.78

Item:  Lord of the Rings 1000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle

Paid:  £3.99 (charity shop)

I love picking up jigsaws, but only if they’re new and sealed – I really couldn’t be bothered to do the jigsaw to make sure the pieces were all there if it had been opened.  New ones are easy to photograph and list, and although not very quick sellers they tick over nicely throughout the year.   (Jigsaws are not just for Christmas).  £3.99 is probably the most I’d ever pay for a jigsaw as they usually go for around the £20 or less mark, but this one went for a bit more … could be because it was a round jigsaw or because it was Lord of the Rings … who knows.

Sold:  £29.99 + £3.99 shipping

Profit after eBay & PayPal fees:  £21.81

Sales have been good lately and I’m trying to get back into a routine of listing 10 new items on a daily basis, which is going to be eaiser now that car boot season has officially started again and I can source a lot more stock.  In the meantime I regularly post things I’ve sold over on my Instagram account so if you’d like to see more then follow me @thegeordiegrandma