Can You Sell Services On Ebay?

The overwhelming majority of the items sold on eBay and other auction sites are physical goods. There are a small number of exceptions, though, and one possibility that is usually overlooked is that of services.

Selling services on eBay may have some great advantages:

1. Depending on what service you are offering, there may not be any necessary inventory or equipment for you to store, unlike the space challenges of hard goods

2. Best of all, there is no advance expense. Unless your service sells, you have no responsibility. In other words, the only risk is your listing fee.

An important point is that you should only sell only those services for which you are already equipped. For example, one service on eBay involved selling personalized cartoons. There were a large selection of choices, in both professions and sexes, so if you were a woman school teacher, for example, you could buy a cartoon of a lady teaching a class, and it would have various personalized information on the cartoon, such as your name, titles of favorite books, and more.

The problem, though, was that the seller had to buy some VERY expensive software to make the cartoons (in excess of $1,000), plus the pictures themselves required special paper. He already had a business selling the cartoons, so eBay was a natural extension of his main business. However, spending this kind of capital just for eBay would probably be a risky proposition.

How can you know if your services will sell?

Like everything else, demand is the #1 consideration. One of my students tried unsuccessfully to sell Bible verses that he personalized with his own caligraphy. Apparently, the demand simply didn’t exist.

But, there are some services that do well. Here are a couple of “ordinary” ones.

Example 1: (seller’s ID removed)

http://auction-genius-course.com/listings/service.shtml

With this auction, the seller is offering to transfer your old video treasures to DVD. Most people know that old movies and tapes fade over time and that DVD offers a way to preserve them indefinitely.

This auction offers this company/seller a way to sell “extras” outside the $24.99 mentioned in the auction. Want a customized introduction? Add $5. How about a 10 chapter navigation menu? That will be an additional $20.

Auction #2:

http://auction-genius-course.com/listings/service3.shtml

A similar service involves having a photograph transferred to artist canvas. The seller wisely mentions that this service was sold on QVC for over $100, giving legitimacy to this idea. (Of course, it is very possible that it wasn’t HIS service that was sold on QVC, but only a similar one).

I checked out the company information on google and located this seller’s business:

http://vinyllettering.com/photo.htm

As you can see, selling on eBay is a terrific way to support an existing business and help grow your customer list.

Auction #3 and #4:

http://auction-genius-course.com/listings/service2.shtml

http://auction-genius-course.com/listings/service1.shtml

Now we get into some more creative areas. Our first example capitalizes on a trend for “mobile” advertising. He is offering the services of his car as an advertising billboard for the period of one year. This is a goofy sort of listing because the seller will move anywhere in the US, depending on the desires of the buyer (or so he says). But, he does illustrate that with a little creative thinking we can all come up with some auction items that require zero money.

Our second example is much more likely, because the seller is a pro bowler who tours on the women’s pro bowling circuit and is seen by many people. To make her offer credible, she mentions that she has had coverage by such well known media as ESPN, USA Today and Sports Illustrated for Women. Again, it would cost her absolutely nothing to wear a logo by her buyer.

Services are a low cost way to have something to sell on eBay, especially if your offer goes along with any existing business you already have. As always, do your homework before spending any money on equipment or necessities for the service that you offer.