eBay sellers: still OK place for small parts? Also, learn me using my own shipping outside eBay

I've dabbled in eBay selling, mostly as a way to free up space and put a couple bucks in my pocket.

Once I'm into a certain vehicle or hobby, I have a ton of fun hunting for parts/supplies, and hunting for deals on (primarily used) spares I might need, or upgrades I may want in the future. I end up with lots of stuff on the shelves, which is fun for a while, and some of it gets used, but some doesn't, and then the applicable vehicle gets sold to fund the purchase of whatever catches my eye next, and I use eBay to clear out the old parts...rinse and repeat.

If I don't care/completely done, I'll run an auction starting at $1. For rarer/higher value items I'm not ready to give away, I'll list with a BIN 15%-20% below the prices I see in sold listings, and an auction starting at $5-10, and see how it pans out.

I did really well during with this during the peak of the pandemic, but my latest listings seem to be falling flat, like low double digit views, maaaybe 1-2 watchers, and zero bids. Now eBay seems to really be pushing their promoted listings. When I've fallen for it, the cost of the promoted listing usually makes it a wash with all the fees, shipping, promotion fees, my time, etc. (I'm not selling $200 items, or $500 items, more like $20 or $50 items) On some of the promoted listings, I got rid of stuff but made nothing or paid a few bucks. When I don't go for a promoted listing, I get 3-6 views,  0-2 watchers, and 0 bids.

Anyone else experiencing the same?

Also, if I want to use my own shipping through my UPS account, how do I create the listing? I've Googled this, and the suggestions are a very frustrating non-specific, "You can use your own shipping easily on eBay and upload tracking once you ship." What boxes do I/don't I tick when creating the listing to accomplish this?

Thanks in advance...

I actually just shipped out some 300ZX taillights yesterday that I sold on Ebay. Also got a notification from them that I exceeded 600 bucks worth of sales this year so far.

I dont mind ebay, it gets my stuff in front of many people. I mostly sell random, harder to find car parts that I find in the junkyard (z32 tails, cressida parts etc). I try to sell it cheaper than other folks and they usually sell within a month.

I always ship my own, USPS though, so I dont know how I would use UPS. But last night, after shipping off my stuff, I had to select carrier and then just put in a tracking number. Maybe it'd work the same for you?

When you lost it just say you'll ship ups and enter the dimensions and weight of the package. eBay will charge them the amount they calculate which may be more or less than your actual shipping cost. Then you ship it how you choose and enter the tracking number on your seller page. No fuss no muss. eBay collects money from the buyer and gives it to you to spend how you see fit on shipping. 
 

One suggestion - check out pirateship.com. They have really good discounts on ups shipping. Maybe yours are just as good but it's worth comparing. I use them for all my shipping now because their discount is MUCH better than what I get from ups or usps and the pricing is more consistent than eBay's. I kept getting charged more than ebay quoted me on shipments when I used the eBay shipping and that was very frustrating. 
 

Oh, and pirate ship can import all your eBay sales automatically so you don't need to enter addresses and then it'll automatically give your tracking number to eBay so you don't have to do that step either. Saves a lot of cut and pasting on the shipping for me at least. 

Yeah I'm pretty sure you just ship it and then submit your own tracking number instead of using their system. Honestly I don't remember the exact details but I did it a couple of years ago for a set of wheels I sold because it was in multiple packages.

I've never really had issue getting stuff sold, but I also pretty much only ever sell stuff that I know has some demand, anything else either goes in the trash or sits around until I'm willing to toss it. If you're selling super obscure stuff with a limited market, it might have to sit around for a while before it sells.

+1 to most everything dculberson posted above.  

I sell auto parts on eBay as a side hustle (high 4, low 5 figures), and almost always list at or very close to average sale price, sometimes higher.  I never use the auction anymore, as the gamble just isn't worth it.   Most of my items are known commodities, so they will usually sell at my price, given a month or two.  Some will sell within a week.  I can wait.   I sometimes will send an offer if I have a few watchers, and I think the item is at the point of going stale.   And then half the time it will end up selling to someone else for full price before anyone can claim the offer.  It's part of how the algorythm works.

   I list a lot of items as free shipping.    The shipping is baked into the price.  I have never used promotions, as it seems that once you do, your views go down if you don't continue to use them.   What I have found to work for traffic is to make sure you are attending your listings every day.   Adjust a price, send an offer, list something.  Even buying something seems to help.  If you have an item that is very stale (3-6 months) end the listing, and then "Sell Similar" with the same listing a few days later.   Fresh listings get more views.  The Global Shipping Program (GSP) is a godsend for sales.  A lot of my items go overseas, and it always was a hassle to deal with customs, fees, and long shipping times.   GSP takes care of all of those headaches.   Just get it to Kentucky on time, and it is out of your hair.


Before PirateShip offered UPS shipping, I had to use UPS, FedEx, or Greyhound for my larger packages.   As stated above, just list which carrier you are going to use in both the listing and the online form, and then enter the tracking number when you mark your item shipped after the sale.   If you are using PirateShip, that step isn't necessary if you have it linked to your eBay account.  You can import your sold items directly to PS, and PS will automatically update your eBay account with the tracking number(s).