Best Items to Sell on eBay for Maximum Profit

eBay remains one of the best platforms for launching and growing an online retail business. With a straightforward process for opening a store and listing items, it provides a massive marketplace for sellers to reach customers.

However, selling on eBay is definitely more competitive than it was years ago. The key to success isn't just listing items; it's knowing what to sell. As long as you can find products at cheap prices and sell them with a markup, you can make a profit.

This guide dives into the best items to sell on eBay for maximum profit, what sells most frequently, and pro tips to help you build a lucrative reselling business.

Finding Your Niche: The Key to eBay Profitability

While it's tempting to jump straight to listing popular items, conducting detailed market and product research will bring more profit in the long run. The items you choose to resell must be practical for you to source and profitable enough to be worth your time.

A successful strategy often involves striking a balance between high customer demand and low seller competition. Going immediately for the best-selling items on eBay is not always the wisest choice, as these categories are often highly competitive.

Sourcing and Research Strategies

Resellers need to source items from places with attractive prices to ensure they can turn a profit. If you plan to resell secondhand fashion, thrift stores are a great place to find inventory. For more exclusive, higher-end fashion pieces, consignment shops are a better sourcing option.

Another popular method is retail arbitrage, where you buy an item at a low or discounted price from a retail store and then resell it on eBay for a profit. When using this model, you need to account for all factors, including shipping costs and potential returns, to ensure your profit margins are worthwhile.

Before committing to a niche, do your homework. Explore eBay's sold listings to get a better idea of what buyers are actively purchasing, rather than focusing only on what is currently for sale. If you're selling secondhand items, filter your search by item condition to see what shoppers are looking for.

The better an item's condition and the more complete its packaging, the more profit you can expect to make.

Top 10 Most Profitable Items to Sell on eBay

Based on detailed market research, certain items consistently show high demand and strong profitability. Here are some of the best things to sell on eBay for profit.

1. Power Banks

Power banks are number one on the list. With the demand for portable charging solutions growing, these items are an excellent choice for eBay sellers. They are relatively inexpensive to buy, which provides a great opportunity for a healthy markup.

• Overall Sale Earnings: $124,885
• Sell-Through Rate: 7102%
• Average Product Price: $20.63

2. Dolls

Dolls, particularly life-size baby dolls, are in great demand and feature frequently in the top ten best-selling items. This is a category with a dedicated and knowledgeable buyer base, making it a profitable niche.

• Overall Sale Earnings: $101,460
• Successful Listings: 91%
• Average Product Price: $57.36
• Total Sold Items: 1,961

3. Essential Oils

Essential oils are a trending product on eBay. Their popularity is driven by increasing consumer health consciousness. They are also great products to sell online because they are easy to package and ship safely.

• Overall Sale Earnings: $78,057
• Total Sold Items (last 30 days): 11,305
• Average Product Price: $7.69

4. Slippers

Slippers are a popular item that can make you a lot of money on eBay. They are generally sold at cheap prices, allowing for a good profit margin, and they have a very high sell-through rate.

• Overall Sale Earnings: $77,306
• Sell-Through Rate: 3182%
• Total Sold Items: 3,182
• Average Product Price: $18.59

5. Screen Protectors

The continuous increase in smartphone usage drives the demand for screen protectors. These items are often cheap to source, lightweight, and do not take up much space, making them easy to sell and ship.

• Overall Sale Earnings: $72,300
• Total Sold Items: 15,383
• Successful Listings: 53%
• Average Product Price: $5.24

6. Sunglasses

You can make a lot of money selling sunglasses, as they are popular and in demand year-round. Polarized sunglasses for outdoor activities are particularly popular among eBay buyers.

• Overall Sale Earnings: $60,958
• Sell-Through Rate: 4146%
• Successful Listings: 77%
• Average Product Price: $12.86

7. Protective Phone Cases

Similar to screen protectors, there is a huge demand for protective phone cases. They are a consistently profitable item with an extremely high sell-through rate, indicating that buyers are actively seeking them out.

• Overall Sale Earnings: $55,256
• Sell-Through Rate: 7210%
• Average Product Price: $8.18

8. Tripods

Factors like the rise of vlogging, product photography, and video-sharing networks have increased the demand for photography tripods. The demand for DSLR cameras also positively affects tripod sales, making them a strong niche.

• Overall Sale Earnings: $50,707
• Sell-Through Rate: 3776%
• Successful Listings: 81%
• Average Product Price: $20.13

9. Camera Cases

Camera cases are a popular item among buyers and one of the best items to sell on eBay in 2023. As camera use in photography and videography rises, so does the demand for protective cases. Buyers are especially looking for portability and durability, with cases for Fujifilm cameras selling particularly well.

• Overall Sale Earnings: $28,930
• Total Sold Items (last 30 days): 1,586
• Average Product Price: About $20

10. Plant Lamps

Plant lamps, especially LED models, are popular on eBay. This niche benefits from a high percentage of successful listings, meaning that when you list a plant lamp, it's very likely to sell.

• Overall Sale Earnings: $44,695
• Sell-Through Rate: 2233%
• *
• Successful Listings:
• 80%
• Average Product Price: $19.43

What Sells Best on eBay? A Look at High-Demand Categories

While the most profitable items often have a good balance of high demand and lower competition, it's also useful to know what sells best on eBay in terms of sheer volume. These are categories where items are sold at a very high frequency.

Understanding these high-turnover categories can help you identify adjacent niches or add fast-selling items to your inventory to ensure a steady revenue stream.

Here’s a look at how quickly some popular items sell:

• A Book sells every 2 seconds.
• An Action Figure sells every 3 seconds.
• A T-shirt sells every 5 seconds.
• Vitamins & Minerals sell every 7 seconds.
• Necklaces & Pendants sell every 9 seconds.
• Lawn Mower Parts sell every 11 seconds.
• A Headphone sells every 13 seconds.

Top In-Demand Product Categories

Globally, several categories consistently perform well on eBay. These include:

• Clothing, Shoes & Accessories: This is a massive category with many profitable sub-niches. Top in-demand products include athletic shoes, leather jackets, coats, Indian ethnic wear (Saree, Kurta, Choli), sunglasses, hats, and activewear.
• Health & Beauty: Products like vitamins, supplements, fragrances (for men, women, and children), anti-aging products, moisturizers, and hair care are always popular.
• Collectibles: This category includes everything from trading cards and action figures to comics, animation merchandise, and historical items like armor and daggers.
• Jewellery & Watches: Wristwatches, rings, earrings, bracelets, and loose gemstones are top sellers.
• Electronics: Cell phones, video games, screen protectors, headphones, PC laptops, and chargers are in constant demand.
• Home & Garden: This broad category includes top in-demand items like mugs, pillows, area rugs, cooking utensils, seeds & bulbs, and string lights.

Pro Tips for a Profitable eBay Reselling Business

Knowing what to sell is only half the battle. To run a successful and long-lasting eBay business, you need to implement smart strategies for sourcing, listing, and managing your sales.

Sourcing and Pricing Strategy

Your key to profit is knowing what you have and what it's worth, particularly when dealing with vintage or collectible items. This knowledge will help you spot a deal at a thrift store that you can sell for a significant profit on eBay because you and your buyers understand its real value.

It's crucial to build a cost model so you know what price to list your items at to make a profit. Factor in all costs: what you paid for the item, shipping supplies, eBay fees, income taxes, and even a budget for potential returns.

Be fair with your prices and always check what your competition is charging for similar items.

Creating Winning Listings

Since resellers often don't have access to catalog images, knowing how to take great photos is essential. Photograph your items as if there will be no description, and describe them as if there will be no photographs.

Take high-quality images from a variety of angles, and always point out any flaws. Your first image should be of the item head-on against a neutral background. For every item you sell, conduct keyword research to create an optimized title and description that uses terms buyers are likely to search for.

Managing Shipping and Fees

Shipping costs and selling fees have a direct impact on your bottom line. Heavy or bulky items, like vintage furniture, can be difficult to sell profitably on eBay because shipping prices are often too high.

Always set up the shipping correctly on your listing with the accurate size and weight of the packaged item. Since eBay's selling fees vary by category, make sure you can still make a profit after fees are deducted.

New Seller Best Practices

As a new seller, it's wise to avoid listing high-value items that are common targets for scammers. Some experienced sellers recommend using the "Buy It Now" (BIN) option with "immediate payment required" to attract serious buyers and avoid non-paying bidders, which can be more common with auction-style listings.

Fully read and understand eBay's Money Back Guarantee (MBG). Many new sellers mistakenly believe that a "no returns" policy means they don't have to issue refunds, but that is not the case on eBay. A buyer can still open a "Not As Described" case, and eBay's policies often favor the buyer.

How to Scale Your eBay Resale Business with Reeva

As your eBay store grows, managing listings, inventory, and customer interactions becomes more complex. This is where having the right tools can make all the difference. We built Reeva to simplify and automate running a resale business, giving you back time to focus on growth and what matters most.

Our platform is trusted by top resale businesses across the U.S., including Nuzzydeals, Vintage Vault WV, and TUFFNY, and is designed to help businesses like yours scale with ease.

Sell Smarter and Faster

One of the most time-consuming parts of reselling is creating listings. With our AI-powered platform, you can turn photos into complete listings instantly. Just upload your photos, and we'll help create listings with optimized titles, detailed descriptions, and suggested prices.

If you sell on multiple platforms like Poshmark, Mercari, or Depop, you can publish your items to all your marketplaces with one click, without ever switching tabs. FabFam, a resale business from Washington, says, "Reeva has cut my listing time by more than half... By the time I put the item away, my listing is ready to go live."

Ready to list faster and reach more buyers? Start our free trial and see how our tools can transform your workflow.

Save Time with Automation

Imagine getting more visibility and sales without lifting a finger. Our automation tools are designed to do just that. We can automatically share your products, send personalized offers to interested buyers, and relist stale products to keep them at the top of search results.

Crucially, our platform instantly delists sold items across all marketplaces to prevent overselling. AlistairBP, a reseller from Georgia, told us, "The feature I use 100% the most—and couldn't live without—is the AUTO-DELIST feature."

Manage and Grow with Ease

Growing a business means more than just selling. It requires smart management. Our platform provides the tools you need to grow and scale, from powerful business analytics to track sales and profits to full-service accounting features that automate your bookkeeping.

You can update hundreds of listings in bulk and even give team members access with multi-user account options. As TUFFNY from New York shared, "I've cut down my admin time by at least 30%, which has allowed me to source more products and expand my offerings."

Proven Success for Resellers

The results speak for themselves. Resellers using our platform see incredible growth. Vintage Vault WV increased their items sold by 372% in just three weeks. Nuzzydeals saw a 7x increase in sales. AlistairBP, who went from selling 3-5 items a week to 10-15 a day, now manages around 1,000 listings at a time.

You can read more about their journeys on our customer stories page.

Start Your Profitable eBay Journey Today

Selling on eBay continues to be a lucrative venture for those who approach it with a smart strategy. Success starts with doing your research, finding a profitable niche, and understanding what sells best on eBay, whether it's a high-profit item or a high-volume product.

By implementing best practices for sourcing, listing, and customer service, you can build a strong foundation for your business. But scaling that business requires the right tools to work efficiently.

We built Reeva to simplify and automate your entire resale operation, giving you back valuable time to focus on growth. Whether you're creating listings in seconds, automating repetitive tasks, or managing your business finances, we're here to help you succeed.

Ready to see the difference for yourself? Start your free 7-day trial of Reeva today and take the first step toward scaling your resale business.