I've bought and sold on eBay in one form or another for years, from clearing out our own old stuff to running an actual reselling business at one point, and also an ecommerce business selling new stock. I've even sold some genuinely strange and unusual things on eBay along the way.

If you're wondering what to resell for a profit and where to actually find it, I can share what's worked for me, what hasn't, and what I know sells well based on what other sellers are doing right now too.

What Are the Best Items to Resell on eBay?

If you're asking what the best items to resell actually are, it usually comes down to a handful of categories that consistently hold their value and demand.

Branded and vintage clothing is one of the strongest right now, think North Face, Carhartt, Nike, Adidas, Levi's and similar labels that people actively search for by name. Trainers hold their own category entirely, with certain styles and collaborations reselling well above retail.

There's even a useful fee quirk worth knowing here, trainers priced at £100 or more get a lower eBay selling fee (8% plus 30p, according to eBay's own fee page, versus the standard rate below that) than cheaper pairs, which can make higher end trainers more worthwhile to source. Designer accessories and handbags do well too, along with watches, particularly vintage or discontinued styles.

Automotive parts and accessories are worth knowing about as well, since car owners tend to become repeat buyers once they've found a reliable seller. Garden tools and outdoor equipment are another steady category, and vinyl records and older media like DVDs or first edition books can do surprisingly well with the right buyer.

Collectibles are worth knowing about as their own thing. Trading cards, especially Pokémon, and retired LEGO sets have built genuinely dedicated buyer bases, though this is a category where knowing your subject matters, since values can move quickly and getting it wrong is easy if you're not familiar with what you're buying.

Kids' toys are worth a mention too, LEGO especially. Complete sets, particularly retired or harder to find ones, regularly sell for well above their original price, and even loose bundles of bricks can do surprisingly well if they're genuine and in good condition.

Collectibles and souvenirs do surprisingly well too. I've noticed this myself while clearing out my kids' rooms and selling preloved. Little pin badges and cups they've bought from a gift shop somewhere, with the destination name printed on, have always sold really quickly. It genuinely surprised me the first time, but there's clearly a real demand for that kind of thing.

Spare parts are another one we've stumbled onto by accident. Random spare parts that come with things we never end up needing sell surprisingly well on their own. When our hot tub broke recently and we decided not to replace it, we sold all the still-working parts separately rather than scrapping the whole thing, and the demand for them was genuinely strong.

It makes me wonder whether people are buying broken items specifically to take apart and resell the parts individually. My husband had the same experience with a self build RC car he was struggling to sell as a whole unit. He took it apart and listed the parts separately instead, and they're selling.

Retro gaming is another one worth knowing about. There's a real nostalgic comeback happening, and it's not just online demand either, retro gaming cafes have started popping up on high streets, which tells you the appetite for it is genuine.

Even fully broken or old electronics can sell. We often list ours as spares or repairs rather than throwing them out, and there's a steady market of buyers who want them either for parts or to fix up themselves.

Kids' shoes are worth a specific mention too. Skechers are our go-to brand, and with 4 to 6 pairs on the go at any one time between school shoes and trainers, we're constantly cycling through sizes as their feet grow.

Every pair we've listed has sold quickly. If you're looking at preloved kids' clothes and shoes as a category, Skechers specifically seem to be in real demand.

Where to Buy Items to Resell on eBay

Once you know roughly what you're looking for, here's where to actually find it. It's worth splitting this by what kind of reseller you're trying to be though, since the best sources are different depending on whether you're after individual preloved items to sell one at a time, or building up new stock for more of an ecommerce style setup.

If you're going the preloved route, charity shops, car boots and Facebook Marketplace are usually your best bet. If you're thinking more ecommerce, buying in bulk to build proper stock, online auctions, outlet stores and wholesale job lots on eBay itself tend to work better.

Online Auctions

Online clearance auctions are worth checking out once you've built up a bit of capital, since you can buy stock in bulk or sometimes individually. You'll often find batches of redundant stock from businesses going for a fraction of their usual cost, and because you're bidding, you only pay as much as you're willing to. If nobody else bids, you could end up paying far less than expected.

This one isn't just for ecommerce style buying either, some people go for things like unclaimed baggage auctions, buying a suitcase without knowing what's inside and hoping for a good find. Sometimes the suitcase itself turns out to be designer and worth more than everything that was packed in it.

Outlet Stores

Shopping the sales in regular stores is a good way to bag a bargain, but outlet stores themselves tend to be even more profitable, since the clothes are already reduced from RRP before any additional sale on top. If you can hold onto end of season stock until that season comes back around, you can sell it for a higher profit later.

Don't underestimate out of season stock either. There are always people going away for winter sun who can't find summer clothes in the shops, so they turn to eBay instead. Again, this works best if you're buying to build stock rather than sourcing single items. If clothing specifically is your focus, I've written more on selling clothes online in the UK, covering more sourcing and selling routes than eBay alone.

Charity Shops

With a bit of searching, you can genuinely find gems in charity shops. They often stock designer pieces and popular high street labels at tiny prices, and the stock changes constantly, so there's always something new on each visit.

I used to feel slightly odd about buying stock to resell from charity shops, but I've come round to seeing it as a win-win. You make money, and the charity shop does too, since the more you buy, the more they make. I'd also rather buy secondhand to resell for a more sustainable world than buy new wholesale stock shipped in from overseas. This is a solid one for preloved-style reselling, since you're usually picking up individual items rather than bulk stock.

Car Boot Sales

This is where you'll find some of the cheapest items going. Some sellers are there specifically to make a profit, but most are just regular people having a big clear out who mainly want the stuff gone rather than taken home again. Get your haggling head on and you can pick up some proper bargains. Another good one for preloved reselling specifically.

Facebook Marketplace

We've used Facebook Marketplace to sell things quickly and locally, particularly when moving house or needing to get rid of something fast, and items often go within a few hours. If you've got the space to store furniture, it's a great place to pick pieces up nearby and haggle the price down.

It's not just furniture either, there's all sorts listed, you just need to be able to collect it. This one works for both approaches, individual pieces for preloved selling, or larger job lots if someone's clearing out in bulk.

Buying Job Lots on eBay Itself to Resell

It's entirely possible to buy items on eBay to resell on eBay. There are plenty of job lot and wholesale bulk listings where you can buy several items at once and sell them individually for a profit, or you might get lucky with a 99p auction that nobody else spots. I regularly check sold listings and see the same kind of secondhand designer item go for anywhere between 99p and £20 depending on the auction, so if you've got the patience to wait for a better price, it's usually worth it.

Misspelled listings, unclear photos, wrong categories, or auctions ending at an awkward time can all mean a bargain that everyone else has scrolled straight past. The job lot side of this suits ecommerce style reselling, while individual 99p finds suit preloved style buying.

Make Items Yourself

If sourcing items to resell isn't for you, another option is to make items yourself to sell online instead, whether that's crafts, knitting, art, clothing or digital goods. My husband's had real success with this himself, making furniture and selling it on eBay, so it's a genuine alternative to sourcing and reselling if you've got a skill to put into it.

Auctions or Buy It Now: What Sells Better

Once you've sourced your items, it's worth thinking about how you list them too. eBay feels like it's moved away from auctions in general. The excitement of bidding and winning seems to have faded, and people mostly want things straight away now rather than waiting days for an auction to end.

In my own experience over the last couple of years, my Buy It Now listings consistently do better at the price I actually want than my auction listings ever do. My auctions barely get any watchers or bids these days, while Buy It Now items sell steadily. If you're deciding how to list your own stock, it's worth testing both, but don't be surprised if Buy It Now ends up doing the heavier lifting.

Costs to Factor In When Reselling on eBay

It's worth understanding upfront that eBay treats casual preloved selling and proper reselling very differently, and it makes a real difference to your costs.

If you're just clearing out your own unwanted things, a private account is genuinely free to sell on. Since eBay's fee changes in late 2024, UK private sellers pay no final value fee, no per-order fee, and no regulatory fee on domestic sales. eBay makes its money from the buyer's side instead, so what you list is what you get.

Buying items specifically with the intention of reselling them for a profit is a different situation though. Under eBay's own terms, that counts as commercial activity, and you're required to use a business account regardless of how many items you're selling. Business accounts pay a final value fee that varies by category, generally somewhere between 10.9% and 12.9%, plus a small per-order fee and a regulatory operating fee, so it's worth building those into your sums before you decide an item is actually profitable.

There's a tax side to this too. HMRC's trading allowance is £1,000 a year, and once your reselling turnover goes over that, you may need to register as self-employed and file a self assessment return. Online marketplaces including eBay are also required to share certain seller data with HMRC once you cross specific thresholds.

I'm not an accountant, so it's worth checking the current rules directly with HMRC or a professional if you're planning to take reselling seriously, but it's genuinely worth knowing this exists before you're a few hundred items in!