Assisted Trading on eBay

Trading assistants for those who'd rather leave the legwork to others

So you have a few items you want to sell and you think they might do well on eBay, but you're not a member yet and you don't want to bother to join just to clean out your garage. Or maybe you're a dealer in specialized goods who's looking for a way to trade on eBay without all the hassle of taking photos and posting listings all the time. After all, you have better things to do with your afternoons—like run a business.

Isn't there someone you can hire on a case-by-case basis to sell those items that you want to post on eBay? Someone who's already a demonstrated eBay success, knows how to take a photo, craft a listing, and deliver an item? Basically a consignment seller for eBay goods?

There is indeed such a person. There are countless such people, in fact, and eBay maintains a directory and search engine to help you to find experienced traders in your neighborhood willing to help you sell your items for a percentage of the gross.

eBay Trading Assistants

eBay calls these experienced traders-for-hire “trading assistants” and keeps an index of such people to help sellers that don't want to list items themselves. Trading assistants are neither endorsed nor closely monitored by eBay, so there is an aspect of “caveat emptor” involved, but there are a set of basic requirements that all prospective trading assistants must fulfill before they're able to be listed in the directory:

• The seller must have sold at least ten items on eBay in the last three months.
  
  
• The seller must have a feedback score of at least 100.
  
  
• The seller must have a feedback profile that is at least 97 percent positive.
  
  
• The seller must be in good standing with eBay.

To search for trading assistants in your area, visit the trading assistant search by clicking Sell, Seller Central, Advanced Selling, Trading Asstants from the eBay home page, or visit the trading assistant search directly, where you can search for a list of registered trading assistants near you who can help you to sell your goods on eBay.

Becoming a Trading Assistant

If you're interested in becoming a trading assistant on eBay and meet the requirements listed above, first do some additional research to see whether you really want to become a trading assistant. It has the potential to bring you income, yes, but it also means an additional commitment to customer service and potential liability questions in some cases. Take time to visit the following and read about the practice of trading assisting:

• The Trading Assistant FAQ
  
  
• Legal Considerations for Trading Assistants
  
  
• The Trading Assistant User Agreement
  
  
• The Safe Trading Manual

If after reading about trading assisting it stills seems to you to be the way to go, visit the Create/Edit Your Profile page and follow the instructions you find there to begin your career as an eBay trading assistant. (Note that you won't be able to access the page if you don't meet the requirements for being an eBay trading assistant.)

Happy trading, and happy assisting!