Plain-English reseller terms
The eBay reseller glossary you can actually use.
Pricing, fees, inventory, lots, shipping, and profit terminology explained around the decisions sellers make every day.
A working draft
Reselling from A to Z
These definitions match how Strooply organizes research, listings, costs, and financial results.
Research and pricing
- Active listings
- Comparable items currently offered for sale. They show competition and asking prices, but not what buyers actually paid.
- Average sold price
- The average price paid across a set of relevant sold listings. It is most useful when poor matches and unusual outliers are removed.
- Market research
- The process of identifying an item, reviewing active competition and sold results, then deciding whether the expected price and sales speed justify buying or listing it.
- Sales velocity
- How quickly comparable inventory sells. Strooply uses recent market activity to help distinguish a fast mover from an item that may sit for months.
- Sell-through rate
- A demand signal comparing sold results with available listings. A higher rate generally means stronger demand, but the quality of the matches still matters.
- Sold comps
- Recently sold listings for the same or a closely comparable item. Condition, model, size, completeness, and quantity should be considered before treating a result as comparable.
eBay listings
- Condition notes
- A factual description of wear, damage, missing parts, testing, and other condition details that a buyer should know before purchasing.
- Draft listing
- A listing being prepared but not yet published. In Strooply, AI can fill a draft, but the seller reviews and confirms it before anything goes live.
- Item specifics
- Structured eBay fields such as brand, model, size, color, material, and type. Accurate specifics help buyers find and filter a listing.
- Listing title
- The searchable headline for an eBay listing. Strong titles prioritize exact product identity and useful attributes instead of filler words.
- SKU
- A seller-defined stock keeping unit used to identify and locate inventory. A SKU can encode a bin, shelf, category, or another system that works for the seller.
- UPC, EAN, or ISBN
- Standard product identifiers that can make identification and category matching more reliable when they are present and accurate.
Costs, fees, and profit
- Buyer-paid shipping
- The amount charged to the buyer for shipping. It contributes to gross revenue, while the shipping label is a separate expense.
- COGS
- Cost of goods sold: the purchase cost assigned to the inventory that actually sold. For a lot, the cost may need to be allocated across its units.
- eBay payout
- The amount eBay sends after marketplace deductions. Strooply uses the actual payout when available rather than continuing to rely on fee estimates.
- Gross revenue
- Sale price multiplied by quantity, plus shipping paid by the buyer. It is the top-line amount before costs and fees are deducted.
- Lot cost allocation
- Dividing a bulk purchase cost across the sellable units it produced. If six items cost $60, the starting allocated cost is $10 per item.
- Net profit
- Proceeds remaining after COGS, shipping labels, promoted listing charges, other fees, refunds, and return shipping are deducted.
- Profit margin
- Net profit divided by gross revenue. It answers: how much of each revenue dollar remained as profit?
- Promoted listing fee
- An advertising charge associated with an eBay sale attributed to a promoted listing campaign. It is separate from standard transaction fees.
- Return on cost
- Net profit divided by COGS. Resellers often call this ROI, though it specifically measures return against inventory cost.
- Shipping label cost
- The actual postage purchased to send the order. It should not be confused with the amount charged to the buyer.
- Transaction fees
- Marketplace charges associated with processing the sale. Rates vary, so settled order data is more reliable than a universal percentage estimate.
- Refund and return cost
- Money returned to the buyer plus any return shipping expense. Both can change the lifetime profit of an item that is later relisted and sold again.
Sourcing and operations
- Consignment split
- The agreed percentage or amount owed to an inventory owner after a sale. The split should be applied to a clearly defined profit or proceeds base.
- Inventory location
- The physical place where an item is stored, such as a shelf, bin, room, or warehouse area.
- Lot
- A group of items purchased together for one combined price. Items may later be listed separately, bundled, or sold in different quantities.
- Receipt allocation
- Connecting a receipt line to the item or lot it purchased so the correct acquisition cost flows into inventory and profit reporting.
- Sourcing trip
- A buying trip that can group stops, inventory acquisitions, mileage, and receipts into one operational record.
- Stock quantity
- The number of sellable units held. Quantity sold and quantity remaining must be separated for accurate cost and inventory tracking.
Turn the terms into a repeatable workflow.
Research an item, save a draft, assign its real cost, publish to eBay, and see what remained after the sale.