A testing bench, bagged cables, double-wall boxes and clear battery rules for reselling 10 to 50 phones, consoles and gadgets a week on eBay.
Built forYou buy used phones, games consoles, headphones and laptops from car boots, job lots and trade-ins, test them, and resell them on eBay from a spare room.
Kit total
£266 to £428
Running cost
£145 to £227 a month
Consumables at 30 orders a week
- Orders a week
- 10–50
- Space
- Spare bedroom
- Budget
- £500
Why this setup
You buy used phones, games consoles, headphones and laptops from car boots, job lots and trade-ins, test them, and resell them on eBay from a spare room.
Electronics returns cost more than any other category: a faulty console comes back with your postage, the buyer’s postage and a refund. Half this room is a testing bench, so every item leaves with a known condition.
Double-wall boxes and a full roll of bubble wrap protect screens and hinges. A light box shows every scratch against white, which heads off most not-as-described cases.
The kit
Every item, why it’s here and what it typically costs in the UK.
MUNBYN thermal label printer
It takes the standard 100 x 150 mm labels that eBay, Vinted and Whatnot all generate, and generic labels work, so the running cost stays low.
Typical price£55 to £85
See on Amazon
40 kg digital parcel scale
A wrong weight costs you surcharges or overpaid postage. A flat platform scale with a separate display stays readable when a box covers the top.
Typical price£15 to £25
See on Amazon180 cm folding table
Packing on the bed or the kitchen table means setting up and clearing down every session. A table that stays up lets you leave your supplies where you need them.
Typical price£40 to £65
See on Amazon5-tier steel shelving, 180 cm
Floor space runs out before height does. Number the shelves and each item gets an address you can pick from.
Typical price£40 to £70
See on AmazonClear stackable 32 L tubs, 4 pack
Label each tub with a shelf code and record the code against the listing. A sale then tells you which tub to open.
Typical price£30 to £45
See on AmazonTape dispenser gun
Once you ship more than a handful of boxes a week, a tape gun saves minutes on every session and stops tape ends sticking to themselves.
Typical price£8 to £14
See on Amazon
Buy this kit
Copy the full list to take shopping, or print it.
Postage per order
What most orders like these go by, at today’s published prices. Prices checked 6 October 2026.
Royal Mail Tracked 48 Small ParcelUsual£3.75
TrackedUp to 2 kgClothing and small boxed items up to 2 kg, with tracking for less than untracked 2nd Class.
- Royal Mail Tracked 48 Medium Parcel
£5.70 to £12.25
TrackedUp to 20 kgTrainers, homeware and electronics up to 20 kg, tracked and cheaper than untracked 2nd Class.
About £487 a month in postage at 30 orders a week On most marketplaces the buyer pays postage; this is the cost when you pay it.
How to lay it out
Where everything goes, so each order moves one way through the room.
- 1
Testing bench with a power strip
Keep one end of the table for testing: a surge-protected extension, a known-good charger for each common plug, a test game disc and a pair of headphones. List nothing until it passes here.
- 2
Cable and charger tubs
Bag each cable or charger with the item it belongs to and write the stock code on the bag. Spare leads you have tested go in one clear tub, sorted by connector.
- 3
Shelves by stock code
Number each shelf and give every boxed item a code like S2-07 that also goes in the eBay custom label. Keep untested stock on the bottom shelf only.
- 4
Packing end of the table
Printer, scale, tape gun and the bubble wrap roll sit at the door end. Flat-packed boxes stand upright under the table so you can pull the right size in one move.
The guide
Each step in the order you'll need it.
Testing a fresh job lot
Clear the testing end of the table and work through the lot one item at a time: power on, check every port, test buttons and speakers, then reset. Write the result on a sticky label on the item.
Split the lot into three tubs: working, faulty and for parts. Faulty items can sell well if you describe the fault exactly, and parts sellers buy dead consoles for their shells and boards.
Photos in the light box
Shoot small gadgets, controllers and earbuds in the light box so scratches show against a white background. Larger items like laptops go on the table under the same lamp, open and powered on.
Include a photo of the screen showing a settings or about page with storage and model. Buyers trust a picture of the device working more than a line saying it works.
Kit for this step
Packing a console in ten minutes
Wrap the console in two layers of bubble wrap, tape it, and put cables in a separate labelled bag on top. Fit it into a snug inner box, then into a double-wall outer box with crumpled wrap around it.
Weigh the finished box and buy postage in Click & Drop or on eBay. A boxed console with controllers often lands in a heavier band than you expect, so weigh first and price postage in the listing from that.
Batteries and what you can send
Keep loose lithium batteries out of every Royal Mail parcel. If you buy a job lot of spare phone or laptop batteries, sell them collection only or check a specialist courier’s dangerous goods rules.
Tape over the power button or switch the device fully off before you pack it. A laptop that wakes up in a box gets hot and drains its battery before it arrives.
Stock codes and serial numbers
Record each item’s serial number, test result and shelf code against its eBay custom label. When a buyer opens a return, the serial tells you whether the device that came back is the one you sent.
Review the bottom shelf of untested stock every Sunday. Items that sit there for weeks tie up money you could spend on the next lot.
Running out of boxes
Double-wall boxes go fastest, since every console and laptop takes one. Reorder when you reach the last five, and keep a few bigger outer boxes for double boxing.
Save clean boxes from your own deliveries for inner boxes. Remove or cover every old label and barcode so the courier scans the right one.
Kit for this step
Common mistakes
Each one costs you money or reviews, and each has a fix.
- Listing a phone without checking the activation lock, then refunding a buyer who cannot set it up.
- Sending a loose spare battery in the box with a laptop it does not fit, against Royal Mail’s rules on lithium batteries.
- Packing a console in a single-wall box with a sheet of wrap, so a cracked corner comes back as a return.
- Writing “works perfectly” without a test, then paying return postage both ways for a faulty disc drive.
- Throwing chargers into one big tub and posting a buyer the wrong plug.
When to upgrade
At 30 orders a week, inventory software tracks serial numbers, test results and where each item sits. Past 60, a Zebra printer keeps up with long label runs without jamming.
- 30+ Sortly
- 60+ Zebra ZD421d
Questions
Can I post lithium batteries by Royal Mail?
Royal Mail does not accept loose lithium batteries that are not sent with or fitted in the equipment they power. For batteries inside a device, check Royal Mail’s current prohibited and restricted items guidance, which sets conditions on how you pack them.
How do I prove an item worked when I sent it?
Film a short test of each item before you pack it, showing the serial number and the device powering on. Keep the clip until the buyer leaves feedback, and note the serial in the listing.
Should I double box consoles and laptops?
Yes for anything with a screen or heavy internals. Wrap the item, box it snugly, then put that box inside a larger double-wall box with padding on every side, so a drop hits the outer box first.
Do I need to wipe phones and laptops before selling?
Yes. Factory reset each device and sign it out of every account, including the activation lock on phones and tablets. A locked device is worthless to the buyer and comes straight back.
Which courier should I use for valuable electronics?
Royal Mail tracked services cover most phones and small gadgets. InPost and DPD suit larger boxes like consoles, and Evri is the cheap option for low-value accessories. Match the compensation level to the item’s value and check each courier’s rules for batteries.
How do I describe faults in a listing?
Name the fault in the title and the first line, such as “for parts, no power”. Use eBay’s condition options as the platform defines them, and photograph every scratch and crack.
More setups
Updated 6 October 2026
