Why do so many people want this? Because selling on eBay properly is a skill and a chore. Good photos, a title with the right keywords, honest condition notes, competitive pricing against sold listings, packing, shipping deadlines, returns, the buyer who asks four questions and vanishes. If you sell all the time, it's routine. If you have one box of stuff after a garage cleanout, it's a weekend you'll never get back.
What happened to Trading Assistants?
eBay's Trading Assistant program was a directory of experienced sellers who'd list your items for a fee: drop your stuff off, they handle everything, you split the proceeds. eBay shut the directory down (along with most of the physical "drop-off store" franchises that grew around it; the 2008 recession finished off many of the rest). If you search eBay's help pages for it today you'll find nothing, which is why forum threads titled "Who will sell on eBay for me? It used to be called a trading assistant" keep appearing.
Your actual options in 2026
1. eBay Consignment, if it's luxury
eBay's official replacement, but narrower than the old program: it covers handbags, jewelry, watches, and premium sneakers and apparel. You ship your item to a vetted professional seller who photographs, lists, and sells it, for a commission of roughly 20–40 percent depending on sale price. For genuine luxury goods this is a fair trade; authentication and presentation really do move prices in those categories. For ordinary stuff, it's simply not offered.
2. A local consignment seller or tasker
Some experienced eBay sellers still take consignment clients. You find them through local listings, task platforms like TaskRabbit or Airtasker, or word of mouth. Expect them to keep 30–50 percent after eBay's own fees (roughly 13–15 percent in most categories), and expect minimums: a pro won't touch a $20 item, because photographing and shipping it costs them more than their cut. Vet carefully: you're handing inventory and money handling to a stranger with no platform guaranteeing the arrangement.
3. An AI selling agent, for everything else
The reason human help has a price floor is that human time is expensive. That's the part that changed. AI can now do the labor that made listing tedious: identify the item from a photo, write the title and description, price it against sold comps, field buyer questions, and negotiate offers. Which means "hire someone" no longer requires a someone.
That's what we're building with Offload (bias disclosed: this is our blog). One photo; the AI agent writes, prices, lists, and negotiates, with a floor price you control, so it never accepts less than your minimum. You ship when it sells, and it's free unless it sells. No consignment percentage, no hourly rate, no minimum item value, because there's no human whose afternoon your $30 item isn't worth.
The math, side by side
| Route | Typical cost | Takes ordinary items? |
|---|---|---|
| eBay Consignment | 20–40% commission | No, luxury categories only |
| Human consignment / tasker | 30–50% after eBay fees | Only above their minimum value |
| DIY on eBay | ~13–15% fees + your weekend | Yes |
| AI selling agent | Success fee only | Yes, that's the point |
One more honest note: if you have a single high-value, hard-to-authenticate item (a Rolex, a Birkin), use the luxury consignment route. Authentication is the one part of this job where a credentialed human still beats software, and buyers pay a premium for it.
The "hire someone" that isn't a someone
Offload lists, prices, and negotiates for you on our marketplace, eBay, and more. You ship when it sells. Free unless it sells.
Pre-order on the App Store