posted on September 15, 2002 01:43:21 PM new
Hello all experienced ebayer,
I just started my ebay business as a part time job months ago and really need to get some hits from you to make my businees easier.
I tried drop ship but can hardly earn a little money after drop ship fee, insert fee and transaction fee.......
I shop goodwill but you can only find one sellable item once a while and make several bucks from it. Doing it for fun is ok. However, doing business like this is not too good.
Now, I am trying to stock close out electroncs pallet from those overstock warehouse. You know the deal. Items from department stores, overstocked merchandise. You cannot cherry pick the item but buy as a whole pallet. Is that good direction?
I am willing to spend some more time and money into my new businees but can some one lead me through the path? Teach me what is sellable with profit and where to get a good source for sale?
All experience shareing is appreciate.
Good luck to all with thanks.
posted on September 15, 2002 02:21:08 PM new
Sure, here's the keys to my car too.
You're just not cut out for running a successful business if you have to ask experienced people where they buy their profitable items, plus then not even compensate them is insulting.
Get registered as a business and hit the shows in whatever you're interested in, and buy direct with manufactureres. That is simply the best way. Others do well importing items. The key is to buy at extremely low prices.
Most of research everything before you commit to a product line; see what others sell it at and what the demand is.
posted on September 15, 2002 02:33:12 PM new
I recently went to a trade show in Chicago. Took my lap-top with me. Spent the day talking to the reps and getting information on the products that I thought would do well. Spent the night at the hotel room looking up what the products were going for on ebay (took a long time with a dial-up modem). Even most of those items were selling for about what I could buy them for. Research is the only way. Found one good source there - that was it. Pallets of electronics and things like that are ok, but you will probably get burned a few times before you find a good one. That's my experience, anyway. There are other chat rooms out there that talk about good and bad wholesalers - some of the people in those chat rooms have been taken for thousands of dollars if not more (one guy recently posted that he was taken for 85 pallets worth of merchandise - was promised new craftsman tools and received unsaleable junk). I myself have lost $3000.00 over a bad deal already. I guess my best advise is do your research and be careful??? Hopefully that was good advise.
posted on September 15, 2002 03:34:13 PM new
I always find these type of posts amusing...Why would someone tell you what to sell...so you can make money too?
We make great profits on what we sell,but we have worked hard to do so.
I think too many people think that an idea will just be given to them...you have to work and do your research.
posted on September 15, 2002 04:30:36 PM new
Beanie Babies,"How to get a free TV,Computer,Digital Camera" & "How to elarge your breats & or Penis" info packages are surefire hits on Ebay
posted on September 15, 2002 04:32:44 PM new
Don't forget the Amazing Diet Pills and the find out everything about everyone and make a million dollars at the same time CDs.
posted on September 15, 2002 05:03:50 PM new
what a bunch of cynical crappy burnt out ebay sellers!!
try the following-
look around locally and see if there are old fashion thrift shops,antique stores or just stores which can work with you ,you take a few of their items and sell on ebay and go from there.
you make some money and they make some money and there are more stocks you can choose for the future,not every one is as computer savvy as you are.
ask your neighnbor,grandma,grandpa ,other people's grandma,grandpa and buy out their collections or arrange to split the profit,you take photos and they tell you the history.
mortgage your house and your first born and go overseas to attend trade shows,go as far as you can-lapland,greenland,moose land,siberia,antartica,artic where no man or woman ever venture.
as far as i know,the african pymies have not heard of ebay yet,so be the first to establish working relationship with them.
good luck,and drink lot of water on your trip.
posted on September 15, 2002 05:10:30 PM new
Not to sound daft but.......
A lot of us put in hundreds of hours of work to develop our businesses, find sources, develop relationships with suppliers, etc. We're not just going to give you the keys to the castle without compensation (and some of us wouldn't do it then) ....that being said, I will give you some useful advice:
#1. Ebay has a feature that allows you to search for "completed items" E.g. If you perform the research you can find out exactly what is profitable on Ebay, how much to sell it for, when to sell it and how much to charge for shipping.
#2. Drop Shipping: You can actually make a ton of money doing Drop Shippping -- here's the rub though: Pretty much any company that advertisers itself as a drop shipper, particularly for Ebay Auction sellers, isn't worth your time -- the ones that are, are merely looking for businesses to sell their merchandise and are more then willing to accomodate your business model, whether you're a mail order house, an auction seller or have a Brick & Mortar location -- thing is, they don't market themselves as drop shippers. --okay, that souned vaugue, but with the other advice people may/have given you here, it will make sense soon.
#3. Pallets -- I keep thinking about buying Pallets myself, and then this occurs to me:
-I don't know what I'm getting and even if I get a pallet full of great items, what if I can't sell it for a profit?
I stick with what I know I can sell for a profit, I'm not investing in products that I think "might sell" I invest in what I KNOW will sell. -- See #1.
#4. Okay, that's it, I've got Sunday's launches to handle -- a word of encouragement (and this is the most valuable thing I will say). I decided to sell on Ebay this past May and was in your place for a bit, trying to find things at Thrift stores, investigating pallets, etc. Then I changed my business model a bit, learned where to find products, found out how to search for completed items (lol) and now I can support myself with auctions.
So study what people are saying in this forum, research products and keep charging, you'll figure it out sooner or later. -- In fact, another poster has already given away what you really need to do...
posted on September 15, 2002 05:45:28 PM new
I have done thrift shops, estate sales, and I sell anything that I think can make a profit. I do mainly one thing and can find it easily at the thrift shops. I would like to do more like, pallets, drop shipping but then I hear the horror stores and I will stick to what I know which is practically nothing. eBay is not the place it use to be where you could list almost anything and make a profit. Now the buyers are very selective and if you keep reading this message board are some times non paying. Good Luck to you and I hope you can find a product to sell that will give you wealth.
Ihula did you go to the Rosemont? I was going to go their then I decided against it. It sounds like you did your homework and I hope you found some treasures.
posted on September 15, 2002 06:03:18 PM new
Hi Libra63! I'm going to Rosemont next month - missed the one a couple of months ago (actually I don't think I knew about it then). I went to the Merchandise Mart for their Home and Gift Show. I'm actually surprised that my husband made it through the whole thing that weekend. By the time Sunday afternoon rolled around we were ready to hit the road. It was fun to get away from the house, but I'm not sure if it was "worth it". Like I said after hours of looking on ebay Saturday night we pretty much discovered that almost everything we could buy there we weren't going to make a profit on it. Of course that was the middle of summer and things weren't selling well then. Maybe October will be better. It was a good tax write off, anyway. Maybe I need to investigate some sources in Hawaii!!!
posted on September 15, 2002 07:17:03 PM new
Here's how:
1) Buy an airline ticket to China or India
2) Find a cheap source and an honest dealer to buy from
3) Arrange packing/shipping/customs brokerage/delivery
4) Return home
5) Wait for container(s) to arrive
6) Unload, unpack, inventory, price and organize your mess
7) Sell it in eBay!
posted on September 15, 2002 07:36:21 PM new
what can he buy in india and china which are not already in san fran china town or dollar stores??
i forget to mention this million dollar idea,and dont laugh,buy on EBAY.
thats it,BUY ON EBAY and SELL ON EBAY.it is low capital but labor intensive.
there are some interesting items on ebay and with everyone losing his job and want to sell,this is a time to stock up.
posted on September 15, 2002 08:42:46 PM new
First of all, you have to know your product, secondly, you have to know your market. I am not trying to be a smartazz, but the name of the game is marketing. Research a product, see how it sells on eBay. If it won't sell, then get another product, do the same thing til you find a product you can make $$ with. Then branch out by doing the same thing over again. I specioalize in china & related goods & do very well. I am expanding my number of auctions this week & will see what enfolds.
[ edited by sanmar on Sep 15, 2002 08:43 PM ]
posted on September 15, 2002 09:36:40 PM new
See what actually sells on ebay and at what prices. Try to find a source for those things that did sell on ebay. You gotta spend hours on ebay looking at the closed auctions to really get a feel for the market.
posted on September 15, 2002 09:49:30 PM new
I found an awesome place that shared alot with me when I first started. Visit www.swapselltrade.com as they carry alot of the top selling items for ebayers and they do dropship
posted on September 15, 2002 09:57:10 PM new
Well I don't think this will hurt anyone's sales- see the competition is well competition
storage lockers work for some and cheaper then pallets- go to there auctions, you may get lucky. Ebay is a gamble at first and I still work on the research it is long and boring!
I don't think anyone really ever gets rich quick.
Sell something you know is what I keep hearing, now if I only knew something....
posted on September 16, 2002 12:14:17 PM new
I do pretty well with books. Today - and just a few minutes ago, one of my auctions closed on an old children's book which I paid 25 cents for at a library book sale - auction ended at $97!
Even if I pay 50 cents for a paperback and sell it for $5 - there's a profit there.
posted on September 16, 2002 01:04:01 PM new
I second the advice given about buying on eBay and reselling on eBay.
The folks who do this for jewelry are paying my mortgage. I love 'em, couldn't live without them. And they have all the risk of disposing of the items. I still have 96% sellthrough. Yee-haw!
posted on September 16, 2002 08:00:51 PM new
Work from your strengths. What do you already know a lot about? This is what you should start with. A lot of eBay involves just establishing credibiility. Which means showing that you are a knowlegable seller who can present a product intelligently, explain what it does, explain what the buyer could use it for and answer questions about the product. I find that eBay is very knowlege intensive with bidders gravitating to sellers who know what they are selling.
There are people who make money putting up merchandise for others. It seems like an ideal home business for mothers of young children. But it has drawbacks and pitfalls.
posted on September 17, 2002 12:22:17 AM new
It takes a lot of work, a lot of learning. I still make some mistakes but by studying I have a better idea of when I see something good.
Another hint - read these boards. Someone posted something a few weeks back and I decided to give it a try, and have been quite successful so far. It's amazing what people buy on ebay, but I am happy they don't mind spending what they do.
posted on September 17, 2002 05:03:26 AM new
You can almost make an analogy of the regular patrons of a horseracing track to ebay sellers. A few of the patrons will come to the track and simply play favorite numbers or because they like the name of the horse. But most of the patrons study the Racing Form and newpapers long and hard. They watch the current performance of the hot horses, jockeys and owners.
And like the horseracing track, oftentimes on ebay, a lot of the time the research didn't help as the horse simply didn't want to run that day.
posted on September 17, 2002 06:13:42 AM new
robertsmithson: Your analogy would work only if the new bettors decided that research was too much work, so they started asking the old-time punters and railbirds which horses they should bet on.
At which point the new arrivals would be told to sod off, and probably not in a nice way.
