Auction Power Guide

How can i make money using ebay. i have a paypal account. What sort of stuff can i buy and sell on ebay? Also would i make much money doing it?

It doesn’t matter what you sell. To wit, as it is often said, "One man’s trash is another man’s treasure." Most everyone collects or wants something or other.

The thing you want to be aware of with the most popular items is that you will have the MOST COMPETITON from other sellers who sell the same items. You can’t be competitive and make a decent profit unless you get the best wholesale price to maintain an adequate profit margin. If your opening bid price is higher than other sellers selling the same items, you won’t have many sales.

Other suggestions for items to sell:

Look no further than ebay itself. You will not be looking for single item listings but rather your target will be listings that have similar, grouped items. There are ebay ‘vultures’ who just love to swoop down on similarly grouped items in one listing. When they win these auctions, they turn around and sell the items individually and, in most cases, get one and a half to 2 times and sometimes three times what they paid for them on an average item basis. I know this works. When I had more time (read unemployed), I was one of these ‘vultures.’ This is one of those situations where the parts are worth more than the whole. However, do be cautious if you venture into this arena. You have to know your merchandise. Stay in those areas you are familiar with. You can’t jump in blindly to any and every auction that has grouped items.

If you can buy a large lot of similar merchandise for $100 to $200 and turn it around for $300 to $600, it works out very nicely, indeed! Most buyers of these large lots will be vultures as well so you could be ‘butting bids.’ Keep in mind that the higher the closing price at ebay, the less your profit on the turnaround. It’s not an exact science and it does take a little experience to really know what you’re doing but you can’t be afraid to go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is. When I see an auction of grouped items it tells me loud and clear that the seller is far more interested in getting rid of their stuff the quickest, easiest way possible and ‘be done with it’ rather than in making a decent profit or profit at all.

Short of items to sell and where to find items to sell? Garage and yard sales, church bazaars, flea markets are obvious. These can be the cheapest sources of merchandise. ‘Junktique’ shops are not that good because these folks know their merchandise. This being the case, it is usually OVERPRICED, not under priced.

If you want to let your fingers do the walking, you too can be crafty ‘vulture’ like a select group of other ebay sellers. Become a member of several smaller auction sites and search for bargains there. But as before, ‘stick with what you know.’

These smaller auction sites are great for buyers for the same reason they are bad for sellers:

Fewer potential bidders = Less competition = Lower closing prices.

Turn them around on ebay:

The ebay formula:

LARGEST auction site by far = MAXIMUM competition = HIGHER closing prices

There are also volume sellers who concentrate on only a handful of popular items by buying in volume / wholesale at a discount and selling at a discount. The average schmo at eBay can’t compete with volume sellers of a particular item.

GOODWILL sometimes also has good bargains, but not always. Mondays / Tuesdays are the best days to visit Goodwill as most people will drop off their donations on Saturdays and Sundays and it has to be cleaned, sorted and marked before it can be placed on display.

To maximize profits, sell WORLDWIDE, not just one country. A basic business tenet is, ‘The greater the potential market, the greater the potential to maximize profits.’ It’s TRUE! You will now have access to 200+ million members.

Lastly, keep in mind that experience is the best teacher. Start off slowly listing only two or three items and see how that goes for you. Once you get your feet wet and gain confidence, start listing more items on a weekly basis. You will soon learn the ins and outs and the dos and don’ts in short order and ultimately settle on a system that works best for you. The more items you list, the more items you will sell, the more $$ you will make and the harder you will work. Nothing in life comes easy and that includes becoming a successful seller at ebay. If you are conscientious and put in a little extra effort, you will do well. If you are lazy or indifferent in selling your items, you won’t. Good luck & happy selling!

I’m going to a car auction tomorrow morning and have no idea what to expect. My nanny needs a car and has about $2000 in cash to spend.

Depending on the auction, you may or may not have a chance to hear the car run. ou want to get there early, and be sure that you understand all the terms and conditions of the sale. There may be a buyers fee (a percentage of the selling price that is added to the final bid price) so be sure you allow for that. Most auction sales are final, there is no changing your mind for whatever reason, and the cars are sold "as is" "where is" "how is" and any other "is" you can think of.

Understand that most vehicles being sold at auction are there for a reason. They may be cars that were donated to charity, or they may be cars that dealers do not want to sell on their retail lots.

Bring someone knowledgeable about cars, to look for signs of major problems, but figure that you will need to spend some money for repairs to make the vehicle road worthy.

Im 18 and I want to make 250 dollars for a blackberry. What can I sell on ebay to make that much? I know it might take a few months and thats fine. What sells the best?

It doesn’t matter what you sell. As it is often said, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Most everyone collects or wants something or other.

SMALLER ITEMS – sell on eBay
BIG and/or HEAVY items – sell on Craigslist

The thing you want to be aware of with the most popular items is that you will have the MOST COMPETITION from other sellers who sell the same items. To wit, you can’t be competitive and make a decent profit unless you get the best wholesale price to maintain an adequate profit margin. If your opening bid price is higher than other sellers selling the same items, you won’t have many sales.

Other suggestions for items to sell:

Look no further than ebay itself. You will not be looking for single item listings but rather your target will be listings that have similar, grouped items. There are ebay ‘vultures’ who just love to swoop down on similarly grouped items in one listing. When they win these auctions, they turn around and sell the items individually and, in most cases, get one and a half to 2 times and sometimes three times what they paid for them on an average item basis. I know this works. When I had more time (read unemployed), I was one of these ‘vultures.’ This is one of those situations where the parts are worth more than the whole. However, do be cautious if you venture into this arena. You have to know your merchandise. Stay in those areas you are familiar with. You can’t jump in blindly to any and every auction that has grouped items.

If you can buy a large lot of similar merchandise for $100 to $200 and turn it around for $300 to $600, it works out very nicely, indeed! Most buyers of these large lots will be vultures as well so you could be ‘butting bids.’ Keep in mind that the higher the closing price at ebay, the less your profit on the turnaround. It’s not an exact science and it does take a little experience to really know what you’re doing but you can’t be afraid to go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is. When I see an auction of grouped items it tells me loud and clear that the seller is far more interested in getting rid of their stuff the quickest, easiest way possible and ‘be done with it’ rather than in making a decent profit or profit at all.

Short of items to sell and where to find items to sell? Garage and yard sales, church bazaars, flea markets are obvious. These can be the cheapest sources of merchandise. ‘Junktique’ shops are not that good because these folks know their merchandise. This being the case, it is usually OVERPRICED, not under priced.

If you want to let your fingers do the walking, you too can be crafty ‘vulture’ like a select group of other ebay sellers. Become a member of several smaller auction sites and search for bargains there. But as before, ‘stick with what you know.’

These smaller auction sites are great for buyers for the same reason they are bad for sellers:

Fewer potential bidders = Less competition = Lower closing prices.

Turn them around on ebay:

The ebay formula:

LARGEST auction site by far = MAXIMUM competition = HIGHER closing prices

There are also volume sellers who concentrate on only a handful of popular items by buying in volume / wholesale at a discount and selling at a discount. The average schmo at eBay can’t compete with volume sellers of a particular item.

GOODWILL sometimes also has good bargains, but not always. Mondays / Tuesdays are the best days to visit Goodwill as most people will drop off their donations on Saturdays and Sundays and it has to be cleaned, sorted and marked before it can be placed on display.

To maximize profits, sell WORLDWIDE, not just one country. A basic business tenet is, ‘The greater the potential market, the greater the potential to maximize profits.’ It’s TRUE! You will now have access to 200+ million members.

GOOD LUCK!

I am not planning to open an eBay store. Just wondering if there are tricks to selling on eBay that I don’t know about. Like how to increase traffic to my items, how to advertise, and how to increase bidding. Most useful tips get 10 points.
I have sold a couple of items on eBay but usually not a lot of people bid or put on watch list. I eneded up with just 2 bids and sell for very low price. I wonder how I can get more people to see my ads in the first place.

One great way to attract buyers is to have a low starting bid. I typically start the item at the price I paid for it (I usually rummage through thrift stores and dollar stores for my items – ones that I know could sell for more). For instance, if I find an NFL jersey for $5… I list it for $6, which covers my ebay fees & paypal fees, plus my purchase price. $6 is INCREDIBLY low for a football jersey!

However… you also have to find items that people WANT. Sports items are great… IF the team is doing well or has a strong "die hard" fan base. Children’s clothing also does well (name brands, especially in bigger "lots"), newly released CD’s & movies, some pet items (dog jackets, for example), etc. If you see something you think might sell (that is guaranteed to BE there later)… go look it up on ebay and see if others are getting bids on similar items. I used to just think up as many things to search for as I could and see what did best.

Another big thing is to offer low (or free) shipping. You can either work the shipping into your starting bid price (although that costs more in fees), or just charge people the actual cost to ship. You’ll want to use a shipping calculator through ebay though as most people want to know in advance how much shipping will be, since there’s tons on ebay who will charge $30 to ship a pair of pants or something!

Anyway… other than that… I guess try to have a variety… and if you find something that sells well… buy a BUNCH of it to sell! 🙂 I found Barbie dog jackets on clearance for a dollar one time… bought 35 of them and made several hundred dollars on them! Ya just gotta have an eye for what sells… oh… and make your title catchy and make sure it states what’s being sold.

I have been looking at so many different products and have become a little overwhelmed about what i should start selling on ebay. I have several good sources for purchasing cheap stock, but would just like other peoples experiences on what sells well and what doesn’t. Any experiences/suggestions appreciated.

It doesn’t matter what you sell. As it is often said, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Most everyone collects or wants something or other.

The thing you want to be aware of with the most popular items is that you will have the MOST COMEPTION from other sellers who sell the same items. To wit, you can’t be competitive and make a decent profit unless you get the best wholesale price to maintain an adequate profit margin. If your opening bid price is higher than other sellers selling the same items, you won’t have many sales. DO YOUR RESEARCH on closing prices for the items you want to buy!

Other suggestions for items to sell:

Look no further than ebay itself. You will not be looking for single item listings but rather your target will be listings that have similar, grouped items. There are ebay ‘vultures’ who just love to swoop down on similarly grouped items in one listing. When they win these auctions, they turn around and sell the items individually and, in most cases, get one and a half to 2 times and sometimes three times what they paid for them on an average item basis. I know this works. When I had more time (read unemployed), I was one of these ‘vultures.’ This is one of those situations where the parts are worth more than the whole. However, do be cautious if you venture into this arena. You have to know your merchandise. Stay in those areas you are familiar with. You can’t jump in blindly to any and every auction that has grouped items.

If you can buy a large lot of similar merchandise for $100 to $200 and turn it around for $300 to $600, it works out very nicely, indeed! Most buyers of these large lots will be vultures as well so you could be ‘butting bids.’ Keep in mind that the higher the closing price at ebay, the less your profit on the turnaround. It’s not an exact science and it does take a little experience to really know what you’re doing but you can’t be afraid to go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is. When I see an auction of grouped items it tells me loud and clear that the seller is far more interested in getting rid of their stuff the quickest, easiest way possible and ‘be done with it’ rather than in making a decent profit or profit at all.

Short of items to sell and where to find items to sell? Garage and yard sales, church bazaars, flea markets are obvious. These can be the cheapest sources of merchandise. ‘Junktique’ shops are not that good because these folks know their merchandise. This being the case, it is usually OVERPRICED, not under priced.

If you want to let your fingers do the walking, you too can be crafty ‘vulture’ like a select group of other ebay sellers. Become a member of several smaller auction sites and search for bargains there. But as before, ‘stick with what you know.’

These smaller auction sites are great for buyers for the same reason they are bad for sellers:

Fewer potential bidders = Less competition = Lower closing prices.

Turn them around on ebay:

The ebay formula:

LARGEST auction site by far = MAXIMUM competition = HIGHER closing prices

There are also volume sellers who concentrate on only a handful of popular items by buying in volume / wholesale at a discount and selling at a discount. The average schmo at eBay can’t compete with volume sellers of a particular item.

GOODWILL sometimes also has good bargains, but not always. Mondays / Tuesdays are the best days to visit Goodwill as most people will drop off their donations on Saturdays and Sundays and it has to be cleaned, sorted and marked before it can be placed on display.

Lastly, to maximize profits, sell WORLDWIDE, not just one country. A basic business tenet is, ‘The greater the potential market, the greater the potential to maximize profits.’ It’s TRUE! You will now have access to 200 million members.

GOOD LUCK!

What are some things I could resell on ebay for profit?
I am doing this silly little contest thing with a friend where we are to take a hundred dollars to purchase products to resell on ebay. Whoever gets to a certain amount in profit, wins. I have some ideas of what to purchase but I thought I’d try to get some more ideas here on good ole yahoo answers. It can’t be things I already own.
The idea is to kind of get the ball rolling.

It doesn’t matter what you sell. As it is often said, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Most everyone collects or wants something or other. If you want to win this contest, you will have to buy stuff on the cheap, not retail or even wholesale.

The thing you want to be aware of with the most popular items is that you will have the MOST COMPETITION from other sellers who sell the same items. To wit, you can’t be competitive and make a decent profit unless you get the best wholesale price to maintain an adequate profit margin. If your opening bid price is higher than other sellers selling the same items, you won’t have many sales.

Where to find stuff cheap:

Look no further than ebay itself. You will not be looking for single item listings but rather your target will be listings that have similar, grouped items. There are ebay ‘vultures’ who just love to swoop down on similarly grouped items in one listing. When they win these auctions, they turn around and sell the items individually and, in most cases, get one and a half to 2 times and sometimes three times what they paid for them on an average item basis. I know this works. When I had more time (read unemployed), I was one of these ‘vultures.’ This is one of those situations where the parts are worth more than the whole. However, do be cautious if you venture into this arena. You have to know your merchandise. Stay in those areas you are familiar with. You can’t jump in blindly to any and every auction that has grouped items.

If you can buy a large lot of similar merchandise for $100 to $200 and turn it around for $300 to $600, it works out very nicely, indeed! Most buyers of these large lots will be vultures as well so you could be ‘butting bids.’ Keep in mind that the higher the closing price at ebay, the less your profit on the turnaround. It’s not an exact science and it does take a little experience to really know what you’re doing but you can’t be afraid to go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is. When I see an auction of grouped items it tells me loud and clear that the seller is far more interested in getting rid of their stuff the quickest, easiest way possible and ‘be done with it’ rather than in making a decent profit or profit at all.

Short of items to sell and where to find items to sell? Garage and yard sales, church bazaars, flea markets are obvious. These can be the cheapest sources of merchandise. ‘Junktique’ shops are not that good because these folks know their merchandise. This being the case, it is usually OVERPRICED, not under priced.

If you want to let your fingers do the walking, you too can be crafty ‘vulture’ like a select group of other ebay sellers. Become a member of several smaller auction sites and search for bargains there. But as before, ‘stick with what you know.’

These smaller auction sites are great for buyers for the same reason they are bad for sellers:

Fewer potential bidders = Less competition = Lower closing prices.

Turn them around on ebay:

The ebay formula:

LARGEST auction site by far = MAXIMUM competition = HIGHER closing prices

There are also volume sellers who concentrate on only a handful of popular items by buying in volume / wholesale at a discount and selling at a discount. The average schmo at eBay can’t compete with volume sellers of a particular item.

GOODWILL sometimes also has good bargains, but not always. Mondays / Tuesdays are the best days to visit Goodwill as most people will drop off their donations on Saturdays and Sundays and it has to be cleaned, sorted and marked before it can be placed on display.

To maximize profits, sell WORLDWIDE, not just one country. A basic business tenet is, ‘The greater the potential market, the greater the potential to maximize profits.’ It’s TRUE! You will now have access to 200+ million members.

GOOD LUCK!

I’ve tried many things like taking out buy now, or not listing the name brand. I have tried a lesser bid price. I have tried everything just about except for trying a different category because I like to list accurately. Is it that certain categories you have to list for 3 or five or 7 days? Or is it the way I choose my listing items? I need some help. I appreciate any that I can get. 🙂

Hi,
Certain items don’t qualify for 1 day auctions ( high priced electronics) as an example. Besides, 1 day auctions will be missed by many people. 7 day sales can be slow & i don’t see the advantage to a short listing.

Houses for sale at a forclosure auction, they ask for down payment immediately, the remaining with 24 hours. Where do youget the funds for that immediately?
The details are as follows: 10% of successful bid immediately at conclusion of auction, balance by noon the next business day, both by cashier’s check. Assuming I have the down payment, how do I secure the rest of the funds before the auction starts? Not enough in home equity so forget that. Any thoughts?

When you are purchasing a property through the foreclosure auction, the person conducting the auction has to verify the funds prior to the auction.

At the auction you must have cash or a cashier check and that’s the bottom line. There is no down payment, You have to have the full bid price in order to be successful at the foreclosure auction.

There is no 24 hour period in order to get or secure the funds. If you don’t have the funds at the auction you can not bid or be allowed to bid on a property.

I hope this has been of some use to you, good luck.

"FIGHT ON"

I want to make some extra money on ebay and I was wondering what some good items to buy and re sell are?

It doesn’t matter what you sell. As it is often said, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Most everyone collects or wants something or other.

The thing you want to be aware of with the most popular items is that you will have the MOST COMPETITION from other sellers who sell the same items. To wit, you can’t be competitive and make a decent profit unless you get the best wholesale price to maintain an adequate profit margin. If your opening bid price is higher than other sellers selling the same items, you won’t have many sales.

Where to find stuff cheap:

Look no further than ebay itself. You will not be looking for single item listings but rather your target will be listings that have similar, grouped items. There are ebay ‘vultures’ who just love to swoop down on similarly grouped items in one listing. When they win these auctions, they turn around and sell the items individually and, in most cases, get one and a half to 2 times and sometimes three times what they paid for them on an average item basis. I know this works. When I had more time (read unemployed), I was one of these ‘vultures.’ This is one of those situations where the parts are worth more than the whole. However, do be cautious if you venture into this arena. You have to know your merchandise. Stay in those areas you are familiar with. You can’t jump in blindly to any and every auction that has grouped items.

If you can buy a large lot of similar merchandise for $100 to $200 and turn it around for $300 to $600, it works out very nicely, indeed! Most buyers of these large lots will be vultures as well so you could be ‘butting bids.’ Keep in mind that the higher the closing price at ebay, the less your profit on the turnaround. It’s not an exact science and it does take a little experience to really know what you’re doing but you can’t be afraid to go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is. When I see an auction of grouped items it tells me loud and clear that the seller is far more interested in getting rid of their stuff the quickest, easiest way possible and ‘be done with it’ rather than in making a decent profit or profit at all.

Short of items to sell and where to find items to sell? Garage and yard sales, church bazaars, flea markets are obvious. These can be the cheapest sources of merchandise. ‘Junktique’ shops are not that good because these folks know their merchandise. This being the case, it is usually OVERPRICED, not under priced.

If you want to let your fingers do the walking, you too can be crafty ‘vulture’ like a select group of other ebay sellers. Become a member of several smaller auction sites and search for bargains there. But as before, ‘stick with what you know.’

These smaller auction sites are great for buyers for the same reason they are bad for sellers:

Fewer potential bidders = Less competition = Lower closing prices.

Turn them around on ebay:

The ebay formula:

LARGEST auction site by far = MAXIMUM competition = HIGHER closing prices

There are also volume sellers who concentrate on only a handful of popular items by buying in volume / wholesale at a discount and selling at a discount. The average schmo at eBay can’t compete with volume sellers of a particular item.

GOODWILL sometimes also has good bargains, but not always. Mondays / Tuesdays are the best days to visit Goodwill as most people will drop off their donations on Saturdays and Sundays and it has to be cleaned, sorted and marked before it can be placed on display.

To maximize profits, sell WORLDWIDE, not just one country. A basic business tenet is, ‘The greater the potential market, the greater the potential to maximize profits.’ It’s TRUE! You will now have access to 200+ million members.

GOOD LUCK!

Auction Bids To Zero

How about online auction sites where the item gets cheaper with every bid that comes in. How interesting is that? This particular auction house category is titled….’Bid to Zero’.

Imagine if you were bidding on a car or any top brand product….and your bid….did get to zero! Forget it….it won’t happen. Someone will zap it up before that possibility!

With these auctions….the item starts off at the normal sale price….and then goes down with each bid.So if it reaches a price that someone is happy to pay….that’s it….sold. Really….won…would be more accurate.

Reverse Auctions

To continue the same scenario as above, while an item price is being bid down….there could be twenty people biding. Out of those 20 bidders….5 bidders may be looking at paying….say….$500 for the item. All five bidders claim the bid at $500. In this case the online auction sites use a special formula to decide the bid winner.

Another auction bid type is the unique reverse auction. As the name suggests the above scenario does not happen.The bid has to be ‘unique’. To add to that….there are two variations.

1. Highest unique bid….unmatched at the close of the auction….wins the biding.With these the maximum bid is set at a below normal sale price.

2. Lowest unique bid….has to be unmatched at the close of the auction. Another couple of bidders could of each bid…an identical lower price, but their bid would not be unique. With this type of auction the starting price would be at the normal sale price.

You can see that internet technology is the catalyst for these auctions. Offline….the purpose of an auction is to attain the highest possible bid price. The Collins Dictionary defines an auction as ‘a public sale where articles are sold to the highest bidder’. The emphasis with reverse auctions…seems to be more on its competiveness…as opposed to the actual price.

The Next Generation: Social Competive Interaction

It should never be forgotten that the primary purposes of the online auction sites are to sell products. Because the items are sold at a fraction of their normal price…is neither here nor their. It is great for the successful bidders, but every auction bid is paid for. I’ll explain that further.

To participate…you register online,select a username and get some ‘bid credits’. When you go to the site and login with your username….you’ll see your available ‘bid credits’ displayed. As you bid…the number of available bids reduces. If you’re biding on the ‘Bid to Zero’ auction house….the bids are 50cents to 66cents each. That bid puts the item price down 20 cents. The residue….the difference in the bid cost and the item price reduction….goes to:

1.The cost of the purchase of the item

2.The cost of the freight and handling to the winning bidder

3.To administration costs of the online auction sites and their profit

All the costs are taken care of…by the participants purchase of ‘bid credits’. So the emphasis….as I alluded to earlier…is towards the competive nature of the participants. Social competive interaction online….expressed in a style of auction entertainment….WOW! Whenever I was biding at an (offline) auction….I never saw it as entertainment….except when the Guy chasing flies…had an item knocked down to him. That gave everyone else a laugh!

Internet technology has made this form of social competiveness possible. Not the same as the ‘survivor series’ on TV….but maybe more rewarding.

New International Internet Auction Site

A United States company is the latest developer of one of these online auction sites. In building this new system they have gone with quality top brand products to offer. It would be fair to say they have picked the eyes out of the best methods…currently used in similar European auction sites. Eventually they will have as many as eight auction houses…all with various auction styles.

They are making the auctions available on an international basis. Something the other auction sites have been slow to do. I have been advised that they will probably have special delivery arrangements for large items won by bidders living outside of the US…..makes sense!

You Can Become a Business Associate

Also different about this new auction entertainment website is that a business opportunity has been incorporated. Business associates will be able to market the opportunity for the specific purpose of encouraging people to buy bid credits.

What seems sure…is that this social competive interaction as they call it…is highly likely to be very popular. Therefore the business opportunity will very likely….be lucrative!

My Summary

Are these real auctions? You can look at it this way:

Those auction houses where the bid causes the price to rise….even if the rise is fixed at only a penny or a nickel for each bid…do qualify under the definition of an auction.

The auctions where each bid causes the item price to fail….surely are not auctions….but ‘reverse auctions’. As in ‘done’ and ‘undone’.

These online auction sites are a new marketing outlet for the product manufacturers and merchants.They are good business for the auction sites, who make their money on shifting quality products. The bidders could pick-up a new car or TV or computer or a million dollar life insurance policy….for example. Also they could do that for an outlay of $20 worth of bid credits and a whole heap of fun! That seems to make online auction sites….a win-win-win situation….for all participants!

Darcy John
http://www.articlesbase.com/online-business-articles/online-auction-sites-where-the-bid-lowers-the-auction-price-671089.html