I’m looking into start getting into buying stuff and then selling it on ebay and making a profit. Any good books out there i can read?
Books? I don’t need no stinkin’ books. What you need is common sense coupled with hard work.
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.
Actually, you have to 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.
GOOD LUCK!
P.S. Experience is the best teacher.
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