rudder
Lifer
- Nov 9, 2000
- 19,441
- 86
- 91
To make a living off ebay follow these easy steps:
Get some cash.
Buy a 1000 of any type of computer equipment. Say a USB jump drive.
Sell it for cost.
Charge $6 for shipping.
Spend 83 cents on shipping.
Thats the reason I don't ever buy crap on ebay. Asshats always jack up the shipping costs. Its usually cheaper for me to visit an online retailer or even a B&M store.
Get some cash.
Buy a 1000 of any type of computer equipment. Say a USB jump drive.
Sell it for cost.
Charge $6 for shipping.
Spend 83 cents on shipping.
Thats the reason I don't ever buy crap on ebay. Asshats always jack up the shipping costs. Its usually cheaper for me to visit an online retailer or even a B&M store.
Yep. All you need to know is a contact to someone who sells really cheap wholesale stuff and slap it on eBay!
And herein lies the problem.Originally posted by: nakedfrog
Buy 1,000 and you'll get a discounted price
I feel like I need to get a normal job so I can build my eBay business, heh.
alkemyst
No Lifer
- Feb 13, 2001
- 83,769
- 19
- 81
yes, but doing so without capital to start it up is going to take time before you can live off the proceeds.
My brother started buy buying discounted luggage and bags at 30-50% off list and reselling on ebay for 75% of list, he had a huge source. He used about 10k in credit card money to seed this and all profits were reinvested. In about 4-6 months he paid off not only CC debt, but had $10k+ in a business account plus some machines to help with packaging. He slowly added higher ticket items while keeping the 'tried and true' items going...slowly adding a storage unit, then a office space, and later on a multi-room office. He worked a fulltime job during all of this and still does, which he still does (he makes 6 figures now as a CCIE and CTO of an ISP), but the ebay venture was enough to generate a store front which he sells about 75% of his items out of now. He doesn't work his business other than planning what items to move, but has a good manager.
The hot deals and coupons are good for ebay, but sporadic at times, and a lot of the resellers rape them and ruin it for the guy that is looking to merely get the 'toy' they can't afford whereas they are seeing profit only.
Those that say 'well I am making $500 a month now, I can do $5000 a month if I had more capital/time' are very inaccurate. Many times you reach the threshold of what people are buying. On ebay esp there are only so many people looking to buy a particular item at any given time...adding more may increase your profits, but only to a point. Successful ebay sales often get copied as well, further diluting your profits. Every HotDeal has tons of ebay posts prior to even knowing if the item is going to be sent...
My brother started buy buying discounted luggage and bags at 30-50% off list and reselling on ebay for 75% of list, he had a huge source. He used about 10k in credit card money to seed this and all profits were reinvested. In about 4-6 months he paid off not only CC debt, but had $10k+ in a business account plus some machines to help with packaging. He slowly added higher ticket items while keeping the 'tried and true' items going...slowly adding a storage unit, then a office space, and later on a multi-room office. He worked a fulltime job during all of this and still does, which he still does (he makes 6 figures now as a CCIE and CTO of an ISP), but the ebay venture was enough to generate a store front which he sells about 75% of his items out of now. He doesn't work his business other than planning what items to move, but has a good manager.
The hot deals and coupons are good for ebay, but sporadic at times, and a lot of the resellers rape them and ruin it for the guy that is looking to merely get the 'toy' they can't afford whereas they are seeing profit only.
Those that say 'well I am making $500 a month now, I can do $5000 a month if I had more capital/time' are very inaccurate. Many times you reach the threshold of what people are buying. On ebay esp there are only so many people looking to buy a particular item at any given time...adding more may increase your profits, but only to a point. Successful ebay sales often get copied as well, further diluting your profits. Every HotDeal has tons of ebay posts prior to even knowing if the item is going to be sent...
I worked for on commission for 4 local antique stores, when I was in college. I made about $3000-$5000 a months, asking for 20% of the profits.
I still do it for a couple of people and one shop, but casually. I take in maybe $300-$600 / month, now.
I still do it for a couple of people and one shop, but casually. I take in maybe $300-$600 / month, now.
Thats not bad though. I would love to to make only $400 a month in profit. That's a car payment or a quarter of your home monthly mortage. Combine that with a $50,000 a year job w/ full benefits and your doing pretty damn well.
exactly. i have all this really good dj equipment lying around that i dont even put to use. if i went out, maybe 2 weekends a month i could probably fetch something like 3-400 per gig (i.e. at least 600 a month). that would cover my car payements too. then i could live quite well.
Originally posted by: Eli
And herein lies the problem.Originally posted by: nakedfrog
Buy 1,000 and you'll get a discounted price
I feel like I need to get a normal job so I can build my eBay business, heh.
Actually, the beauty of ebay is you fund everything on borrowed money. I started off spending on all of my cards. Small amounts...5-10k a month, paid off my cards 3 or 4 times a month. It's not necessarily about dropping 20 or 30k on a lot of merchandise at once. You show someone you can do 6-8k they'll take care of you, let you know what they can do for you. Then you drop 20-30k to get an even better price. The goal is to find 10-20 items you can sell at 50 dollar profits consistently. List them for below market value, undercut everyone and move 1 a day.
As I slowly made more money I wasn't afraid to leverage myself further. Eventually I got a Amex chargecard with no limit so I was able to throw 30, 40, 50k on the card a month. They imposed a limit on me after reviewing my financials but that's a different story altogether(they don't like seeing 40k of spending a month when you only have 20 or 30k in your bank account).
Hell, I can make 600 bucks a month on credit card rewards alone.
Those of you asking where to buy wholesale or where to find a source...no one is going to tell you. You have to find them yourself.
You'll always be small potatoes if all you do is auction hot deals. As in, 500-1k or maybe 2k a month if you're lucky. Although all the major FW ebay guys started off dabbling in auctioning hot deals. I started off auctioning hot deals as well but don't even bother now.
As for your statement that making way more if I had more time or money it's true if you know what you're doing. I've got 3 or 4 more sources I'm not taking advantage of. I haven't even begun to look into importing merchandise but I have a very good idea how to do it and how I'm going to get the merchandise. Yes, you will be copied but it's very hard to duplicate something where you have established contacts and methods of doing things. By the time someone catches up to me I will have found 20 or 30 other things to sell.
The only limit to what I'm able to make right now is that I have a fulltime job and don't have time to look into everything I can. My dad can't present himself or BS properly and I can't make too many phone calls during the day as we're busy as hell at work.
alkemyst
No Lifer
- Feb 13, 2001
- 83,769
- 19
- 81
If you have such a sure thing potential, why are you bothering working? To many 2k a month would not be a bad income.
The thing about someone copying your idea is that it's usually a much bigger fish that does this. Most people are lucky to have 10 good products that sell, you are talking about 20-30 springing up constantly...it works that way only on paper.
Many guys I have talked to that speak of pulling in $10-20k a month are speaking gross sales, once they pay out all the BS, product costs and the like they are netting a couple grand if they are lucky, and most do not pay tax nor report alot of it setting themselves up for problems.
Also without a reporting of income you can't use it for purchases. It works good for kids at home still though.
Å
alkemyst
No Lifer
- Feb 13, 2001
- 83,769
- 19
- 81
Also all businesses are started on borrowed money....this is why a lot fail so quick, it's hard to pay back and profit at the same time. This is why a franchise makes sense as you have business potential already lined up looking for the 'Name Brand'.
This is not entirely true. Sure if you have $1-2k to spend it's going to be hard, but if you are looking at keeping a channel open the B2B sellers or even direct to manufacturer channels are findable. The problem is for every bonafide buyer, they have 100 people promising the world and how they are going to be the next #1 sales force for them, yet they have no business plan, no business account, no business address
. I have found several Japanese companies I can deal directly with, the problem is without Japanese as a language I wouldn't be able to communicate..Most people can't search well enough to find a patch for their videogame, how would you expect them to find wholesellers and manufacturering contacts
.
yukichigai
Diamond Member
- Apr 23, 2003
- 6,404
- 0
- 76
Around here people donate things to thrift stores that they have absolutely no idea what they're worth. Best example is computer monitors. To this day I have found three good quality monitors at the local Retirement Center thrift store. I'd estimate the worth on each one to be $15, $30 and $50, but that isn't important. What is important is the fact that I bought these for $5 each. Now if I devoted one weekend a week to browsing thrift stores for things to sell on eBay I probably could make enough to pay the rent each month. But like has been said, it's labor intensive. I like to sleep on the weekends. Or party. Or go to Vegas. Besides, I have a job; it pays handsomly and the internet filtering doesn't block AT. During the school year... maybe a different story.
But yes, you can make a living off of eBay, but it's really almost a full-time job. I know of a few companies that make money like this exclusively.
But yes, you can make a living off of eBay, but it's really almost a full-time job. I know of a few companies that make money like this exclusively.
everyone keeps sayign how they can make this and that amount each month but how much of it is profit?
I sell a pretty high dollar item.
I gross appx. 1500 - 2250/mo.
Profit after eBay fees is about 2-300$. I sell 2-3 of said item a month.
I'm bothering to work because if ebay ever dried up, where would I be? I just got a degree, I'd like to gain valuable experience. I'm learning tons of practical things an dgaining tons of experience at my day job. I'm also not ready to work for myself...hell I'm way too immature and my morals are shoddy
Plus I like having 2 sources of income and couldn't stand the thought of sitting at home all day. I also love my job. Although it becomes a problem because I'm so used to throwing around 10-20k that I find myself going oh, this next purchase is nothing, it's only 6k. My parents will be like you charged 40k on your friggin business card last month and I'll be like yeah, that's fine. Then I realize that's almost what I make at work....in a year.My gross sales are already 60k average a month. I'm netting 4-6k a month. Last 2 months were 6k and this month is going to be about 2k because I charged car repairs to the business and also some home office furniture. I also bought my parents a business car to do all my shipping with.
Everything is legit. I'm registered...although not incorporated, all my books are straight. I do use a PO box as a physical address but my business and personal bank accounts are separate. Without it, no one will take you seriously.
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