I know a guy whose wife makes big bucks going between the Goodwill and ebay. She has an eye for decorative or antique stuff that tends to capture 1000% + markups on ebay.
yukichigai
Diamond Member
- Apr 23, 2003
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Yes, if you have an eye for antiques or know someone with an eye for antiques eBay can be your friend. Even if the stuff isn't really worth that much it all boils down to knowing the lingo. If your ad uses the right words you can easily get a 1000% markup.
Of course I don't do that, because selling worthless things for huge amounts of money makes me feel bad. Curse me and my catholic-inspired guilt.
Of course I don't do that, because selling worthless things for huge amounts of money makes me feel bad. Curse me and my catholic-inspired guilt.
Originally posted by: alkemyst
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
I've built everything from borrowed money. The difference with borrowing money for ebay and borrowing money for another business is you you can research well enough to know that everything you spend will be made back. So it's more like taking someone's money and putting it in a high interest account and getting back 10-15%. It's not like you borrow a bunch of money and pay interest on it and lose some of it to start up your business.
That's the thing though. I know at least 3 manufacturer's who do direct relationships...which I stumbled upon by BSing with a distributor's sales rep. By the way, distributor prices blow. Well, I haven't even called them yet. Not to mention my dad speaks fluent Chinese so I've been meaning to teach him how to talk to these guys so he can call up Asian channels.
You're right, if you do any sort of volume people will be falling all over themselves. This is why I say I could do that much more business. I keep getting people calling me now. Have you filled out our credit app yet, how do our prices look to you, that sort of thing. I don't have time to followup most of the time.
Everything I found was threw sitting and talking and askign the right questions to the peopel I was working with. Hell, I sold an item to some VP of engineering at Creative and in turn asked him who his marketing manager in Asia was. At which time he sent me all his contact information. The more you make the more you can make...that's how it goes.
its very easy selling on ebay but its not easy making profit. takes quite a bit of work and a little investment. hell, me mum is very thrilled because I sold some of my stuff but it isnt exactly profit just getting rid of some stuff for $. you be surprised what some is willing to pay for your rare stuff!
alkemyst
No Lifer
- Feb 13, 2001
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I know of guys that just resell antique, used furniture, and pawn shop type items. They go in an snap up pictures and make ebay or online shopping pages. This works well most of the time for short auctions. If the item sells before you can get it you are allowed to end an auction due to that.
The better way is to approach a shop and setup certain items that will be online only for a while. You are in charge of selling it and in return they will either commission you or you merely 'buy' it from them at a pre-agreed price with you keeping the difference.
Like any sale, you are selling yourself to the merchant. You have to wheel and deal and be accepted and believable. If you can find buyers for their products most merchants won't have a problem. If you are adding tons of extra work and no sales, they will end the relationship.
The main trick is to have plan and have already thought out all the potential questions they may ask.
The better way is to approach a shop and setup certain items that will be online only for a while. You are in charge of selling it and in return they will either commission you or you merely 'buy' it from them at a pre-agreed price with you keeping the difference.
Like any sale, you are selling yourself to the merchant. You have to wheel and deal and be accepted and believable. If you can find buyers for their products most merchants won't have a problem. If you are adding tons of extra work and no sales, they will end the relationship.
The main trick is to have plan and have already thought out all the potential questions they may ask.
hmm...i remember 3 years ago i made about 1500US in 2 months selling DIablo 2 items on Ebay.
Sold one armor for 300US...paid for my rent that month
=)
Sold one armor for 300US...paid for my rent that month
=)
Not everybody is making as much as they think they are.
When somebody says profit, they are mostly thinking of sale price of the item- acqusition cost of the item.
That is simply not true, you give up a lot of oppurtunity costs in return.
If you are a small timer, Let's see, labor is a big one, writing a detailed description, reasearch, check on FW every 5 min, driving 50 miles going to store, only to get denied for a pm, etc. What if you spent the time and effort into a decent part time job that pays about 15-20 bucks an hour? what bout the gas money you wasted on outta stock items or denied PMs?
what about overhead costs if you are a big timer? If you make enough money to make a decent living, then you probably move enough volumes to grant a storage room rental, which costs money. Ebay, paypal fees all stack up at volumes like this. Also if you are moving somewhere around 100k in a month acquring goods, that is an oppurtunity cost right there. The cost of giving up the most liquidable asset: cash. Returns and exchanges are also a big hassel, and costly too. what about income tax?
Many times people fail to realize the intangible costs associated with these types of jobs, only measuring the difference between the revenue and the raw cost of the item.
Clearly people make a lotta money on eBay, but not as much as they think they are.
When somebody says profit, they are mostly thinking of sale price of the item- acqusition cost of the item.
That is simply not true, you give up a lot of oppurtunity costs in return.
If you are a small timer, Let's see, labor is a big one, writing a detailed description, reasearch, check on FW every 5 min, driving 50 miles going to store, only to get denied for a pm, etc. What if you spent the time and effort into a decent part time job that pays about 15-20 bucks an hour? what bout the gas money you wasted on outta stock items or denied PMs?
what about overhead costs if you are a big timer? If you make enough money to make a decent living, then you probably move enough volumes to grant a storage room rental, which costs money. Ebay, paypal fees all stack up at volumes like this. Also if you are moving somewhere around 100k in a month acquring goods, that is an oppurtunity cost right there. The cost of giving up the most liquidable asset: cash. Returns and exchanges are also a big hassel, and costly too. what about income tax?
Many times people fail to realize the intangible costs associated with these types of jobs, only measuring the difference between the revenue and the raw cost of the item.
Clearly people make a lotta money on eBay, but not as much as they think they are.
alkemyst
No Lifer
- Feb 13, 2001
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with you talking $15-20 per hour, you clearly do not realize the potential of ebay and for a big time seller really overestimating what it takes. The small guy usually is not making a whole lot, I will admit that....that is why he is refered to as the small guy.
My brother is 'small' as far as network eq goes...he is profiting $10k to $15k per month usually on ebay blowing out items that he doesn't move through his business storefront. There are others also doing the same but selling about $50-100k in profit monthly. Hardly a crappy deal.
It takes volume, you need a staff, etc to work at these levels...but that's what a business is.
A guy with only 3 hours a day is usually not going to be too successful.
FelixDeCat
Lifer
- Aug 4, 2000
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How do you make a profit with all the eBay, PayPal, and shipping fees? Seems like you have to push alot of inventory to recover those costs.
Does anyone know where I can be overstocked palettes of new items???
Does anyone know where I can be overstocked palettes of new items???
alkemyst
No Lifer
- Feb 13, 2001
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Originally posted by: Passions
How do you make a profit with all the eBay, PayPal, and shipping fees? Seems like you have to push alot of inventory to recover those costs.
Does anyone know where I can be overstocked palettes of new items???
Shipping you charge so that's a wash.
Paypal you don't usually have to deal with once you had afford to accept credit cards. It's safer also.
Ebay is not that expensive if you are selling real items. The people that gawk are the ones either selling too low or trying to sell $1 items.
It's not about the time 1 guy can devote a day. You can farm out menial tasks such as listing, emails, and shipping. What you can't farm out is dealing with people in order to obtain merchandise...well I can't farm that out anyways. If you do it right you can easily spend a couple hours a day and pull in 10-20k a month. I figure once I get to that level I'll be overwhelmed and either have to quit my day job or just be happy being at that point.
By the way alkemyst, you seem to have it all figured out, why are you not dabbling on ebay?
This is very very important. You don't want to be holding 100 LCDs when a price drop comes around. Now, the difference is if yhou got such a good price anyways you know you could blow the rest out at 0 profit and still be alright.
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