Hi new to the forum. I have made a lot of money selling on ebay, and as others have said it is a lot of work. And IMO, its not the same ebay. I got into it though when I inherited a house from my grandparents that was full of vintage items. So much in fact it has taken me yrs to unload it. Lets just say there was a shopaholic that lived there once. LOL But as others have said too, yes you can make money. And you do not have to have a inherited horror to do so. You can get some good deals at garage sales, live auctions and thrift stores. I think a niche is good especially if you are wanting to build a business beyond ebay one day. But I have made my best consistant profits with variety. & I am speaking in past tense, because I have not sold anything for a while over there. I still have inventory--storage units full of, ( it was a 20 room house and some literally filled to the ceiling) but I get burnt out after a few mths of it. And take a spell. Thinking of going back at it myself. But I got a garage sale tale too. LOL a couple of summers ago my husband picked up four promotional baseball bobble heads at a garage sale and brings em home to me. We don't collect. So I ask him what am I suppose to do with these? And he was like, 'well, I thought you could sell em on ebay. I only paid a dollar each for them.' LOL guess what? They sold for about 30.00 each. One niche I might recommend if you can find the inventory is vintage clothing. Even more widely popular is vintage under garments. Some of these sale for really high dollar. Another item that can go for pretty good money are large sized women's heels. talking sz 11 or bigger. Best of luck.
I was reading an ebook lately about the best things to sell on ebay, and i will share some of them with you. (1) How to books (Older ones sell the best) (2) Old fashioned typewriters (3) Old newspapers and magazines (4) Retro computer gaming systems (5) Used mobile phones That's just a few, hope it helps someone to start making money on ebay.
I have been considering trying some ebay myself, perhaps my time will be better spent elsewhere. It is really hard to ignore the hype - I keep going back and looking at its feasibility. "pursue other avenues that can give you a steady monthly residual income stream for your time and efforts". --FreeCashMan that sounds pretty sound.
EBay is still a great place, its just like any business, you have to calculate what your costs are and deduct from profit. It's like if you sell an item in your store and use a credit card, your cost has to have that 4% that your merchant service is going to charge you embedded. If not it will come out of your profit. Craigslist is good, but truly local and sometimes you deal with shady characters. At the end of the day, youcant beat the exposure eBay gives you.
vlb2123: So, if you are selling a few items, it probably doesn't make sense but if you have a lot or many different ones, getting an ebay store is a great way to corcumvent their listing fees. I have both a store and a non store account and if you are selling odds and ends, don't open a store. Just start the listing at .99 or set at 'buy now' for 30 days. Both ways there are some fees but once you get a handle on it, you will be able to make some fast cash if you have the right items to sell. My son recently sold his Xbox games and it was amazing what he got for all his stuff, even after paying the fees. Remember to leave enough into your paypal to cover the fees, and you just may become addicted like some of the rest of us.
Selling on eBay is a cool way to earn. Surely, you just have to learn how to deal with each buyers. You should know some strategies on how to sell in auctions.
Anyone tried dropping shipping services through ebay? I am exploring that but what kane1976 mentioned is very true, it's too competitive on ebay now. And if you are new seller, with 0 customer feedback, I really can't see how I can beat those powerseller. Besides, choosing a dropshipper is also another ballgame, some companies are not that legitimate too.
