What to buy/sell?

joncrip

Hi all,

I'm thinking of having a (small) flutter on ebay to try and buy something and then sell it on again with better photos, wording etc. I'm familiar with the tools available (snipers and spelling mistake finders), but I'm overwhelmed with the huge number of unsold, cheap tat that appears whenever I do a search! Frankly I'm wondering whether it's possible to buy AND sell again on ebay.
I considered selling some of my photographs (keen photographer) on eBay once, but it didn't seem worth my time cosidering how little the competition sell for.

Does anyone buy and resell on eBay? And does anyone have any advice on the sort of item I might buy as a starter?

Cheers!

Hintza

Sell what you know and have expertise in or gain that expertise.

People won't give you ideas what to sell because they would either be selling you that information or selling it themselves.

Now if you want me to tell you what to sell I can do but I will want 5% of all your turnover in perpituity.

soolin

It is harder than it used to be. I used to deal a lot in sci fi items (as Hintza says something i knew something about) and weuld buy mainly from the US or from gGrmany and resell in the UK. However cross country sales are now so commonplace and the pound so weak that I haven't done it for ages.

Recently though I have bought on ebid and resold on ebay.

As a straight question though there is no one single item that can be bought and resold at a profit on a rregular basis unless you spt a gap in the market where people routinely sell something they don't describe properly.

toffe

well personally i don't buy and resell off ebay i import in bulk from china and sell that way. (no i'm not going to say what, sorry but i had to find my own thing to sell and so do you)


what you are talking about is smaller scale stuff though, it can be fun for a little extra money but it's not likely to make you a meaningfull full time income but here is some advice for free, rather than looking for items which you can buy off ebay and resell on ebay try looking for items which you can maybe buy cheap on ebay but resell higher on amazon or visa versa, this is usually easier to do and more lucrative.

Someone i know does this occasionally with golf products and has had some success, good luck.

joncrip

Just 5%? Bargain! lol
No, I realise that nobody would give me specifics, and I wouldn't expect them to. I was just after general tips. This is more of a personal experiment really. I've often thought about different forums for buying and selling, from car boots to stock markets. I just find it fascinating.

Anyway, good advice, thanks. Now what am I expert in... :idea:

duloch

joncrip wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm thinking of having a (small) flutter on ebay to try and buy something and then sell it on again with better photos, wording etc. I'm familiar with the tools available (snipers and spelling mistake finders), but I'm overwhelmed with the huge number of unsold, cheap tat that appears whenever I do a search! Frankly I'm wondering whether it's possible to buy AND sell again on ebay.
I considered selling some of my photographs (keen photographer) on eBay once, but it didn't seem worth my time cosidering how little the competition sell for.

Does anyone buy and resell on eBay? And does anyone have any advice on the sort of item I might buy as a starter?

Cheers!

I'm also fairly new to buying and selling on ebay! I have bought 1 or 2 cheap items have 99p or a few pounds and sold them on for a small profit. I am however having difficulty getting the P+P amount right and have ended up with even less of a profit. Just look and see what you can buy cheaply and where you wouldn't make too much of a loss if it doesn't sell. Goodluck!

soolin

Also remember the basics, one account for buying and one for selling. Don't buy and sell on the same one.

toffe

soolin wrote: »

Also remember the basics, one account for buying and one for selling. Don't buy and sell on the same one.

why not? i do, always have and it's never been a problem

elfen

I usually sell whatever I have lying around....could be anything, usually clothes/games/cds etc.

I do both on one account, is there a reason i shouldn't?

steven_garner

toffe wrote: »

well personally i don't buy and resell off ebay i import in bulk from china and sell that way. (no i'm not going to say what, sorry but i had to find my own thing to sell and so do you)

Im the same,

I started by buying on eBay to re-sell.

The only investment i have ever made is £30, buying a faulty iPod and re-selling it making £60, then spend the £60 on cheap iPod cables on eBay from China for about 60p then selling for £2-3.

I only buy a few bits in bulk off eBay now, the problem is everyone thinks eBay is the cheapest platform but i have suppliers who sell the same products i was buying on eBay for less then half the price I was paying! Also i don’t have to pay import duty as they ship to a unit in UK and re-send to me so im getting a bargains now.


Its been about 6 months now and have i have a very established eBay shop and my own website taking in good sales.

As Toffe said, don’t expect to make too much money - im turning over about 4k a month but after factoring in eBay costs, PayPal Fees, Google fees, postage, returns, bad stock hosting fees expenses ect i have just enough left over to get more stock to expand.

Im yet to take a wage (luckily i also work full time) but hoping to start taking a wage and cut my work hours in ~ 6 months

Any way – best of luck!

soolin

toffe wrote: »

why not? i do, always have and it's never been a problem

There are several reasons why this is a bad idea, Firstly of course buying and then reselling items on the same account is hardly going to help you hide the amount you paid in the first place is it?

Secondly whilst the vast majority of ebay users are perfectly normal, there are the odd few about that you would not want to cross. So you buy something it fails to arrive so you do a paypal chargeback..and that seller gets very angry and does a bit of auction wrecking. Even on threads on here when someone has had real issues with a buyer there are some people who will automatically suggest buying something from them (preferbaly using a different buying account) and giving them a taste of their own medicine. Whilst people think it is acceptable to do that I would prefer to keep my selling account away from them.

I run several accounts, all for different purposes