Ebay business- Desperately need help and inspiration!

ryansace

Hi everyone,
Me and my friend have just decided to go to business together on Ebay and things sounded good at the start, we deicded we would buy from warehouses and sell them for a profit. However, we only contacted 1 warehouse and got very expensive prices, and are kind of stuck on what to do next. We ended up bidding on ebooks of good links to suppliers etc. are these al cons or can they teach us where to find a good supplier?
We are looking for a good cheap wholesaler/dropshipper, then resell the items on ebay.
We are not particularly fussy what we sell, however start up capital is less than £1000. We are currently considering mobile phones.
Any suggestions on warehouses, dropshippers, products to sell etc... are all greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Ryan

smartie1976

Personally i'd say the mobile market is saturated beyond belief.
You'd be better off trying to find something a little less populist, and then capitalise on that.

frivolous_fay

I think you're thinking about this the wrong way.

You need to find a niche... or an area that you could make profits on - it sounds as though you're starting an ebay business for the sake of it, and the things you sell are an afterthought!

Forget buying ebooks. You can research suppliers on the net. You will find people tend to be reluctant to give you contacts that they have worked hard to get themselves.

Do lots of thinking and lots of research! Good luck.

soolin

I'm sorry but my response is going to be rather negative. Anything that is easy to find will already be being sold on ebay, you won't get rich buying up advice from other ebayers, if their advice was that good they would be keeping it to themselves and making a mint, rather than letting competition into the market.

Yours is one of the most asked questions, and probably the hardest to get a real response to. The only way to get a real business going on ebay is to do tons of research, watch the trends, find the 'next best thing' before everyone else does. If you have a hobby or a special interest, use that to your advantage. I once knew someone making a fair living on ebay selling fishing items, I wouldn't know one rod or reel from another, but he did and searched car boots, specialist shops and small independent retailers and cornered the market for a while. Phones are probably a bad idea as they are difficult to get legitimately and are also the most scammed item, find a niche and use that instead.

One last point, many users on here do make a fair to middling return on ebay, but realistically we would be foolish to give away our sources as competition would force prces down and reduce our own turnover. You may get some general advice..for instance look at books (see the Amazon thread) but nothing specific.

Soo

ryansace

Alright thanks a lot people! Hmm..now just to think of an idea no one else has!
This could be quite tricky...
Also, for a wholesale website, is wholesalerhub.com any good? I can't find any reviews except on their own website, anyone use it?
Thanks for the hlp

Ryan

soolin

Any wholesaler that you can find on the net is likely to have been turned over by a hundred other ebayers already. It is also a sad fact that many prices on ebay are below wholesale price anyway..take a look at some sample items and see for yourself.

Soo

ryansace

Hmm...well tehere goes my whole idea of an Ebay business.....argh its so annoying not bein able to think of anything!

soolin

ryansace wrote:

Hmm...well tehere goes my whole idea of an Ebay business.....argh its so annoying not bein able to think of anything!

When you have a free moment just browse ebay..put in daft searches..like (darn, can't think of anything now...) mag, or red and just look at what others are selling. I have one ID that I use for one product only and I found that product quite by accident when searching for something else. It isn't something that I thought would sell in a million years, but I sell a up to 20 a month mainly to the US and Europe. It isn't a huge earner but it is 'bread and butter' money, easy to buy and easy to post.

Soo

apprentice_tycoon

I know that it doesn't sound quite as dynamic or sexy as an 'ebay business' but I agree with Soolin that books may be the way to go - with £1000 you could get somewhere in the region of 3000 books from auctions or boot sales, that's a very nice amount to bring you a fairly steady income. By the time you have that all set up, running and looking after itself you might have thought of the thing you'll sell on ebay.

Have a look at our amazon thread (usually on the first page) and see how it sounds, come and ask questions if you like, we'll try and help

martindow

I would suggest that you are best trying to sell things connected with an interest that you have. A good knowledge of what you are selling comes across in listings and means you can give reliable answers to questions. As has been suggested go for a niche product where you are not up against impossible competition.

ryansace

Thanks so much for your help! Tohught of an idea, dont know whether its any good yet but listed it on ebay anyway!
Hope it sells!