Who's making a profit on Ebay?

AndyD_OHD

HI All,
Firstly I do apologise if this is not the correct forum to post in. Over the last couple of years I have sold a handful of items on Ebay and not made a large profit but without much effort I couldn't complain. However, It was wondering if anyone on the forums actually makes a decent income from selling on ebay? I am considering selling a few product types on ebay and scouting around for suppliers/wholesalers, so if anyone has any advice it would be appreciated.... oh and feel free to PM.

Cheers

Andy

pennylane99

if people are making profits I doubt they would give you info on their suppliers/wholesalers......;)

dbonbon

I don't make any profit m'lud, it's strictly a not for profit enterprise.

(For the benefit of Customs and Excise)

AndyD_OHD

I wouldn't think so either.... but was worth asking... lol
I do have a couple of my own... atsdistribution and TheSelect.... if anyone is interested I could post the urls..... So I've made a contribution....

Cheers
Andy

windswept

plenty of people on here seem to make a good living on ebay, the trick seems to be to find either something very inexpensive but sell lots or sell something fairly unique. I have an ebay shop and am registered as a business seller but could not make a full living entirely on ebay, ebay makes up only about 25% of our sales as we also sell at outdoor events and toy/collectors fairs. as for asking people what sells well, don't bother! they get very touchy about these things. your second problem will be getting suppliers, if you are not legitimately in business , wholesalers / suppliers wont touch you and there will be hundres of other sellers on ebay who sell massive quantities of stock so get huge discounts and therefore can sell things very cheaply at not much more than trade price. I am not trying to put you off but it is harder than most people realise. unless you really corner the market in something, it is an uphill battle, having said that I know someone who scours car boots etc. and makes a fortune selling anything and everything. we stick to what we know.

Little_Miss_Winner

What sort of things where you considering selling?

AndyD_OHD

dbonbon>> Oh yes, I think I'll be in the same boat... Hhhonest m'lud.

Windswept>> I understand what you mean. I have also heard FROM people that have done the "Car Boot to Ebay" thing as well as "bin-raking" of High Street stores bins, but kind of risky if you ask me.... I might fall in... and be found by another raker and sold on Ebay....

pot'o'gold>>Well I was thinking of selling a range of differnt goods, perhaps for child security but who knows that idea might change at some point. I run my own web design company so I suppose the IT product range would be a natural progression of my business. I have already started to investigate the range of products available for the Home Networking market, but these seems to be very low profit products so far.

Cheers
Andy

cammo12

AndyD_OHD wrote:

I wouldn't think so either.... but was worth asking... lol
I do have a couple of my own... atsdistribution and TheSelect.... if anyone is interested I could post the urls..... So I've made a contribution....

Cheers
Andy

You won't make any money from these sites.

atsdistribution sells cheap tat. You will find other ebay sellers will sell the same or similar things for much cheaper prices, so you will sell very little.

TheSelect appears to be a bit of a joke too. They charge you to join thier site! That should set the alarm bells ringing :eek:

My advice would be to start having a think about what you want to sell, then try and find real and legit suppliers of that item. I saw a website selling a product I wanted to sell and emailed to ask them if they would supply me so I could resell. They were more than happy to do this, and yes I make a tidy profit from it too.

But you will need to register as a business and with inland revenue.

You have to put in the research yourself - and don't just google "wholesalers" or "dropshippers" - becuase you will just find a load of crap. You need to research your market.

AndyD_OHD

cammo12>> Thank you for that useful information.

Cheers
Andy

soolin

The other thing to consider with online wholesalers and the like, is that if they are that easy to find then you are guaranteed that 1000 people have already found them and failed to make money.

Find a niche market, something you know or can find out about and investigate that. I used to work with someone who sold stuff to do with fishing, don't ask me what as I couldn't tell a rod from a hole in the road..but they knew their market inside out. They would spend weekends trundling round specialist markets or shops and buy up bits and pieces and sell them on.

I used to sell sci fi stuff until the prices began to drop faster than I could sell the stuff.

angelcake

The problem is with more and more people joining ebay nowadays there is too much competition so there isn't that much point!! I think I have just about given up!