Who's making a profit on Ebay?

Hintza

Needless to say I won't be telling you all what I sell it is very easily replicated. But I can give some hints as to what has sold in the past:-

PC memory bought in USA (ebay) and sold in UK. Didn't make much but helped get me get started.

Seiko and Ciizen watches bought in Singapore (EBay) that was quite nice but I found it only really worked around Christmas time.

Will not specify the item but someting I bought in the USA again for about £1 in bulk and sold for >£6 but that was a fad a ran its course.

Consumer goods bought on EBay UK and sold into EBay France. i was always confused at what sold in France AND never got to the bottom of it but was very time consuming writing listings in French.

I made a lot of money last year when Somerfield changed ownership and gave up electrical items. This is an area worth exploring shops closing down or changing their focus and it really helps if you have a large float to buy in bulk. On a percentage basis this was one of my biggest winners.

I currently sell two types of closely related lines one of which is dying a slow death in that my margins are being squeezed and it is very hard to make any money. The second line is a wee gem and you could all do it I managed to have the market to myself over Christmas which made it very profitable but I expect it to dwindle away through lack of supply in the next month or so.

I am having a bit of a rest just now and jut ticking over but next month I will need to start looking for the next line. I find that my business has to evolve to keep margins acceptable they all seem to get eroded through time.

N9eav

Sexy lingerie is a good seller as people think with other parts of their bodies and not their brains or wallets

kriss_boy

I currently sell an item you can buy in bulk, divide and sell individually. So while you make easy, reliable profits you do invest time in sorting the items.

Ive never bought from anywhere than the UK and US ebays. Maybe its time to check out other countries.

I stick by declaration that its virutally impossible to buy anything from the states and not sell it at a profit in the UK. Ive sold so many things it would take too long to list. Simple things like lighters and "bad mutha" wallets that were mentioned on the film pulp fiction.

Snooze_Control

kriss_boy wrote:

I currently sell an item you can buy in bulk, divide and sell individually. So while you make easy, reliable profits you do invest time in sorting the items.

Ive never bought from anywhere than the UK and US ebays. Maybe its time to check out other countries.

I stick by declaration that its virutally impossible to buy anything from the states and not sell it at a profit in the UK. Ive sold so many things it would take too long to list. Simple things like lighters and "bad mutha" wallets that were mentioned on the film pulp fiction.

Are you paying import duty on the USA stuff though or are have you just been lucky thus far?

SC

kriss_boy

Most cheapy things are about under 50/60$ never seem to get picked up by UK customs. Ive bought tonnes of music memorabilia and sold it on at profits.

Expensive things over a $1000 are always going to be liable to import duty but I beleive some people have them undervalued to perhaps half the duty. This isnt something I do however.

Duty on $3000 is approx £350 but duty on $750 is about £90.

wileycat

I remember the days you could buy a skate / snowboard mag in smiths, and put the page of free stickers on eBay and get double back what you paid for the magazine! heh

I generally tend to import skate and surf items from the USA in bulk and sell them over here, people go for things like oakley cases over here at about £20 a go whereas I was buying them at £8 in the US! Its just looking at what you can get, and knowing what will and won't sell!

syanide

depends how you market your stuff as well.. im a developer by trade so my auction are very good visually and well layed out (also do lots of web design work) with plenty of high quality photo's. The stock I sell is also sold by lots of others but I still get lots of sales even though my prices are slightly higher than the other sellers.. I made 4k last month upto xmas and have made around 1k since xmas but only because im waiting on my new stock to arrive from the factory (hopefully this weekend)

shakka

greeneye wrote:

Na he's not annoyed me but everyone seems to be having a row with this guy on one post or another at the mo so just thought I'd join in ....just me being friendly - I was a little pished last night and thats my idea of being friendly when I'm a little pished ;+)
btw I actually suspect he's someone that everyone used to argue with a while ago who's back under a new name (who I incidently quite liked).... but I'm probably wrong

Since joining this forum I've learnt loads and saved quite a bit of money, but more than that I really enjoy reading some of the threads; some people's comments really amuse me even though I'm not sure that's always their intention...:rotfl:

N9eav

Managed to find more stock yesterday in a Posh shop that's clearing out stuff. £69 worth of Lingerie (69 x £1) My first lot of 10 items made £30. So happy with that..... Valentines day approaching, so hopefully that may help. It was really funny watching these shop assistants (bearing in mind it's a posh independent outfitters) putting it all through the till.
There was other stuff there for £5 down from £50, but where do you stop? Should I buy everything?????

jm28cardiff

I used to sell brand new British mags to people in other countries, usually the USA. Film mags, music mags, how well they'd sell depended on who was on the cover. I'd usually buy a mag for £3 or so and sell it for £10. My best run of sales was selling 22 copies of classic rock magazine for £10 each. Def Leppard were on the cover, I didnt think they were that popular! When the first Tomb Raider film came out, anything Angelina Jolie was selling like hot cakes, I sold a copy of the Big Issue with her on the cover for £5! Even things like Sunday paper magazines sell depending on the cover star. At the time though, £10 was about $15, but now its closer to $20 I think.