Making Money on Ebay

soolin

I have had another thought , In the OP you mention spending a couple of hours a night with the laptop on. eBay is more physical than that, you will be wrapping things and printing off labels rather than just browsing idly though emails. Are you going to be happy doing that after a full day at work?

Sammcc

soolin wrote: »

I have had another thought , In the OP you mention spending a couple of hours a night with the laptop on. eBay is more physical than that, you will be wrapping things and printing off labels rather than just browsing idly though emails. Are you going to be happy doing that after a full day at work?

When I was involved in IM I spent a couple of hours on the laptop in front of the TV- I realise this will be a different animal all together.

Sammcc

motorguy wrote: »

You're hitting the problem everyone hits.

Even IF you do find something thats viable, its hard to get something sustainable and very hard to get something that isnt going to be undercut by someone else.

Does it come down to buying power?

motorguy

Sammcc wrote: »

Does it come down to buying power?

In the sense that there are people bringing in container loads of a product that at best you'll be buying several boxes / a pallet of, then yes.

So the big players will be able to undercut you, and the small players will be buying from the same source as you and there will always be someone willing to race you to the bottom on price.

Also, theres a lot of people on there have an ebay "arm" to their retail business, so they already have their overheads covered by their physical business.

I suspect the way to make money is to "value add", moreso than straight reselling.

OR sell something that you make OR resell something only available to you locally.

OR a particular niche that you know inside out.

Very difficult to break into and very difficult to consistently make money at.

soolin

Sammcc wrote: »

Does it come down to buying power?

Not necessarily, I rarely spend much on stock (which I source from various places) but I make my stock work for me. I can outsell most of my competitors without undercutting them, in fact in some cases my prices are higher and I still sell more than they do. I Aim to keep my account looking good, give buyers confidence that it is worth paying extra to buy from me.

I work in several markets though so my business practice is different in all of them, the only thing that remains the same is an account that shows good standing, with very positive feedback comments from buyers. It has also allowed me to expand my business to private sales, so if I sell an antique I might mention I have more similar stock and people will often ask for details and then buy direct.

With my bread and butter stock a simple note saying that I offer a small discount for people buying direct, and make sure they have my email on my packing slip.

Sammcc

I think at some stage private sales has to come into it but then ecommerce is a whole other avenue which I think would need to be further down the line- either a stand alone website or ebay shop (or both?).

Stock is a difficult one for me-
1/ Do I offer low end products with low profit margins or do I sell higher end items with less turn over and greater profit margins.

2/The whole buying mobile phone covers and USB leads thing is saturated as is gaming etc so getting into a more specialised niche would be key.

soolin

Sammcc wrote: »

I think at some stage private sales has to come into it but then ecommerce is a whole other avenue which I think would need to be further down the line- either a stand alone website or ebay shop (or both?).

Stock is a difficult one for me-
1/ Do I offer low end products with low profit margins or do I sell higher end items with less turn over and greater profit margins.

2/The whole buying mobile phone covers and USB leads thing is saturated as is gaming etc so getting into a more specialised niche would be key.

You have to consider the associated risk and time involved. As you have limited time available the very low profit items might not be ideal . However, they would have the advantage that they are easy to package and can be out in a post box as there would be no point in claiming for loss anyway. However, higher priced goods will have to go via a post office door courier as you will need some sort of basic insurance against loss. Higher end goods will almost certainly have a higher rate of 'change of mind' returns as well which you would have to manage and pay for.

However lower end doesn't equal phone covers, I have several sub £10 items (which includes postage) that net me a high percentage profit for very little effort.

dellboydan

I think you have to consider the profit vs effort. You could sell 10x items for £1 profit after fees + p&p or you could sell 1x item for £10 after fees + p&p. It can become very time consuming doing labels and packing all the items. I sell items with a minimum of £5 profit on each, as I can spend a lot of time having to source my products so I need to know its worth my time. I think the key is to know your products well and more importantly enjoy them. It's hard to sell something you don't like! Wish you all the best of luck!

Sammcc

Dan what you have said above is my exact plan- it's a case of finding the right line of products.

dellboydan

Also consider amazon if I you find a product that they sell on there. You can get great success with them with less effort. Okay, the fees are more than eBay but they display how much you will get after fees and they are taken straight out of your earnings so there is no monthly bill. Also rather than having to relist unsold items it will always stay up for sale. The downside is the payouts do take a little longer than paypal can take upto 5 working days so can hinder cash flow first few sales, but there is less competition from third party sellers than eBay.