what sells well on ebay-but i can get cheaper wholesale?

^opm^

been spending time looking round ebay-and i would like to start a part time business selling on there-but i need idea's
what sells well but obviously i need to be able to buy it wholesale cheaper?

I dont mind if i only make a few quid on each item as if needs be i will sell a hundred items a week to make the money that way-i have enough free time with my current job to allow me time to dedicate to ebay and im not afraid of hard work of sitting on computer for hours at end doing listings and answering mails then posting items etc-but would ideally like to start it of a spart time and see how it progresses-so any idea's?

Did think of selling sexy lingerie and outfits etc but when i do a completed listings search on ebay most of that stuff didn't have any bids on it-but they had them for sale on buy it now prices-so do you think most people that want say latex maids outfit would buy it privately from them and does it not therefore show up on the auction has ever having any bids on it?

Thanks for any help

PASCALI

Nobody that is doing well selling on Ebay is going to disclose either what they sell or where they source their items from.

VH

^opm^ wrote:

been spending time looking round ebay-and i would like to start a part time business selling on there-but i need idea's
what sells well but obviously i need to be able to buy it wholesale cheaper?

I dont mind if i only make a few quid on each item as if needs be i will sell a hundred items a week to make the money that way-i have enough free time with my current job to allow me time to dedicate to ebay and im not afraid of hard work of sitting on computer for hours at end doing listings and answering mails then posting items etc-but would ideally like to start it of a spart time and see how it progresses-so any idea's?

Did think of selling sexy lingerie and outfits etc but when i do a completed listings search on ebay most of that stuff didn't have any bids on it-but they had them for sale on buy it now prices-so do you think most people that want say latex maids outfit would buy it privately from them and does it not therefore show up on the auction has ever having any bids on it?

Thanks for any help

If you find out can you let us know please. I'm afraid anyone who has got a niche market will not be very likely to tell you what they're selling!

You'll find that most things on EBay go for less than wholesale prices. The people making the most money out of EBay are....well..... EBay!!

You need to be looking at selling a niche product (e.g. something only you can get hold of).

One good tip which most people don't think of is, forget buying goods from wholesalers (they're middle men). Approach manufacturers directly and you will get goods much cheaper.

soolin

One more tip, don't bother with adult themed clothing. You risk half your listings getting pulled by ebay who run a no adult material policy. having auctions pulled will eventually get your account NARU'd which is no way to run a business.

Anyway, most of the stuff on ebay like that doesn't attract bidders anyway as it is cheaper elsewhere online (not that I know of course...cough).

Like the other people have said you need to find a niche market, something clever that no one else has thought of yet, but then so do we all.

Soo

PASCALI

Dont be put off though, this article from the Sunday Times (Scotland) yesterday shows that when you are successful the rewards are there
Alive: Welcome to eBay university
A new course targets a new breed of entrepreneurial Scots who are leaving their full-time jobs to make money selling goods on the internet, writes Stephen Breen





Two years ago, Stuart and Catherine Newton signed up to eBay to buy Christmas presents for their children. Money had been tight for the couple, who hadn’t managed a holiday in the first five years of their marriage.

As with so many of the internet auction site’s users they soon became hooked and began their own auction, selling old clothes the children had outgrown.

Stuart had been working with computers and got the idea of buying cards which enhance the sound quality of personal computers wholesale and selling them on the site. There was a huge demand for them and the couple decided to branch out into cards that when installed allowed computers to act as televisions plus a line of tripods for digital cameras, shifting up to 30 items a week.

“Last October it just went bang with the TV cards,” says Catherine. “We were selling up to 20 a day before Christmas and struggling to keep up with demand. We thought business would drop off after that.”

But things continued to snowball and their modest £85,000 two-bedroom, semi-detached house in Bridge of Don, Aberdeenshire, was beginning to get overrun with Jiffy bags and boxes.

They are now dispatching 100 items a day, clearing a profit of £5,000 a week and planning to open a warehouse at the Deemouth business centre near Torry.

Last year Catherine, 35, gave up her job as a youth worker at Aberdeen council to concentrate on the business full-time and earlier this month Stuart, 31, left his £24,000-a-year job as a helicopter engineer to dedicate himself to expanding the operation.

Since Pierre Omidyar set up eBay in 1995 in his bedroom in San Jose, California, this cyber flea market has grown from a site where people could bid online for collectables into a global phenomenon and economic powerhouse.

There are 147m registered users across the world. In the last three months of 2004 they bought and sold £5 billion-worth of goods. In Britain alone there are 10m eBay users, and more people are leaving their jobs to sell full-time through the auction website.

Last Saturday, eBay held its first “top seller university course” in Scotland to help online traders pick up tips about how to make even more money.

More than 200 people, including the Newtons, paid £25 each for the one-day session at Glasgow’s Radisson SAS hotel.

Although it was aimed at “powersellers” — those selling at least 75 items a month or £750 worth of goods — it also attracted casual users who are dabbling with online buying and selling.

According to Charlie Coney, eBay’s UK spokesman, “There are more than 10,000 people in the UK making a living, or a significant part of their living, on eBay and many of them conduct their entire businesses through the site.” Hence the conference in Glasgow, where demand for it was high.

One in five of the total population of Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen are registered on eBay, although they lag behind Norwich, where 44% of residents use the service.

Andrew Mackenzie, a 26-year-old student from Perth, has supported himself through the last year of his degree by buying up retro clothes, records, shoes and bags in charity shops and selling them on, regularly clearing a profit of more than 300 per cent.

“I stumbled in to this by accident but it has been a great way of paying myself through university,” says Mackenzie. “I can do this whenever I have the time — in the holidays I do it full time and I cut my hours right back during exams.”

“The conference is a great way to pick up good selling tips and really practical advice from fellow sellers, like chosing a seller name which reinforces your brand identity rather than going for something completely random and forgettable.”

The Newtons made the Glasgow conference a social event by meeting up with some fellow powersellers in a pub the night before. A diverse group, they sold everything from pagan jewellery, second-hand books and nude male prints to golf balls, sunglasses, computers and second-hand children’s clothes and toys. eBay is famously addictive. Users at the Glasgow event described how they logged on to buy or sell a specific item but ended up hooked after making a profit or experiencing the adrenaline rush of bidding in an auction that was just about to close. Most admit to at least one mistake purchase made on impulse and later given as a gift to a friend.

One Glasgow man confessed: “I had a look at things that were finishing in 10 minutes and saw a vintage Vespa and bid £500, thinking it would go nuts and there would be higher bids. Ten minutes later I checked back and found I was the owner of the scooter — which was in Plymouth.”

As well as success stories such as the Newtons, other Scottish users are turning over more modest profits.

As with many self-employed workers, a lot of people attending the Glasgow event complained that it can be a solitary existence, selling to faceless strangers and having little contact with the outside world, other than running to the post office with an armful of Jiffy bags.

Suzanne Hope, 30, started last year after moving house to Perth. She makes up to £250 a week selling second-hand toys and children’s clothes. She was amazed when a Thomas the Tank Engine clock she bought for 50p at a car boot sale sold for £48.

Hope, a nursery nurse, spends about 16 hours a week on eBay. She sells 70 items a week and is thinking of branching out into selling new educational toys.

“It can get very lonely,” she says. “One lady said she felt she had no life. All she did was eBay and she was even dreaming about it. She never got out the house or met anyone. It was really interesting to get a chance to see other people face to face, find out what they are selling and what kind of profit margins they have.”

The Newtons’ world has been turned upside down since they logged on to eBay. “When we got married we were always wondering if we would have enough money for the mortgage or when the kids needed new clothes. Now we don’t have to worry about that,” says Catherine Newton.

Mackenzie does the rounds of charity shops several times a week and gradually releases his booty for sale. Hot sellers at the moment include vintage Pringle sweaters, for which there is a huge demand in Japan, and retro sports bags by Puma and Gola. Mackenzie specialises in the overseas market and is rarely left with goods on his hands — what is left, he donates back to charity.

He worked flat out at the start of the Christmas holidays and cleared a £700 profit — more than he could hope to earn if he took an office job on completing his communications degree this summer. He plans to keep up his business while he looks for a job but fears his sales success may have spoiled him for the real world.

“I’m in an ideal position because I have this lucrative business waiting for me when I finish at university and it looks great on my CV. What employer is not going to be impressed with a student who is motivated to set up his own business and turn over sufficient profit to live off?”

apprentice_tycoon

do you think that there is a little exageration here?

Hopelesswithmoney

Thank you for posting that article PASCALI, it was very interesting.

Tojo_Ralph

apprentice_tycoon wrote:

do you think that there is a little exageration here?

Why not try complete and utter Bull$h!t ?

The stats are those commissioned by EBay, and go hand in hand with their absurd claim that, Half of all households in the UK contain an eBayer.

Absolute Rawlocks. There are 20 million households in the UK.... Since its launch, EBay has accumulated 10 Million registered users, thus, they make the ridiculous assumption that half of all UK households have an EBayer!!!

Lies, Damn lies and statistics.

nalibz

Tojo_Ralph wrote:

Why not try complete and utter Bull$h!t ?

The stats are those commissioned by EBay, and go hand in hand with their absurd claim that, Half of all households in the UK contain an eBayer.

Absolute Rawlocks. There are 20 million households in the UK.... Since its launch, EBay has accumulated 10 Million registered users, thus, they make the ridiculous assumption that half of all UK households have an EBayer!!!

Lies, Damn lies and statistics.

How about half of all ebayers are scammers?!

Well, I've just found nice source where i can get some excellent goods, low profit margins but if i sell enough i'll make some money!!!

ebay here i come!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO :D:D:D:D

justpaper

^ after paying ebay fees u need up with smaller profit margins,

why not open up ur own website sell a few items on ebay and draw ppl in like that, thats my 2p i can get a fair bit of stock but never selling on ebay NEVER!!!! :mad: ill only buy on ebay :rolleyes: but i still hate them :mad:

nalibz

Yes the fees are a serious problem. At the moment i ahvent got the time to open an internet site but when i do i probably will.

At the moment with postage costs, ebay fees, paypal fees etc. most of my profit is taken, especially as at the moment my items are selling for £2.49 a lot of that is taken in fees!

Nice idea a website though but when i get the chance i will.

nalibz