Can I make money from the pound shop?

cyberstar

I have a local pound shop in my area, they sell anything £1 – stationary, kitchen stuff, domestic goods, toys etc. Since they are all worth £1, do you think I can convince ebayers these items are worth more than they really are, and make profit out of it?

soolin

cyberstar wrote:

I have a local pound shop in my area, they sell anything £1 – stationary, kitchen stuff, domestic goods, toys etc. Since they are all worth £1, do you think I can convince ebayers these items are worth more than they really are, and make profit out of it?

It is very unlikely that you will make money on pound shop goods for two reasons. Firstly, these pound shops are everywhere now so you don't have a big target audience that can't get to one. Secondly, by the time you add on post and packing charges, ebay and paypal fees you would have to be charging quite a bit just to break even and the stuff isn't *that* good.

Profit can be made though if you keep an eye on ebay and watch the market. I had a good result with some Buffy and Angel mugs a couple of Christmas's ago, I was selling them at about £3 a pop, not a massive profit but enough to make it worth while going to the shop. On th eother hand the current Harry Potter mugs that people ar etrying to sell don't move at all.

More recently my pound shop has videos of 'Creature Comforts', and 'X Files' and Star Trek DVDs, but a quick look on ebay showed that the market was flooded and virtually none were selling even at 99p.

You need to find that one item that is cheap to post that everyone wants, so good luck!

Soo

fuzzgun19

I've tried doing this before anout 2 years ago. I only tried a few items and they did sell, but I only just made my money back.
I havent bothered since.

shelly

cyberstar wrote:

I have a local pound shop in my area, they sell anything £1 – stationary, kitchen stuff, domestic goods, toys etc. Since they are all worth £1, do you think I can convince ebayers these items are worth more than they really are, and make profit out of it?

On e-bay you don't need to convince people that an item is worth more than it looks as IMO 90% of them don't research the items they are bidding on or buying and will bid crazy prices for things.I was recently watching some items that seemed a bargain but when I researched I found that I could get them for cheaper from the highstreet.....I kept them in my watch list to see how they sold and the last one I looked at you can but for £30 brand new and it went for £46 then p+p was £6.People just don't research things.IMO if it looks like its worth more than £1 you will do ok but research first and make sure....like soolin says....that the market isn't flooded with the items you buy.I'm tempted to buy a couple of the things I was looking at if they do that well but I know my luck will be that no-one wants them then...lol...
Also I would suggest car boot items if the items are clean and un-damaged.My aunts SIL bought an Indian porcelain doll from car boot a couple of weeks ago for £5.....put it on e-bay....sold for £70.


Good Luck.

WHA

Yes, people do pay silly prices for things on ebay. I almost paid way over the odds for some dvds, which seemed to be selling for high prices on ebay - I just checked on Amazon and was amazed they were far cheaper!

I think the trick is to find something relatively rare. If people want something in particular, that is not too common, they may well pay over the odds.

An example is the Bob The Builder toy machines. They are only around £8 in Boots and Woolworths, but they're always out of stock. On ebay, they can go for £12 or more. But that's just because they are rare.

Same with toy Thomas the Tank Engine trains. I was looking at paying £25 plus postage for a particular engine on ebay - there was only approx 1 per week being sold, and they always reached mid £20s. By chance, I found a model train shop and found that the RRP was only £19.99!

So the moral is - check out the "completed listings" for any items you are thinking about selling to see the prices being achieved and the numbers being sold.

laurence2163

My local £1 shop had a couple of hardware bit that I had seen in B&Q for over a tenner (comparable quality). I got £5 for then on ebay, although all the winners were from the countryside, so they obviously couldn't get to a £1 shop.

goindoin

I've tried Ebay and it's just not worth it.

soolin

goindoin wrote:

I've tried Ebay and it's just not worth it.

Were you just trying to sell things from the pound shop, or things generally?

Ebay can be very seasonal, what sells one week can't be given away the next and vice versa. Also buyers are getting more astute and tend to want things at knock down prices.

Soo