Ebay
I got the idea to go to yardsales this summer and buy things really cheap, then sell them on ebay for profit. Do any of you guys sell on Ebay? Is it worth the hassle? What do you think I'd have the best luck selling? Any other comments/ ideas are welcome!
Is it true that some people actually make a living doing this? How hard would it be to make $300 week?...
eBay has become flooded with wholesalers selling crap. You will literally see hundreds of auctions for the exact same brand new item. Unless the item is unique or very underpriced at the yardsale, I seriously doubt you'll even sell your items, let alone for a profit.
You should answer your own question. Spend a few hours a day over a couple weeks watching items on E-bay. Look at what actually sells, not what is for sale. See what it sells for. Then ask yourself if you have a local source that is significantly cheaper. Is the profit large enough to pay your wage for the time to post the shit and pack it up for shipping?
You would want to make more than you would at your waitressing job, right? Do the math. Unless you are selling high priced items, you are going to need to move a lot of merchandise each day. It will start to feel like a job. You will need space to store all the boxes and merchandise. Have a spare room?
The nice thing is that you can start small for basically zero cost and see how it goes. Be honest with yourself about what you are making and how much time you are putting into it. You may find that McDonald's pays better. You may find that you have a knack for finding things people want and getting them for a good price. Who knows? If you live in a wealthy area, you may be able to find good stuff for cheap at thrift stores or church sales etc.
well, I made $37 while I was sleeping last night, selling crappy old books on Amazon.
I know I said just Ebay, but I think Amazon is better for books.
At a yardsale, you can buy hardcover books for less than $1 each, you can buy a baby carseat for $3, a bread machine for $5, clothing for $1 per item, etc...
My strategy is to find the exact item and sell it for the lowest price (even if it's only 2 cents cheaper).
With this in mind, are things really as dim as you say?
I make way more than $300 a week waitressing- but I CAN live off of that.
Space isn't too much of an issue, and I honestly woudn't mind spending 35 hours a week of my time for $300 if I don't have to work for someone else!
i buy @$200 worth of books and cd's from amazon every month, there is a lot of business going on there. that being said, i can't see where the profit is for the guy who sold me the whole Shift discography for $.01 + $2.50 shipping.
Yeah, I noticed that too! Fiction books seem to be absolutely worthless, too. I have a bunch of hardcover Stephen King books that I wanted to sell, but people are selling them for less than a dollar each. I think they're making a tiny profit from the shipping credit that Amazon gives you. For standard shipping, that's $2.26, Amazon takes a dollar plus 15% of the sale. If they sell something for a penny and the shipping costs less than a dollar, I guess they could make some money if they have a very high volume.
one more thing-
I personally shop on Ebay and they really do have good deals. Yes, there is a bunch of crap, but you can find what you're looking for, too.
I found the exact bread machine on Ebay that I wanted for a lot less than in the store- even after shipping costs. I found halloween costumes for us, we also got a rear view mirror for the car on Ebay. I really can't be bothered with the auctions, though. It seems like someone else always overbids me. I look for the lowest "buy it now" price.
What have you got to lose? Go for it. You would be amazed at what people will buy and how much they will pay for something.
And its kind of fun. I've never actuallly sold anything on eBay but my wife is nearly a power seller(tm).
I agree, if you're a buyer, you can find great deals. I love buying stuff on eBay. Selling, on the other hand, has only ever been worth it for us when selling computer equipment (which we have sold lots of, for reasonable amounts of money.) But, for example, a quick search on eBay for some of the items you mentioned:
There are only two used baby carseats currently listed. One starts at $5 and has no bids, and the other starts at $1 and has one bid.
There are several used bread machines listed, start prices ranging from $0.99 to $25.00. None have any bids--except for one. There is a particular used bread machine, a DAK brand model FAB-2000, which is already at $26.51 with multiple bidders. So it would seem if you could find that particular model at a garage sale, you might have something. But are you prepared to do that kind of research for every item you might find at a garage sale?
I got the idea to go to yardsales this summer and buy things really cheap, then sell them on ebay for profit.
drat! why didn;t I think of that!?
you could ask dycamore how his cd club/ebay scheme panned out.
real advice:
find an outlet store that is unique to your local area. sell the stuff no one can go out and buy locally. specializing in one type of thing is best. you need to be able to recognize a bargain, and when to sell certain things. and.....and....make enough profit to cover the ever increasing fees ebay charges!
the easy ebay bubble has popped, i think.
go to a $1 store , buy a lot of those fru -fru bullshit thingees , sell them on e-bay for $5 plus shipping , suprising but folks will go for it .
My wife worked at one of those places for about a year , she mostly got payed in these bullshit fru-fru thingees , i have considered clearing out the back bed room ( where they ALL are stored ) on E-Bay .
It may even make up for the fact that the sand nigger ( sorry on SO many levels ) she worked for didn't deduct enough taxes and we had to PAY this year :(
I'm currently trying to get rid of some textbooks from my two previous college quarters on Amazon. Once you get the hang of it it is really easy to use and quite convenient. You also get alot more for your item than if you left it up for bidding or selling somewhere else, like back to the store or to a friend.
well, I made $37 while I was sleeping last night, selling crappy old books on Amazon.
You did better than I did! I put about half my old book collection that I wanted to get rid of up on amazon and made exactly ONE sale of an Anne Rice paperback that I probably netted about 25 cents on (if you don't count my time for posting all the stuff, and then taking the book to the post office & mailing it). (And I would probably have just sent it for free if I had know prior to the sale that the buyer was in the army stationed in the middle east somewhere.) ABE Books is even better, I think, but their fee structure discourages somebody like me who just has a couple or three books he wants to dump & isn't really interested in starting up an ongoing business.
But I think you're right, people go to Amazon looking for books. In most cases they don't come to ebay. I've also bought a CD for $0.01 plus $2.49 shipping. Seems pretty cutthroat.
Don't want to put you to shame but I've netted about $83 from two books so far off Amazon. Still got a couple more left to go. I think the trick is selling books that are few and far between and books that are in high demand, like my textbooks for example.
I sold two more books overnight :) Books about petcare are really in demand! I also noticed that depression is a hot topic...
I'm going to wait until may or june to try out the whole ebay thing. There is a little shop on the island that will actually do it for me and keep a percentage of the profit, so I don't have to go through all of the packing, shipping, posting, etc. I wouldn't mind losing some profit if it was that easy.
I went to yardsales all last summer and saw SO many books that I wish I would've bought then. I think I could probably make more on books than anything, since I am clueless about antiques and colectibles...
These stupid bubble mailing envelopes are 50 cents each at Job Lot (discount store). Is there a cheaper way to pack stuff?
Is there a cheaper way to pack stuff?
You are supposed to add the shipping cost to the auction - the buyer pays for it.
I got into selling ebay stuff for a while. Mostly, it was vintage clothing, primarily dresses. I spent a few weeks watching all of the vintage auctions and discovering what would sell and what would not. I perused the thrift shops and garage sales and amassed a large quantity of vintage items that I thought would sell. I started out with a variety and was selling dresses for about a total of 5.00 profit each. Many of them would not sell at all. This got time consuming and felt tedious, so I tried something new. I bought large lots from Ebay to break down and sell on Ebay. It worked out, because I realized I could buy anything from the 1950's that wasn't in shambles and as long as I purchased a lot of this stuff for under 7.00 a piece, I could turn a decent profit (usually about 10.00 or more). I once even sold a dress for 120.00 that I had purchased for 6.00. It was fun, but it took a lot of work. I am thinking of doing it again, though, for another thing to focus on as well as my art.
Oh yeah, and with shipping, I would recommend priority. charge the buyer for the shipping cost (it is based on weight) and add a dollar or 2 for handling. The boxes for shipping stuff are free from the post office and you can have them drop off loads of them at your house. Plus, it only takes a couple of days to get there.
If you make it a regular thing, make sure to put some back for taxes. The IRS has recently begun looking more closely at ebayers who derive income from sales.
I'll use that advice if/when I do the ebay thing. As for Amazon, they automatically give you a $2.26 credit for each book, no matter what it weighs, and about $5 for priority. I don't have the option of charging more for shipping and handling. I actually paid more than that today with some of the books I sent, but then I made up for it by using much cheaper "media mail" on the ones that were being shipped to states near me. I guess I just have to take another 50 cent profit loss on each book I sell for the bubble mailer, unless they request priority mail.
Let me get this straight- if I'm sending priority, the post office will give me a free container to put the book in?
And, I have to pay taxes on stuff I sell? :mg: Am I supposed to keep track of what I sell and actually claim it/ do an itemized return??
And, I have to pay taxes on stuff I sell? Am I supposed to keep track of what I sell and actually claim it/ do an itemized return??
No. What the IRS wants and what Congress gives them are two different things. At some point, internet sales will be taxable but, imho, its a long way off. And I'm sure that even when they do implement it, there will be a pretty high dollar volume threshold which will exempt the small sellers.
yes, if you want priority boxes you can get them free from the post office, or order them for free. They come in different dimensions and sizes, too. But they can only be used for priority mailing.
These stupid bubble mailing envelopes are 50 cents each at Job Lot (discount store). Is there a cheaper way to pack stuff?
I've been selling on eBay and half.com for about six months now and I buy my bubble mailers from esupplystore.com (much cheaper)
I started doing it as a way to get rid of all of the junk I had laying around. I sell on half.com, mostly. I took inventory of all my books, CDs and movies (both VHS and DVD) and decided that a lot of it had to go. Once I had them all listed my inventory was over 600 items, and I've made a good amount of money, averaging around $250 every 2 weeks, which isn't shabby, considering all I was trying to do was make some space in my bedroom/living room. I've never sold on Amazon, but have been a loyal buyer at half.com for years and have found it to be the cheapest resource for the books/movies/music thing.
I must admit, though, that I am so tired of going to the post office every day (or every other day) that I could puke. I've become really resentful of the whole process and am glad that the sales are rolling in more slowly now that most of the good stuff's gone...
My family are Auctioneers by trade, and once per month we hold a massive auction with a couple of hundred registered bidders .
you can buy things from garagesales, wholesalers etc ie. washing machines, boats, lamps, books, plants .. absolutely anything and make sometimes 5 x the price you paid. when there is a large crowd all getting caught up in the excitement of an auctioneer yelling at you - its amazing what people will pay to win.
We also allow anyone to sell their things too, we simply take a commision from what their stock makes.
simple. effective. fun.
monicacat, thanks for the tip on the cheap packaging! Those are way cheaper than 50 cents each.
So far, I've been doing this for a little over a week and I've made $150. Not bad! And all this stuff I'm selling has been laying around, unused, for months or years!
It's addictive. I have cds I got from yardsales and for free that I'm making money from. I can't wait to go to this year's yardsales :)
Yep, you really can't beat something for nothing.
Good luck with your yard sales. I always look for interesting/unusual/unbelievebly gaudy home decor. I just bought this surfer girl lamp from a garage sale on my block a couple days ago and I'm lovin it! We also got a leather Barca lounger for $1 that we put in the office. I'm so pleased...
:)
IIRC and IANATA, if you're just selling your personal stuff that you had lying around, you don't have to pay taxes on it, unless it could be considered a capital gain. If you're going out and buying stuff in order to sell it, or if you're manufacturing stuff, you have to pay sales tax (if you sell to someone in the same state) and income tax.
Update: I started selling on april 4th and I've made over $200 :) I only planned on making about $100 a month, so this is great! I keep finding more and more stuff to sell. We put all our cds into the computer, so screw it- I'm sellin 'em all!
I'm trying to save $900 so I can buy Arsen a Versace watch for Christmas. I thought it would take me 8 or 9 months, but at this rate, I might be able to give it to him on our anniversary in September. Gotta love it.
--snip--
I'm trying to save $900 so I can buy Arsen a Versace watch for Christmas. I thought it would take me 8 or 9 months, but at this rate, I might be able to give it to him on our anniversary in September. Gotta love it.
You should try
Ebay.
You should try Ebay.
Yeah, you can get it .03 cents cheaper! ;)
they don't have the one I liked- I searched the entire internet for this damn watch to see if I could save some money, but I can't find it...
$900 for a watch!!?? Thats like $1800 Aussie dollars for a freaking watch!! I dont care how much you love this guy, you cant be in serious debt if you can afford to spend money like that on a watch!
He's the one paying off all of my debt.
I don't shop a lot, and that is a big splurge for me, but he DID spend about $2000 on my diamond, so he deserves it. And I could've saved 100-200 dollars a month until November if I was making that much on ebay or picking up shifts, but we've decided to forget about the watch this year.
(I crashed our car coming home from the post office- where I was mailing out books and cd's to my Amazon.com customers.
It cost us $500 to fix our car and probably an increase in insurance.
Now I have no extra money and I'm not doing anything that requires me to drive more/ drive when I don't feel like it.)
Be careful buying stuff like that on eBay. My wife is a powerseller and recently she sold a Louis Vitton purse to a buyer in Canada. She never got paid. Turns out, another seller my wife knew also didn't get paid by this buyer. Turns out this buyer has also been selling some rather expensive watches ($3,000+) on eBay. The watches were fakes.
To make a long story short, the CMP (Canadian Mounted Police) arrested her three days ago and charged with multiple counts of fraud, counterfitting, selling stuff she didn't have and other charges.
If you have to buy a watch on eBay (try pawn shops and sole-proprietor jewelry stores first), make sure its from a buyer with a long history and lots of good feedback.
I actually wanted to buy the watch from a shop here on the island- I wanted to make the money for the watch on ebay.
But I guess neither of those things are gonna happen. Thanks for the warning, though.
Ebay: Best offers.
Is there a formula?
The thing we are looking at is pretty unique because it's vintage. It's imperfect, sold as is. but there's a reason we want it that probably wouldn't apply to anyone else. It was previously listed and didn't sell, last time the shipping was $8, this time the shipping is free and -surprise, surprise- the asking price is $8 higher.
obviously we want to pay the minimum possible and are not exactly sure what it's worth to us at this point. Certainly nothing like the asking price. I hate haggling. is there a magic formula? A percentage? Looking at the feedback, this seller regularly sells to the best offer (50% of sales) but it doesn't tell you what the offers were.
While writing this post I found a tool to tell you what best offers any ebay seller has accepted and rejected. it's pretty cool. Apparently this person accepts 42% of offers with average reduction of 28% there is nothing similar to this particular item, though. I think I'd definitely like to pay less than 78% though. :/
The tool is called Goofbid:
http://www.goofbid.com/ebay_best_offers_tool.html
Do sellers have a ("legal") counteroffer capability?
That's a nice tool. The seller has the option to refuse the offer and then there can be some back-n-forth.
My guy looks at offers as a way to figure out whether his set price is wrong. When he gets ridiculously low offers, it usually means they are sarcastic offers, because his set buy-it-now price is like over 30% too high. That can happen, because not all items have obvious values.
If someone is allowing for a best offer you know they accept offers, which means you should by all means try an offer first. But sometimes a really low offer will be taken as an insult. If someone has something up at $100 don't offer $50.
The first step in any haggling or auction circumstance is decide how much you want to pay. Never pay more than that.
Your opening offer should be the lowest number you think you can get away with. If you go too low, they'll ignore you as a crazy; take personal offense, if they have HBP or whatever; or just sell it to someone else.
50-33% of asking is a reasonable place to start, but if you know something about the item it's absolutely fine to offer much less. I.e.: they're asking retail price for a broken thing, and you want it for parts, it's fine to offer 5-10% of what they're asking.
If you think there's a substantial chance of someone else coming along and buying it; if they're already offering an absurdly good price; or if you like the person, make an offer closer to the asking price.
Ebay's "make an offer" system has a straightforward provision for them to say, "no thanks, how about $Y."
If someone has something up at $100 don't offer $50.
You posted this while I was posting.
I think it's fine to lowball if the item has been listed for a long time or re-listed repeatedly. Obviously, if they just listed the item for $100 this morning, they're not going to accept your $50 offer. But if you know they've been sitting on it for a month, it's not unreasonable.
Right, it really depends on the market for something. If an item has a lot of completed listings, then a value can be determined for it. You can figure the value of a black, 16GB iPhone 5 on AT&T with good front glass and a verifiable serial number. You can figure it down to within $2. Something like that, you can't Best Offer down too far. It's the things that only sell every once in a while, or never at all, where a Best Offer of half is a place to start.
The pawn shop has been trying to sell a new safety harness, such as a worker might use when scaling trees to remove branches that are interfering with power lines. Here is a case where the item, new, sells for $500, but on eBay it can't be sold for $50.
Going that far under the asking price you're probably better off first determining the maximum your willing to pay for it. Then, don't hesitate to make that offer to the seller. Whether they accept or reject any offer depends on how strapped for cash they are which can change at any time. Keep the offer period short so the seller can't string you along waiting for a better one. The fact that anyone even made an offer will encourage them to bide their time.
You can avoid haggling by including a message to the seller saying that your offer is the maximum the item is worth to you and if the offer is rejected; or, the offer period expires without reply, you would still appreciate being notified if the seller reconsiders. You just don't want to be contractually obligated to buy something you're having difficulty putting a value on for more than a few days in case you change your mind.
thanks. This is really tricky because the item is so unique and has developed a personal value for one of my offspring that far outweighs reason/budget :rolleyes: Thinking about it, though, if they don't accept the offer they'll probably relist it, then they might be more inclined.... :) I hate this. I should never have shown the item to the party in question. sigh
Can your offspring afford to buy it if they want it so badly?
ok thanks all, the offer is placed...... :fingerx:
offer was declined, the auction still has a week to go, have been ignoring it in case we decide to offer more nearer the close date (offer was a little less than our decided maximum), but just ended up there by not paying attention where I was clicking in "My Ebay" -the seller has raised the buy-it-now price by 20%! They're clearly playing ninja mind games that've gone straight over my head. Oh well, if it was meant to be, another will show up somewhere sometime, it certainly isn't worth messing about with, but I find it a little weird. meanwhile we got batteries for Thor's remote control spider and a replica civil war working padlock for Hector's rusty treasure chest at great prices :)
maybe should go back and offer less :lol:
just found the list of all the revisions seller has made to the item. This price change is the first one in 10 days, but there were a lot prior to that. Maybe they have nothing better to do. like me ;)
Sounds like the seller is a professional, playing the game full time.
Well I'm an amateur and just not into this crap. :/
I'm with you, no games, just tell me what you want and I'll decide if I want to pay it.
I don't know how much this applies to ebay's "make an offer" situation, but in more traditional haggling situations, there are usually (at least) two transactions going on simultaneously.
The first transaction is the clear-cut negotiated exchange of one item for another.
The second is an egotistical "battle" between the buyer and the seller, which not everyone is always playing. This manifests as one party trying to get the item for less (or trying to sell it for more) just for the sake of getting a concession from the other party.
Being strategic about the second transaction can have useful impact on the first transaction: Leave yourself room to go up (or down, if selling) in price, even if it's a trifling amount. This satisfies the ego of the person who "wanted a good deal."
How many completed transactions does the seller have?
I've not found anything on eBay that I wanted bad enough to appease someone's ego. I doubt I ever will. If I did; however, after making an offer that's declined, the seller would have to make a counter offer to get me in the ballpark. Under no circumstance would I blindly make a second offer just to have some control freak string me along.
That's why my offer, for something I really want (not an impulse or frivolous purchase) will be the maximum I'm wiling to pay and I'll politely, almost apologetically, let the seller know it in a message. If I offer anything less and it's declined, it could be that for a nickel more I would have met the seller's rock bottom price and got the item by not insulting them (if we're talking fragile egos here).
There also a point where a seller in good financial condition won't sell to a potential buyer who tries to lowball them for fear that the buyer will give the seller a bad review out of spite for making them haggle to the extent there's buyer's remorse. EBay isn't a flea market: there's no interpersonal communication (no real time face to face exchange, no body language, no art of persuasion to speak of), just online bickering. If a seller wants to turn THAT into a game, I blow them off.
Bid what you are willing to pay.
It's that goddamn simple.
Sheesh.
We're past that. Monster's entertaining the idea of raising her offer nearer the close date. The seller obviously thinks she'll cave.
what I think I'm willing to pay is a little more that what I offered. What I want to do is time my next (and final) offer to maximize the chance of it being accepted. If I can be bothered to play. I really do not enjoy this and honestly wish I'd never stumbled across the item. except it's pretty cool. sadly this is the time of year when the idea of spare cash is the funniest joke around the Beestmonster household. oh well
Maybe you can sweeten the deal by adding membership in an exclusive online community. We'll create a Social Group just for eBay sellers who take you up on it. :yesnod:
heh. the B-I-N price was reduced by $4 some time today and now there is another watcher. So maybe their best offer was even less than mine.
I don't effin care 'cause I scored at the thrift shop today :D a TI89 graphing calculator that works for under 4 bucks. Which we needed/wanted. The oldest two have them and are reluctant to share with the newest algebra victim. Well we needed a lower model but it'll do. ;) It was a gamble, because it wasn't working in the shop, but for 4 bucks and looking clean as a whistle, wasn't even worth going to get some batteries and come back and test it.
Damn, That's good. I picked up a TI 84 graphing calculator on ebay last year for about $60, and thought I was doing well. They retail for around $100-$120.
$4 is outstanding.
yeah that's what we paid for the first one we bought -same model off ebay. Second time around we had to get a new one but got one of the special 'back to school deal so paid about 80 for the same but color screen. Was baulking at the idea of buying a third, but apparently they can't share and karma agreed that was a little harsh on my pocketbook ;)
I believe I have one here collecting dust if anyone wants it.
almost worth having another child for....
I have one in the basement somewhere but it's a Sharp from back in the days before we knew not to mess with Texas ;)
It wasn't a big ticket item but our second offer was accepted as the auction closed. $16, $1 more than our "limit" but it became more precious as the palaver went on. :rolleyes: It started at $25, was raised to $30 then reduced to $26. nuts.
Yeah, I know, why all the fuss over a few bucks. I guess it was a "principle of the thing" deal plus a learning process. I'd much rather people just said what they wanted and I could decide whether it was worth that to me or not.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hebe-handbag-round-brown-leather-Canteen-shaped-/251655926982?pt=US_CSA_WH_Handbags&hash=item3a97dcb4c6Oh, handbag.:smack: That, along with shoes, moves out of the rational-rhyme-or-reason-bidding category. :haha:
I have less faith in the goofbid tool thing though -the item shows up and the accepted price shows as the Listed price and the accepted price is a made up number :/
you see that 1 watching....... :D
there are similar items for only one of my two others, though :(
So it finally arrived today. estimated arrival date was Oct 30 -not too bad you may say, but one of the things the seller did when fucking about with the listing was to change it to "fast and free" shipping which gets them higher prominence.
We paid on the 24th and they didn't even ship it until the 1st. It started in New Jersey and last night it had made it to Philly.
So I sent the seller a very polite note expressing my disappointment in this aspect of the transaction and today they refunded $5. And it arrived. So overall a win, but what a palaver! Hebe loves it though. She's made up it has her name everywhere and it's not something we made or had printed :)
...and today they refunded $5...
That was pretty cool.
Ebay: Best offers.
I found a tool to tell you what best offers any ebay seller has accepted and rejected. it's pretty cool. Apparently this person accepts 42% of offers with average reduction of 28% there is nothing similar to this particular item, though. I think I'd definitely like to pay less than 78% though. :/
The tool is called Goofbid: http://www.goofbid.com/ebay_best_offers_tool.html
Just bumping this because this is a nifty little tool but it took me a while to find it again :)
my current victim accepts less than half offers and only about 20% reduction :/. Their stuff is overpriced. Especially for me because it's "collectable" but I want it for craft.