How do you make money from selling on ebay?

Discussion in 'General Business' started by TitanT30, Aug 21, 2008.

  1. #1
    I see people making money off of selling products on ebay and I was wondering how do they do that? Do they sell their own products or what?
     
    TitanT30, Aug 21, 2008 IP
  2. jliu

    jliu Peon

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    #2
    A lot of eBayer's use wholesalers. Check out WorldWideBrands.com

    Costs money to sign up but you get up to date lists of wholesalers, liquidations, etc.
     
    jliu, Aug 22, 2008 IP
  3. junkmailbox53

    junkmailbox53 Peon

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    #3
    Access this link to ebay to get you started


    (take the spaces out
    https ://www. ebaypartnernetwork.com/files/hub/en-US/index.html
    Publisher
     
    junkmailbox53, Aug 22, 2008 IP
  4. coolmayank17

    coolmayank17 Member

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    #4
    most of them are wholesellers and many of them sell stolen items at very cheap prices
     
    coolmayank17, Aug 22, 2008 IP
  5. Pinup Girl

    Pinup Girl Notable Member

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    #5
    they are wholesalers and dropshipers, thats a good way to profit
     
    Pinup Girl, Aug 22, 2008 IP
  6. cwavenger

    cwavenger Peon

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    #6
    Liquidation companies also. There's tough competition on Ebay. You'll want to do extensive niche research before posting anything. Ladies handbags are always a winner. Specifically Coach bags. Here's your hint. I create Ebay auction sites. You may also want to look into that as well.
     
    cwavenger, Aug 22, 2008 IP
  7. mentos

    mentos Prominent Member

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    #7
    AFAIK
    they selling product buying from other company which mean that they buy at lower cost and sell it at higher price at ebay
     
    mentos, Aug 23, 2008 IP
  8. YoungGuns

    YoungGuns Active Member

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    #8
    They sell wholesale items, dropship, sell replicas or counterfeits, buy broken products and fixes them to resale them, and several other things I'm sure I've left out.

    Back when I was completely new to the internet, I would buy iPods with dead batteries for $40, spend $6 fixing them, and resell them for $100. Of course that was a lot of trouble, but I did make money.
     
    YoungGuns, Aug 24, 2008 IP
  9. kozyavka

    kozyavka Active Member

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    #9
    My IMHO: Ebay is a pretty competitive place to sell, but there is always enough room for everyone in case you set up everything properly. Here are some common mistake that make you loose money on ebay instead of earning

    • thinking that you can "make up" for a loss on one product by the huge profit on another.

    • miscalculating the profit price

    • not including all expenses into the final price

    There are many options for ebay sellers:

    • importing and selling your products
    • dropshipping
    • selling as an affiliate
    • reselling

    Sell your own products

    Selling your own products always involves more risks than other options as you have to invest more money to get started (for buying products, renting a warehouse etc). Remember what your mom was always saying? Always do your homework before you go out and play;)

    Research a product on ebay and look for things such as

    how low/how high a product has sold for
    how many products are up for listing?
    what % of listings end with bids?
    what percentage of listings end without bids?
    what the average list price is?

    Well, I don't know if ebay keeps this option now, but they used to leave sales information available for 30 days, so you can do searches and gather the info.
    Knowledge makes the difference. Take the time to do your homework before you invest your money and you'll make decisions that will net you more cash.

    After you determine which niche you want to work in and which product/s you want to sell, go to alibaba.com and find suppliers.


    Dropshipping

    Dropshipping seems like a very good option, but I honestly don't see any advantages of dropshipping by comparison with signing up for free and getting affiliated with a big company. As far as I know you have to pay monthly fees for being a dropshipper.

    Affiliate with a big company and sell on Ebay

    This is a good way to "taste the waters" if you've never been selling anything online. Lots of people get confused by "powerful confessions" from marketing gurus that make them believe that making money online is easy. We all know that it is NOT. Getting affiliated is free and you don't have to invest money into products and landing pages. All you risk is your time and $$ for ebay listings.

    Reselling

    90% of powerful sellers on Ebay are buying directly from big US based companies, such as Macy's, Nordstrom etc. and eliminate their risks with 1)products quality 2) US customs procedures. One of the biggest risks of dealing with overseas manufacturers is that you never know what you will finally get. That was my biggest issue when I was importing from abroad. You get a great sample, you place your order for a 20" container and you don't sleep well until you get your container and check what you got.
    I know people that were simply loosing their investments without even starting. So, when you are buying from big US companies, you know that you get quality products as they already did this job for you. The hardest part is to establish good contacts with the Asset Disposal Departments. You magic words: inventory list. All you have to ask is either email or fax you a list.

    Just remember that in order to make money on Ebay you have to find a company to buy these same products from for less than wholesale.
     
    kozyavka, Aug 24, 2008 IP
  10. googlefrog

    googlefrog Peon

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    #10
    Its a virtual dump store, you won't make much if any, plus eBay's fees are hilar for what is glorified hosting.
     
    googlefrog, Aug 24, 2008 IP
  11. chillsector

    chillsector Peon

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    #11
    Well there is no way one thing fits every ebay seller. Some people sell their own products, some people buy products in bulk and sell smaller quantities, some people get products from the manufacturer, some people rob houses and then sell the junk on ebay, ... there are so many different ways.
     
    chillsector, Aug 24, 2008 IP
  12. tommy009

    tommy009 Active Member

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    #12
    For new seller ,I recommend aviod competition by sell niche products from your local country.
     
    tommy009, Aug 25, 2008 IP
  13. avonlee1983

    avonlee1983 Well-Known Member

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    #13
    Some people sell through drop shipping. Some people offer psychic readings in the "metaphysical" category. Some people buy cars and houses at government auctions and then resell them for twice as much on ebay.
     
    avonlee1983, Aug 25, 2008 IP
  14. jjj2

    jjj2 Peon

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    #14
    Usually thse ebays stuffs..sellers bought it in bulk at very low price..mostly outdated or overstocks items...tehn resell at ebay..
    These days don't think we can make money by selling the conventional distributor-dealer items at ebay anymore !
     
    jjj2, Aug 25, 2008 IP
  15. tilt81

    tilt81 Peon

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    #15
    a lot of stolen stuff being sold on ebay.
     
    tilt81, Aug 25, 2008 IP
  16. googlefrog

    googlefrog Peon

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    #16
    Ya and fakes.
     
    googlefrog, Aug 26, 2008 IP
  17. mischa99

    mischa99 Peon

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    #17
    You may promote your ebay store in Hubpages.com or Squidoo.com It works for me.
     
    mischa99, Aug 26, 2008 IP
  18. dcristo

    dcristo Illustrious Member

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    #18
    It's more then glorified hosting. It's actually one of the most popular e-commerce sites on the net. The problem is profit margins are minimal because of the low overheads and everyone is selling the same items. Don't waste your time with dropship lists thinking your gonna generate huge profits.
     
    dcristo, Aug 26, 2008 IP
  19. reciprocal_link

    reciprocal_link Peon

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    #19
    I have chatted with many people on ebay about drop shippers and they hate them. the reason is if a product is out of stock and the person selling the product sells n the customer doesn't get the product and has to get a refund. can be a big big big mess. I would look at buying in builk. Take a look at your competition. See what they are doing. Check out their prices. Check out their shipping policies etc. See what you can do to make your products even better in the customers eyes. Look at ebay alternative like ubid.com and others. Ebay has really raised their rates on the merchant. I won't use ebay again for this. Just to overely priced in my book.
     
    reciprocal_link, Aug 26, 2008 IP
  20. fsamuell

    fsamuell Peon

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    #20

    The one's who do the best are the one who has there own product be it something they make or put together unique, or have their own audio video product of a niche or something in demand, that you know allot about!
     
    fsamuell, Aug 26, 2008 IP