Selling Stuff on Ebay

[La Flames Fan]

I work for UPS and our business has boomed since people started selling things on ebay....

What's the deal? Is it easy? What's the protocol? How long in general, does it take to sell something?

I call ebay a "craze" now, cause it has just exploded and there's a lot of people making a lot of money...I met one fella who goes to garage sales, buys dumb stuff, then sells it on ebay and he says he makes $1000.00 extra a month on average...

I've noticed a few people on here doing it and there are many things I have that I would LOVE to get rid of....

Thanks Guys!

[Neeper]

I used to be a power seller on eBay. I don't do it anymore, because what I sell is now flooded it on eBay. But when it wasn't I was making a very good living. I actually quit my "secure" job as a kitchen manager for Moxie's, and did this in my house. I was making $10,000 plus a month. One month I raked in $40,000 in sales in my basement. Anything is possible if you work hard at it. You really need to build your feedback, and sell something that is not flooded. Also, set yourself up with a good shipping company. People want tracking numbers for their packages, and you'll do well if you can provide them that. If you go hard, it will be a full time thing. You will get hundreds of emails a day if you become big. You can make a good living off eBay. Just work hard.

[La Flames Fan]

Damn! $40,000?????? That was an extraordinary month, sure, but I thought this guy saying a thousand extra was good....sheesh. Good on ya.

And I work for UPS so my shipping company is already set up....Awesome, thanks for the info Neeper.

edit: 900! WOOHOO. 100 more to go.

[Mike Oxlong]

Neeper - What were you selling?

[Calgary Flames]

But what kind of stuff do you sell? DVD's overseas? Games? When I worked at Superstore 2 years ago, a guy bought every single Band of Brothers DVD and VHS (I'm talking $5000 worth) in one shot. I believe he said he sold them to people in China, Middle east, India, ect.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

I think that's the trick - you need to find a source of goods that's cheap which you can then sell for mega bucks. I've found a few things that were so/so deals and would have only made $20 or so. Not really worth the hassles. The best thing I ever sold was an Autotaser (electrified Club) for your car. Bought one in Edmonton of all places and sold it to a German tourist in the US for about $400 profit. Crazy, I know!

[Neeper]

Laugh all you want.. I sold headlight bulbs on ebay. Bought them wholesale for $10, sold them for $24.99 plus $7.00 shipping. All figures in USD. Profit per set at the time of exchange rate was about $20 canadian. I had hundreds of auctions up at a time, with hundreds ending daily. I started with headlight bulbs, then sold strut bars and brakes upgrades. Racked up about 300,000 Aeroplan points on my visa ($300,000 spent) in 6 months. I eventually ran out of room in the basement and opened up a speed shop.

[FlamesAddiction]

Actually, he sold mystery bags, haunted items, and waffles with the image of the Virgin Mary burned in them.

I am a causual ebay seller/buyer, but that place is going downhill fast. I don't even bother selling stuff anymore because of all the non-payers, and 3 of the last 4 times, I have not received items that I have bought. The only time I did, the person sent it really late.

I think people are catching on that ebay is pretty much powerless to enforce rules and punish people. It's a shame.

[Neeper]

yeah i don't sell on ebay anymore either. Too much competition. I hit it at a great time when it was huge for my industry. Now I have to compete with eBay sellers to sell my products out of my shop. My monthly ebay fees would get in the $4000 range per month. I started to lose money eventually and stopped.

[Resolute 14]

Originally posted by Neeper@Mar 15 2005, 01:02 PM
I used to be a power seller on eBay. I don't do it anymore, because what I sell is now flooded it on eBay. But when it wasn't I was making a very good living. I actually quit my "secure" job as a kitchen manager for Moxie's, and did this in my house. I was making $10,000 plus a month. One month I raked in $40,000 in sales in my basement. Anything is possible if you work hard at it. You really need to build your feedback, and sell something that is not flooded. Also, set yourself up with a good shipping company. People want tracking numbers for their packages, and you'll do well if you can provide them that. If you go hard, it will be a full time thing. You will get hundreds of emails a day if you become big. You can make a good living off eBay. Just work hard.

Hey! Are you one of those guys on the "Call this number and start earning money from your basement today!" commercials?

[Looger]

good friend of mine ran an ebay business, basically bought rare heavy-metal and goth CD's by the hundred - i guess that's easy to do with all the independent labels out there - and sold them for a decent price.

most of the rare and strange stuff is not in a&b etc., so there is a huge market out there.

he got a good reputation on ebay and sold all over the world, but eventually tired of ebay's cut and opened his own url:
http://www.heavymetalmusiccd.com

sells rare music and some movies, posters, etc. also box sets that are super-rare, like 100 or so made, he is high on some of those lists for promotions and non-published stuff.

what's real interesting is how small of a world that genre is, and how many musicians he has gotten to personally know. guess it pays to mix business and pleasure.

[Bertuzzied]

Originally posted by Neeper@Mar 16 2005, 12:10 AM
yeah i don't sell on ebay anymore either. Too much competition. I hit it at a great time when it was huge for my industry. Now I have to compete with eBay sellers to sell my products out of my shop. My monthly ebay fees would get in the $4000 range per month. I started to lose money eventually and stopped.

hey i think i might have bought some bulbs from you! hehe