VIDEODROME
Phoenix
Joined: Nov 21, 2008
Age: 36
Posts: 1700
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 Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 11:45 am Post subject: EBAY selling? Or just buying and Reselling? |
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I'm getting really frustrated and feel like I just need to create business for myself instead of throwing applications at Big Box stores. I have avoided the Ebay idea because it just seems like a pain setting it up, dealing with the shipping, getting the right boxes, and figuring out a reliable way to get paid. Also of course Ebay being an auction you never know how it will end.
But I just got off the phone from my most recent job lead and I didn't get it. I don't know why I thought I had a decent shot. It would have just been security guard for about $9 an hour.
For now I have some "Product" to start with just selling things I've collected. I used to collect stuff like old Transformers and I have a decent Gen1 Optimus Prime and Shockwave. Also somethings from Beast Wars. I'm wondering if I should lump it all together as a lot or sell these individually. I need to open up some boxes and see what else I have. Probably some Todd McFarlane stuff in there.
Anyway I'm contemplating being a Reseller in general. If I could unload something I got for free at a Pawn shop and still profit that might be fine to.
But yeah this is an old story. The economy where I live is still Depressed and I'm an unemployed college student. I'm just curious if anyone else has dabbled in Ebay and has any tips to offer. |
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fraac
Tufted Titmouse
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Joined: Mar 24, 2011
Posts: 1865
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 11:48 am Post subject: |
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| Individually would be more profitable if you have the time. I know a guy who buys and sells records on eBay professionally but he's an aficionado. You'd probably have to be. |
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questor
Hermit
Joined: Apr 24, 2011
Posts: 1983
Location: Twilight Zone
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 5:23 pm Post subject: Ebay |
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Yes, I agree with the other poster, selling products individually will make more money. You can sell as a seller of new product, or reseller, or like a garage sale, or a one shot deal. What you describe sounds like reselling. Get info from the post office's site, and from the other major shipping outfits, as to shipping costs to various zip codes. To keep things simple the cost to the highest priced distance of zip code in the US should be what you charge for shipping for all the US customers. I don't advise selling or shipping to foreign buyers, as you would have no way of getting your money or the product back, if the foreign buyer cheats you. Any US buyers are subject to US laws, as long as the delivery site is also in the US. My older brother sometimes sells stuff on Ebay, so I have picked up info from him, and he always tries to avoid foreign buyers. He had a few bad experiences with them when he first started selling online. He also found that you can't list a separate shipping price for each zip code, as that would take up too much room. So instead, he took to listing the price for the longest, highest price US shipping distance for all products. While this does cause an overcharge on some products, it helps to cover the cost of other things that my brother has to absorb, like those times when he gets cheated.
Sorry, but there are cheats out there, and you can't always tell when you are dealing with one, so there will be times when you may be cheated in online buying and selling. |
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VIDEODROME
Phoenix
Joined: Nov 21, 2008
Age: 36
Posts: 1700
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| Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 12:49 am Post subject: |
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| Right now I'm wondering if I should even touch PayPal. |
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Chimera68
Hummingbird
Joined: Apr 19, 2012
Posts: 20
Location: Florida
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| Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 12:20 am Post subject: Ebay can be fun if you do it right |
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Hi, Im an aspie/hfa who does ebay in my spare time, i buy more than i sell of course, and its very tempting to want to buy all the neat stuff they have on there......but, you can re-sell things you buy if you think there is a chance to make a profit. You have to do research on the items you want to sell. Pretend like youre a buyer, search for the exact item you have that you want to sell. See what the price ranges are, and how common the item is, will yours sell if there are 1000 more of them listed? Maybe yours is a special kind of item, make sure to search for variations of whatever they are. Now decide how much you want for it, the bottom line. Put that as your starting bid, the very LEAST that you would accept for your item. If you also include the Buy it now price on the listing, make that 1/3 to 1/2 more than your starting bid, sometimes this will tempt people to place an opening bid.
Shipping can be very aggrevating. I like those priority mail flat rate boxes. Get a rate chart from your post office and check out the free boxes they have and you can also order those online. Make sure you charge enough for your shipping, but not too much or people will not buy your items! Sometimes your shipping cost eats into your profits a little bit, there is a margin of error until you get it all figured out. Always, always, use delivery confirmation on everything you ship. You can track the items yourself online. Do not be tempted to insure the packages or your buyers will inundate you with false "lost package' claims and unneccesary refunds, and they get to keep your stuff for free, sadly.
Seller fees get charged seperately on your ebay seller account, and paypal does charge fees for collecting your payments and so on, but remember you have to spend money to make money........and paypal has seller protection, they will go after non-paying bidders for you and make them pay or kick them off after too many infractions. Dont be skeptical about paypal, its better than waiting for buyers to send payment in mail.
I like ebay and spend tooooo much money on there.....be careful and have lots of fun!!!! |
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ZX_SpectrumDisorder
Phoenix
Joined: Feb 25, 2012
Posts: 1608
Location: Ireland
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| Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 6:06 am Post subject: |
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I did the eBay seller thing while I was in college and I had a largely positive experience, I used to keep an eye on retail clearance sales in stores and buy bulk and resell. I can't remember the business term for it. I used to make an extra £150+ per week.
On top of my college loan and grant I did OK. I wouldn't see it as a sole income, though.
I also modded PSPs for and sold DS flashcarts bundled with games to folks who may not have been very tech-savvy, lets just say, from local ads placed in shops etc. |
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Saturn
Deinonychus
Joined: Dec 24, 2011
Posts: 317
Location: UK
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| Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2012 1:42 pm Post subject: |
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| Ebay is a relatively easy way to start in business. Can suit aspie because interaction with people is mainly through computer. Can also suit people with strong research tendencies as that is key to knowing what will sell at good profit. Very low start up costs and very quick to convert time and money invested into money coming back. Don't be scared. Give it a go. |
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quote
Emu Egg
Joined: Apr 28, 2012
Age: 27
Posts: 2
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| Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 11:40 am Post subject: Re: EBAY selling? Or just buying and Reselling? |
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The best advice I can give is to do whatever you can to sell and ship your first item as fast as possible, even if you have to lower your price to do so. The reason why is that it will help you build your workflow and get familiar with the mechanics of selling things online. After that, it gets easier since it's all just repetition of your workflow, and (for me) repetition is easy. The more you sell, the more you'll find "shortcuts" that make everything less tedious.
Free ebay-branded boxes from USPS are here:
ebaysupplies.usps[dot com]/usps
If you don't want to leave your house to ship the items, you can schedule a pickup here:
[www dot]usps[dot com]/shipping/carrierpickup/welcome[dot htm]
If you use eBay, you pretty much should use PayPal. There are horror stories with PayPal, but the risk can be minimized if you make a habit of withdrawing your funds frequently. PayPal can't freeze what they don't have, right?
A possible alternative to eBay is Amazon FBA. It's different from eBay since you can ship all your items at once to Amazon, where they handle the storage, payment, and shipping to the customer. This way you can concentrate on writing good advertisements instead of worrying about shipping each individual item to each individual customer.
[www dot]amazonservices[dot com]/content/fulfillment-by-amazon[dot htm]
| Chimera68 wrote: | | Do not be tempted to insure the packages or your buyers will inundate you with false "lost package' claims and unneccesary refunds, and they get to keep your stuff for free, sadly. |
This might be avoidable by using delivery confirmation.
Experience: Selling computer parts, video games, and collectible card game cards on eBay.
GLHF (Good luck, have fun) |
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