Anyone do Ebay as a business?

[Christopher Mac]

I've got a little experience selling, and through careful product selection, it usually goes pretty well. I have friends who barely break even. I'm curious about how you got started. I have plenty of books, but we're looking to make this a success from day one with 2-3 specialized product lines. Our goal is to produce $1K/month in extra income from actual sales - in addition to tax breaks.

Any hints on good places to source new products? What type of ROI do you get on your used items?

Thanks in advance!
Chris

[L Stegall]

I've only used it to clean out my closet from time to time, but my college roomie was able to be a stay at home mom by selling used fishing equipment (rods and reels) and older game systems on ebay. Her husband loves going to garage sales and picking stuff up and she turns around and sells the stuff. She said she averages 10 hours/week and earned over $30,000 just for a little part-time gig. She doesn't work on it every week, but she does spend more time closer to the holidays. Anyway, I think it can be done.

[MT Stringer]

From the few things I have sold on ebay, here at TPF and the POTN, it seems their needs to be some streamlining in the shipping dept. At least on my end. That seems to take up a lot of my time.
Mike

[deep_creek]

About the same as Lisa here. I've used it on occasion to clean out the closet. From time-to-time I come up with a "great" idea about selling stuff on eBay... after some in depth research, etc... there are already hundreds of folks trying to sell it there... most of them at a starting bid way below actual cost. tracking these items indicates they did not sell or sold for a penny or so. add eBay fees along with paypal's and, well it gets tougher to $$. Ah, don't forget shipping/packaging fees, and your time. i've found it is also a dumping ground for close-out, odd-lot, semi-defective lot, type items. and, if it is a common or semi-common item, one can find it for a few dollars more at an established business with with full warranty, etc...

I've found that if you sell one closet/garage sale item, you loose $ or break-even. Sell 20 closet/garage items, ~half sell and you make enough to cover your total fees and give you some pocket change. I'm guessing folks making real $$ on eBay must have hundreds of different items for sale. (hundreds of items = full time job...) I've yet to find marketable item (as in not homemade or handcrafted, etc...) to sell on eBay that someone wasn't selling/auctioning at a loss already. I've moved to Craigslist to sell closet/garage sale items... cash, no fees, and local.

On a side note, I did make some pretty good money selling my homemade (hand-cut and mesquite smoked) beef jerky on eBay, actually had a following of regular customers, even started selling it outside of eBay by email/phone requests, etc... gave that all up when I started acquiring assets (eg. land, home, etc...)as it only takes one yahoo to say they got sick to take everything you have.

Anyway, enough with my late-night etc... etc..'s and my take on eBay. I also looked into Cafe Press lately and so far it appears their fees to be way out of range of making decent sideline $. Anyone have anything positive to say about them?

[L Stegall]

I will say that, for the most part, I've had good luck selling my stuff on ebay at decent prices, although there is always the odd item that doesn't sell or sells for very, very little. I sold a North Face ski jacket that had been sitting in my closet for several years for $300 - it was one I was about to give to Goodwill and I'm not sure I paid that for it to begin with. And, I sold a limited edition basket for my aunt (she paid $20 for it in 1984) for $350. I really think the way you photograph and describe the items makes a huge difference.

[Christopher Mac]

Thanks for letting me know your experiences. We're looking at family outdoor items (fishing, camping, hunting, kids) and new/used camera equipment if we can get set up to purchase from distributors. We have the money to invest, it's just tough to decide where to start. We also have other auction outlets we're interested in using.

We've also looked into opening a lens and camera rental outlet, that's still under research right now. Insurance costs are pretty high, though. We're still looking into how to avoid fraud.

Garage sales are a good source, but it's very hepful to be able to find brand name items.

I do pretty well trading options when the markets are volatile - but we want something for my wife to do to bring in money so we can save more for retirement and a larger home purchase.

[HotHolly]

I had an ebay biz while I was in college. It was fantastic. I sold information, back when they let you do that. Ebay has changed in the past few years...when they changed the feedback system, I jumped ship.

Since then I have sold stuff I didnt want anymore, discontinued wedding gowns (nightmare) and odds and ends.

I found with high $ purchases on e bay - anything over $100 the odds of getting screwed go way up - being the purchaser OR the seller. The weddings gowns - you'd think that would be a good place to dump them, right? No. I had 2 people try to steal them. They filed a chargeback with PayPal AFTER their wedding. They lost, but I was still not happy about it.

I found that you have to have a product that people KNOW what it is - they dont have to touch it - and offer a price that is worth risking an ebay purchase that you will do well. You may want to be a Square Trade member if you sell more $$ stuff on there - anything to look more reputable as a seller.

Also, an ebay store was a must. Most of the successful businesses have a store and route people into it through their auction listings. The listing and selling fees eat up a lot of your profit, so be careful.

[midlight21]

Originally Posted by HotHolly

The weddings gowns - you'd think that would be a good place to dump them, right? No. I had 2 people try to steal them. They filed a chargeback with PayPal AFTER their wedding. They lost, but I was still not happy about it.

Wow....and I was about to put my wedding dress up on ebay....

[David Whatley]

I have been an ebayer for years. Last year I neted a 6 figure income. Send me $200.00 and I will send you instructions on how. :)
DW

[Christopher Mac]

Hah! I might just do that if you throw in a family photo session!

We'll let y'all know what we decide. We plan to go live with whatever business we decide on sometime in July. So it'll either be Ebay and online sales channels or lens and camera rentals. We're looking at startup costs now.

If anyone else has suggestions or advice on Ebay-ish type sales, please post them!