I am writing this post in reference to a post over at UberAffiliate. The post is about selling things on eBay for profit due to differences seen in the market, arbitrage. There are many ways to make money online and eBay is one of the easiest. I have bought and sold things on eBay for profit. I have never been able to do it steadily though.
My most profitable stint was done years ago when hifi .com started out. They sold a speaker set that was very popular (below retail), with a free DVD player. You could make two hundred dollars on each purchase, a thousand a week easily (and get affiliate loot from them, credit card miles, etc).
As far as something simple that you could see yourself in today’s market, Toys R Us occasionally has buy 2 get 1 free sales on video games. They had the latest and greatest games at full price. You could check eBay and see what was selling well with good buy it now prices. The latest games new will generally sale for 5-10 bucks cheaper on eBay. Buy the games from Toys R Us and resell them for a profit. You do have quite a few fees though that can sometimes kill deals (listing fee, selling fee and paypal fee). These types of deals are posted on SlickDeals and FatWallet all of the time. Some are saturated but there are generally some diamonds in the rough. Most people will not post things that make them money until afterwards, so you have to always be on the look out to find the best deals. Niche markets can also generate income.
There are a few things I would warn about with eBay from my experience. People like to buy from users with a decent rep. If you don’t have one and need one, you can buy a halfway decent rep to instill some confidence in your buyers. Thus spending ~20 bucks for 20 positive feedbacks. You can use various sites, such as belowabuck, to find the cheaper items on eBay. You might even find something you want and can use. You can also get your friends to rep you. These are things to give you a boost from the get go. They are not the best ways to build your rep, but you have to start somewhere.
Second, be prepared to deal with spam. On my last stint on eBay my items were all bought by some Nigerian who wanted me to send him the package and money, then he would send me double the money once it arrived. This was frustrating and time consuming to deal with. But in the end I relisted the items and sold them to others. Do be careful though for fishing attacks and other types of scams.
Third, eBay will send you packing material for free, take advantage of it. eBay makes money when you do, so they try to help you. Once you flip your first item on eBay you could potentially get hooked. You can start now by checking out www.ebay.com (through my affiliate link).
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November 7th, 2007 at 11:50 pm
I have sold all kinds of things on Ebay ranging from Mary Kay cosmetics which was semi-profitable, to rare wines which did quite well, to used panties and lingerie. Back in the day ebay did not really care what you sold and there were all kinds of scams out there. Just look for a good angle and you will make tons of money.
I made the most money selling worn lingerie to all the sickos out there. I don’t know who would pay $80 for my worn panties or $120 for some worn stockings, but these auctions would always hit around or over a hundred dollars. It was quite amazing. I made sure to only accept paypal for payment and never provided my real address to keep the potential stalkers away.
January 17th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Interesting article!
Thanks