Where To Get Used Goods To Sell On eBay
- By Martyn Boaden
- Published 09/10/2009
- Marketing
Most people start selling on eBay by listing used stuff
from around their house. This is an excellent way to get
familiar with how eBay works. But you can't make a
sustainable business doing that - eventually you'll have
nothing left to sell! You can take this a step further and
seek out used stuff to sell on eBay at carboot sales,
jumble sales, pound stores, charity shops, auctions,
pawnbrokers, etc.
In a "perfect market", every buyer would know what every
seller was selling and at what price. If one seller's price
was higher than every other seller's price - no one would
buy from him because they know they can buy cheaper from
the other sellers. If one seller dropped his price, the
other sellers would have to drop their's or no one would
buy from them.
But the second-hand goods market is NOT a "perfect market".
Every buyer does NOT know what every seller is selling for.
This leads to price discrepancies enabling you to buy goods
at a LOWER price that you can then sell on eBay at a HIGHER
price. This is called "arbitrage". The difference in your
buying and selling price, minus your costs, is your profit.
Here's an example ...
Some Denby Daybreak crockery is for sale at a jumble sale.
Denby no longer make the Daybreak line so it can only be
bought second hand. There are a few hundred people at the
jumble sale, but none of them are looking for crockery and
none of them have any Denby Daybreak crockery at home.
There is no demand for the crockery at the jumble sale so
it won't sell - no matter how cheap it is.
That same crockery is then listed on eBay. Throughout the
world, there are MILLIONS of people searching eBay at any
given time. Of course, they are not all looking for
crockery. But SOME of them WILL be. And of course, not
everyone who is looking for crockery on eBay will be
looking for Denby Daybreak. But SOME of them WILL be.
Provided that it has been listed correctly, anyone looking
for Denby Daybreak on eBay WILL see the listing for the
crockery which is now in demand. Several people will
compete to buy it, pushing up its price.
So you can get used products at very low prices,
particularly from jumble sales and charity shops, and
re-sell them on eBay for massive mark-ups.
You can use conventional off-line auctions as a source of
used products to sell on eBay. Ideally you need to get hold
of a list of the auction lots in advance, so you can look
at eBay's Completed Listings search results to find out if
they sell on eBay and how much they sell for. You can then
decide on whether you want to bid on each lot and the
maximum that you are prepared to bid knowing what you are
likely to be able to sell it for on eBay to make a profit.
If you can't get a list of the lots in advance, you need to
have wireless access to the internet to do your research on
eBay while you are at the auction (or 'phone someone who is
sat by a computer!)
Sourcing stock to sell on eBay from auctions can include
online auctions such as eBay itself! Many auctions on eBay
don't get any bids because they are listed in the wrong
category or the listing is poorly written. You can buy
these items on eBay at bargain prices, improve the listing
and re-sell them on eBay at a profit.
Many people misspell the title of their listing. As most
people search for items on eBay using keywords that appear
in the listing title, titles that have been misspelled
won't appear in the search results and so will get no or
few bids resulting in a much lower final selling price.
Locating such misspelled listings can enable you to buy
products at a bargain that you can re-list correctly and
make a profit. By doing a Completed listings search on that
item, you will know how much you could sell it for if you
listed it correctly and so would know how much you would be
willing to bid on it to make a profit.
All you have to do is enter "misspelled items on eBay" in a
search engine's search box and you will find many websites
that enable you to enter the keywords relevant to the
product you are looking for and they will find all the
current listings on eBay for that product that are
misspelled.
Another way to locate cheap items to sell on eBay is to do
an eBay search by clicking on Advanced Search next to the
Search box that you will find on most eBay pages. Then
conduct a search on the key words "No Reserve" in "All
Categories" to include "title and description" in the price
range of 1 cent to, say, $10 in the Auction buying format.
Then click on the Search button.
The results pages will display items that HAVE to sell, no
matter how low the highest bid is, because there is No
Reserve. Scroll through the results pages and place
ridiculously low bids on any high value items that you
reckon you could re-sell on eBay. But read the listing
details BEFORE you bid to make sure that there aren't any
defects that are affecting the price; or outrageous terms
such as inflated handling and shipping costs; or that the
item must be collected in person from a remote island!
Obviously, you will get out-bid on most of these auctions
but OCCASIONALLY you might just win a high-value item for a
ridiculously low bid. By improving the way you list it you
may then be able to re-sell it for its true value.
There are also many online auctions other than eBay. Most
of them are little known and so get much less traffic than
eBay. Consequently their listings tend to attract far less
bidders which means you may be able to buy items at a
bargain that you can re-sell on eBay at a higher price.
Again, it would be very easy to minimize your risk because
you can use eBay's Completed Listings search results to
determine what the item is likely to sell for on eBay
before you decide how much you are willing to bid for it.
from around their house. This is an excellent way to get
familiar with how eBay works. But you can't make a
sustainable business doing that - eventually you'll have
nothing left to sell! You can take this a step further and
seek out used stuff to sell on eBay at carboot sales,
jumble sales, pound stores, charity shops, auctions,
pawnbrokers, etc.
In a "perfect market", every buyer would know what every
seller was selling and at what price. If one seller's price
was higher than every other seller's price - no one would
buy from him because they know they can buy cheaper from
the other sellers. If one seller dropped his price, the
other sellers would have to drop their's or no one would
buy from them.
But the second-hand goods market is NOT a "perfect market".
Every buyer does NOT know what every seller is selling for.
This leads to price discrepancies enabling you to buy goods
at a LOWER price that you can then sell on eBay at a HIGHER
price. This is called "arbitrage". The difference in your
buying and selling price, minus your costs, is your profit.
Here's an example ...
Some Denby Daybreak crockery is for sale at a jumble sale.
Denby no longer make the Daybreak line so it can only be
bought second hand. There are a few hundred people at the
jumble sale, but none of them are looking for crockery and
none of them have any Denby Daybreak crockery at home.
There is no demand for the crockery at the jumble sale so
it won't sell - no matter how cheap it is.
That same crockery is then listed on eBay. Throughout the
world, there are MILLIONS of people searching eBay at any
given time. Of course, they are not all looking for
crockery. But SOME of them WILL be. And of course, not
everyone who is looking for crockery on eBay will be
looking for Denby Daybreak. But SOME of them WILL be.
Provided that it has been listed correctly, anyone looking
for Denby Daybreak on eBay WILL see the listing for the
crockery which is now in demand. Several people will
compete to buy it, pushing up its price.
So you can get used products at very low prices,
particularly from jumble sales and charity shops, and
re-sell them on eBay for massive mark-ups.
You can use conventional off-line auctions as a source of
used products to sell on eBay. Ideally you need to get hold
of a list of the auction lots in advance, so you can look
at eBay's Completed Listings search results to find out if
they sell on eBay and how much they sell for. You can then
decide on whether you want to bid on each lot and the
maximum that you are prepared to bid knowing what you are
likely to be able to sell it for on eBay to make a profit.
If you can't get a list of the lots in advance, you need to
have wireless access to the internet to do your research on
eBay while you are at the auction (or 'phone someone who is
sat by a computer!)
Sourcing stock to sell on eBay from auctions can include
online auctions such as eBay itself! Many auctions on eBay
don't get any bids because they are listed in the wrong
category or the listing is poorly written. You can buy
these items on eBay at bargain prices, improve the listing
and re-sell them on eBay at a profit.
Many people misspell the title of their listing. As most
people search for items on eBay using keywords that appear
in the listing title, titles that have been misspelled
won't appear in the search results and so will get no or
few bids resulting in a much lower final selling price.
Locating such misspelled listings can enable you to buy
products at a bargain that you can re-list correctly and
make a profit. By doing a Completed listings search on that
item, you will know how much you could sell it for if you
listed it correctly and so would know how much you would be
willing to bid on it to make a profit.
All you have to do is enter "misspelled items on eBay" in a
search engine's search box and you will find many websites
that enable you to enter the keywords relevant to the
product you are looking for and they will find all the
current listings on eBay for that product that are
misspelled.
Another way to locate cheap items to sell on eBay is to do
an eBay search by clicking on Advanced Search next to the
Search box that you will find on most eBay pages. Then
conduct a search on the key words "No Reserve" in "All
Categories" to include "title and description" in the price
range of 1 cent to, say, $10 in the Auction buying format.
Then click on the Search button.
The results pages will display items that HAVE to sell, no
matter how low the highest bid is, because there is No
Reserve. Scroll through the results pages and place
ridiculously low bids on any high value items that you
reckon you could re-sell on eBay. But read the listing
details BEFORE you bid to make sure that there aren't any
defects that are affecting the price; or outrageous terms
such as inflated handling and shipping costs; or that the
item must be collected in person from a remote island!
Obviously, you will get out-bid on most of these auctions
but OCCASIONALLY you might just win a high-value item for a
ridiculously low bid. By improving the way you list it you
may then be able to re-sell it for its true value.
There are also many online auctions other than eBay. Most
of them are little known and so get much less traffic than
eBay. Consequently their listings tend to attract far less
bidders which means you may be able to buy items at a
bargain that you can re-sell on eBay at a higher price.
Again, it would be very easy to minimize your risk because
you can use eBay's Completed Listings search results to
determine what the item is likely to sell for on eBay
before you decide how much you are willing to bid for it.