Yep, another Egay thread. **only for aspiring millionairres**

[Bojangles69]

This is going to be long but I'll try to keep it relevant.

My WHOLE LIFE has been based on this concept of not being a slave to corporate America and I'll start with the begining of how it affected my life.

When I was a teenage (in highschool) I use to look at people who busted their ass 10 hours a day and pulled in 30 - 40gs a year, or people in general who worked extremely hard and got paid very little.

I got it in my mind at that age that NO MATTER WHAT, I would learn a way to make lots of money in as little time as possible. I listened to a sales seminar once that outlined the idea that successful people in general all share a common trait, they're actually lazy as shit.
They have strived much of their life to make as much money they can while exhausting as little effort as possible.
Because thats the only real diagram to success, the less time you can spend making decent money, the more time you have left to make more "decent money" which winds up becoming "more than decent" money and so on.

So, I developed a business plan. Learn how to make something worth a lot that takes very little time or money to make.
So I took an illegal route, read college chem books for 1 1/2 years than started making a well know designer drug.

I realized quickly I essentially was making gold, it was costing virtually nothing to make and small quantities were worth almost as much as gold. I got hooked, and wound up in a pretty solid scheme that was drawing in around 4 thousand *A WEEK*. It all happened so fast and the bigger it got the more scared I got, the more attention I got, and than eventually I got the inevitable, a nasty 7 year prison sentence.
The notion of "quick money" became a curse.

The entire time I was behind the wall I kept hearing stories of people trying to make a quick buck, all in illegal ways, and some of the things people were doing were actually pretty intelligent (stupid? yes - but in reality just a calculated gamble)

Whatever the case I HATED prison, and told myself never in anyway would I put myself in any circumstance that would bring me back to that shithole.
But I still had that mentality, so overtime the more and more I heard prisoners developing new "business plans" when they got out (different ways to break the law) I told myself "I'm gonna make good money selling on ebay".

Everyday I woke up and told myself 4 goals when I got out:
-Love the shit out of my family and enjoy every second with them
-Get my masters
-Get in shape and get laid like a rockstar
-Make money selling on ebay

I got out, got in shape, got back to college, made good with my family, got laid (but not exactly like a rockstar) and started selling on ebay.
I would go everywhere to find shit to sell.
Places getting rid of discontinued merchandise, flea markets, thrift stores, costco and BJs, sometimes I'd kill one hour just to find one thing I could sell.

But it was hard, I realized a major key to ebay is having a brain like google. If when I saw a product in a store I could just KNOW what price it needed to be to sell like hotcakes, I'd know what to buy and what to leave on the shelf.
It turned into SO MANY DIFFERENT products I was trying to memorize prices for, and everyday I was seeing things and going home to research.
But that initial effort to become a merchandise expert is what took me out of the game, and my job eventually killed my time to sell on ebay.

I wound up making about $2,200 in like 6 months. It wasn't worth it to me.

Time passed by and I kept thinking its all about becoming a pricing expert, If I could develop a system to narrow down hot products, than I could kill a lot of time and make things more efficient.
Well 3 weeks ago I was at a flea market (shopping for myself) and I was just going through boxes.
I found a tube of Commit Lozenges (for quitting smoking) I asked the guy how much and he said "$1". A light went off in my head, "check expiration", expirations good, they're brand new factory sealed.
I bought 24 tubes for 20 bucks.

Went to list them, I since have sold them all and made $350 dollars. Its not a lot but it took virtually no time, and I made $330 profit from a $20 investment.
I feel sick now because I have this urge and this awareness that IT IS possible. I know there are people out there who have put the time in and found a stable flow of product to sell. I KNOW they are wasting very little time and making great money.
I KNOW all it takes is getting past that initial wall of research and experimenting. But all I've been thinking about is "wow, there is literally money sitting everywhere that people can't see". I call it "kinetic money", someone may look at a product and see a price, I look at a product and see its profit margin on ebay, its potential or kinetic value waiting to be converted by someone who has done a bit of research.

The problem I think is a lot of people waste so much time researching and not doing research in a smart way. Like when I would do it it was literally "lets just go everywhere and anywhere and see what I can sell".
Now its like "lets just go to places that are reliable and have valid reason to find shit to sell.".
Walmart is a monster, Pier 1, flea markets and thrift stores (all though supplies change from week to week which makes them a bit unstable as a supplier) and dollar stores. Like when I saw that guy introduce "slap chop" the food chopper I realized food choppers in general would be getting more attention on ebay. I went and found a brand at the dollar store and sold them for $5 bucks each.
It works, but if I want to make the money I want to make I need to find at least another 40 or 50 products like that, things I can find EVERYWEEK when I need them. Thats the hard part.
So yeh this is a rant but everytime I log into my yahoo and see people I don't know sending me money for shit I bought down the road for 1/10th the price it makes me sick that I haven't yet mastered this into an art.
It really is a high, addictive as shit.
I have my masters to look forward to, than my ideal career, but its always been a dream to take my mind and my thoughts and turn it into a flow of money from ebay.
Theres lot of hype out there about how to become a millionairre but even if I'm making an extra thousand (or even 200) a week its money appearing out of thin air.
I don't think its hard, I just think most people give up because they think its too hard or because they demotivate themself out of the circumstance rather than staying smart and on the ball with your strategy.

So if you've got to this point my question to you would be - have you ever sold on ebay and stopped?
Not - have you sold on ebay and made money

I want to know why people stopped and if its the same reason I stopped the first time, because I didn't really take the time to find steady inventory.

Thanks - rant over!

[IronReload04]

Very inspiring post. I have never dabbled myself with ebay. But this post really makes me want to. It takes a little bit of initial money and risk I suppose. Neglibible risk for somebody with money, but more a risk for a college kid. BUt man do I see the potential that you are talking about.

[Keenstyle1]

Theirs a Seargent deployed with me right now dude that's selling military patches. Military patches are HUGE on ebay. He's actually having a local make them and telling people the truth about what they are and how and where they're made and people are still buying them! It's actually starting to piss me off!!, but I'm pretty negative.

[F4iGuy]

You might try getting creative with your descriptions to boost profit. There was a girl, not stunning by any measure, who sold 1 date with herself for over 30k. In her auction she listed several stipulations. The person taking her out pays for everything, it has to be in a public location, etc. etc. I guess it also depends what you're willing to do.

[borra]

My wife has been selling on ebay for several years now, and she makes decent money now. I think the key is that she has been paying attention to the markets for several years that she knows what to expect each season. She will buy stuff and put it on the shelf waiting for the right time of the year to sell it. She actually just got back from wall-mart with about $50.00 worth of junk she plans to sell this winter.

I trade the stock market and my wife ebays. Its funny how similar the two are. Both have repeating cycles and the buying patterns are somewhat predictable each season. If you take the time and effort to study your market and absorb the cycles and trends you will eventually get to the point where you know what items will make a profit during what time period.

Like anything in life, if you want to be great at something it takes time, dedication, sacrifice, discipline, and patients. Good luck with your ebaying, and good pictures and descriptions are always important. My wife also strives to have 100% feedback, so if someone is a dick and is ripping her off she will take a loss of money instead of a hit to her 100% feedback.

[Fat Guy]

Bojangles this thread hit home with me.

About 3 years ago I got fed up with my job and quit. I cashed out my retirement to start a home based business. Of course eBay was in my sites among with many other ideas. So with tenacity I read about 6 to 7 books on internet sales, tricks and other schemes. I came across many good ideas and tried to make them all work. I also figured that I had an advantage of living in So. Cal. (being close to LA, the Garment District, and downtown LA district & Mexico)

In my experience I realized something… eBay is not the answer to making money on the net. However, eBay would like to keep that myth going because it is making them a fortune. After reading a few independent books about the truth of selling on eBay the way to view eBay is an advertising / marketing tool.

There are only a few ways to make money on eBay 1. Having a product that has no cost attached to it (internet books, write a personalized song, tarot readings ect). Or 2. Having a niche market…very rare or specialized items (specialized tools, rare rocks/ gems, ect.). Or 3. Sell very expensive items (boats, property, cars, jewelry, ect) Or in some cases by doing Dropshipping but I was skeptical about dropshippng. Or, if your feedback is good enough you can broker deals meaning you sell other peoples crap and take a percentage of the sale (You know like the U sell it stores where people bring you their goods and you list it)

But the overall problem with selling on eBay is that eBay sticks it to you every which way they can. They get you in the front with listing fees and then they get you in the rear with final value fees. And if you use Paypal (an eBay Company) you have to pay their fees. You never will become rich with someone taxing you upfront and in the end.

I soon discovered the only one getting rich was eBay no matter how much I sold and I was a Power Seller. Initially when I started I went in with $10k in capital. I went and got my wholesalers license and bought from salvage companies and began my online adventure. I turned $10k into about $30k within an 8 month time frame. Out of that $30K eBay made out with about $6k from me in fees (20%) for nothing but to use their internet service.

Well I did more reading and I found out the proper way to utilize eBay is to use it as a marketing tool. EBay has millions of eyeballs viewing it from all over the world and that is priceless for marketing. What you do is list some of the products that you are selling with an advertisement to go to you own website. The trick is not to make it seem as an advertisement but more of contact information “you know just in case there are any questions”. And next thing you know you got people buying from your own site without all the fees.

Yeah it seems simple right? Hell no! In my experience it takes a tremendous amount of work to maintain a website, list an item (more or less 5,000 items), keep track of daily sales, shipping, inventory, customer satisfaction, taxes and market cycles. My day would start at 7 a.m. and would go until 7 p.m. for not a lot of money. And if I did not work I did not get paid and there was no medical, dental, or vision.

So little to say I went back to school and got my masters degree. I became a teacher. Now I get paid just for showing up for 7 hours a day 190 days per year with medical, dental, and vision for my entire family. I get spring break, X-Mas vacation and 3 months off in the summer and make $55k a year. It’s not all gravy because the kids I work with can be a$$es but some days I get paid for playing B-Ball all day long and you can’t beat that.

Good luck Bojangles and if you have any questions about eBay I would be happy to share what I know. In my readings I found that the best kind of income sources are income that is generated from continuous entities such as property rentals, vending machines, equipment rentals, time shares, car leasing / rentals. It generally is the idea that you own it while other people pay to use it. Everyone I know who rents property tends to like it so I think that is my next step while continue my teaching career.

Take care,
FG

[Bojangles69]

Bojangles this thread hit home with me.

About 3 years ago I got fed up with my job and quit. I cashed out my retirement to start a home based business. Of course eBay was in my sites among with many other ideas. So with tenacity I read about 6 to 7 books on internet sales, tricks and other schemes. I came across many good ideas and tried to make them all work. I also figured that I had an advantage of living in So. Cal. (being close to LA, the Garment District, and downtown LA district & Mexico)

In my experience I realized something… eBay is not the answer to making money on the net. However, eBay would like to keep that myth going because it is making them a fortune. After reading a few independent books about the truth of selling on eBay the way to view eBay is an advertising / marketing tool.

There are only a few ways to make money on eBay 1. Having a product that has no cost attached to it (internet books, write a personalized song, tarot readings ect). Or 2. Having a niche market…very rare or specialized items (specialized tools, rare rocks/ gems, ect.). Or 3. Sell very expensive items (boats, property, cars, jewelry, ect) Or in some cases by doing Dropshipping but I was skeptical about dropshippng. Or, if your feedback is good enough you can broker deals meaning you sell other peoples crap and take a percentage of the sale (You know like the U sell it stores where people bring you their goods and you list it)

But the overall problem with selling on eBay is that eBay sticks it to you every which way they can. They get you in the front with listing fees and then they get you in the rear with final value fees. And if you use Paypal (an eBay Company) you have to pay their fees. You never will become rich with someone taxing you upfront and in the end.

I soon discovered the only one getting rich was eBay no matter how much I sold and I was a Power Seller. Initially when I started I went in with $10k in capital. I went and got my wholesalers license and bought from salvage companies and began my online adventure. I turned $10k into about $30k within an 8 month time frame. Out of that $30K eBay made out with about $6k from me in fees (20%) for nothing but to use their internet service.

Well I did more reading and I found out the proper way to utilize eBay is to use it as a marketing tool. EBay has millions of eyeballs viewing it from all over the world and that is priceless for marketing. What you do is list some of the products that you are selling with an advertisement to go to you own website. The trick is not to make it seem as an advertisement but more of contact information “you know just in case there are any questions”. And next thing you know you got people buying from your own site without all the fees.

Yeah it seems simple right? Hell no! In my experience it takes a tremendous amount of work to maintain a website, list an item (more or less 5,000 items), keep track of daily sales, shipping, inventory, customer satisfaction, taxes and market cycles. My day would start at 7 a.m. and would go until 7 p.m. for not a lot of money. And if I did not work I did not get paid and there was no medical, dental, or vision.

So little to say I went back to school and got my masters degree. I became a teacher. Now I get paid just for showing up for 7 hours a day 190 days per year with medical, dental, and vision for my entire family. I get spring break, X-Mas vacation and 3 months off in the summer and make $55k a year. It’s not all gravy because the kids I work with can be a$$es but some days I get paid for playing B-Ball all day long and you can’t beat that.

Good luck Bojangles and if you have any questions about eBay I would be happy to share what I know. In my readings I found that the best kind of income sources are income that is generated from continuous entities such as property rentals, vending machines, equipment rentals, time shares, car leasing / rentals. It generally is the idea that you own it while other people pay to use it. Everyone I know who rents property tends to like it so I think that is my next step while continue my teaching career.

Take care,
FG

Wow! Incredibly insightful. I was actually considering the fact of how much traffic ebay gets on a daily basis (and craigslist for the matter) and the potential to swarm masses of buyers to a site that could bypass a lot of SEO effort.
But its a real eye opener hearing your story, and I'm sure its typical for most powersellers. I think if I do plan to follow through it would be best to either A) find a niche with potential
or B) scrap the notion of ebay for direct sales and redevelop the notion of using them for marketing prospects.

Thanks again! Very useful (and everyone else who posted)

[gixxerboy1]

what you want to do on ebay isn't worth your time. Like Fatguy said. With the listing fee's, final fees and paypal's cut they get a chunk especially since your selling low dollar items. Also to make a lot of $$ with low dollar items you have to have a lot of volume. So the time invested in packing and shipping isn't worth it, especially to me.

I sell a lot of stuff online. Like Fatguy said i used ebay more for marketing. People find me through ebay and ill close them on the phone or through my site and cut ebay out of their fee's.

[Bojangles69]

Great, this is making me think more and more the "missing key" doesnt exist, that I'm just in front of the wrong door.
Thanks again guys!