What Can I Sell On eBay?
by: Dave Bromley
There is going to come a time when you have cleared out the attic, there is actually room to park the car in the garage and the children have fitted padlocks to their toy boxes. So what on earth can you sell now? This is the time that you are going to have to decide exactly what kind of Ebayer you want to be. Is it going to be a hobby or a business?
These two things are not mutually exclusive and there is no reason why your business cannot be your hobby as well. But what I am really talking about is are going to be a serious player who permanently has 40 or more items listed or someone who just pops in or out of eBay selling. If you are a hobbyist you can buy items as you see them at car boot sales, auctions or wherever.
My main Ebay business is selling information CDs but I cannot resist buying items if I think I can sell them for a profit on Ebay. For instance the other day I saw a motor cycle manual for a 1960’s motor bike. This is a subject I know absolutely nothing about but I felt certain that somewhere there was some one who would really want it. As it was only $1 I bought it and sold it a week later on Ebay for $12 plus postage. Not a fortune but it was 1200% profit. When you are paying a dollar or less for any item you can afford to take the risk and the odd item that does not sell will be more than compensated for by those that do. However, if you are going into selling these type of items on a regular basis it will pay you to specialise.
I believe that with a bit of effort it is possible to become expert enough to profitably operate in most niche markets within a couple of months. Whether it is Action comics, salt & pepper sets or fishing tackle or what have you can learn the essentials pretty quickly. Read books and magazines that covers your specialisation. Send for catalogues and price lists; browse Ebay and the other online auctions to see what is actually selling and the prices achieved. It really is a lot easier than you might think to become an “expert” and it can be very profitable.
One of the big advantages of operating in a niche market is that once you have sold something to a customer there is a good chance they may be in the market for similar products. There are 2 ways that you can do this and eliminate further auction fees. The method I use is when I send out an item someone has purchased through Ebay is to enclose a compliment slip which says, “Congratulations and thank you for your successful bid. I occasionally have similar items to the one you have purchased for sale. I would like to e-mail you with details of these when they are available. If you would prefer not to receive these please e-mail me at……. And I will ensure that you are not bothered. Thanking you” and then I sign it.
As I write this I have not had anyone request not to receive e-mails. The second way is to create a web site and when you dispatch an item I enclose details of the web site and address. Using a combination of Ebay, web site and e-mails you can build up a really profitable niche business. At the same time you are building up as useful opt in list.
About The Author
Dave Bromley is an Internet marketer and writer who specialises n subjects related to eBay. To register for his 6 part mini course or monthly newsletter visit
http://www.ukauctionline.co.uk.
