Give me suggestions for an on-the-side ebay business ...
April 4, 2010 6:58 PM Subscribe
Give me suggestions for an on-the-side ebay business ...
Hello folks,
I realize this is an open-ended question, and maybe there is no good answer, but maybe your answers can stimulate my thinking... so here goes...
Because of developments in my life, I now find I have a bit more spare time on my hands, but I'm not totally idle. And I'm kind of short on money.
If there were some kind of ebay business I could maybe start on the side, this would help keep me busy, and provide me with some welcome extra cash.
My problem is, I've got no clue what to do.
I mean, OK, it's ebay so I need to sell something. But what?
Q: Do I make something and sell it?
A: I've got no real skills that come to mind. I'm not handy with construction tools be they hammers, nails, sewing machines or what-have-you. I mean, I could decide to (for example) sell birdhouses, and then start learning carpentry, and the process of learning a skill like this might be beneficial in a therapeutic sense [these 'developments in my life' I mention are not happy ones]. But that kind of undermines the do-it-in-your-spare-time thing. And worse yet, it would probably take a while for me to get up to speed to a point where the quality of said craft would be saleable - specifically to be competitive against people who've been practicing this skill for many years...
Q: do I become a collector-who-sells? For instance I see lots of people/companies who sell used DVDs or video games.
A: OK, but what's my business model? Haunt yard-sales and accumulate products, then resell them at a markup? Will the margins make it worthwhile? Will it make sense for me to become the 1,000th guy on ebay selling dvds?
Q: do I find a totally unique product and sell it?
A: This would make sense, yes. But what might it be? Where might I find it? I mean, I've seen people who find some neat item in Japan or some other non-North American section of the globe, and peddle it over in N.A. OK, but ... what? what strategy do I take to try to find a saleable product?
So I'm stuck. Maybe there is no real tangible answer you can toss my way but maybe at least you can stimulate my thoughts...
throwaway email at wandering.ebayer@yahoo.com [and if you toss an email my way pls give me a heads-up here]
thank you
Hello folks,
I realize this is an open-ended question, and maybe there is no good answer, but maybe your answers can stimulate my thinking... so here goes...
Because of developments in my life, I now find I have a bit more spare time on my hands, but I'm not totally idle. And I'm kind of short on money.
If there were some kind of ebay business I could maybe start on the side, this would help keep me busy, and provide me with some welcome extra cash.
My problem is, I've got no clue what to do.
I mean, OK, it's ebay so I need to sell something. But what?
Q: Do I make something and sell it?
A: I've got no real skills that come to mind. I'm not handy with construction tools be they hammers, nails, sewing machines or what-have-you. I mean, I could decide to (for example) sell birdhouses, and then start learning carpentry, and the process of learning a skill like this might be beneficial in a therapeutic sense [these 'developments in my life' I mention are not happy ones]. But that kind of undermines the do-it-in-your-spare-time thing. And worse yet, it would probably take a while for me to get up to speed to a point where the quality of said craft would be saleable - specifically to be competitive against people who've been practicing this skill for many years...
Q: do I become a collector-who-sells? For instance I see lots of people/companies who sell used DVDs or video games.
A: OK, but what's my business model? Haunt yard-sales and accumulate products, then resell them at a markup? Will the margins make it worthwhile? Will it make sense for me to become the 1,000th guy on ebay selling dvds?
Q: do I find a totally unique product and sell it?
A: This would make sense, yes. But what might it be? Where might I find it? I mean, I've seen people who find some neat item in Japan or some other non-North American section of the globe, and peddle it over in N.A. OK, but ... what? what strategy do I take to try to find a saleable product?
So I'm stuck. Maybe there is no real tangible answer you can toss my way but maybe at least you can stimulate my thoughts...
throwaway email at wandering.ebayer@yahoo.com [and if you toss an email my way pls give me a heads-up here]
thank you
Seconding the Craigslist free section.
To sell hobby stuff well on eBay, you really need to know the hobby already. (Really, this is true no matter where you're selling hobby stuff.)
posted by LSK at 7:13 PM on April 4, 2010
To sell hobby stuff well on eBay, you really need to know the hobby already. (Really, this is true no matter where you're selling hobby stuff.)
posted by LSK at 7:13 PM on April 4, 2010
The main advantage of Ebay is that it's not geographically restricted. I would think of what is physically plentiful in your area, but not elsewhere, and try to find a specialty.
posted by drjimmy11 at 7:15 PM on April 4, 2010
posted by drjimmy11 at 7:15 PM on April 4, 2010
I would think of what is physically plentiful in your area, but not elsewhere, and try to find a specialty.
Seconding this. A friend of mine that lives in Los Angeles makes her living selling trendy and high fashion items to women in the Midwest and Canada. She shops on Melrose, hits the L.A. Fashion Market and makes friends in various department stores, then turns a profit on EBay.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 7:22 PM on April 4, 2010
Seconding this. A friend of mine that lives in Los Angeles makes her living selling trendy and high fashion items to women in the Midwest and Canada. She shops on Melrose, hits the L.A. Fashion Market and makes friends in various department stores, then turns a profit on EBay.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 7:22 PM on April 4, 2010
I'd troll garage sales and estate sales for vintage stuff and re-sell it on Etsy. You have to study the successful Etsy vintage stores for tips on lighting, staging, descriptions and object identification. It's amazing what sells on there, given those parameters. Then set-up a twitter account and tweet each new item. Follow design blogs to see trends -- i.e. industrial vintage, sailor/seashore, parisian market, all-white animal heads, spray painted tchotchkes, and of course mid-century modern.
posted by barnone at 7:22 PM on April 4, 2010
posted by barnone at 7:22 PM on April 4, 2010
I used to sell 1" pinback buttons on eBay, needs a small investment for a Tecre button maker, parts and a decent printer. Used to make me a couple hundred bucks a month when I needed it.
I'm actually just getting back into it now, and I'm not sure if it'll still be worth it. Ebay's changed a lot in the past 2 years (from a seller's perspective at least) and if you go about it the wrong way it's easy to waste money on fees.
posted by yellowbinder at 7:47 PM on April 4, 2010
I'm actually just getting back into it now, and I'm not sure if it'll still be worth it. Ebay's changed a lot in the past 2 years (from a seller's perspective at least) and if you go about it the wrong way it's easy to waste money on fees.
posted by yellowbinder at 7:47 PM on April 4, 2010
Just be warned that eBay+PayPal are now very very heavy with the fees. And new accounts get no payment until +ve feedback is posted.
posted by polyglot at 8:45 PM on April 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by polyglot at 8:45 PM on April 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
If you're looking to make some money on the side from a hobby, then I'd suggest more than anything that you focus on finding a hobby you truly enjoy rather than one that just seems to have big money making potential. Success comes easiest to the people who love what they're doing. You're not guaranteed to make a great deal of income from it, but if it's something you enjoy, then that won't matter nearly as much.
Don't limit yourself to eBay. You might want to go the way of starting your own niche blog or web site, in which case I recommend this book.
For whatever interesting topics you are knowledgeable about, you could also consider writing articles for a site like Associated Content. Again, there are no big income guarantees, but if you can find things you enjoy writing about, then at least you'll have some fun doing it.
Whatever you decide to do, just know this: there are no legitimate get-rich-quick schemes out there. Making money on the Internet is going to take time and effort, and if anyone tells you otherwise, you'd better take it with a grain of salt.
posted by Ryogen at 9:43 PM on April 4, 2010
Don't limit yourself to eBay. You might want to go the way of starting your own niche blog or web site, in which case I recommend this book.
For whatever interesting topics you are knowledgeable about, you could also consider writing articles for a site like Associated Content. Again, there are no big income guarantees, but if you can find things you enjoy writing about, then at least you'll have some fun doing it.
Whatever you decide to do, just know this: there are no legitimate get-rich-quick schemes out there. Making money on the Internet is going to take time and effort, and if anyone tells you otherwise, you'd better take it with a grain of salt.
posted by Ryogen at 9:43 PM on April 4, 2010
I have occasionally wondered if you could use the ebay API to generate suggestions for things to sell. You could grab a list of keywords from somewhere, then go iteratively through the categories looking for listings that have a disproportionately high number of views/bids relative to other listings in that category.
posted by primer_dimer at 2:45 AM on April 5, 2010
posted by primer_dimer at 2:45 AM on April 5, 2010
A friend of mine's sister-in-law used to have a nice little business (maybe she still does) buying games at garage sales and re-selling them. Her model was that she would buy games with missing pieces really cheap, re-combine them into complete sets, and sell them on eBay. This worked for her partly because she enjoyed garage-saling anyway, so for her it was building a little bit of profit into an existing hobby, and her retired parents got into it and enjoyed finding stuff for her as well.
posted by not that girl at 6:34 AM on April 5, 2010
posted by not that girl at 6:34 AM on April 5, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
I do know there are businesses that buy peoples' unwanted stuff and sell it on ebay; basically they're being paid to go through the inconvenience of posting an ebay ad. It's probably somewhat risky, though, unless you're a really experienced ebayer, since it requires you to put down money on the merchandise before you know if it'll sell, or for how much.
If you're in or near a big population center, you could probably make some money watching the craigslist "free" section for good items, picking them up and flipping them on e-bay.
Good luck.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 7:07 PM on April 4, 2010