Is anyone here making a living on E-bay (i.e. 3,000 per month profit
or better)?  If so, what type of product are you selling?  Is this a
product that someone else can get and sell on e-bay the same way you
are?

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Clarification of Question by jamiedolan-ga on 19 Sep 2002 08:36 PDT

I should mention, that I am not looking for a "Get Rich Quick"
program.  I understand what is invloved in selling on e-bay and what
it costs to run a business.

What I don't know is this:  I don't know what I can reliably sell on
e-mail on a on going basis that I can profit from.  I have sold some
item that have worked well for a couple months, but after that it kind
of drys out and I am not making any money at it.

I dont mind working 40 50 60 hours a week.  I just want to be on my
terms not on thoes of some employers.  I owned a service business for
the past 7 years, I sold it last month.  So I do know what the
business world is like.  I just don't know enough about the buying
patterns of people on e-mail (if any) and what products work on e-bay
and what one don't work.

Thank You for all the Comments

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Clarification of Question by jamiedolan-ga on 19 Sep 2002 12:20 PDT

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To add to the clarification; How about I start over:

I am looking for the top 15 Items / Closely related groups of items
that have histroically the highest selling (quanity wise) items on
e-bay.  Please also provide the top 15 selling dollar wise.  You may
exclude one of a kind or hard to find items that would be very
difficult for me to find.  I am also very intrested in any electronic
(e-books, PDF - where you are selling the information not a actual
product) products.  I am intrested in any information about selling
paper good (Book, Mags, Ads, Posters, etc.)

I would like to have a list of vendors / people that I can purchase
the items from along with any available contact information.  I am
intrested in the overseas sources for electronics as mentioned in the
comments as well, if this is a viable source for ordering items.

Please provide any additional information you have about selling on
e-bay in general and any case studies about the results of sellers on
e-bay or on online web sites in general.  I am intrested in small /
mid size sellers only, no amazon.com, bn.com etc.

Please ask any questions you may have or post a comment if you are
willing to gather this information, but require a higher fee.

Thank You for everyones help with this project.

Jamie Dolan
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Clarification of Question by jamiedolan-ga on 22 Sep 2002 19:08 PDT

I am willing to pay more for this answer.  Please let me know how much
you need to be paid if you are willing to answer this question.

Jamie

hi jamiedolan:

Good question. I'm just trying to make a living on Google Answers!! ;-) ;-)

Good luck in your quest.

websearcher-ga

Hi,

I sell on ebay - under a different id! :) - however, since I do lots
of other things as well, I have never attempted to make this more than
a part time activity.  My profit margins range from 20-500% and while
I've had some narrow escapes I have never actually lost money on any
single batch of stock I have purchased.  I started small, first
selling things I didn't need any more at home.  This taught me how
ebay works at very little risk.  Gradually, I expanded by searching
out wholesale suppliers of the things I wanted to sell.  Some
wholesalers have quite small minimum order requirements.  If you are
in the US, I have the impression you need to show some paperwork to
prove you are a trader.  Here in the UK, I simply tell them I'm a
trader and no further questions are asked.

I think it is important to sell things about which you have some
interest and knowledge.  Don't stick to one line of products, because
tastes change a lot.  Explore the ebay categories and see what sells
well and what doesn't.  To make the sort of money you want, you will
need to sell either a smaller number of expensive things which bring
you a large profit, but which require greater investment and involve
greater risk of loss if you don't succeed in selling them, or huge
numbers of cheap things which together will give you a good profit but
also a lot more work in administration, dispatching etc.  If you do
have an electronic product, you will save on time and postage because
you will be able to email it to buyers or give them a URL from where
to download it.  However, beware of the many scams offering you to
sell you selling rights to outdated software or ebooks with minimal
content!  Good Luck.

A lady in my town sells used shoes on ebay.  She brings in about
400-500 per week.  You might consider this item.  : )

I have purchased a couple hundred items on e-Bay over the last 4
years, from a set of designer earrings to replace an identical earring
I lost, to computer books, to gifts for my toddler nieces and nephews.
It is my impression that quite a few people are making a living (some
luxurious, most not) on e-Bay, including stay-at-home moms and former
Mom-and-Pop specialty stores that wouldn't have survived had they not
been able to get access to potential buyers all over the world.

If you are looking for a "get-rich-quick" scheme, e-Bay is probably
not it. Many of the successful sellers are people who have chosen to
specialize in something that is close to their hearts, such as
antiques, rare and out-of print books, or a certain kind of
memorabilia. Some are large-volume retailers of things like books and
software.

One thing I can tell you, though, is that anyone who is making serious
money is also working hard: while there is free and for-sale software
available that makes the job much easier, the e-Bay sellers spend a
great deal of time posting new items (after first taking a picture of
and writing a description for each item), responding to questions from
prospective buyers, sending payment information to auction winners,
and wrapping and shipping purchased items. Things that cut into their
profit include (but are not limited to) the original cost of their
items, the "cut" e-Bay takes from each auction price in addition to
the "listing fee", the cost of auction automation software, the "cut"
services such as PayPal and Billpoint take for processing buyer
payments, salaries for any additional employees, costs of shipping
materials, money lost to bad checks, etc. Then there is the cost of
maintaining METICULOUS records about their transactions for tax
reporting purposes (yes, the IRS checks up on big sellers to make sure
they are reporting their sales and paying their taxes).

If you are really interested in making a living this way, your best
source would be to browse the e-Bay site and look for the e-Bay
sellers who have a feedback rating (the numbers in parentheses
following their user names which correlates roughly to total number of
items sold) in the hundreds or thousands. Send sellers an e-mail (you
have to be a registered e-Bay user to to do this) asking them if they
would be willing to converse with you via e-mail or phone on how they
conduct their business. In general, I have found e-Bay sellers to be
generous, helpful people, so someone will probably be willing to do
this. There are also CDs available for sale on e-Bay that purport to
tell you how to set up and run your own e-Bay business for fun and
profit. How helpful and reliable these CDs are, I can't say.

Hope this information is helpful to you. Best Wishes!

Shoes?  What kind of shoes does she sell?  New? Some type of
collectiable shoes?  Do you know her e-bay seller ID or store address
on e-bay?

Thanks

jamiedolan,

Please forgive me if you felt I was implying you were only in search
of a "get-rich-quick" scheme or if I insulted your intelligence. That
was certainly not my intention, and I apologize. Most people who ask
similar questions don't nearly have the business experience that you
obviously do!

You might try rephrasing your question as "the top 25 (narrow)
categories of items sold by item quantity and dollar volume"; i.e.
such a list might include "Computer books", "Barbie dolls", and "music
CDs" rather than "books", "dolls", and "CDs".

Hope this helps -- good luck!

Hello,
I think mint brand new photographic equipment sells well, as do
watches.
(both small, easily shippable and desirable with international
warranty)
I knew somebody based in Hong Kong were there is no sales tax and
prices are about 40-70% cheaper than Europe.
Take for example a Nikon 35Ti compact camera in 1996 it cost £850 (566
USD) in the UK high street, in Hong Kong it only cost £330 (220 USD)
brand new. Add in a 150 dollar margin and you are making money :-)
Expensive watches like Porsche Design were half price.

HI aceresearcher,

My fault for being vauge.  I will rephrase the question to see if I
can narrow down what I am asking for.  Thank You for your comments.

hi lot-ga,

Do you have any sources you could direct me to for making such purchases?

Thanks,

Jamie Dolan

This may sound a bit disgusting, but I suggest dumpster diving.
Individuals and businesses often throw out functional items for no
particular reason, and even if the individual resale value on ebay is
small, the cost is also next to nothing.

In the last two days, I've found a working cordless phone-answering
machine (nearly new in box), working cell phone (nearly new in box),
and as yet untested by apparently in good condition: 2 keyboards, a
mouse, a super soaker, a humidifier, 2 printers, several 3 ring
binders, a 14" monitor, 2 floppy drives, 2 cd rom drives, 3 network
cards, and several computer case fans.

Hi ,

I am a new eBay seller from EGYPT. YES I think you can make good money
if you find the right niche to sell in. For me we found the Egyptian
hand made stuff is wanted and we make very high margins. We also us
eBay to adverstise for our products to sell whole sale. The idea is
that the items coming from Egypt are all collectibles and not to be
compared in prices with other products and they people buy it for the
sake of getting it. They care much about the price. visit our shop at
eBay by the name ShopEgypt
  www.ebaystore.com\shope
If you are interested we can sell most of the item with 40% discount
and you can order small orders.

HI,
Thanks for your comments, Just incase anyone is looking This is the
correct URL for his store:

http://www.stores.ebay.com/ShopEgypt/

Thanks!