People are still making money on eBay...!

[Dien Rice]

I've sold all kinds of things on eBay...

Many years ago, I managed to pick up a whole bunch of Rio MP3 Players cheap. (These were in the days before the Apple iPod...)

I can't really remember how I got them, now. But they were brand new, still sealed in their packaging.

I sold them on eBay. Made a good profit, too!

Other times I bought and sold DVD box sets. (I bought them cheap from a local store, that sold them as "loss leaders"... Probably sold them below their cost, to bring people into the store. I found I could sell them on eBay for a good profit.)

I bought and sold second-hand laptops. Now, in this case, I didn't always sell on eBay. However, I often bought on eBay - and sold through the local trade newspaper. I could make hundreds of bucks per sale!

Now, I haven't sold on eBay for a while... But I'm gearing up to do some more. (Through a different business venture, I happen to be stuck with two boxes of new electronics... which I think I'll just sell on eBay. That's the easiest way, I figure, to turn it into cash...)

Anyway, I hadn't read much about eBay lately. Remember when it was the hot new thing?

It turns out, people are still making big bucks on eBay...

I came across this article...

It's about a retired fighter pilot selling cellphone accessories, electronics, and workwear on eBay in the UK. And...

He's turning over £100,000 British pounds - or over $140,000 US dollars - a year!

(I don't know what his actual profit is... But I'm sure he's making a decent amount of profit...)

Hmmm... Turns out he hires two staff to help him out to sell all that stuff...!

The point is... some of the ways to make money that may now seem "old"... still work!

Meet Britain's oldest eBay seller who turned his hobby into a business making £100,000 a year
http://www.mirror.co.uk/money/meet-b...seller-7537365

Best wishes,

Dien

Hi Diem.
What impresses me is this.
"I bought and sold second-hand laptops. Now, in this case, I didn't always sell on eBay. However, I often bought on eBay - and sold through the local trade newspaper. I could make hundreds of bucks per sale!"
I am sure many of us would like the full details on this. What kind of laptops?
Which newspaper did you sell them in, can this still be done today?

Trevor

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by teamplayer

Hi Diem.
What impresses me is this.
"I bought and sold second-hand laptops. Now, in this case, I didn't always sell on eBay. However, I often bought on eBay - and sold through the local trade newspaper. I could make hundreds of bucks per sale!"
I am sure many of us would like the full details on this. What kind of laptops?
Which newspaper did you sell them in, can this still be done today?

Hi Trevor,

First, sorry for my slow-ish reply... I've caught a virus or something, and it's slowing me down (I feel more tired than normal)...

When I was buying and selling laptops was the early to mid-2000s. Laps were more expensive then than they are now...

I'd deal in second-hand laptops which were around the $2,000 range. I found I could get generally a 10% spread... That is, for example, I might find a laptop I could buy for around $1,800, and sell it for around $2,000, and make around $200 profit.

Laptops are less expensive nowadays, but I bet you could still do something similar with high-end laptops.

However, you can get a bigger percentage profit with other products...!

When I did the DVD box sets (mid-2000s), I was buying Xena (the Warrior Princess) DVD box sets for around $25, and I found I could sell them for $80 to $120. (The ones I bought were heavily discounted. I found most of my buyers, though, were in country towns, where they didn't have such easy access to the discounts like I did!)

Of course, I learned it all from Gordon Alexander's "The Chattel Report"...

As long as you have the energy to do it, there's no excuse not to have spending money...

More recently, with a partner, I bought a load of products and we filled a shipping container with them, which we then exported. Now, this is quite different... But, at its core, it's really the same kind of thing - buy low, sell high. (It's a bit more complicated, though, since you have to deal with customs and that sort of thing... But - at its essence - its the same thing, really...!)

Best wishes,

Dien

Hi Diem
Sorry about the virus.
Maybe you should try some of Glenn's
super spinach!
Thanks for the info about how you did
your deals. You never know what will sell.
One guy I read about made a very nice
profit from buying and reselling nerf guns!
It might even be this forum I learned about it.
Gordon, I remember did recommend buying
high end items like guitars in the over $1,000
range and reselling for a reasonable but not
huge profit.
I really like the section in the chattling report
on industrial equipment, Hobarts etc.
Now there is some big money there!
In fact there is a big liquidator of all kinds
of equipment in my area whom I plan to visit soon.
to look for items I can make deals on.

Trevor

Yes! if you got the right product and a buyer you can still make plenty of money then on eBay. I heard that one could make a great living in eBay.

[GordonJ]

Originally Posted by Dien Rice

I've sold all kinds of things on eBay...

Many years ago, I managed to pick up a whole bunch of Rio MP3 Players cheap. (These were in the days before the Apple iPod...)

I can't really remember how I got them, now. But they were brand new, still sealed in their packaging.

I sold them on eBay. Made a good profit, too!

Other times I bought and sold DVD box sets. (I bought them cheap from a local store, that sold them as "loss leaders"... Probably sold them below their cost, to bring people into the store. I found I could sell them on eBay for a good profit.)

I bought and sold second-hand laptops. Now, in this case, I didn't always sell on eBay. However, I often bought on eBay - and sold through the local trade newspaper. I could make hundreds of bucks per sale!

Now, I haven't sold on eBay for a while... But I'm gearing up to do some more. (Through a different business venture, I happen to be stuck with two boxes of new electronics... which I think I'll just sell on eBay. That's the easiest way, I figure, to turn it into cash...)

Anyway, I hadn't read much about eBay lately. Remember when it was the hot new thing?

It turns out, people are still making big bucks on eBay...

I came across this article...

It's about a retired fighter pilot selling cellphone accessories, electronics, and workwear on eBay in the UK. And...

He's turning over £100,000 British pounds - or over $140,000 US dollars - a year!

(I don't know what his actual profit is... But I'm sure he's making a decent amount of profit...)

Hmmm... Turns out he hires two staff to help him out to sell all that stuff...!

The point is... some of the ways to make money that may now seem "old"... still work!

Meet Britain's oldest eBay seller who turned his hobby into a business making £100,000 a year
http://www.mirror.co.uk/money/meet-b...seller-7537365

Best wishes,

Dien

Thanks Dien, that old fellow reminds me of ME. HA!

I mostly use ebay to find current value, market value, via the SOLD LISTINGS...

nothing beats proof people are buying stuff.

You raise the problem which most people get hung up on...the WHAT to sell, see, even now someone wants to know about LAPTOPS.

One way to move laptops is to load them with cheap or free software and offer them as a "business solution", especially to Internet Marketers.

But, looking for certain things can get harder to do, which is why I use ebay and Amazon to find out what people are paying.

Most people have a wrong take on buying and selling, mostly chasing the bigger scores, like Yeezy Sneakers, selling for over 1000 bux on ebay but with a very limited source.

If you understand that 20% is an outstanding return on your investment, then you can do really well, if your 1000 dollars can net you 1200 in a short period of time, you can grow into larger cash deals.

Try this, search your local craigslist...type in for sale in the "search craigslist" box and then put in 249 as the minimum price and 449 as the maximum. Here is a price range where you can easily find 80-120 dollar profits in a matter of hours.

It will return EVERYTHING in the price range, your job is to search for undervalued stuff. How do you know? ebay and amazon!!!!

Say you see a Sony notebook for sale for 249 and the same thing has been sold on ebay for 349, you see a gross of 100 bux, after shipping and handling if you make 60-80 bux profit, a pretty good hours work (if you don't know what you are doing).

Stand in the gap. Everyday, mundane, Parade of Life Chattel changes hands and puts profits into one's pockets, if you do like certain things, like laptops, by all means search for them and sell them.

But day in and day out, you'll find bargains on one or the other and you flip them on the other, or in craigslist case, I just relist them with a superior ad.

Gordon

Originally Posted by GordonJ

Thanks Dien, that old fellow reminds me of ME. HA!

I mostly use ebay to find current value, market value, via the SOLD LISTINGS...

nothing beats proof people are buying stuff.

You raise the problem which most people get hung up on...the WHAT to sell, see, even now someone wants to know about LAPTOPS.

One way to move laptops is to load them with cheap or free software and offer them as a "business solution", especially to Internet Marketers.

But, looking for certain things can get harder to do, which is why I use ebay and Amazon to find out what people are paying.

Most people have a wrong take on buying and selling, mostly chasing the bigger scores, like Yeezy Sneakers, selling for over 1000 bux on ebay but with a very limited source.

If you understand that 20% is an outstanding return on your investment, then you can do really well, if your 1000 dollars can net you 1200 in a short period of time, you can grow into larger cash deals.

Try this, search your local craigslist...type in for sale in the "search craigslist" box and then put in 249 as the minimum price and 449 as the maximum. Here is a price range where you can easily find 80-120 dollar profits in a matter of hours.

It will return EVERYTHING in the price range, your job is to search for undervalued stuff. How do you know? ebay and amazon!!!!

Say you see a Sony notebook for sale for 249 and the same thing has been sold on ebay for 349, you see a gross of 100 bux, after shipping and handling if you make 60-80 bux profit, a pretty good hours work (if you don't know what you are doing).

Stand in the gap. Everyday, mundane, Parade of Life Chattel changes hands and puts profits into one's pockets, if you do like certain things, like laptops, by all means search for them and sell them.

But day in and day out, you'll find bargains on one or the other and you flip them on the other, or in craigslist case, I just relist them with a superior ad.

Gordon

I have a friend in my hometown who goes garage saleing. Big deal, right? Wrong. You should see some of the stuff he finds. Knives, WWII bayonets, guns, jewelry, etc. All stuff he knows he can sell on ebay since he's been doing for years. So, everyday chattel changes hands and puts profits into one's pockets is an accurate statement.

BTW, he's taken on a side kick who finds stuff. He pays the guy double what the guy pays for items. For example, on his last jaunt he found a box of doodads for $30. Jimmy paid him $60 and sold them on ebay for $180. The guy can do this himself but prefers the quick double.

You are right on with your point.

Dien, thanks for starting the post.

Great advice Gordon and Sandalwood. By the way,
I still have your chattling report Gordon and
it has a ton of useful info.
Yeah, I know about getting stuff cheap and reselling.
Here is a video I like of this guy buying stuff and selling
on ebay. One score is a $5 hammer that he resells
on ebay for $50! One commenter was skeptical
but I checked the completed listings and this
hammer often goes for up to $100!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M_FhVvvEM0

But what I like about Diems method is that he reversed
the process. Instead of buying locally and selling on
Ebay. He buys from ebay and sells locally.
This is a huge advantage if you are short of cash.
Ebay or rather its nasty partner paypal takes forever
to pay you. I ordered an item from ebay about two
weeks ago and got the item a week ago and paypal
still has not paid the poor seller yet! They have a
"scheduled payment " for tomorrow March 30.
Its a pain in the neck for me because I would have
been happy to pay right away but now I have to
make sure the money is in the bank to pay for it.
(paypal will only take scheduled payment from bank)
But this works to your advantage if you sell locally.
You find a used laptop on ebay cheap or expensive.
You put an ad like Diem did, and if you get a buyer
schedule a session to meet in 3 days and order
rush delivery of the laptop.
Once the buyer pays you you have plenty of time to
pay ebay because of the paypal delay. If the
buyer does not like the item, return it without
spending a dime except perhaps shipping cost.
Makes sure the seller has a return policy
of course. But before you order you should judge
if the buyer is really hot for the item and likely to buy.
Save you both a lot of time.

Trevor

Thought I'd share my recent ebay "chattel" find...I have an interest in art, drawings, paintings, art prints, etc..So I walk into our local Peddler's Mall and not five minutes into the store I see an art print hanging low on a display booth wall that I recognize immediately...it's a Paul Detlefsen farm print. Price-$2. I knew immediately it was worth roughly 10 times that amount on ebay, give or take ...depending on the variables that come into play when you sell on ebay, like TIMING, etc. Another thing I find all the time, especially in the Peddlers Mall, are BOOKS, and...BOOKS WITH ART PRINTS or MAPS, or...? a lot of "things"...Acres of Diamonds all over that store and many others just like it. I agree with Gordon on using ebay more for "competitive intelligence" with the addition of also using it to build a LIST OF BUYERS. Just like Jim Straw wrote somewhere about info. buyers never buying just "one" of any info. product. They buy many different and related info. products. Well, a BUYERS LIST of "COLLECTORS"...like BOOK COLLECTORS, PRINT COLLECTORS, etc. They don't just buy one... Fun way for some, to "pick up" those "diamonds" laying around that everyone else just can't "see".