I have 2 friends we 2 different views. One of them says he does good on ebay, is good to do it part time. The other one says you sell but you dont make too much profit bc paypall takes money from you, the profit is very little so basically he is saying ebay is not that good. Goods or bads on ebay? Anybody here with experiences?
It depends on the margin you can generate. If you can get products cheaply and sell them at a pretty decent margin, you can make money. Most sellers can't do that so they don't make much money.
intesting. my friend told me to buy the book "the ebay bible" and that it will explain me how to make good money on ebay. i would actully like to meet someone who truly made money off of it. saying is ok is not the same at saying is great... what other business online may be interesting to look for?
Anytime someone writes a book on "how to make money in X" its usually a warning sign, not always, but usually. If someone truly had a profitable method, they wouldnt want to share it with the world. Unless of course, the method no longer is effective (everyone started using it) and it lost its effectiveness. Hence, they write a book about it, and use old examples from a year or so back as proof, etc. Get my point? Your point is excellent, talk to someone in person who has and is using it.
I've sold some stuff (mostly used textbooks) on Ebay. I don't see how anyone could make GOOD money by buying stuff and reselling it at higher prices. Ebay takes a chunk, they've made it hard to accurately charge for shipping, and Paypal takes a chunk as well. Now I know some people who do sell stuff on Ebay as a sort of side gig, and do OK, but if you're looking to get rich, Ebay probably isn't going to cut it.
I think Amazon.com is a much better option than Ebay. Everything from listing items to processing, just seems simpler over there. Yes, they take a cut, but Paypal isn't in the middle, so there's one less commission being taken out.
My brother used to make a reasonable amount each month buying stuff from car boot sales and selling it on eBay. The knack was just knowing what would sell. He just sort of went for old videos and musical tapes from artists likely to have more of a cult following, rather than flavour of the month types. It was a nice little bonus, but it's not like he's driving a Porsche or anything. The key was he enjoyed doing it. I guess that's key to any business venture - you have to enjoy the work you are doing. If you are doing something purely for the money, it'll probably fail.
Richard's probably right. I could see trading on ebay being a fun part-time job, but it's not financing a second home or anything.
i think it boils down to comparing with "how much money can you make if you dont do ebay". Say students, spend an hour a day on ebay and make $500. The students will be making "big money" comparatively. But if you ask people who make $10,000 a month to spend an hour a day to make $500, they will be asking you whats the point. That being said, i think its probably easier to make $5,000 a month working a full-time job than it is trying your luck in ebay. But your age will play a role, as it is easier to make more money if your age is closer to 40.
I work in a skilled field with a degree and several technical certifications and I can't even make $5,000/month. That's pretty good money, even in my part of the world.
My dad was making about 2 grand a month selling vintage toy trains on ebay. But he did have to work at it, and he refurbished them in his garage, and he frequented all the local thrift stores for stock.
I agree with this...if you know what you're doing. I deal in English antique furniture and a few years ago bought a very early 19th century tri pod table for $84.00.....I worked on it for about 1 1/2 hours and sold it wholesale in Dallas for $900.00. These days much of the "antique" furniture on e-bay is actually Chinese reproduction either that or its being sold by dealers and has a high reserve or a "buy it now" tag attached. Just for grins I went back and looked at the "antique" furniture on e-bay....just in the first 2 pages there are a few Chinese reproductions although none of them are listed as such....over 90% of the items have the "buy it now" tag....and not ONE of these has a single bid....I lmao at item #290432383850......it's a 1930's English oak draw leave table offered "buy it now" for $3185.00 and wanting an opening bid (which means a reserve) of $1,599.00....I wouldn't buy it at any price but anyone who'd pay more than $350.00 is getting raped.
I guess it's the only way to make good money on ebay: Find a sucker. Kind of like most of the shit being haucked on the net.
I have an Ebay Store and have sold off and on for many years. The biggest issue is profit margin--Ebay fees don't make it worth it to buy an item for $2 and sell it for $10 on Ebay, unless it's a lot of similar items. I recently bought a box of vintage aeronautical charts at an auction for $4 for the whole thing and have made several hundred piecing them out. I'm focusing more now on higher dollar items--trying to get items that will sell for $40-$50 a piece. What makes it difficult for me is that I just go to area garage sales and auctions for my stock. As far as my bottom line, I made $600 profit in January, and maybe a hundred or two the next 3 months. However, I've already made about $250 so far in May. Not "good money," but it will put food on the table at least. I just list things at night after the kids are in bed while I'm watching TV. The people who make good money are those that specialize in one area and are able to source their product for below wholesale. For instance, I buy all my shipping materials off Ebay, mainly from one company. They only have 70 different listings, but all in packing/shipping and have dozens of the same items. When you focus it like that, it's much better.