How to make ebay selling into a money making business
Where to start.....
Lets suppose that you've already followed my advice on how to sell on eBay. You've bought some items to learn how the buying process works and you've amassed some feedback. Whilst you were buying you were also observing good selling practices and learned how NOT to sell by looking at other peoples poor selling technique.
So now you've sold a number of your unwanted household and family items and got the hang of it, maybe you've put your profits to one side and saved them. You've bought the weighing scales to weigh the parcels, you've found your way around the postal services and are not put off by the photography and writing the listings.
All good so far.
Have you got the ebay selling bug? if so you might just have the startings of a small business or even a part-time add-on business to boost your regular income.
It's time to do some serious thinking and research....
If you want to take your ebay selling to the next level and make an income from selling on ebay you need to ask yourself a few questions before you jump in feet first, the questions fall into 3 categories - time, space and passion....
Have I got time to commit to researching/sourcing/buying the stock?
Have I got time to take the photos, write the listings and deal with queries?
Have I got time to pack and dispatch the goods, either by courier or post office?
Have I got space to store the stock? it won't all sell the first week so you need to think medium to long term
Have I got space to store the packing materials?
Have I got space for all the paperwork that will accumulate?
Have I got a passion for a particular subject/pastime/hobby/sport?
Can this passion be turned into an income from selling something related to it?
Is my passion in this field enough to keep me going when I'm fed up with being kneedeep in polystyrene chips?
If you can answer yes to these questions then lets move on a bit further....
You will have to do some serious research into the products/items that you want to sell, this is a two pronged task. Firstly you'll need to assess if the products will sell on ebay. Look at ebay to see if a similar product is being offered for sale currently and then check the Completed Items to see if they have actually been selling and what they sold for.
If this is all OK and you are still happy with your choice of product move on to the other aspect of this research. Now you have to source the product and work out if the price you'll pay for is low enough for there to be a decent profit margin?
Because I can't begin to guess what you'll have chosen to sell I can only give generalised advice here but one thing to bear in mind is that if you are planning on buying a range of new items to sell you'll need to be very sure of your research.
If you are searching through wholesaler websites like Alibaba and magazines/websites like The Trader then the thought that you must keep to the forefront of your mind is that if you easily find a product that you'd like to sell then so can someone else too and you may shortly have a rival seller snapping at your heels, dig deep for the best rewards.
As you take a look around ebay you'll see how far ebay has moved from it's orginal idea of selling collectables between enthusiasts, it's now full of traders selling brand new items from dog collars to dishwashers, there is bound to be a place for you in there somewhere. If you can find a niche market for something that everyone seems to have overlooked then that's a very good place to start.
Feel free to use this Google Search box to make your first steps in finding your money making product
Perhaps your passion is to sell used collectable items?
This can be a nifty niche market if you know your subject very well or are prepared to put the time in to research as you go. If you're an expert or enthusiast in something like books, silver, militaria, vintage clothes, antiques, vinyl records or any collectable item that people seek out then ebay is going to be a very good place for you to share your interest with the rest of the world. You can't be the only person in the world that has this passion, can you?
If you are a collector yourself you'll have a pretty good idea already of where you can buy your stock. Perhaps it's ebay itself where you find your saleable items? this isn't as daft as it seems because if you've got a sharp eye you can spot poorly titled, photographed and described items to buy and then sell on. When you sell the items yourself you'll correct all of these mistakes and get a much better price for the item and make a profit.
I have traded like this and made respectable profits on things that the original seller didn't sell properly for one reason or another. Often the seller doesn't fully know what the item is - if they are selling something that came from a relative's house clearance for example they may not know the best keywords to put in the title, such as the make, the model or even the actual use for the item so they list it the best they can and hope for the best.
Also if the seller has made some of the classic mistakes like setting an auction to close at 7.30 on a Monday morning then it's not going to attract a crowd of eager bidders at that time of day. If they'd put the item as a Buy it Now listing instead you may see it and buy it before anyone else spots it. Take a look at my how to buy on eBay page for more crafty buying secrets.
An example of using ebay as your supplier....
It was a collectable item of Mauchline ware (Google it if you are interested), it was an inkwell in the shape of a rowing boat with the pens forming the oars. It was listed on ebay as an 'old wooden boat ornament' with a very blurry, distant photo but I spotted the image on the side and took a closer look. I bought it for £4 and sold it a few weeks later for £125.
My listing bore no relation to the one I'd bought it from. It had a set of good photos, a keyword-rich title, an informed description and it was in the correct ebay category, I just couldn't fail to make a decent profit on it.
Just a little aside to this story is that if you buy items on ebay for your business, either the actual stock or packing materials then it makes sense to have another ebay ID to keep for your business and personal purchases. There are 2 reasons for this. Firstly you'll want to sell with a professional image, the buyers may look through your feedback and won't expect to see the personal items that you've been buying.
Secondly if you buy your business items on your selling ID you are practically giving written instructions on how to copy you, you're saying 'here are my suppliers ID's, the price I pay for the items, how much I sell them for, how many I sell per week and if that's not enough here's where I buy my packing materials too!'
Another place to buy collectable items is a traditional auction house
This was how things were bought and sold in the dark ages before ebay and is still the main place for interesting collectables to come to the market when the original owner dies or gives up their original home and moves into a smaller place.
The thing that you mustn't overlook as you get wrapped up in your plans for taking your casual ebaying to the next level is that if you are either buying with the intention of selling or making things to sell then you are now in business. You'll have to register with the tax authorities, I've included a link below to get you started, you have 3 months to register, just make sure that you keep all of your receipts and paperwork safely until you need it.
You'll also need to change your ebay account to a business sellers account. This is so that customers can buy with the confidence of knowing that as a business seller you'll be adhering to the Distance Selling Regulations with regards to refunds etc which may in itself produce more sales.
While you are making these changes on ebay take a look at your selling ID, is it a 'sensible' name? a name that suited you when you were selling your own personal stuff may not look too good now that you're a business, it's time to change fluffybunnykins to something more fitting now.
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