| Most people start selling on eBay by listing used stuff | | | | Sourcing stock to sell on eBay from auctions can |
| from around their house. This is an excellent way to | | | | include online auctions such as eBay itself! Many |
| get familiar with how eBay works. But you can't make | | | | auctions on eBay don't get any bids because they are |
| a sustainable business doing that - eventually you'll | | | | listed in the wrong category or the listing is poorly |
| have nothing left to sell! You can take this a step | | | | written. You can buy these items on eBay at bargain |
| further and seek out used stuff to sell on eBay at car | | | | prices, improve the listing and re-sell them on eBay at |
| sales, jumble sales, pound stores, charity shops, | | | | a profit. |
| auctions, pawnbrokers, etc. | | | | Many people misspell the title of their listing. As most |
| In a "perfect market", every buyer would know what | | | | people search for items on eBay using keywords that |
| every seller was selling and at what price. If one | | | | appear in the listing title, titles that have been misspelled |
| seller's price was higher than every other seller's price | | | | won't appear in the search results and so will get no or |
| - no one would buy from him because they know they | | | | few bids resulting in a much lower final selling price. |
| can buy cheaper from the other sellers. If one seller | | | | Locating such misspelled listings can enable you to buy |
| dropped his price, the other sellers would have to drop | | | | products at a bargain that you can re-list correctly and |
| their's or no one would buy from them. | | | | make a profit. By doing a Completed listings search on |
| But the second-hand goods market is NOT a "perfect | | | | that item, you will know how much you could sell it for |
| market". Every buyer does NOT know what every | | | | if you listed it correctly and so would know how much |
| seller is selling for. This leads to price discrepancies | | | | you would be willing to bid on it to make a profit. |
| enabling you to buy goods at a LOWER price that you | | | | All you have to do is enter "misspelled items on eBay" |
| can then sell on eBay at a HIGHER price. This is called | | | | in a search engine's search box and you will find many |
| "arbitrage". The difference in your buying and selling | | | | websites that enable you to enter the keywords |
| price, minus your costs, is your profit. Here's an | | | | relevant to the product you are looking for and they |
| example... | | | | will find all the current listings on eBay for that product |
| Some Denby Daybreak crockery is for sale at a | | | | that are misspelled. |
| jumble sale. Denby no longer make the Daybreak line | | | | Another way to locate cheap items to sell on eBay is |
| so it can only be bought second hand. There are a | | | | to do an eBay search by clicking on Advanced |
| few hundred people at the jumble sale, but none of | | | | Search next to the Search box that you will find on |
| them are looking for crockery and none of them have | | | | most eBay pages. Then conduct a search on the key |
| any Denby Daybreak crockery at home. There is no | | | | words "No Reserve" in "All Categories" to include "title |
| demand for the crockery at the jumble sale so it won't | | | | and description" in the price range of 1 cent to, say, $10 |
| sell - no matter how cheap it is. | | | | in the Auction buying format. Then click on the Search |
| That same crockery is then listed on eBay. Throughout | | | | button. |
| the world, there are MILLIONS of people searching | | | | The results pages will display items that HAVE to sell, |
| eBay at any given time. Of course, they are not all | | | | no matter how low the highest bid is, because there is |
| looking for crockery. But SOME of them WILL be. And | | | | No Reserve. Scroll through the results pages and |
| of course, not everyone who is looking for crockery | | | | place ridiculously low bids on any high value items that |
| on eBay will be looking for Denby Daybreak. But | | | | you reckon you could re-sell on eBay. But read the |
| SOME of them WILL be. Provided that it has been | | | | listing details BEFORE you bid to make sure that there |
| listed correctly, anyone looking for Denby Daybreak on | | | | aren't any defects that are affecting the price; or |
| eBay WILL see the listing for the crockery which is | | | | outrageous terms such as inflated handling and |
| now in demand. Several people will compete to buy it, | | | | shipping costs; or that the item must be collected in |
| pushing up its price. | | | | person from a remote island! |
| So you can get used products at very low prices, | | | | Obviously, you will get out-bid on most of these |
| particularly from jumble sales and charity shops, and | | | | auctions but OCCASIONALLY you might just win a |
| re-sell them on eBay for massive mark-ups. | | | | high-value item for a ridiculously low bid. By improving |
| You can use conventional off-line auctions as a source | | | | the way you list it you may then be able to re-sell it for |
| of used products to sell on eBay. Ideally you need to | | | | its true value. |
| get hold of a list of the auction lots in advance, so you | | | | There are also many online auctions other than eBay. |
| can look at eBay's Completed Listings search results | | | | Most of them are little known and so get much less |
| to find out if they sell on eBay and how much they sell | | | | traffic than eBay. Consequently their listings tend to |
| for. You can then decide on whether you want to bid | | | | attract far less bidders which means you may be able |
| on each lot and the maximum that you are prepared | | | | to buy items at a bargain that you can re-sell on eBay |
| to bid knowing what you are likely to be able to sell it | | | | at a higher price. Again, it would be very easy to |
| for on eBay to make a profit. If you can't get a list of | | | | minimize your risk because you can use eBay's |
| the lots in advance, you need to have wireless access | | | | Completed Listings search results to determine what |
| to the internet to do your research on eBay while you | | | | the item is likely to sell for on eBay before you decide |
| are at the auction (or 'phone someone who is sat by a | | | | how much you are willing to bid for it. |
| computer!) | | | | |