What do you sell on eBay, and how do you do it?

[ksgirl38]

If expired (or unexpired) ink isn't working, soak it for a while in very hot water. You may have to keep changing the water for a few hours til it unplugs.

Yes, this is a great thing to buy on ebay.

Oh, never heard that. Never had a problem with any of the ones I've bought, but that's a good tip. I easily get them at more than half off this way. Printer ink has to be one of the biggest ripoffs.

[tobee43]

OMGosh!!! Those pictures should never be on my computer! That's too funny! I would look pretty odd shopping for one myself so I suppose that if I wanted one I'd go to eBay for it but wow... what a thought! Good laugh

well, nowadays it was difficult to find a niche, something that was NOT expensive and i can offer free shipping, while my "good" inventory is down. i also at this moment have a generator, and a rotor tiler as well as vintage jewelery. but those G thingys go like nuts! LOL!!! and bras as well.

i do miss the old times when one saw more rare and unusual things on ebay. and, as pointed out, it's really hard for the little seller that ONE that made ebay so interesting as opposed and don't take this wrong, because i love china and the entire universe (now that's politically correct right?), but you see pages and pages and PAGES of the same stuffs coming out of hong kong, nothing different or unusual. it's really sad.

i do think ebay will not go out of business soon. even when i recently needed medical supplies and our local supplier was out i decided to give ebay a glance and what do i find??? what i needed at half the price i have been paying the medical supply company. so, i still find it good for certain things. i am tho, more of a seller than buyer.

I was a Power Seller on ebay back in the day. Now it's 100 times more difficult for the seller than it used to be. They have virtually forced the lil guys out, quite deliberately in fact. Just a warning for anyone thinking it's easy money.... there is a huge amount of work and a serious learning curve involved. Be very aware that you can LOSE money easily.

I keep planning to get back on and sell but get discouraged by how low prices have gone and how much I have to relearn I have piles of stuff here that really should get listed.

Tobee, we'll have to talk someday I do remember when Beanie Babies were the HOT item on ebay!

LOL!!! keep i once sold a beanie baby for over 3k on ebay. i was making 1k a day and you know who was my BEST customers????? NO OFFENSE MEN PLEASE....but it was men between the ages of 35-50 professionals spending, i swear, this is the honest truth, but in those beanie baby days some were spending with me approx. 3k and many times even mORE than that a week.

one time i had to ask this atty who kept buying why he was doing it and he said to help invest for my kids college education LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG!!!!!!!!!!! and a stock broker!!!!!!! i'm like these people are crazy absolutely crazy. but what the heck supply and demand. those basic laws of economics ROFL!!!!! not my fault right? although i did feel some guilt about it.


i'm still a power seller on ebay proud to say i never got a neg but i'm sure one is bound to happen some day someone will not be happy with something.


i did want to mention one thing. while ebay has gotten so horrible in many ways, i have had some issues with buyers and ebay has sided with me. (sheer volume presents issues at some point or another) an example of that is when the people refuse to send back the item. ebay gives them a certain amount of time and then nothing happens. i still don't like the fact we can't leave negs for the buyers i have some real winners. one comes to mind with a coldwater creek brand new suede vest still in the plastic seal. this lady gets it and it's marked $175, i sold it for $50 she says this smells too much like leather????? WHAT?????? ebay sided with me, this lady wanted to keep it and also be refunded the money. you get all kinds thats for certain!


thanks ms cat for moving the thread!! we are all together now

[tobee43]

Haha tobee! Too funny! I STILL have a bag full of those beanies! Lol

funny thing was i knew when to get out!!! lucky me. when i started seeing fakes at shows and knock offs and then of course the company flooded the market making the secondary market go down the tubes. but i specialized in the really old ones as well as the brand new ones because i knew someone who knew someone who new a friend of a friend that worked at ty. LOL!!! i'd ship sleeves of these things in from the midwest. i felt like i was dealing drugs, but i guess in a way they were. as i have never been partial to stuffed animals, i was in absolute shock about it, but rode the wave as long as i could. when i started seeing the smallest drip in the market i sold every bit of inventory i had.

[Pjmax]

I'm still kinda new here and reading a lot of back posts for info, and stumbled upon this thread. Thought I'd add my experience.
Although I bought a few things on eBay through the years, I never sold anything until about 3 1/2 yrs. ago, first time I was laid-off. Needed some extra cash so I sold a couple of my used handbags (some gals are into shoes, my thing is handbags.)
I was floored at the prices they went for. The other posters are correct about the time involved, and the research and attentiveness necessary to do it well. Things have changed quite a bit on eBay, just in the time I've been doing it. For one thing, eBay now takes a percentage of shipping fees. So you now have listing fees, final value fees, % on shipping fees, your costs to ship (boxes, tissue paper, packing tape, gas and time to the P.O.), and Paypal takes a cut of the money paid to you. I generally figure 20-25% off the top, depending how I list. Categories vary, so you have to know yours.
I started with handbags, but I've sold clothes too. I stick with a few brands I know well, and avoid those that add extra headaches with a prolifieration of knockoffs and scammers, ie., Coach and Chanel (like I could even afford a used Chanel, just added it here for example.) I could never keep up with this if I had a full-time job. I spend hours every week researching and watching listings in my chosen areas. I know the retail prices of my items, what they sell for at TJMaxx & Amazon, and what they can resell for on eBay. Just photographing items takes a lot of time. Every little hardware scratch, or pulled thread has to be pictured and described. The more honest you are, the fewer headaches.
I've had to laugh at myself lately (since prepping for BK.) I've been thinking about what I would do if the sheriff came in to inventory my closet. I've gotten into the habit of not removing tags from items until I actually wear them. I never buy anything that doesn't have a good resale value, only buy my size and what I would wear (if perchance it doesn't sell, I'm actually happy sometimes because I really like it,) and I leave tags on until I wear them. More than half what I buy, I end up selling. Back to my closet...I have some designer pieces with tags of $400-500. I would have a hard time proving I only paid $29-39 for them. (Yes, those deals are out there, but it takes a lot of time to find them, sometimes a really great deal just falls through the cracks, like a typo or misspelling in the brand name, or the TJMaxx clearance racks (I'm amazed at what I've found there.)
If you are wondering what I'm doing buying designer clothes while looking at BK, this wasn't what got me here, and I only started after the job income dropped off. It actually got me through some rough times. And, what I've kept was more than paid for by what I sold. Also, I really had little in the way of a work wardrobe. I wore jeans and tshirts to work for years, then when I started working in an office that required something more professional, and looking to job interviews, I was stuck. Add to that, I lost some weight (anxiety?) and dropped like 5 sizes, so I literally had nothing.
I also started painting again (watercolor,) and I couldn't afford brushes and paint (1 good brush can be $50-75 retail.) I found some large lots of both, kept what I needed, sold the rest in smaller lots. So I got mine for free.
I haven't bought or sold much in the past 6 mos. or so. There isn't anything I need and it gets harder all the time to sell on eBay at a price that makes it worthwhile for the average person. It was kinda fun, though and did become, at times, a full-time job.