Ask Tony about being a professional eBay & Amazon seller - Page 2

Tony_P · #11 04-04-2006, 01:42 AM

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What were you selling?
Where did you get it?
How did you get started?

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I was selling books (used books, publisher remainders, autographed books, collectable books from the 20th century) and modern Disney collectables. I also sold Disney park tickets and some sporting event tickets.

I got the books from a variety of sources, including a wholesaler, yard/garage sales, salvation army, and a few other sources.

I got started when I got a really good source for the disney merchandise, and took the oportunity to start selling.

ChipWrecked · #12 04-04-2006, 01:43 AM

How does one go about finding a supplier/wholesaler?

in48092 · #13 04-04-2006, 01:43 AM

I have two persian carpets i'm trying to sell. I don't realy have any outlets to sell them at, so i figure ebay is my best bet. one has been appraised at a shade over $700, and the other is likely worth about $400. I have never bought or sold anything on ebay. if i "put them out there" am i likely to sell them for anything close to their appraised value? pretty much all i can supply are pictures and proof of appraisal.

Tony_P · #14 04-04-2006, 01:49 AM

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I have two persian carpets i'm trying to sell. I don't realy have any outlets to sell them at, so i figure ebay is my best bet. one has been appraised at a shade over $700, and the other is likely worth about $400. I have never bought or sold anything on ebay. if i "put them out there" am i likely to sell them for anything close to their appraised value? pretty much all i can supply are pictures and proof of appraisal.

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Carpets are outside of my area of expertise, but what I can say is that for things like art and antiques, eBay is considered more of a wholesale market, and you are lucky to get close to 50% of the appraised value.

I don't know how large the carpets are, but one thing a newbie seller has to watch out for is to consider how things will be shipped. USPS/UPS/Fedex etc all have restrictions on sizes.

If you just want to get what you can for them, I would list as an auction with a low starting price, and let the market determine the price. Be sure to add enough of a handling fee to make it worth your time to package and ship it if it doesn't sell for much.

Tony_P · #15 04-04-2006, 01:52 AM

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How does one go about finding a supplier/wholesaler?

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It's very difficut for a lot of things. Finding a legit book wholesaler that sells to small business was a pain in the ass, and when they went out of business, that was the end of my Amazon operations, and without the Amazon profit, I couln't aford to ride thought the huge swings in eBay sales.

Other sellers will never share info about suppliers, so it's a struggle. Basically, I searched the internet and out of the thousands of wholesales, I finally found one that actually answered my emails and seemed legit.

Tony_P · #16 04-04-2006, 01:53 AM

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It is very possible to make 6 figures just on ebay. My father does it

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It is, and I know a few people who do. I had a very small starting capital, no car, and I sold things that were very swingy in terms of demand, so I didn't make it in the long term.

edit: Also, it's much harder when you follow the rules like I do and pay all your sales and income taxes. I was working another full time job at the time, so I couldn't devote as much time as I wanted.

silkyslim · #17 04-04-2006, 02:07 AM

can u sell my MAgic cards?

Tony_P · #18 04-04-2006, 02:08 AM

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can u sell my MAgic cards?

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nope. sorry

RED_RAIN · #19 04-04-2006, 02:11 AM

I sold in the everything else with glowsticks, lighters, stupid little things. The mark up was insane. Often 100-1000% for some items.

It was amusing during some semesters at college as a side income of about $100-$200 profit a week but not something I was going to look into full-time at that point. Maybe later on in life.

Did you look at a wide variety of items or just stick to certain ones?

Tony_P · #20 04-04-2006, 02:13 AM

[ QUOTE ]
I sold in the everything else with glowsticks, lighters, stupid little things. The mark up was insane. Often 100-1000% for some items.

It was amusing during some semesters at college as a side income of about $100-$200 profit a week but not something I was going to look into full-time at that point. Maybe later on in life.

Did you look at a wide variety of items or just stick to certain ones?

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I stubbornly stuck to books and disneyana. I thought I could do better becoming a really good niche seller than spreading out. I only wanted to sell things I knew/cared about.