ComputerHunter.org |
|
|
|||
|
 |
Be Realistic When Selling on eBay
As some of you know, I spent many years buying and selling both on and offline and several of my products are based upon my own experience in this area. I know that the vast majority of my customers and subscribers have an interest in trading whether it be on eBay or at the local market but more and more I am seeing people with completely unrealistic expectations of what they will be able to do. Most commonly these unrealistic expectations are in respect of how much it actually costs to purchase specific products and what they can then be sold on for. I regularly get emails from people who want to know where they can purchase products such as mobile (cell) phones, new release DVDs, Playstation games and similar at, say, a 50% discount to resell on eBay. The fact is that such a thing is not available - it is a simple case of supply and demand and competition. Take DVDs for example, most people think that these are excellent products to resell on eBay because they are very popular, not particularly expensive and easy to package and ship. Unfortunately, they could not be more wrong. The DVD market is one of the most competitive that there is - take a look for yourself and see how many auctions there are on eBay for DVDs at any one time. I have just looked and counted almost 300,000! At any one time there will only be a certain number of buyers wanting to purchase a particular DVD and if you take into account the numerous different places there are that each buyer could purchase from, it is likely that in general, there will be more copies of an individual DVD available than there are buyers to purchase them. This situation causes prices to fall. The other factor that forces prices down is the fact that one DVD is the same as another. By this I mean that from a buyers point of view, there is no difference to a new DVD purchased on eBay to one which is purchased from their local DVD store. Often the only way to differentiate is on price and of course, the only way to make the price more attractive to a buyer is to lower it. The above reasons help to explain why the wholesale discount on a new release DVD is just Ł1 or Ł2 at most ($2 or $3 roughly in the US). When you take into account the fact that the large retail chains can purchase thousands of DVDs at a time and receive a bigger discount than individual traders, you soon see why it is very difficult for a small business to compete in such a competitive industry. You simply cannot purchase new release DVDs at 50% discount and even if you could, it wouldn't be long before prices were forced down as there is always someone willing to sell a little bit cheaper than the next man. It isn't just DVDs that fall into this category. Take mobile (cell) phones. Here in the UK you can walk down just about any high street and get the latest phones either free or for a minimal token payment. The stores are relying on making their money from the line rental contract that you will have to sign in order to get the phone. Of course, the actual cost of the phone is not free - most new mobiles are actually worth Ł200 or Ł300 which means that if you want to buy a batch of phones at wholesale, you are going to be looking at a pretty high unit cost. As with most electrical products, the market is competitive and prices have been forced down which means that the difference between your wholesale buying price and your retail selling price is minimal. There are numerous products that suffer from the same market conditions as DVDs and phones and new/small traders really should avoid trying to sell such items at all costs because it will usually be frustrating and ultimately not financially rewarding. When trying to decide what products to sell, you need to be thinking about the type of market that a particular product is sold in. If there are already numerous sellers and many large companies selling at considerable discounts this is far from ideal. The exception to the rule is if you are able to add value in some way to make your 'offering' more unique. I wrote about adding value last year in one of my newsletters - you can read it here: http://www.thetraderonline.com/jul2204.html At the end of the day, it is all about research, being realistic and having an understanding of the market that you want to operate in. Whilst it would be great to be able to buy and sell new release DVDs (or whatever) all day long, doubling your money every time, I am afraid that this is just not going to happen. Copyright 2005 Richard Grady Richard Grady has been helping ordinary people earn online since 1998. He writes a free newsletter which is published every two weeks. To subscribe (and claim your free gifts), visit: http://www.thetraderonline.com/newsletter.html
Google News - Top Stories
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
5 Ways to Drive Traffic Away from Your EBay Auction eBay is a one-stop solution to any one who wants to make money online. Whether you just selling a few unwanted items from around your house or your want to develop a work from home business, eBay removes many of the obstacles for you. Not many other websites can help you drive targeted traffic towards your sales, process the order on your behalf and accept payment though paypal. All you need to do then is dispatch the item to your winning bidder. Selling Effectively on Ebay Motors Remember back when selling online was a new experience? Dealers tried everything to sell their vehicles online. Today's market has expanded to include several hot online marketplaces but there is the largest online marketplace, Ebay. Ebay has evolved into an online solution for everything from whole towns to your favorite paperback book. Big or small it doesn't matter, Ebay has everything for the savvy consumer. Five Ways To Detect Shill Bidders On eBay So That You Dont Pay Absurd Prices There is as a lot of buzz about shill bidders on the eBay forums. But in actuality, shrill bidding isn't that common and is rather easily detected. eBay - Getting More Bids Using An Auction Preview If you sell in small niches as I recommend and are organized enough that you know what you will be listing on eBay 1 to 2 weeks ahead of time, you should give serious thought to previewing your upcoming auctions for your customers. The result can be increased sales and higher final bids. From Ebay Zero to Power-Selling Hero: The Devil Is In The Details If you've ever heard the expression "the devil is in the details," you can probably already guess how it relates to today's lesson. The bulk of the work you do as an Ebay seller will be easy and repetitive, but it is the minor details that will make or break your business. In today's lesson, I am going to talk about the single most important "detail" - and why you absolutely must pay attention to it if you want to be successful selling on Ebay. EBay: No Way?Yes Way (Ten Seller Themes) Hearing that there are more than 1.2 million registered eBay users, that more than 25,000 members make five figure income as full time eBay entrepreneurs, and that more than 250,000 part timers make several thousand dollars a year of supplementary income from eBay enterprises would make anyone comment in disbelief with, "No Way". But the correct response to this is, "Yes, way." In fact, it has also been reported that the number one eBay entrepreneur makes over a million dollars a year. As Austin Powers would say, "Yeah, Baby." Or should we say, "E-Baby." Easy Money on Ebay? Ebay was only two years old when I discovered it. Doing It eBay: An eBay Business Means Fun and Profits in a Global Marketplace In 1995, when Pierre Omidyar introduced an online business venue that was essentially a virtual garage sale with auction pricing, no one knew a retailing revolution was about to occur. That site became known as eBay, and it's hard to find someone today who hasn't at least heard about the popular online auction company. Seven Steps to eBay Selling Success More and more people try their luck at selling on eBay everyday. With all of that growing competition it is important that you do everything possible to make sure that you stand out from the crowd. By following a few simple steps you can greatly improve the odds of your auction being noticed, that browsers will convert to bidders, and that those bidders will become repeat customers. Begin practicing the follow seven tips and watch your eBay auction sales explode. The Top Sellers On eBay & What We Can Learn From Them A fascinating eBay case study is the number one seller on eBay, a little outfit called Marie's CDs, but is better known under its old name "1 Cent CD." Jay and Marie, current ID "jayandmarie", are an institution on eBay and are a big part of what makes eBay such an amazingly popular phenomenon. When It Comes To eBay, Don?t Follow The Herd Q: I want to start an online business. Since I don't know anything about ecommerce and building websites and such, I'm thinking about starting out selling products on eBay, then pay someone to build a website for me once the money starts coming in. The big question is: what is the hot product to sell on eBay to make money fast? -- Bob D. eBay The Mega Marketplace For Everyone eBay is one of the world's largest market places with over 35 million visitors per day. That first sentence is worth repeating because I want you to realize that eBay gives you the ability to reach a customer base of millions and millions of people which is beneficial to you. Say Goodbye to garage sales and hello to eBay. The Secret To Real eBay Success Q. I hear so much about people who started selling on eBay and eventually turned it into their full time business. Is it really possible to build a profitable business just selling junk on eBay? -- Alex K. Why 95% of All eBay Sellers Fail eBay is now the 8th most visited site on the internet and it has just one purpose - sales. With 40 million visitors per month most eBay sellers are missing a golden opportunity. They are missing the opportunity to cultivate long term clients. Your eBay Business - 8 Ways To Insure Its Success I don't know if you've ever noticed, but it seems like every week or two we read about another Powerseller going out of business. Dont Sell Grandmas Jewelry at a Yard Sale...Get More Money Have some vintage jewelry? There are several ways you can sell collectible or vintage costume jewelry. How much your vintage jewelry is worth depends on several things. First and foremost, you need to know what you have and the condition it is in. Refer to our first article for helpful tips on old jewelry research. You may consider taking your jewelry to a dealer. If so, first you need to find a dealer, preferably one with experience in old jewelry. Look in your local phone book and get on the phone. Investing time by calling ahead and talking to them will give some idea on who you are dealing with and how comfortable you will be. Don't expect appraisals over the phone, a dealer usually needs to see and touch it. Here are some other things you should know about dealers: Using Paypal for eBay Purchases Paypal is the preferred payment choice for many buyers because Paypal allows buyers to pay instantly for eBay purchases. In this article, we will review using Paypal on eBay from the buyer's point of view. Internet Auction Sites : Find Good Deals on Almost Anything You can find good deals on almost everything you need on internet auction sites. There is almost nothing that you can't find over the internet. You can find great deals on Avon collectables, collectable toys, sports memorabilia, or anything else that you can think of on auction sites such as ebay.com and ubid.com. Profitable Paper Piecing on eBay -- Part 2 Basic Paper Piecing Tips Used Cars For Sale On EBay There are thousands of used cars for sale on eBay every single day. In fact, eBay Motors is the most profitable sales division on eBay and naturally there are many entrepreneurs who are interested in jumping into this market. For instance, eBay claims it sells an SUV every nine seconds and is the biggest online car dealer in America, exceeding the traditional car companies. In fact, there are 15 million cars sold over the Internet each year - and growing.
|
|
|
|
|
Comment by John S. Baick
