Most people buy from eBay for one of two reasons; either to save
money or to find a rare item which is unavailable anywhere
else.
On the other side of the equation, sellers are constantly trying
to find worthwhile, readily available products to sell at a
profit.
The problem with selling on eBay is finding a cheap product
which you can resell at a profit whilst at the same time
attracting buyers who are looking for a bargain.
RRP or Recommended Retail Price means nothing on eBay. It is,
after all, a worldwide marketplace and buyers expect either
something out of the ordinary or rare, or rock bottom prices. If
a buyer wants to pay RRP for an item they will shop at their
local store, not on eBay.
And if you try to sell any old item, you will not acheive your
major goal - profit.
Take, for example, all these "Wholesale Lists" that are sold on
the internet. The vast majority are almost useless. It is fair
to say that you can pick up a bulk load of items wholesale with
a fair discount on RRP but what you will probably find is that
these items go for less than the wholesale price on eBay.
Why?
Because the eBay buyer sets the price for any product - the eBay
Value.
Your product will only ever sell for the price the highest
bidder is willing to go to.
Let's say you have found a wholesaler that will sell you 1GB
memory sticks for £40 a piece (a random example)
You may think this is an excellent price and snap up 20, fully
expecting to sell them all on at £50 plus for a nice profit. The
problem you will find is that when you do list your products
there are 101 other sellers who are offering the same item for
£30 + £2.50 P&P.
What happens is you quickly begin to realise that you cannot
compete. You can then either sell the memory sticks at a loss or
try and get your money back... and getting your money back will
be pretty much impossible.
Before you even think about trying out a product on eBay, you
must research and make yourself aware of the "eBay Value" of
that particular item. This is nothing to do with RRP, nothing to
do with how much you think it is worth and nothing to do with
the price the product is available for wholesale.
The eBay Value is simply the price that similar products have
sold for on eBay very recently.
The best way to get a good indication of the eBay Value of a
product is to search for "Completed Items".
Quite simply, you search for the product and make sure the
"Completed Listings" box is ticked. Sort the results by "Price:
Highest First" and the very top listing will show you the
maximum eBay Value of your product. If this value is lower than
the wholesale price you have been quoted, dump the idea
immediately.
So, how can you find products to sell which cost less than
the "eBay Value"?
If I knew that, I would be a millionaire. The fact is that eBay
constantly changes and you have to keep up with the times and
keep your eye open for opportunities.
If you do find a product that sells well, start slowly and do
not over-burden yourself with stock. Also, be fully prepared for
other sellers undercutting your prices (which they will do). As
soon as a pricing war starts, get out of the market. A pricing
war is only won by one person - the buyer.
The best products to sell on eBay are rare or hard-to-come-by
products. Rare DVDs were always a winner for me.
For example, I often used to buy Region 1 DVDs from Canada,
Brazil and America and sell them on in the UK. The particular
DVD titles were not available in the shops in the UK and I could
make an excellent profit from UK eBayers.
One particular product I sold fairly regularly cost just £4.50
but would sell for £20 Buy It Now. I started off by buying just
one and auctioning it off to find the eBay Value. When this
first "tester" sold for £18 I knew I was onto a winner.
Of course, someone soon noticed what I was doing and started to
undercut me but I was onto the next winner by that point.
You can beat the "eBay Value" problem by only buying and selling
rare items or items that you know well. Find badly listed items
on eBay or underpriced bargains on or offline, list them
properly and you should be able to profit.
About the author:
Ben Catt is an active eBay buyer and seller and runs an eBay
Tips and Tricks website found at
http://www.BenCatt.com. He
also runs a business opportunity information site -
http://www.BizOppsUK.com
