Selling on Ebay....

Kent Brockman

Not sure where to post this. can a mod please move if needed. Thanks.

Just wondering if it is possible to make a living or reasonable 2nd income from Ebay?
I see there was an evening course being run in AIT athlone re buying and selling on Ebay and wondered if it was any use.

I regularly buy on Ebay but have never sold anything. Is there much to it, pitfalls, hidden costs, too much competition etc.

Interested in any feedback, thanks.

RoadKillTs

Is there much to it, pitfalls, hidden costs, too much competition etc.

All of the above

It all depends on what you are selling tbh. If you find a niche market and a good supplier then yes you can well but if you are just going selling stuff that everyone else is selling then its going to be difficult.

There is a serious amount of competition especially from Asian wholesalers who are now selling direct on eBay. I actually don't know how some of them are making money!

With regards to the fees, there are two on eBay. A listing fee and a final valuation fee. These depend on what you are selling and how much you are selling it for. (the fees are changing in April)
Then you have your PayPal fee which is 35 cent + 3.4% of the total.

Also if you do have a niche market then eBay is good for testing the water but in the long run, setting up your own online-shop is the way forward.

Any other questions just ask.

gavney1

Hey OP

Personally I would just give it a go

You have absolutely nothing to lose. Find a supplier - spend a couple hundred quid buying a product Get used to using Ebay, see how you get on. You'll learn alot more that way than from reading "How to" books and attending seminars.

Worst case scenario - you'll waste a good bit of time, but ultimately your product will sell in the end.

John368

I have used ebay now for several years, Mostly for buying secondhand goods and als selling some unwanted items I have around the house. There have been books written about how people became millionaires by trading in collectables on ebay, but, I get the impression that those days are over.

I agree with all RoadKillT has said. I recently bought a new USB 2m long extension lead for £1.50 on an ebay shop. That was including postage and packing. There were other ebay shops offering the same thing for 99p incld. P&P, but I thought bit was too big of a risk. Curry's sell those leads for £10 when I went into their shop recently! That is what you are up against. So as RoadKillTs says you have to find your niche.

Many ebay shops will just use ebay as a way of advertising and getting you to come to their own website.

Ebay is still a great place for buying second hand goods though.

John

celestialteapot

I was looking into selling a few things on ebay however i get the impression its meant more for people selling as business or selling a lot and not for once off selling.

The thing that puts me off is the whole paypal thing. From what i can gather if youre selling in Ireland you need a credit card to pay your ebay fees.

Does anyone know if this is true? Can you sell without having a credit card?

John368

Yes you can sell without a credit card or Paypal account, but it would be a lot of hassle. I have sold things where I have recieved cheques through the post, but it is annoying when that happens. You have to wait until the cheque is cleared and that annoys buyers as well.

John

J_Wholesale

The pool of buyers in Ireland is simply not big enough to sustain a profitable eBay business. This means that you would need to target the UK market. Not necessarily a problem, but you need to factor in the extra shipping costs before working out if your plan is viable. Shipping from Ireland to the UK is considerably more expensive than shipping from the UK to Ireland. This means that you would need a unique product to make it viable. Trying to compete directly with UK eBayers selling the same product will simply not work. Harsh, but true.

Ignore the Irish eBay market completely - it really is that bad.

nicndec

J_Wholesale wrote: »

The pool of buyers in Ireland is simply not big enough to sustain a profitable eBay business. This means that you would need to target the UK market. Not necessarily a problem, but you need to factor in the extra shipping costs before working out if your plan is viable. Shipping from Ireland to the UK is considerably more expensive than shipping from the UK to Ireland. This means that you would need a unique product to make it viable. Trying to compete directly with UK eBayers selling the same product will simply not work. Harsh, but true.

Ignore the Irish eBay market completely - it really is that bad.

I'm inclined to agree with you 100% on this. I've been (un)lucky enough to operate as an eBay Powerseller on both sides of the pond but there just isn't the year round trade demand on eBay.ie versus eBay.co.uk. In the past I've listed numerous items on eBay.ie which have ended up selling to the UK or US (international visibility). Whenever I've listed on Donedeal I've always received phonecalls from potential Irish customers.

I think that alot of Irish consumers like to be able to pick up the telephone and talk to a seller or to go and see an item before buying it. This is where using Donedeal as a sales platform plus a PayPal account for payment processing may well be a big advantage. Not to mention the level of competition on Donedeal is still relatively low at present.

Just my € 0.02

tommyalph

It is possible to make a 2nd income on eBay but i still wouldnt leave my day job for it. One way of making money on it is dropshipping. Google it for suppliers, u dnt need stock or anythin. Jus advertise the product on eBay and if someone buys u tell the dropshipper pay them and they deliver it to the buyer. U obviously make a profit on it. Problem is, theres so many people doing this selling the exact same products at the exact same price that its jus by luck that someone clicks on ur item and the products are ususally knock offs like sciphones and hiphones and crap like that. If ur really serious u need to pay for memebership of a dropshipper that sells brand name products to u to sell at a profit. U could also chack out liquidation websites, go to auctions when business's go tits up and sell their stuff. A lot of time and effort involved and sometimes its jus not worth it unless u have all that time.

John368

tommyalph wrote: »

It is possible to make a 2nd income on eBay but i still wouldnt leave my day job for it. One way of making money on it is dropshipping. Google it for suppliers, u dnt need stock or anythin. Jus advertise the product on eBay and if someone buys u tell the dropshipper pay them and they deliver it to the buyer. U obviously make a profit on it. Problem is, theres so many people doing this selling the exact same products at the exact same price that its jus by luck that someone clicks on ur item and the products are ususally knock offs like sciphones and hiphones and crap like that. If ur really serious u need to pay for memebership of a dropshipper that sells brand name products to u to sell at a profit. U could also chack out liquidation websites, go to auctions when business's go tits up and sell their stuff. A lot of time and effort involved and sometimes its jus not worth it unless u have all that time.

Dropshipping has been going on for quite a while, but I get the impression that it is not as profitable as it used to be. i have never done it, but know a company who does. I have been getting bits and peices of stationary and office equipment from them for years, but gradually the amount of items they are supplying by this method is getting less and less.

It might seem like easy money as you do not actually handle the goods, but as far as I can see you are directly responsible for making sure that the customer gets what he has paid you for, so if the company who is sending out the goods mess up you are the one who will be held responsible by your customer.

John

high heels

Target ex pats maybe? Irish stuff that they cant get in the UK or USA.. hell there was a guy selling turf on it to yanks...

John368

high heels wrote: »

Target ex pats maybe? Irish stuff that they cant get in the UK or USA.. hell there was a guy selling turf on it to yanks...

Maybe that should be offering turf for sale to the Americans. Just because someone sets up a website and offers to sell something , does not mean it is a viable business. The Americans might have bought the wrong London bridge, but that was 50 years ago. Things have changed a bit since then.

John