Flexible Working Life

Using eBay as an income stream is a great way to create some money online.
Most people use eBay as a way to de-clutter their house and get rid of unwanted Christmas presents, but when it comes to buying stock to re-sell, it can be a tricky business. The last thing you want is stock selling at a loss, or even worse, stock that you can’t get rid of.

So how to you choose what to sell?

Interest
The key to buying to sell, is to think about what you take an interest in.

The people who make quick money on eBay, regularly, are few and far between.  You can make money on eBay, but it won’t always be easy and quick so you ideally want to be involved in a subject that you care about and have a genuine interest in.
That way, when you have to answer endless questions and create endless listings, your passion for the product will come through and in turn, your sales will be much more successful.
The trick is to concentrate on finding stock items that will give you a steady stream of income over a long period of time and that won’t make you go crazy. It may mean that it’s a slower way to riches, but you’ll be more committed and involved as your business grows.

Try it out first
Before buying anything to resell, it’s much better to try and experiment with eBay first.

Start selling unwanted items, de-clutter your garage, wardrobe and bookshelf.
Most importantly, use these practise items as ways to get your listing skills up to the best possible selling pitch. Make notes of what phrases work and which don’t, practise with pictures, find out which have the most impact, what font and typeface is most effective.

Play around with styles and words and take note of what has an impact and makes a bid.
If you haven’t got that much excess stuff to sell, start to sell your neighbours products and if not that, a trip to any thrift store or car boot will have an endless supply of goods that you can practise on.
Remember the key here is not to make quick money fast, but to try out different selling techniques and also find out what you are excited about selling.

Sell what you know
Hopefully, one of the items from your practise sales will light some passion and point you in the right direction of what you could consider buying stock of.

Think about what knowledge you have  – for instance, if you love craft it would be a lot easier selling craft items than fishing gear.

Once you’ve got an idea of what you’d like to sell, it may be worth doing some quick studies on the marketplace research offered by eBay. This service allows you to research your products just to see how well they are selling and how much competition you have.

The other final thing to consider is where to buy your stock from.

This is a whole new article in itself as there are a multitude of wholesale and online suppliers ready to supply you with stock for your eBay enterprise. The next post I’ll make in this series will look at that in detail. 

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