Ebay selling for a beginner

[polygon]

Regarding Ebay and its fees, is it still possible to make a viable turnover and profit using ebay? Basiclly I done my research into my product, costs, sellers coshat it would cost me to source it etc, and at the moment trying to work out all my fixed costs, cashflow, forecasts etc etc, and ecommerce solutions. One of my methods of selling online was going to be through ebay, as looking at the variuos sellers of the product I will be selling they seem to be selling like hotcakes. There are maybe 6 sellers of my product on ebay, and 3-4 of them have sold thousands with hundreds sold in the past 1 month, and 100 sold in the past 3 days alone, and the other 3-2 sellers selling at a very reasonable rate.

The only problem is that at the prices they are sellling at I just dont see how they are making any profits, and if they are it must be very small. Alot of them offer free P&P as well. They all have alot of sales in the particualr category I want to sell inbut for me it seems like it would be very hard to sell at theri prices. There is no wya they can be sourcing them for really really cheap as well, so ym only conclusion is that they are buying them at reasonably cheap and selling themfor very very low margins. Maybe its a tactic just to get their rating up and feedback?.

So me as a starter to ebay is it worth selling, or are will the fees just cut into my sales?.

Are there any books or sites anyone suggest to me about starting on ebay, and basic tips, hints prices etc.

 

[j600com]

You need to take a look at www.goofbay.com - on there you will find several ebay tools that can help sellers/ebay businesses.

The main one to look at is the eBay Seller History Tool with this you can enter your competitors eBay ID and see what products are/aren't selling, this valuable info can then help you decide which products to buy in.

For example, you find a competitor that has 20 styles of shoes for sale, so what a novice eBay copycat would usually do try and stock the same 20 styles (wrongly so). It may be that from the 20 styles there are a handful of styles that do the bulk of the sales. So armed with the tool above you'll actually be able to see which products are selling (and more importantly which aren't) and then focus your buying on products that you know are good sellers. I'm not sure I've explained this very well, so let me know if that doesn't make sense.

Be careful looking at the actual figures because sometimes a sale won't go through eBay (it may be taken over the phone, or through their website) but in terms of spotting trends its very powerful inside info indeed - and not a lot of businesses know about Goofbay

In terms of books/guides, look at this: The Independent Guide to eBay 2011 and also check out TameBay

Hope this helps

 

[MH1]

Don't forget, not all items sold on ebay are done for a profit.

 

[Mark_J]

It might also be worth your time looking at the other sellers in your category and seeing what kind of feedback they recieve from customers and which DSR ratings seemed to get hammered. This will give you some indication into the mentality of your buyers.

You should also set up a buyer requirement list as this will help reduce the amount of idiots being able to buy your stuff, or not buy your stuff in some cases. If your item isn't being posted wordwide you will need to also block those countries from bidding on your items, it isn't enough writing "UK ONLY".

 

[adampembs]

Note that initially you will be paying 10% (for most goods) commission on sales to Ebay. The top rated sellers get a discount of up to 30% off this. Often, profit is made by selling multiples, as the "free postage" is built into your buy it now price. I have found that the best money is to be made with products you have managed to source extra cheap. Mainstream products from your suppliers wont be profitable. Margins of 5-10% are the best you can expect, unless you source end of line or special deals, that your competitors are unaware of, or for exampel where you clear your wholesaler of stock, so your competitors can't offer the same product so cheap.

 

[Andy777]

Don't do it.

Do not enter that niche, do not sell that particular product. Why? You stand no chance in competing with those current market leaders:

* They buy items for cheaper you could;
* They have PS, most likely TRS;
* They have excellent selling history.

It will be very difficult for you to get in first page of results, hence it's really not a good idea to enter such competitive niche/item when you're just starting out.

Look for different items, with lower competition - become PS and TRS and then you can again look @ competitive niches and products.

 

[polygon]

Even with only 5-6 sellers in this niche, it would be hard to break into? damn ok.

What about if I could source the item at a cheaper rate? i guess then again compared to how many sales they I would only make a realy small profit if Iam sellign low volumes as these guys are powersellers and trusted sellers like you say.

 

[Multi-store]

look at platforms other than ebay, IE a market stall may be able to sell what ever you have quite well, and at a higher price than online