Is ebay dead?

[messiah]

I'm specifically talking about buying from distributors or manufacturers from China and reselling on eBay.

This is something i had some success with 3-4 years ago, and i suggested it to a family member who wants to start doing the same.

I have just spent an hour or so looking over quite a lot of niches and comparing prices from suppliers and sellers on ebay and its very clear that the overseas suppliers are listing their products, for extremely low prices directly on ebay.

I'm wondering if any importers+ebay sellers on here who are able to compete with these prices or if its a venture not worth pursuing

I'd expect many of the UK target market is put off from long shipping times (3 weeks +) or even not interested in buying from non UK sellers

 

[boring-friday]

You've answered your own question on the last line, you don't need to compete on price with sellers who have 'china' showing up on the results page.
Is hard though as we have that apparently optional 20% sales tax that 95% of ebay sellers chose to ignore

 

[silvermusic]

Importing product from China and competing against the Chinese sellers on eBay or Amazon when many have UK distribution hubs is a fool's game, you'll never win. Look into something else.

 

[marble_pars]

No its not dead, I sold a pair of old football boots on there last week!

On a serious note, you will probably sell some stuff and make a few £ but you would need a lot of buying power to actually compete with the big sellers.

There always seems to be a gap for the chinese stuff from a british buyer. I sometimes get those chinese torches off Amazon and always think if someone took some good pictures, wrote a decent description and posted from the UK they would sell plenty. I mean the quality of the torch is no worse than something you would get from Mountain Warehouse for twice the cost.

 

[Rickeo]

I think you hit the nail on the head yourself there.

Sadly the days of doing what you're describing are long gone as wholesalers and distributors are listing things directly themselves.

The only type of success you could get is by selling stuff from a brick and mortar business or designing a stand along website/app yourself (WISH) but even that isn't as easy as posting on ebay as there will be significant costs to go down that route.

 

[Rockpapercopy_biz]

yes, you're better off finding a specific, unique niche. People go on ebay searching for the best deals - no matter the wait. Paying £12 for something and getting it the next day won't appeal when they can pay £0.99 and get it in 4 weeks time.
You have to be smart here and sell something that the Chinese suppliers cannot compete with - bespoke, unique items, personalized engraved products, special dedication and named day delivery etc. Plenty of possibilities!