Well, you could, but......
..... you'd better have either some pretty spectacular jewelry, some pretty unique jewelry (as in jewelry you created yourself), or you'd better be selling some pretty cheap jewelry- and lots of it. Here's why:
There is nothing wrong with selling jewelry on ebay. Or maybe your thing is women's lingerie. Or maybe you like hats. Whatever your thing is, and you want to go about selling them on ebay, I say go for it. But here's the little problem.... in doing so, you are going to be running up against some pretty stiff competition on ebay. There are sellers on ebay- myself included- who have been selling on ebay for years. While I personally don't sell jewelry, there are no doubt many sellers who do. Some of them own their own brick-and-mortar walk-in jewelry shops, and already know the business, already have a built-up client base, and already have their supplier base. They are already established in the market is what I am saying.
So, while there is nothing inherently wrong with selling such established items (jewelry, clothing, etc.) on ebay, you will be running up against some pretty tough competition. So, just be aware that your jewelry might be identical to the jewelry sold at Betty Lou's Jewelry Emporium on ebay, if she's been selling her line of jewelry (which in this case is identical or very similar to yours) since ebay began, she's already going to have astronomical feedback on the order of 100,000+, compared to your feedback of 23.
I hope I am not discouraging anyone. But, ebay is what is it. And the truth is the truth. Betty Lou is established, well-known, already has a repeat customer base, has been around forever, and has some pretty impressive feedback to show for it. Just be aware of this fact when planning on selling whatever it is you plan on selling on ebay.
Personally, I didn't want to compete with other sellers on ebay. I wanted to go where I knew I had little competition. So, I chose vintage collectibles, because, while the number of people looking for a vintage movie projector on ebay is fairly low at any given moment, so, too, are the available number of vintage movie projectors. That didn't bother me too much, because I knew I could easily one-up my competition.
While at any given moment there may be 10,000 buyers on ebay looking at faux pearl rings or necklaces, there, too, may be 5,000 established ebay sellers selling them on ebay. Plenty of competition!
I just used jewelry as an example here. There are some sellers who specialize in sheep shearers. I know, sounds crazy. But one older gentleman I knew in the Cincinnati area would make his rounds at swap meets and flea markets looking for nothing but sheep shearers. Don't ask me, 'cause I don't know either, but that was his thing. He would find them, take 'em apart, clean 'em up, basically refurbish 'em, then sell them on ebay. I don't know if there's anyone else on ebay doing the same thing, but it just goes to prove that there is a market for everyone and everything on ebay (as long as it's legitimate). And to those people looking on ebay for a good used sheep shearing device, well, he was there more than happy to sell his wares. And since I am guessing he had little competition, he likely could double, triple or even quadruple his money on ebay selling those things.
Now, I know very little about selling jewelry on ebay. I do know that it's not for me. I already mentioned the competition. Another reason is markup. Markup is the amount of profit you are tacking on to an item. If you buy something at a flea market for $10 and re-sell it on ebay for $20, ignoring the fees for just a moment, your simple markup was $10, or, in this case, 100%. You've effectively doubled your money.
While 100% markup is good, is 200% better? How about 300%? 400%? 1000%?, 3000%? Sound impossible? Not so!
I recently sold a movie projector for $125. I sold it yesterday, in fact. I paid $5 for the thing at a yard sale. If I had sold it for $10, that would have been doubling my money, or a 100% markup. If I had sold it for $20, that would have been a 300% markup. Anyone would be happy with getting a 300% return on ones' money, right? If you walked in to a bank and put a $5 bill in to a savings account, and the next day were able to walk in to the same bank and withdraw $20, well, the bank would, in effect, be paying 300% interest PER DAY. Funny, right? Will never happen, right?
Well, ebay is like a bank, of sorts. I put a $5 movie projector into ebay one day, and the next day it sold for $125. Kind of like a bank, wouldn't you say? I spent $5 of my own money, ran it through the ebay mill, and someone handed me back $125.
What's the markup on a $5 item selling for $125? Would you believe 2400%???Believe it! Read my post on figuring out markup for the formula I use to figure out my own markup.
But, back to selling jewelry. If you bought 250 gold colored rings in bulk from the Wong Dong Ring Factory in Huanzhou, China, and your paid $1250 for the lot, with the intent of selling them on ebay for profit, there's nothing wrong with that. Here's the catch: You will be competing with 100 other sellers who had that same idea last week, and another 100 sellers who have the same idea next week. So, all of a sudden, two months down the road, when all those sellers receive their boxes of Wong Dong gold colored rings, there are now 30 identical listings of rings on ebay, from 30 different sellers, all selling the same exact ring, all competing with one another. Each ring MUST sell for at least $5 for the seller to see ANY sort of profit, and that's not even factoring in the fees. Some sellers, in fact, (the larger, more established sellers) will buy 250 rings for $5 each from Wong Dong with the intent on selling them at $1 each.... Yes, LOSING MONEY on each one.... in an attempt to get people to click on the ebay listing. These are called "loss leaders". WalMart has them. KMart has them. Every major retailer uses this tactic. They'll lose money on some cheaper items, with the hope that the potential buyer will see what else the store (or ebay seller) has for sale, and hopefully the buyer will buy that ring for $1, PLUS two or three other items that the same seller is selling.... things that the seller IS making a small profit on.
Lots of things to consider when selling on ebay, isn't there?
So, that's my whole theory on selling items on ebay: Sell whatever you want, within ebay guidelines and rules, but keep in mind that other sellers (often hundreds, or even thousands of other sellers) will have the same exact idea as you.
The easiest and most sure-fire method to help increase your chances of success on ebay are to go after the limited items. Items off the beaten path. I've always had tremendous success with collectibles and vintage items, while the number of ebay buyers at any given time looking for a vintage working movie projector are admittedly few, so, too, are the number of working vintage movie projectors on ebay from which to choose. Then, it's a simple matter of making your item appear better than the competition, even if your $125 projector is the exact same thing as the next sellers' $50 projector. How do you do that? Well, if you've read my other blogs, you'll know the easiest way is to use YouTube to prove that your item works, or to help enhance your items' value. People will buy your item if they can see it in a video and pay a premium for your item, simply because you took the extra time to plug the item in and show it off in front of a camera.
But, I know that few people will ever take the time to make a 3-minute YouTube video to enhance their item. Would you, if you knew it meant the difference between selling a $50 movie projector for $125? I sure as heck would! Only about .01% of all the ebay listings ever created have some sort of video in them, promoting the item and its' functionality. The old saying goes, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink!"
..... you'd better have either some pretty spectacular jewelry, some pretty unique jewelry (as in jewelry you created yourself), or you'd better be selling some pretty cheap jewelry- and lots of it. Here's why:
There is nothing wrong with selling jewelry on ebay. Or maybe your thing is women's lingerie. Or maybe you like hats. Whatever your thing is, and you want to go about selling them on ebay, I say go for it. But here's the little problem.... in doing so, you are going to be running up against some pretty stiff competition on ebay. There are sellers on ebay- myself included- who have been selling on ebay for years. While I personally don't sell jewelry, there are no doubt many sellers who do. Some of them own their own brick-and-mortar walk-in jewelry shops, and already know the business, already have a built-up client base, and already have their supplier base. They are already established in the market is what I am saying.
So, while there is nothing inherently wrong with selling such established items (jewelry, clothing, etc.) on ebay, you will be running up against some pretty tough competition. So, just be aware that your jewelry might be identical to the jewelry sold at Betty Lou's Jewelry Emporium on ebay, if she's been selling her line of jewelry (which in this case is identical or very similar to yours) since ebay began, she's already going to have astronomical feedback on the order of 100,000+, compared to your feedback of 23.
I hope I am not discouraging anyone. But, ebay is what is it. And the truth is the truth. Betty Lou is established, well-known, already has a repeat customer base, has been around forever, and has some pretty impressive feedback to show for it. Just be aware of this fact when planning on selling whatever it is you plan on selling on ebay.
Personally, I didn't want to compete with other sellers on ebay. I wanted to go where I knew I had little competition. So, I chose vintage collectibles, because, while the number of people looking for a vintage movie projector on ebay is fairly low at any given moment, so, too, are the available number of vintage movie projectors. That didn't bother me too much, because I knew I could easily one-up my competition.
While at any given moment there may be 10,000 buyers on ebay looking at faux pearl rings or necklaces, there, too, may be 5,000 established ebay sellers selling them on ebay. Plenty of competition!
I just used jewelry as an example here. There are some sellers who specialize in sheep shearers. I know, sounds crazy. But one older gentleman I knew in the Cincinnati area would make his rounds at swap meets and flea markets looking for nothing but sheep shearers. Don't ask me, 'cause I don't know either, but that was his thing. He would find them, take 'em apart, clean 'em up, basically refurbish 'em, then sell them on ebay. I don't know if there's anyone else on ebay doing the same thing, but it just goes to prove that there is a market for everyone and everything on ebay (as long as it's legitimate). And to those people looking on ebay for a good used sheep shearing device, well, he was there more than happy to sell his wares. And since I am guessing he had little competition, he likely could double, triple or even quadruple his money on ebay selling those things.
Now, I know very little about selling jewelry on ebay. I do know that it's not for me. I already mentioned the competition. Another reason is markup. Markup is the amount of profit you are tacking on to an item. If you buy something at a flea market for $10 and re-sell it on ebay for $20, ignoring the fees for just a moment, your simple markup was $10, or, in this case, 100%. You've effectively doubled your money.
While 100% markup is good, is 200% better? How about 300%? 400%? 1000%?, 3000%? Sound impossible? Not so!
I recently sold a movie projector for $125. I sold it yesterday, in fact. I paid $5 for the thing at a yard sale. If I had sold it for $10, that would have been doubling my money, or a 100% markup. If I had sold it for $20, that would have been a 300% markup. Anyone would be happy with getting a 300% return on ones' money, right? If you walked in to a bank and put a $5 bill in to a savings account, and the next day were able to walk in to the same bank and withdraw $20, well, the bank would, in effect, be paying 300% interest PER DAY. Funny, right? Will never happen, right?
Well, ebay is like a bank, of sorts. I put a $5 movie projector into ebay one day, and the next day it sold for $125. Kind of like a bank, wouldn't you say? I spent $5 of my own money, ran it through the ebay mill, and someone handed me back $125.
What's the markup on a $5 item selling for $125? Would you believe 2400%???Believe it! Read my post on figuring out markup for the formula I use to figure out my own markup.
But, back to selling jewelry. If you bought 250 gold colored rings in bulk from the Wong Dong Ring Factory in Huanzhou, China, and your paid $1250 for the lot, with the intent of selling them on ebay for profit, there's nothing wrong with that. Here's the catch: You will be competing with 100 other sellers who had that same idea last week, and another 100 sellers who have the same idea next week. So, all of a sudden, two months down the road, when all those sellers receive their boxes of Wong Dong gold colored rings, there are now 30 identical listings of rings on ebay, from 30 different sellers, all selling the same exact ring, all competing with one another. Each ring MUST sell for at least $5 for the seller to see ANY sort of profit, and that's not even factoring in the fees. Some sellers, in fact, (the larger, more established sellers) will buy 250 rings for $5 each from Wong Dong with the intent on selling them at $1 each.... Yes, LOSING MONEY on each one.... in an attempt to get people to click on the ebay listing. These are called "loss leaders". WalMart has them. KMart has them. Every major retailer uses this tactic. They'll lose money on some cheaper items, with the hope that the potential buyer will see what else the store (or ebay seller) has for sale, and hopefully the buyer will buy that ring for $1, PLUS two or three other items that the same seller is selling.... things that the seller IS making a small profit on.
Lots of things to consider when selling on ebay, isn't there?
So, that's my whole theory on selling items on ebay: Sell whatever you want, within ebay guidelines and rules, but keep in mind that other sellers (often hundreds, or even thousands of other sellers) will have the same exact idea as you.
The easiest and most sure-fire method to help increase your chances of success on ebay are to go after the limited items. Items off the beaten path. I've always had tremendous success with collectibles and vintage items, while the number of ebay buyers at any given time looking for a vintage working movie projector are admittedly few, so, too, are the number of working vintage movie projectors on ebay from which to choose. Then, it's a simple matter of making your item appear better than the competition, even if your $125 projector is the exact same thing as the next sellers' $50 projector. How do you do that? Well, if you've read my other blogs, you'll know the easiest way is to use YouTube to prove that your item works, or to help enhance your items' value. People will buy your item if they can see it in a video and pay a premium for your item, simply because you took the extra time to plug the item in and show it off in front of a camera.
But, I know that few people will ever take the time to make a 3-minute YouTube video to enhance their item. Would you, if you knew it meant the difference between selling a $50 movie projector for $125? I sure as heck would! Only about .01% of all the ebay listings ever created have some sort of video in them, promoting the item and its' functionality. The old saying goes, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink!"
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