| If you are a new seller, my initial advice would be to | | | | products. The trick is to really know what you are |
| gain experience of eBay selling by cleaning out your | | | | buying and to be able to work on small margins and |
| garage or attic. | | | | turn your inventory over often. It takes quite a bit of |
| Start by selling used goods, small appliances, wedding | | | | capital investment to compete in this sector. |
| gifts you never use, old books (non-fiction ones are | | | | There is also a huge market on eBay for "vintage" hi-fi |
| best), used sporting goods and clothing items. Like that | | | | equipment, cameras, old computers and computer |
| leather jacket that doesn't fit you any more! | | | | hardware and so on. I heard of a guy who found an |
| The experience you gain will be invaluable, there's no | | | | Akai reel-to-reel tape deck at a car boot sale for |
| cost involved other than eBay fees which aren't too | | | | £15 ($32). He also got 10 reels of tape for nothing. |
| heavy. | | | | He sold the deck on eBay for just under £100 |
| The next step is to sell items about which you know | | | | ($220) and sold the 10 reels of tape separately in |
| something. It might be related to your hobby or | | | | another auction for £15 ($32). |
| interests. | | | | One of eBay's own product managers sells vintage |
| If you are knowledgeable about a collectable or an art | | | | Apple computers, parts and software. She buys |
| object, then you have the ability to do the research to | | | | almost all of it at car boot or garage sales, second |
| find the products at prices you can resell. | | | | hand shops and auctions. |
| On eBay, anything will sell. It doesn't matter how | | | | When I am asked about what should they sell, I am |
| obscure your item might be, eBay buyers will find your | | | | usually also asked what are the best selling items on |
| auction. | | | | eBay. |
| Once you gain experience try to focus on larger value | | | | Here is a list of the currently hot selling items on eBay. |
| items. If you only make £2 ($4) profit per sale, | | | | Note that this is not a recommendation of what to sell, |
| you have to close and ship 1000 items per month to | | | | as each of these product areas requires the seller to |
| make £2,000 ($4,100). | | | | have relevant knowledge and expertise. |
| Too many sellers think the way to make a fortune on | | | | - Diet Pills |
| eBay is to buy hundreds of the latest hot selling items | | | | - Nutritional Sex Enhancers |
| and put up dozens of auctions. The problem here is | | | | - Pheromone scents |
| that hundreds of other sellers are doing the same thing. | | | | - Glass chess sets |
| (If you don't believe me do a search for diet pills, or | | | | - Low cost jewelry |
| DVDs) There are plenty of companies with enough | | | | - Expensive watches and jewelry |
| money to import these items directly by the thousands | | | | - Heirloom jewelry |
| and undersell anyone who buys through a distributor or | | | | - Used toys in good condition |
| wholesaler. | | | | - New and used clothing for children and plus-sized |
| Another technique is to sell items in bulk. If you bought | | | | clothing for women |
| a large box of videotapes at a car boot or garage | | | | - Software (including closed-out or last year's software |
| sale, separate them into categories and sell them as a | | | | programs and games) |
| lot. You will often make more money than selling them | | | | - Strobe pens |
| individually. This can also work for clothing. There are | | | | - Tools (power and hand tools) |
| sellers that buy children's clothing from car boot or | | | | - Perfume (including perfume samples and opened |
| garage sales, sort it by size and gender and sell it in | | | | expensive perfumes that are at least over one-half |
| lots. | | | | full) |
| One eBay seller I know purchases large lots of the | | | | - Perfume bottles (some with or without perfume) |
| fast selling items on eBay (lighters, pocket knives, etc.) | | | | - Religious books and Bibles (Bibles are always a |
| and turns around and sells them in lots of 10 or 25 to | | | | perennial seller) |
| other eBayers who want to buy for resale. I know an | | | | - Non-fiction books on hobbies, sports, nautical subjects, |
| eBayer who recently imported 50,000 disposable | | | | history, military science, popular textbooks, and art & |
| cigarette lighters from Korea that he bought for about | | | | photography. Also books containing maps and art |
| 6p (10 cents) each. He sold them on eBay in lots of | | | | prints that can be broken and sold individually |
| 500 for 19p (38 cents) each. He made £65 ($140) | | | | - Maps and old prints of ships, flowers, animals (horses |
| on each lot less his eBay fees. | | | | and dogs are good) |
| It seems everyone wants to sell computers, software, | | | | - Used parts for speciality cars (Porsche, BMW, MG, |
| movies, DVD's, digital cameras and all sorts of | | | | etc.) |
| consumer electronics. The sad fact is that SONY, | | | | - Car models and car collectables |
| Panasonic, Canon, and others don't sell their latest | | | | - Signed sports collectables |
| hottest products to small dealers who work out of | | | | If you want to know what to sell on eBay, probably |
| their home. (In fact they don't sell anything except | | | | the single best piece of advice I can give is to be |
| through their distributors) Even the big stores have | | | | unique and to specialize. |
| trouble getting a large allocation of really hot electronics | | | | Find a niche market, learn about it, become an expert |
| products. | | | | in it, and work hard at building your reputation in that |
| It is possible to get into this business if you have a lot | | | | market. eBay buyers are intelligent, and they like to |
| of market and product knowledge. You might work in | | | | deal with a knowledgeable and responsive |
| a computer store, and have the contacts to buy the | | | | professional seller. |
| merchandise. The problem is that you are competing | | | | If you can become that seller, you have a good |
| with major retailers. One way you can succeed selling | | | | chance of making significant money on eBay. |
| consumer electronics is with overstock and returns | | | | |