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Be Realistic When Selling on eBay
As some of you know, I spent many years buying and selling both on and offline and several of my products are based upon my own experience in this area. I know that the vast majority of my customers and subscribers have an interest in trading whether it be on eBay or at the local market but more and more I am seeing people with completely unrealistic expectations of what they will be able to do. Most commonly these unrealistic expectations are in respect of how much it actually costs to purchase specific products and what they can then be sold on for. I regularly get emails from people who want to know where they can purchase products such as mobile (cell) phones, new release DVDs, Playstation games and similar at, say, a 50% discount to resell on eBay. The fact is that such a thing is not available - it is a simple case of supply and demand and competition. Take DVDs for example, most people think that these are excellent products to resell on eBay because they are very popular, not particularly expensive and easy to package and ship. Unfortunately, they could not be more wrong. The DVD market is one of the most competitive that there is - take a look for yourself and see how many auctions there are on eBay for DVDs at any one time. I have just looked and counted almost 300,000! At any one time there will only be a certain number of buyers wanting to purchase a particular DVD and if you take into account the numerous different places there are that each buyer could purchase from, it is likely that in general, there will be more copies of an individual DVD available than there are buyers to purchase them. This situation causes prices to fall. The other factor that forces prices down is the fact that one DVD is the same as another. By this I mean that from a buyers point of view, there is no difference to a new DVD purchased on eBay to one which is purchased from their local DVD store. Often the only way to differentiate is on price and of course, the only way to make the price more attractive to a buyer is to lower it. The above reasons help to explain why the wholesale discount on a new release DVD is just 1 or 2 at most ($2 or $3 roughly in the US). When you take into account the fact that the large retail chains can purchase thousands of DVDs at a time and receive a bigger discount than individual traders, you soon see why it is very difficult for a small business to compete in such a competitive industry. You simply cannot purchase new release DVDs at 50% discount and even if you could, it wouldn't be long before prices were forced down as there is always someone willing to sell a little bit cheaper than the next man. It isn't just DVDs that fall into this category. Take mobile (cell) phones. Here in the UK you can walk down just about any high street and get the latest phones either free or for a minimal token payment. The stores are relying on making their money from the line rental contract that you will have to sign in order to get the phone. Of course, the actual cost of the phone is not free - most new mobiles are actually worth 200 or 300 which means that if you want to buy a batch of phones at wholesale, you are going to be looking at a pretty high unit cost. As with most electrical products, the market is competitive and prices have been forced down which means that the difference between your wholesale buying price and your retail selling price is minimal. There are numerous products that suffer from the same market conditions as DVDs and phones and new/small traders really should avoid trying to sell such items at all costs because it will usually be frustrating and ultimately not financially rewarding. When trying to decide what products to sell, you need to be thinking about the type of market that a particular product is sold in. If there are already numerous sellers and many large companies selling at considerable discounts this is far from ideal. The exception to the rule is if you are able to add value in some way to make your 'offering' more unique. I wrote about adding value last year in one of my newsletters - you can read it here: http://www.thetraderonline.com/jul2204.html At the end of the day, it is all about research, being realistic and having an understanding of the market that you want to operate in. Whilst it would be great to be able to buy and sell new release DVDs (or whatever) all day long, doubling your money every time, I am afraid that this is just not going to happen. Copyright 2005 Richard Grady Richard Grady has been helping ordinary people earn online since 1998. He writes a free newsletter which is published every two weeks. To subscribe (and claim your free gifts), visit: http://www.thetraderonline.com/newsletter.html
MORE RESOURCES: Peer into Lynne Rosetto Kasper’s splendid collection, as she auctions off a cook’s greatest treasures Star Tribune Google Ads Different Auctions Locations May Impact CTR & Impression Rates - Search Engine Roundtable Google Ads Different Auctions Locations May Impact CTR & Impression Rates Search Engine Roundtable $12 Sketch Bought at Auction Might Be Artwork by French 'Genius' Renoir, Says Antique Store Owner PEOPLE Significant race cars confirmed for Broad Arrow Auctions’ debut Villa d’Este auction Magneto magazine News Flash • Shop County Auctions on PublicSurplus.com Nevada County (.gov) John Bonham stage-played drum head, Grateful Dead posters among Heritage Auctions sale The Music Universe. Unity Fest set for May 3 with Crowder in concert; pig races, auctions also part of event White River Now State Treasury firearms auctions raise money for WV law enforcement agencies Huntington Herald Dispatch ‘Star Wars' and ‘Ghostbusters' props among top-selling items at entertainment auction NBC Los Angeles Cup of Excellence partners with V-Auction Global Coffee Report Silent auction, live music to highlight Historical Society’s Spring showcase Mountain Home Observer Gold Dynamiq superyacht Stefania sold at auction for €10M Boat International Six-Pack of Porsche 911s Is up for Auction Car and Driver 5 Rivers Delta Resource Center up for auction NBC 15 WPMI Stable Recovery Gala Silent Auction Now Open Thoroughbred Daily News The Magnificent Mediterranean Blue Diamond Heads to Auction The Court Jeweller Coffee auctions have changed for the long term Perfect Daily Grind Las Vegas judge orders some items to be pulled from O.J. Simpson auction Las Vegas Review-Journal Hubzu Expands into Commercial Real Estate Auctions, GlobeNewswire Is Japanese whisky losing its auction lustre? The Drinks Business Ghibli Treasures & Anime Icons Fuel Record-Setting Heritage Auction Event Animation Magazine Barbies, Kens & Friends exhibit and auction starts April 3 Sonoma Index-Tribune State Treasury firearms auctions raise money for WV law enforcement agencies Charleston Gazette Here's Why 2025 Is The Time To Buy High-Horsepower Tractors, Auction Pricing Is Staying Strong Agweb Powered by Farm Journal Cruz says Pentagon staff lobbied against spectrum auctions Punchbowl News Running a storied auction in Russell Country Montana Free Press Hubzu Enters the Commercial Real Estate Auction Market, Leveraging Its Success in Residential Auctions GlobeNewswire Support Conservation Efforts: Winneshiek County Pheasants Forever Hosts Annual Banquet and Auction decorahnews.com 300-Year-Old Ring Linked to Witch Trial Judge Goes Unsold at Auction National Jeweler 2025 Mecum Houston Auction To Begin April 3 duPont REGISTRY Online Auction underway for 135 Madison Street in Wellsville, see GALLERY THE WELLSVILLE SUN Independence hotel is heading to auction — again Crain's Cleveland Business Sealed Ghostbusters VHS Sells for $3,800 in Goodwill Auction Ghostbusters News Apollo Art Auctions Presents: Fine Ancient Art & Antiquities – The Prince Collection - Yahoo Finance RESULT OF RIKSBANK AUCTIONS GOVERNMENT BONDS The Manila Times Trump signed impeachment report could fetch thousands at auction Washington Examiner DoubleACS to feature 'Rotary Auction' The Sun Chronicle Over 1,300 Acres of Minnesota Farmland Will Be Up for Auction in April 2025 Successful Farming Wind power developers stay away from Italian tender as sector awaits new auction system Windpower Monthly W. Bridgewater man lands 'Shark Tank' deal; Brockton auctions off properties: Top stories Enterprise News This 1965 Ford GT Prototype Roadster Raced at Le Mans. Now It Could Fetch $10 Million at Auction. Robb Report A Jackson Township hotel will be auctioned after defaulting on loan and foreclosure Canton Repository Is This the Coolest Michael Jordan Jersey Ever Sold At Auction? Bleacher Nation $100 million coin collection up for auction News8000.com - WKBT "Mob's Accountant' Meyer Lansky's Letter Archive to Auction Fine Books & Collections Magazine ACV auctions chief sales officer sells $1.87 million in stock Investing.com India Jardine Auctioneers Becomes Part of Euro Auctions Group, Joins Forces With Michener Allen Auctioneering : CEG Construction Equipment Guide Woman pays $12 at auction for artwork she believes is a real Renoir ActionNewsJax.com Jason Winter, With West Central Auction Co, Recognized Among Top Real Estate Leaders StreetInsider.com Former YWCA campus in Huber Heights headed for new use after auction Dayton Daily News 2025 fantasy baseball draft sheet: Downloadable stats, auction values and ranks for 500+ players - The Athletic The New York Times Storage Auction April 12 Siuslaw News Professor Tong Li’s paper “Identification and Inference in First-Price Auctions with Risk Averse Bidders and Selective Entry” has been accepted by the Review of Economic Studies Vanderbilt University Michael Jordan’s First NBA Jersey Sold for Huge Amount Sports Illustrated Screen-Matched Ghost Trap Sells for $327K as Ghostbusters Props Fetch Top Dollar at Propstore Auction Ghostbusters News Luminaries of Color Field Painting Star in Artnet Auctions’s GEMS Post-War Abstraction Sale artnet News |
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