Penny Seeds

While Ebay wasn’t the first place I started online it was the most interesting for me. I was thinking about getting back into it again, and thought I would share some sources for product sourcing. If you have some more ideas feel free to post in the comments.

This list is intended for people who are just starting, and may not have the capital or confidence to start a true, full scale wholesale business. The best thing about Ebay is that it lets you test the water without much investment.

1.) Stuff in your house

The first place you can start looking for products is around the house. Have old cellphones? Computer software? Clothes? You can sell almost anything on ebay for the right price. If you’re wanting to see how the auction system works, and clean out the garage you can try selling these no longer useful (to you!) items. Chances are, somebody is looking to buy it.

2.) Stuff in your friend’s/family’s houses

You friends have just as much junk as you do! You can offer to sell their stuff for them for commission or even for free for gained experience. They might just even give stuff to you for nothing. People are brought up not to waste. They can’t throw out a perfectly good item, but may be glad to give it away to anyone who will take it.

3.) Consignment

If you really have zero funds you can get started this way fairly easily. You offer to sell somebody’s stuff for a cut of the price, minus fees. There’s plenty people who don’t know, and have no desire to learn about the strange thing known as the internet. They’ll be more than happy to let you sell their stuff for them. Be warned this can be tricky business. People are fickle. Have your agreement set outright so there’s no surprises. Most consignment places don’t bother with single items under $50 for the work involved in listing. You can offer to sell smaller items as a group though. (ie. 20 Vintage Nintendo Games as opposed to one game alone) If the items don’t sell you just give it back to the customer.

4.) Craigslist

Craiglist is just plain awesome. You can either browse the listings for what you want or post your own want ad. Somebody will respond if you’re being fair. Well, actually. Even if you’re not being fair somebody will respond to tell you so! Just browse the job listing section. You can get anything from electronics to furniture here. Arrange to meet, and you’ve got product.

5.) Flea Markets

Vendors at flea markets or even small businesses might be willing to work out a deal with you. They won’t feel very threatened competition wise if you’re selling to a totally different market then they are. You’re just money to them. For example, if you know a vendor who sells home made soaps or perfumes you could offer to buy their products in bulk, and sell them to a new online market.

6.)Yard sales

Yard sales are hit, and miss for me. If you’re looking for very specific items that not many people will have you may be wasting your time. If you sell things like clothes or baby items you will do very well at these sales. People are always getting rid of them, and for cheap. If there’s a phone number or e-mail included in the classified it may not hurt to call ahead, and ask if they have for example electronics, furniture, ect. You could potentially save time by mapping out a route. Go through the paper, craigslist listings, ect. Pick out the sales happening on the day you want to go, and create a drive by course.

7.) Thrift Stores

Places like Salvation Army, and Goodwill could prove a good place. Make sure you know how much items are really worth before you purchase though. Things that seem valuable like records might not even be worth what you paid for them due to the massive quantities in which they’re available. Electronics might be over priced here by ebay standards based on people not knowing what stickers to put on them.

8.)Ebay

Yes, you can even buy products on ebay - to sell on ebay. Many sellers will offer bulk deals to get rid of merchandise quicker. However, if you break up those bulk deals the individual items are worth more money. For example, I just bought a lot of vintage games for about $5 each because I purchased them in bulk. However, sold separately I stand to make at least a 50% mark up on each item. If you use this method take all factors into consideration! Demand, Profitability, and cost of individual items. Make sure you can competitively price those items with other sellers, and still make a profit.

9.) Information/Digital items

There really are people who sell information products on ebay, and some of them do make a pretty penny doing it. Everything from cookbooks to royalty free clip art is for sale. I even came across a person selling “black magic spells”, and yes, people bought them. And, they were happy customers on top of it. To each his own I suppose. Many people even repackage public domain works to sell. These are items that don’t have a copyright belonging to anybody anymore. Be very careful with this, because rules vary from country to country. You can make your own ebook, clip art collections, html templates, articles, ect. Though currently ebay does not allow “digital download sales” anymore for some reason. You can still sell these works on a physical CD, and mail it to customers.

If you decide you want to keep selling on ebay you can start researching wholesaling, and be the real deal. Keep in mind you might not be getting as good of a mark up as you’re used to. I was very surprised at the meager profit margins of the gaming industry. Good luck in your conquests!

Tags: auctions, business, Product sources